Strang says he'll resign if delegation appoints new member, GAC votes to rehire management

GILFORD — Acting Chair David Strang stated that he would “be happy to tender his resignation,” under the condition that the county delegation first appoint an additional member of the Gunstock Area Commission, allowing the body to maintain a quorum of three members, during Sunday’s emergency meeting of the commission at Gunstock Mountain Resort. 

This is a departure for Strang, who just a day prior released a statement saying he would not resign because of quorum concerns. Strang — who attended the meeting via Zoom from an undisclosed location — argued that the GAC is dissolved without a quorum.

“If I were to resign right now, you would not even be able to adjourn this meeting,” Strang said. "You would not have a quorum; you would not be able to conduct any further business.” To leave the GAC in that predicament, he said,  “would be the ultimate betrayal to the oath that I took on February the 22.” 

Following this, Rep. Harry Bean stepped forward to speak. “David Strang is a personal friend of mine, and it is with deep regret that I am asking for his resignation, in light of the fact that the votes are there for his removal if necessary,” Bean said. 

“We have the votes to call for an emergency meeting of the county delegation to remedy this situation and reopen the mountain immediately,” Bean continued. 

Immediately following the meeting, County Administrator Debra Shackett released the posting of an emergency meeting of the county delegation for the evening of Monday, Aug. 1. 

According to the planned agenda, the delegation will vote on removing Strang for cause, making a temporary appointment of a commissioner to the GAC, to accept the resignations of former Commissioners Peter Ness and Gary Kiedaisch, who offered to rescind his resignation last week, and attend any other urgent business required to reopen Gunstock. Bean stated at Sunday’s meeting the temporary appointment would be for a 30-day term.

The GAC, with Strang in dissent, voted to rehire the management team immediately upon the potential removal or resignation of Strang, via acceptance of signed statements by the Gunstock senior management that they would return under those circumstances. 

This means that, if the delegation elects to remove Strang on Monday, former General Manager Tom Day and his team could return without further action from the GAC, and whether or not the GAC maintains a quorum of membership would not have an impact.

In his Saturday statement, Strang had asked Day and former Facilities Operations Director Pat McGonagle to step back into their positions to prevent this outcome. Strang said at the meeting that it was his understanding that Day and McGonagle had initially verbally agreed to this arrangement before backing out.

Gunstock Area Commissioners Doug Lambert and Jade Wood read a statement by Day to the audience after Sunday's meeting. In it, Day and his team refuted that they had ever discussed that option and declined it, writing that, “We resigned as a team and would need to return as a team.” 

The urgency to reopen the mountain with the former management in place became public record during the meeting. According to Lambert, legal representatives of Soulfest — the Christian music festival scheduled for Aug. 4-6 at the mountain — have threatened to sue the county if the ski lift, zip lines and aerial treetop ropes course are not operational at the festival.

Gunstock’s employees have stated that they, with the backing of their insurance representatives, do not feel it is safe to operate these features without a general manager and other senior management. 

Sunday’s meeting agenda had originally stated an intention to hire new management. It was amended, as proposed by Strang, to instead consider rehiring management.

If Day and his team were able to return early this week, it is possible that Guntock would be able to offer the services promised to Soulfest, likely preventing legal action from the festival. 

During the meeting, the GAC unanimously voted to employ the legal services of Timothy W. Tapley, who Lambert said had already reached out to the GAC, in the Soulfest matter. Strang wanted to clarify whether Tapely was already employed on behalf of Soulfest. Lambert affirmed that Tapley thus far had only already interjected legal opinion on this matter independently.

Impressing further urgency upon resolution of Gunstock’s present turmoil is communication from Gunstock’s property and liability insurance carrier Safehold Special Risk.

Day’s statement indicated that Safehold said it would imminently cancel Gunstock’s coverage due to a lack of leadership and past and present knowledge of mechanical and physical equipment as well as know-how of daily operations. 

This language indicates that even a new management team, if that team did not already have significant knowledge of the mountain and of its equipment, might not be covered. On Friday, county delegation Chair Rep. Mike Sylvia said he had letters of interest from business professionals, one of them with experience in the ski industry, for Gunstock senior management positions.

Day’s statement said the cancellation, without a change in Gunstock’s circumstances, would take place “this coming week.” During public comment after the meeting, Lambert said he was not aware of a concrete cancellation date, only that the insurance company had expressed their firm concerns. 

In addition to employing attorney Tapley and accepting the senior management team’s pledges to return, the commission voted to seal the minutes from the non-public session on July 29, citing financial matters as well as adverse impact to the reputations of non-members of the GAC.

These minutes were the subject of several Right to Know requests, according to Lambert, including one from The Daily Sun. Per RSA 91:a, such requests of minutes before a body has expressed its will to seal them are to be honored. Lambert stated that the GAC had intended to seal these minutes during its previous meeting, but was prevented from doing so by the abrupt departure of Strang.

Lambert and Wood also voted to defeat the final agenda item, Strang’s motion to pay a legal invoice from June to the Preti Flaherty law firm, “for its work conducting an internal legal investigation that a vast majority of this commission voted to approve.” Strang said the invoice was presented to the GAC by Ness on Friday. 

Lambert said the invoice had nothing to do with the commission’s most pressing business, which was preventing legal action from Soulfest. Lambert said he saw no reason that this vote could not be put off until the GAC’s next regular meeting. 

Strang said the GAC’s failure for the second time to agree to pay this invoice — the first being during Friday’s non-public meeting — could result in a lawsuit from the firm. Lambert cautioned Strang from discussing the content of a non-public meeting.

“You are about to default on payment of work we engaged Preti Flaherty to do. If you’re worried about a lawsuit from Soulfest, you are going to get one from Preti Flaherty,” Strang said during the voting period, urging Lambert to change his vote. “Because this is a significant invoice, to refuse payment is going to get a lawsuit.” Strang said this failure to pay after the past due date of this invoice would affect the GAC’s reputation, which elicited a scoff from Wood.

Lambert said the risk of a lawsuit was one he was willing to take — which Strang urged be entered into the meeting minutes — and suggested that the attorney  “cool his jets” until the next regular GAC meeting.

“Other than interest payment on a late bill, I don’t see that me accepting said risk is really very risky at all,” Lambert said.

The meeting was adjourned, and Strang promptly left the Zoom call. 

After the meeting, Lambert and Wood allowed informal public comment and questions. 

Lambert affirmed the importance of the meeting’s adjournment with Strang present and the GAC’s ability to complete its full, amended agenda. 

Wood addressed the topic of her and Lambert’s potential resignation. 

Lambert and Wood had told delegation chair Sylvia that if the delegation had not made an action plan by 5 p.m. on Friday, they would resign, according to Sylvia. Wood and Lambert both wrote letters of resignation, which remain unsigned.

In a prepared statement shared in part after the meeting — and in full with The Daily Sun via email — Wood said that she would not resign. 

“Some of you may have got the wrong impression that I was considering resignation on Friday,” Wood said.

“Let me be clear: I fully intend to outlast any opposition, negativity or pettiness standing in the way of the success of this mountain and its employees,” Wood continued. “Maybe I thought I needed a whole weekend to restore my resolve, but just like always, when I arrive at the hill, God reminds me that I have strength I didn’t know I had.”

Lambert — who on Friday said he intended to sign his resignation letter on Monday — added that, with the “inspiration” of Wood, he would not be resigning either. 

During an interview after the meeting, Wood said that she never intended to resign and never should have written the letter.

“Doug and I had come to an impasse,” Wood said. “We had been in the trenches for so long and wanted to offer a deadline that would create an urgency for action from the community that we’re not able to do alone.”

The meeting was attended by a similarly sized crowd as that of the meeting Tuesday morning — which had been impassioned and raucous, though never out of control. Tuesday’s crowd often shouted over the proceedings, chanted at Ness and Strang to sign the resignation letters Wood had placed before them and cheered loudly when mention of Strang and Ness resigning came up. 

Prior to Friday’s meeting, Strang sent an email to Lambert demanding that he and Wood pledge not to “stage any more ambushes” by diverting matters away from the pressing business of the GAC and not to “foment the mob” with public spectacles. 

Sunday’s meeting had a different tension in the air, as if the crowd sat on the edge of their seats. 

On a few occasions, a comment by Strang set the crowd abuzz. Hand gestures from Wood and Lambert, as well as the need to hear Strang’s comments — which were broadcast from two small computer speakers at the front of the room — kept the meeting orderly. 

Whether the path forward laid out Sunday — where Strang leaves the commission by removal or resignation, Day and his team return, the insurance company’s concerns and potential policy cancellation are allayed and the area fulfills its commitments to Soulfest — comes to pass will be determined at Monday night’s delegation meeting.