Public input split on formalizing Human Relations Committee, no vote taken

LACONIA — Residents of several Lakes Region towns came to City Hall in large numbers Monday night to voice their opposition to the incorporation of the Human Relations Committee as a permanent city committee.

The group is what’s called a “mayor’s committee” and councilors have, in recent months, floated the idea of reconstituting it as a council committee, giving it formal status.

The HRC was created 25 years ago through the joint efforts of former Mayor Matt Lahey and former Police Chief Bill Baker, to assist a tranche of refugees from across the globe in their assimilation to American life and society.

It’s persisted since then, and the group is now involved with numerous community events throughout the year, like hosting an annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, supporting the Laconia Multicultural & Folk Festival and, most recently, organizing a county-wide forum on the issue of homelessness.

The committee has a budget of $2,000 a year, City Manager Kirk Beattie said Monday night.

The HRC does not have legal authority to make policy and is intended to be educational. But concerns about their activities came to the forefront this year, and councilors considered making the group a council committee in order to strengthen council oversight. Critics argued the suggestion was an attempt to usurp the authority of newly elected councilors, who will take office in January.

Councilors held a public hearing Monday night regarding a draft ordinance to establish the HRC as a city committee and outline procedures for appointment of members.

No action to formalize the committee was taken at the meeting. Councilors referred the matter to the city subcommittee on government operations and ordinances, and scheduled another public hearing at their next meeting on Monday, Dec. 22.

Patrick Wood, chair of the committee, speaking during a period open to public comment, said the HRC did not request council committee status. The ordeal began after Councilors Steven Bogert (Ward 5) and Bob Soucy (Ward 2) discussed such a change in order to ensure council oversight. A proposed ordinance was presented and sent to the government operations and ordinances subcommittee, and a public hearing scheduled, which took place Monday night.

“There was a proposed ordinance that was presented to the city council,” Wood said. “This was not something done behind closed doors, it was not something done in any sneaky or manipulative manner. This was done in the ordinary course of the business of the city council.

“Our values are the values that are in our constitution: equal protection under the law for everybody, regardless of where they’re from, what they believe, what they look like. That’s what the Human Relations Committee is about,” Wood said.

Members of the crowd of about 35 attendees disagreed with both the principles and the work done by the HRC.

“City government exists to perform functions, delegated by statute or charter. Chiefly: budgeting, planning, infrastructure, code enforcement, public safety, service delivery and statutory compliance,” Gregg Hough of Laconia said. “A Human Relations Committee does not directly execute statutory functions, enforce ordinances, manage city property or deliver municipal services.

“Activities associated with [HRC] — awareness campaigns, education, dialogue or advocacy — can legally and effectively be carried out by community nonprofits, private associations, churches service agencies or ad-hoc citizens groups without requiring government structure or taxpayer funding,” Hough said.

Mayor-elect Mike Bordes said in contrast to lies spread about him on social media, he does not intend to disband the HRC, but would demand improved oversight.

“What I do want to see with the [HRC] is accountability, transparency. I want to see them posting their meeting minutes on time, which they have never done. There’s no broadcast of their meetings anywhere to be found. We need them recorded, and I think this really needs to wait until the new mayor and city council is in place,” said Bordes, who also serves the city as a Republican in the Statehouse. “Rushing this through is a big mistake.”

Taylor Hough of Laconia said she circulated a petition, asking the council to defer action on the item until the new council is in place, and gathered more than 100 signatures to that effect.

“We’re hoping that this can show that there is an overwhelming amount of people in Laconia that want this to be halted, at least until the newly-elected mayor and city council members are sworn in,” she said.

Doug Lambert of Gilford read aloud an opinion column written by Patrick Hynes in the New Hampshire Union-Leader which described the proposed amendment as a “political caper” and likened its work to “unconscious bias” training sessions mandated by some companies.

“This article was the No. 1 read piece on the [New Hampshire] Union-Leader yesterday and today. So what that means is many eyes are on the City of Laconia, and people are interested in this, obviously,” Lambert said.

“People are wary of the shenanigans that we find at all levels of government these days. The underhanded goings-on. The notion that elections don’t matter is causing people nationwide to lose faith in our institutions.”

Councilor-elect Jon Hildreth, who will represent Ward 1, said the political makeup of the council isn’t likely to change in January.

“We have an independent that is being replaced by a Republican, we have a Republican that is being replaced by a former-independent Democrat, so this is not something that is going to be some massive change,” Hildreth said. “Making this a permanent committee, overseen by the city council, will address a lot of the issues that a lot of people have brought up today.”

County Commission Chair Peter Spanos asked councilors to delay decision making on the issue until January.

“Having sat in a few meetings with the Human Relations Committee, I can say, without equivocation, that those who presently serve on it represent the best of what the city has to offer,” Spanos said. “I have listened carefully tonight to the remarks prior to me approaching. I will say, it is my hope and expectation, that the future iteration of this Human Relations Committee should fall under the new administration in January for the reasons stated earlier and I’m confident that you’ll make the right decision.”