Hunter Taylor: Voters should have final say on delegation's legal bills

I am speaking for myself, as one member of the three-member Belknap County Board of Commissioners. I will have a vote in the matter discussed below. I, like the other commissioners, want to do what is in the best interest of our county and its citizens. After all, it is the use of taxpayer money and transparency that are at stake.

The Silber-Sylvia $20,000 authorization from the delegation that turned into a legal bill for $50,000 is now a well-known story in our county. What is not well known is exactly how the $20,000 legal engagement grew to a $50,000 endeavor without Reps. Norm Silber and Mike Sylvia reporting back to the delegation.

By a 2-to-1 vote, the Board of Commissioners authorized a $20,000 payment to the law firm selected by Silber and Sylvia to represent the delegation (county convention) in defending the injunctive action brought against them by the Gunstock Area Commissioners. Examination of the legal bills show over 100 emails back and forth between Silber, Sylvia and the law firm. Believing that those emails would cast light on how and why the legal costs got so out of hand, the commissioners decided to table consideration of payment of the rest of the bill until the emails are released at least to the full delegation, if not to the public.

The firm selected by Silber has now threatened to sue the Board of Commissioners if payment of the remaining $30,000 is not immediately made. The commissioners will consider the threat at their Aug. 1 meeting at the county complex in Laconia. There is a legal question, there are practical considerations and there is our fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers that all need to be taken into account.

The legal issue is simple and straightforward. Two statutes are relevant to the question of whether the commissioners are obligated to pay the $30,000. The starting point in answering this question is RSA 28:18 which is quite clear: "No claim for any services, fees or costs rendered or incurred in actions brought for or against the county shall be allowed unless they were authorized in writing by the county commissioners."

The law firm representing the delegation appears to argue that RSA 28:18 is displaced in the instant matter by RSA 24:13 II: "Notwithstanding any other laws to the contrary, the county convention of any county shall have the power to appropriate a contingency fund to meet the costs of unexpected expenses that may arise during the year...to be expended only upon approval by the executive committee of the county delegation."

It is a well-settled principle of statutory interpretation that if two statutes can be read as consistent with each other, that is the interpretation intended by the legislature. RSA 28:18 and RSA 24:13 II in fact appear to be consistent. In appropriating money for county operations in the 2021 budget, the delegation included an appropriation for "contingency" as expressly authorized in 24:13. Legal services cannot be engaged without the written approval of the county commissioners. If such legal fees are to be paid out of the contingency fund, as was the case here, such spending would require the written approval of the county commissioners as well as approval by the delegation's Executive Committee. It should be noted that neither statutory requirement for paying the legal bill in question out of the contingency fund has been met as to the money in question. And it should be further noted that no where in the statutes is any spending authority vested in the county delegation.

Based on applicable law and the need for transparency in the use of taxpayer money, I am currently inclined to vote no on the payment. However, I am also sensitive to not throwing good money after bad. Perhaps it would be better to pay rather than to fight for what is right, despite the bad precedent it will set. It is important to me, and I'm sure to the other two commissioners, that we know what you would have us do with your money. To that end, I would urge all of you who have an opinion on the issue to attend the Aug. 1 meeting and voice your position. After all, everyone involved in this matter is answerable to you.

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Hunter Taylor of Alton is a member of the Belknap County Board of Commissioners.