Thomas A. Tardif

To the editor,

Belknap County’s Gunstock Area Resort, under the auspices of the Gunstock Area Commission, deserves public scrutiny. When dealing with government the typical methodology is follow the money. A glance of the County’s Independent Auditor’s Report reveled that the only financial record found for the operation of the area is cited under Components Unit. It gives instruction to write the Gunstock Board of Commissioners.

However, this is not what the Laws of 1959 Chapter 399:14 (e) states: The report of such audits shall be filed with the clerk of the Superior Court for Belknap County, and shall be open for public inspection. Guess What? No reports have been filed with the clerk of Superior Court since April 30, 2000.

Therefore, I attended my first Gunstock Area Commission meeting that takes place in a back room of the administration office, which is only accessible by climbing three flights of stairs. I ask the chairman for the “Reports on Internal Control and Financial Statements”. At the end of the meeting I was presented with a 6-inch binder to review with no offer of any copies. Apparently no extra copies are available for the public, a public comprised of 11 municipalities.

In any event the meeting was informative. Two subcommittees are cited in the agenda: The BCD Gunstock Committee and the Bridge Subcommittee. The minutes of these committees would be interesting as the bridge project, if funding is awarded, will require utilizing the Cash Reserves Funds to pay for the project pending reimbursement. The members of these subcommittees were not listed.

Old business consisted of two requests: A 70KW Generator and use of the lodge as a “Relocation Center”. No report or documents was offered as to the electrical load calculation used to determine the KW power requirements, generator cost of ancillary electrical equipment such as the transfer switch or impact on PSNH power grid when routine test disconnect the load from the power grid? When queried as to who would be relocated, the chairs response was Gunstock Acres.

What was most disconcerting was that there was no vote to approve voucher payment. With regards to county government, by law, all orders drawn by the county commissioners shall state briefly the nature of the claims for the payment of which they are drawn; and no order shall be paid by any treasurer unless it contains such statement. From what I have been able to discover is that all moneys received by the Gunstock Commission from the operation of the area, by borrowing or from the appropriations by the county convention, or from other sources, shall be turned over to the county treasurer, shall be kept in a separate fund, and shall be paid out of the same only upon order of the commission or its duly designated agent. If the commissioners are not involved, where are the checks and balances?

The commissions motioned to go into “non public session per RSA 91-A:2 Personnel.” The fact is RSA 91-A: 3, I (a) Public bodies shall not meet in nonpublic session, except for one of the purposes set out in paragraph II. A simple unanimous vote was taken. The law requires; the vote on any such motion shall be by roll call vote. Moreover, no vote to seal the minutes was taken more than likely because the secret meeting was in violation of the Right-to-Know law.

I encourage more taxpayers to attend these back room meetings. Ask yourself why this commission does not avail itself of the county complex meeting room which can accommodate all, including handicap, and has an assembly permit to boot.

The bottom line is, why should taxpayer have to write the Gunstock Commission to get a copy of the annual report or for that matter go through a metal detector to review Gunstock Area’s financial reports? The first “relocation’ should be that of the Gunstock Commission meeting to the Belknap County Complex where all county related meetings should be held and minutes kept.

Thomas A. Tardif

Laconia