Doreen Richards: Council needs to explain why the change in board appt

To The Daily Sun,

Laconia residents deserve a clear, public explanation from the council about why a unanimous recommendation for my appointment as a regular member of the Planning Board was later changed. This is about whether the city honors its own processes, votes, written communications, and potential conflicts when spouses sit on related land‑use boards as residents step forward to serve.

On March 20, the Appointments Subcommittee voted unanimously to recommend me as a regular member of the Planning Board, Bruce Cheney as an alternate, and his spouse, Debra Cheney, as a regular member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. I was informed on March 23, by the City Manager’s Office, that my regular appointment would be recommended to the full council on April 13, which reasonably signaled that the city had made a decision it intended to stand behind.

Yet on March 31, I received a phone call from Councilor Jon Hildreth advising that the plan had changed: despite the unanimous vote and written notice, I would now be recommended only as an alternate, and Bob Cheney would be elevated to the regular member seat. The justification — that it would be a “slap in the face” to Mr. Cheney not to recognize his past service as a councilor and police chief — suggests that perceived obligations to a well‑connected former official may be overriding a transparent process that other applicants rely on in good faith.

This letter is not about disparaging any individual’s service, but about insisting that appointments be made in a manner that is transparent, consistent, and free from even the appearance of political favoritism. Laconia can and should hold itself to a higher ethical standard in which public votes, written notices, and stated qualifications are honored, and all applicants are treated with equal fairness and respect.

Doreen Richards

Laconia