Sylvia, Silber deflect effort to depose delegation leadership

LACONIA — Discussion about legal bills charging twice the amount of money that had been authorized led to a firestorm during the April 12 meeting of the Belknap County Delegation, including an attempt to remove two members from leadership positions for alleged financial malfeasance.

At the previous meeting, when the county's representatives were asked to authorize the payment of a $36,000 invoice from Cleveland, Waters & Bass, they expressed concern about the overage and complained that several of the billed items had been redacted on the invoice. The invoice was for the cost of legal services defending against a lawsuit filed against the delegation by the Gunstock Area Commission.

The delegation had authorized the payment of $20,000 to cover the legal costs of the defense and previously paid an initial bill of $6,500.

The delegation agreed to pay the new bill, but asked for an unredacted invoice that would explain the charges. There was some concern that not all of the charges were related to the Gunstock lawsuit; one unredacted item was listed as “re. Kiedaisch removal proceedings.” Gary Kiedaisch was vice-chair of the Gunstock Area Commission at the time.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Rep. Norm Silber brought copies of the unredacted invoice that carried a request that members receiving the list would keep it confidential. Silber said it was the attorney’s recommendation to preserve the sanctity of attorney-client privilege, although the delegation could decide later to make the information public.

Rep. Timothy Lang said that, with the GAC lawsuit having been withdrawn, there no longer exists a reason to keep the information private.

“Counsel has advised that a blanket waiver of privilege would be inappropriate and not in the best interests of the Convention,” Silber replied.

He went on to explain that, as a defendant in a lawsuit, there’s no way to control the costs.

“The normal strategy for plaintiffs is to make it as painful and expensive as possible for defendants to defend themselves,” he said. “And that’s basically what might have happened in this case. Whether or not we should have come back when we saw the bills going over, I don’t know the answer to that.”

Delegation Chair Michael Silvia asked how they could have anticipated it when the initial bill was $6,500, “and then the next invoice went right from that to $36,000? That’s the question. How do you stop that when you don’t know? What do you do, call them every day and ask?”

Ultimately, the group approved the motion to receive the unredacted invoice and, after reviewing it, voted unanimously to make the document public.

Contacted on Wednesday afternoon, County Administrator Debra Shackett said she had not yet received a copy of the now-public invoice.

Leadership challenge

Rep. Travis O’Hara introduced a motion to remove Silvia and Silber from leadership for what he deemed financial malfeasance.

“We have built up $40,000 [in costs] without the approval of the delegation,” O’Hara said.

Lang commented, “If I overexpended my budget by over 100 percent, I probably wouldn’t have a job, especially if I didn’t tell my boss about it beforehand and people who have control over the pursestrings.”

He added, “You voted for the criminal investigative committee because the county commissioners overextended a line item, which was food for the nursing home, then I don’t know how you cannot vote for this.”

Other representatives questioned the motion, saying it would be difficult to prove prior intent, noting that municipalities budgeting for legal expenses typically see the actual costs running higher than anticipated, particularly in defense cases.

Rep. Paul Terry suggested tabling the motion, calling the allegations “very serious charges” and saying, “I don’t believe that the parties involved had an opportunity to know that the motion was being made prior to this meeting, and they’ve had no opportunity to prepare any kind of response.”

The motion to table passed, with both Silvia and Silber voting against tabling the discussion.

Compensation for elected officials

Rep. Terry made a successful motion to grant 10% salary increases to the register of deeds, county sheriff, and county attorney after those office-holders noted that those salaries have not changed since 2009.

County Attorney Andrew Livernois made the initial plea.

“I’m here in the somewhat uncomfortable position of advocating for a pay raise for myself,” he began before noting that the county attorney’s position has paid $89,164 for the past 14 years. In today’s dollars, that would amount to $116,000, he said.

“I didn’t take this position to try to make a lot of money; I frankly took a pay cut when I ran for this position,” Livernois said. “I took a pay cut because I’m interested in public service and giving back to the community. But at the same time, I think I need to be fairly compensated for what I do. I manage basically a small law firm of five attorneys. I have a total of 11 employees whom I supervise, and manage a million-dollar budget. I have a law degree and I have a lot of experience — 25 years practicing law, a lot of supervisory experience, and I think I need to be paid fairly.”

He suggested an annual salary of $100,000.

Sheriff William Wright had no specific salary recommendation and admitted that he is the highest-paid county sheriff in the state, but he noted that the compensation is significantly less than that of police counterparts in the city of Laconia, town of Belmont, and elsewhere.

Registrar of Deeds Judith McGrath noted that her department contributed more than a million dollars to the county last year, with a staff of three.

The 10% increase approved on Tuesday sets the salaries at $75,257 for register of deeds, $81,735 for sheriff, and $98,069 for county attorney.

The delegation also approved a motion to adopt Robert’s Rules of Order for the conduct of future meetings.