Strang out, Conroy in on GAC: Delegation takes action at emergency meeting to reopen Gunstock

GILFORD — During the vote to accept the verbal resignation of former Gunstock Area Commissioner David Strang, Rep. Richard Littlefield looked down at the table before him and, his voice relatively quiet but firm, said “yes.”

Littlefield voted to appoint Strang to the GAC in February and in an interview described Strang as a close friend and confidant. In his speech during the meeting, Littlefield implied that he felt this decision to back the management’s return may cost him his seat in fall elections.

“I may not be an active representative much longer,” Littlefield said in a statement to his fellow attending delegates, “but I want you all to know that the employees are the real backbone of this resort.”  

Faced with the possibility of an impending lawsuit, potential cancellation of Gunstock’s property and liability insurance, the growing likelihood that Gunstock would not be able to open for the winter season, and demands from Gunstock Area Commissioners Jade Wood and Doug Lambert, the County Board of Commissioners, Gunstock’s employees and members of the public, the Belknap County Delegation voted to remove Strang from the GAC by accepting a verbal statement he would resign.

Following the meeting, Rep. Harry Bean, who was elected temporary delegation chair to guide proceedings, expressed approval of how the meeting went.

“I just want to get this mountain back in business,” he said, “and for the people of Belknap County to have faith in their representatives.” 

Urgency to reopen Gunstock

Gunstock’s entire senior management team tendered their resignations on July 20. They had recently clashed with former Commissioners Strang and Peter Ness over the appropriate level of management and oversight performed by the GAC.

In the days that followed, management said they would only return if Ness and Strang departed from the GAC. The mountain closed, and, though they felt they would still be able to host Soulfest, Gunstock staff said it was a liability and safety risk to run the adventure park, including the ski lift, at the festival. Festival representatives, according to Lambert, threatened to sue the mountain and, by extension, the county. Without an experienced management team in place, Gunstock’s property and liability insurance carrier considered canceling the mountain’s coverage.

Furthermore, the mountain’s ability to pull off a winter season had a fast approaching expiration date, and the winter jobs of 600 employees were on the line.

All involved parties agreed that the mountain’s prompt reopening was a top priority, but disagreed about what would be an acceptable and feasible path towards that end. 

Existing calls for Strang to step down intensified; Ness resigned July 29. County delegation Chair Rep. Mike Sylvia stated he had instructed Strang not to step away and said he was preparing to hire new management. 

Then, at an emergency meeting of the GAC called by Strang, Bean shared that he had a majority of the delegates on board for an emergency meeting and to remove Strang from the GAC if he would not resign. Bean — who has said in interviews that he considers Strang a friend and a man of integrity — asked Strang to resign given the opposition against him.

Strang said he would only do so after the delegation appointed a new GAC member, to maintain a quorum on the commission.

An emergency meeting

The agenda for the emergency meeting was focused on the immediate reopening of the mountain to prevent major legal and liability turmoil for the resort. The delegates calling the meeting also knew it would also likely draw strong criticism and potential legal action from some fellow representatives and fellow Republicans who believe management’s walkout was an organizing stunt, that Strang was being wrongfully blamed, and that the meeting's legal validity was in question.

A previous effort to garner majority support among delegates for a similar meeting crumbled. But on Monday evening, despite the objections of Sylvia, the delegation met and appointed Gilford resident Denise Conroy to the GAC, filling former Commissioner Gary Kiedasch's term, set to expire in November 2023. Bean said during the meeting this was in lieu of the "temporary, 30 day appointment" he had floated at the GAC meeting. 

Having fulfilled Strang’s condition, delegates then voted to take him at his word that he would resign. Strang did not attend the meeting and as of publication had not submitted a resignation letter. 

Only 10 members of the currently 17-member delegation were present. Reps. Sylvia, Norm Silber, Dawn Johnson, Paul Terry, Peter Varney, Glen Aldrich, and Barbara Comtois expressed their disagreement with the meeting through their absence. Former Rep. Ray Howard now lives out of state and resigned in July.

Sylvia stated before the meeting Monday that he believed the meeting to be illegally noticed. Only the chair can call emergency meetings, he argued, while a quorum of the delegation may call a regular meeting, which requires seven days’ notice. County Attorney Andrew Livernois, in a letter to Sylvia and the delegation, stated that he believed such an emergency meeting to be legally viable. 

Sylvia did not respond to requests for comment. 

Rep. Norm Silber of Gilford, a semi-retired lawyer who did not attend Monday’s meeting, said he believed Livernois’ letter to be “incomplete and incorrect.” He had no comment on the meeting’s proceedings or his choice not to attend.

Political tension

A current of political tension runs under the delegation’s proceedings. The Gunstock story has garnered national attention. All the current representatives are Republicans in a historically red county, and the Sept. 13 primary looms large. 

Littlefield predicted his first re-election endeavor would be swept away by this current. He saw himself — as well as other delegation members who voted out Strang — unlikely to attract voters on the left, and his actions on Gunstock had drawn criticism from “people who had been my supporters just a couple of weeks ago.”

“I’ve been attacked by people that I respect, ​​who’ve been supporting me throughout my first two years as a representative,” Littlefield said.

During public comment at each of the GAC meetings last week, members of the public, including candidates for office, encouraged voters in attendance to “remember this in November” and “pay attention to who you are voting for.” 

Citizens for Belknap, a PAC whose mission is to vote out representatives they find to be “radical” and vote in those they find “reasonable,” has been at every GAC meeting, using public attention on the issue to grow its following. The PAC released a statement on Tuesday calling for voters to oust every delegation member who did not attend the meeting. 

Littlefield did not criticize his absent colleagues. All representatives, he said, did what was right for themselves by choosing to come to the meeting or not. 

Though Littlefield was resolved in his decision, he said that having to make it, and the backlash he received for doing so, left him feeling depressed. His family was in the audience, and came up to him after the meeting to offer support. 

Moving forward

In the short term, the mountain has dodged the most immediate threats to its survival. The Adventure Park will reopen to the public on Thursday, Aug. 4, according to Marketing Manager Jennifer Karnan. The mountain will be able to meet its commitments to Soulfest and the expectations of its insurance carrier.

New GAC member Denise Conroy was selected by the delegation for her extensive management experience as well as her lack of political ties in the area. There are still two open seats on the GAC that the delegation must fill and, as of writing, still a delegation meeting scheduled for Monday, Aug. 8.