Gregg Hough: Services duplication is just one problem with city’s HRC

To The Daily Sun,

Municipal government exists for essential purposes: public safety, infrastructure, fiscal stewardship, land use regulation, and delivery of services taxpayers rely upon. Committees should support these core functions, not expand government into subjective or duplicative territory. This is the central issue surrounding the Human Relations Committee.

Human relations activities like dialogue, cultural awareness, advocacy are worthy goals, but they are already performed by nonprofits, schools, churches, and civic organizations without requiring taxpayer funding or municipal oversight. When a city formalizes these functions into a standing committee, it consumes administrative time, legal compliance resources, and public meeting bandwidth while producing outcomes that private organizations can achieve independently.

Tension was on full display at the most recent City Council meeting. As residents submitted a petition signed by more than 100 taxpayers requesting action on the HRC be postponed until the newly elected council and mayor are seated, the council had yet to consider community input, when Councilor Anthony Felch moved to call the question, a procedural action that immediately cuts off debate. His motion effectively prevented consideration of the petition’s request, silenced the public testimony, and denied the council the opportunity to weigh the concerns of those opposing further advancement of the HRC as a standing committee.

This incident illustrates a deeper flaw: when the government creates committees with subjective mandates, decision-making becomes more political than practical. Instead of focusing on measurable municipal duties policing, roads, taxation, housing the city becomes embroiled in ideological disputes that private civic organizations are better equipped to handle.

The solution is not to eliminate human relations efforts, but to return them to where they naturally belong in community groups free from political procedure, parliamentary maneuvering, and government entanglements. Doing so strengthens civic participation while refocusing city government on the core responsibilities residents expect it to fulfill.

Gregg Hough

Laconia