Special Gunstock meeting set for Tuesday; vice chair objects

GILFORD — A special meeting of the Gunstock Area Commission has been scheduled for today to discuss the operations and legal matters related to the recreational facility, a move the commission’s acting chair called improper.

The notice of the meeting, which is scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. at the County Complex in Laconia, was posted Monday.

Commissioner Gary Kiedaisch, the commission’s vice chair, said he was informed about the meeting at noon Monday. He said he had no information about the purpose of the meeting.

According to the notice of posting, the meeting has been called at the request of Commissioners Peter Ness, Jade Wood, and Dr. David Strang.

The notice states that the meeting will “address current operations and plans of the commission” and that it will include a non-public session “regarding ongoing legal matters.”

A message left with Ness seeking comment was not immediately returned Monday afternoon.

Kiedaisch maintained the special meeting could not be called because, in his opinion, Strang was not yet a member of the commission.

Strang was elected to the commission by the Belknap County Delegation last week and was sworn in moments after that vote was taken.

However, Kiedaisch said delegation Chair Mike Sylvia had “no statutory authority” to swear in a commissioner because the bylaws state that newly elected commission members will be sworn in at the first regular commission meeting after they are elected.

At last Tuesday’s delegation meeting Sylvia said he was swearing in Strang because the ongoing deadlock between the Ness, Wood, and Kiedaisch and Commissioner Rusty McLear required that he be seated immediately. Furthermore, he said, “there is nothing in statute” to prevent him from administering the oath to Strang.

Strang was elected to fill a vacancy created by the sudden resignation of Commission Chair Brian Gallagher who stepped down because of the ongoing rift among commission members as well as some members of the delegation.

Kiedaisch said late Monday afternoon that he had informed Ness, Wood, and Strang that because Strang had yet to be sworn in, in accordance with Gunstock's bylaws, they lacked the necessary three votes to call a special meeting and so he was asking that the meeting be scrapped because it would be improper.

If the meeting should take place, Kiedsaisch said he would attend and tell Ness, Wood, and Strang that “the meeting is defective and that any decision they might make would not be legally binding.”

He said because the meeting had been called on short notice, Gunstock’s senior management was unprepared to give any up-to-date operational reports. Moreover, Gunstock President and CEO Tom Day was out of town and so would be unable to attend, Kiedaisch said.

The notice does not elaborate about the legal matters that might be discussed in non-public session. However, there is a lawsuit in superior court brought by the commission against the delegation last November which seeks to have the court prevent the delegation from removing Kiedaisch, McLear, and Gallagher.