Gunstock Commission moves toward ‘more harmonious relationship’

GILFORD — The Gunstock Area Commission agreed in a split decision that seeking an independent legal opinion about the merits of its lawsuit against the Belknap County Convention would go a long way toward satisfying all parties in the dispute, setting the stage for the “more harmonious relationship” that Rep. Michael Sylvia, chair of the county delegation, said he wanted.

Sylvia sent an email to the commissioners, seeking reimbursement for the delegation’s $40,000 legal bill incurred in its defense against the lawsuit, which he termed frivolous.

“As we move forward and seek to build a more harmonious relationship among all groups concerned with the viability of Gunstock, I believe it is important to properly memorialise [sic] lessons learned over the past year,” he wrote. “What started as a question of the propriety of an ethics policy snowballed into a lawsuit against the county delegation. I believe the suit to have been brought without merit and at great expense to the county taxpayers. As such, I believe it would serve to help restore relations if GAC would look into how this snowball grew, and consider making restitution to the county for the legal expense paid in defense of the suit.”

He said that, had it been a private matter, “there would likely have been a counter claim made for frivolous action. Clearly such action by the delegation would be illogical.”

In asking for payment, Sylvia said, “I hope that you can help us understand how we can avoid repeating missteps in the future.”

Commission Chair Peter Ness said the bills for legal services are germane to Sylvia’s request to understand the merits of the litigation, but that those invoices are privileged information that contain “very sensitive matters.”

“And as such, in my opinion as a bar member, that privilege is very real and sacrosanct at this point in time,” Ness said. “I do not believe it is appropriate for this commission to waive the privilege to accommodate a citizen about what’s going on.”

Instead, Ness suggested engaging independent legal counsel to review the record and determine how the dispute started.

Commissioner Jade Wood favored having the legal services committee look into it before hiring a lawyer, but Commissioner David Strang said that would “only get another layman’s opinion on what we should do.”

Newly appointed Commissioner Doug Lambert said he generally opposed getting lawyers involved, “but due to the gravity of the situation, I think this is the best route.”

Commissioner Gary Kiedaisch, who with former commissioners Brian Gallagher and Rusty McLear had voted to initiate the lawsuit, said he would agree if it was a full review, going all the way to the beginning to determine “what caused the snowball to begin with.”

The Belknap County Delegation released copies of its own legal bills which, among other things, showed that the delegation’s attorneys had responded to communications from Ness. Kiedaisch called such communication inappropriate and said it showed Ness had a conflict of interest in the matter.

When it came to a vote, everyone but Wood agreed to engage an attorney to look into the genesis of the lawsuit.

During the public comment period at the end of the meeting, Kevin Leandro of Belmont asked the commission to waive confidentiality about the legal bills, saying that keeping them from the public only made it look as if they were hiding something.

“There are things in the bills that we need guidance from counsel, and I’m not willing to make any commitment to waive privilege,” Ness responded.