Human Relations could become permanent city council subcommittee

LACONIA — The Human Relations Committee, established more than 25 years ago, could soon become a permanent city council subcommittee. 

An item on the council’s agenda Monday night about the reappointment of 13 members of the committee was tabled at the request of Ward 5 Councilor Steven Bogert, who said it's out of order with respect to council rules.

Councilors tabled the item following discussion regarding the relevant rules and the possibility of making the committee a permanent one, subject to council oversight and guidance.

“I request that it be removed from the agenda based on the following reasons,” Bogert said. “The actual item does not reflect anything within the council rules on how the mayor can reappoint anybody to any special committee. Under the rules, I could not find any rule in the document that reflects the reappointment of anybody to any special committee. The only rules I found pertaining to mayor’s committees is they all end at the end of the year, period.”

“You can appoint, but what this is is reappointment and, in this case, we do not have a rule that allows for the reappointment,” Bogert said.

According to the council rules, Bogert said, a committee should exist only for one year based on a discrete purpose. Once that purpose has been achieved, the committee is dissolved, he said, pointing to former Mayor Andrew Hosmer’s committee exploring development of a parcel of land on Old North Main Street earlier this year. 

“If you don’t reappoint anybody, they don’t just go away — this is from legal — they stay within their rights to do anything, just as Mayor Hosmer appointed this group here, by you coming in, it doesn’t go away. The seat actually fills the position, not a person,” City Manager Kirk Beattie said. “We have done some years, over the course of the 20-plus years, it’s been reappointed, generally on the beginning of the January meetings, other times it hasn’t been.”

The Human Relations Committee is involved prominently in the organization of the Laconia Multicultural Festival each year.

“I think given the history of this committee in the city, and there’s multiple events every year that they organize, maybe Councilor Bogert is right,” Ward 3 Councilor Eric Hoffman said later in the evening. “Maybe this should not be a mayor’s committee, and it should be a permanent committee under the purview of the city council, and then these appointments can be referred to the appointments committee.”

Bogert appeared amenable to Hoffman’s suggestion, describing it as a “valid option,” and noting it would bring the committee under the direction of the council.

“That would solve the issue of them just doing whatever they wish,” Bogert said.

In related business, the Human Relations Committee plans to hold a community forum regarding housing next month.

“After our last meeting of the Human Relations Committee, we established a subcommittee to plan a community event to talk about the issue of homelessness. We have this event scheduled for Wednesday evening, Nov. 12, 7 to 9:30 p.m.,” committee Chair Patrick Wood said on Monday night. “Basically, the question is: What do we know about homelessness in Laconia?”

The event will be held in the auditorium at Laconia High School, and recorded by Lakes Region Public Access. They’ll have a panel consisting of police officers, firefighters, and city councilors, plus representatives from Laconia Housing Authority, either Lakes Region Mental Health Center or Navigating Recovery, County Commissioner Peter Spanos, and community members. 

“The issue of homelessness, as you know, is not limited to the City of Laconia, nor is the solution supposed to be limited to the City of Laconia,” Wood said. “We also have members of the business community — Kara Chase from Legacy [Group], the real estate company. Paul Lange, from Belmont, who grew up here in Laconia is going to be part of the panel, as well. We’re working to try to get somebody from the courts also to be at the panel.”

They’ll have a short presentation from each of the panel members, discussing their work and concerns, then open the meeting up to the public for questions and answers. 

“The goal is to listen and learn, and hopefully, we’ll ask people when they get up to speak not only to state their concerns and their fears, but also try to think about a solution or something that might alleviate their fears and concerns,” Wood said. “We want this to be an opportunity for people to express their concerns, but also to think about ways to deal with some of the problems. As we know, homelessness is a multi-faceted issue, people are homeless for many different reasons. By the same token, there’s no one single solution, either.”