Hunter Taylor: Delegation's legal bill approval from county commissioners is lacking

To The Daily Sun,

When it comes to decisions about how to spend taxpayer money, the Belknap County Delegation, and particularly its leadership, seems to have some very odd priorities. Instead of adequately funding the county nursing home and the Sheriff’s Office, the delegation has instead thrown its support, and taxpayer money, in a very questionable direction.

What does the delegation leadership consider a worthy cause, deserving of taxpayer funds? It is the legal battle with the Gunstock Area Commission, begun when Chair Mike Sylvia not only threatened to remove three Gunstock commissioners, but even raised the possibility of criminal action against them. The power grab against Gunstock by Sylvia, Norm Silber, Ray Howard, etc., is succeeding in the short term, but the people and the businesses of Belknap County will lose in the long run. To add insult to injury, we taxpayers are being asked to finance their legal vendetta, so far to the tune of $36,168 (the delegation's legal bill to date).

Although delegation Chair Sylvia is relying on one statute (RSA 24:13 II) to have this bill paid by the county as an "unanticipated expense", another equally applicable statute (RSA 28:18)  prohibits the payment of legal expenses "unless they were authorized in writing by the county commissioners". Under a longstanding principle of statutory interpretation, the legislature presumably intended for both statutes to apply. Consequently, the legal bill at issue here needed the approval of both a majority of the delegation and its Executive Committee and the county commissioners. That second approval is lacking.

The mess surrounding the delegation's legal bill is even more than just the failure to obtain county commissioner approval. The decision to engage counsel and the appropriation for this engagement was, according to delegation minutes dated Nov. 16, 2021, based on a "motion to retain legal counsel and pay for such expenses up to a maximum of $20,000 with regards to the Gunstock Area Commissioners." The bill in question is now almost double the appropriated amount. This in itself violates another statute; RSA 24:15 provides that no county elected officer “shall pay or agree to pay ... any sum of money ... in excess of any appropriation." RSA 24:15 speaks of removal from office as a possible consequence of its violation. The engagement letter which gives rise to the claim for the $36,168 in fees was addressed and sent via email to Rep. Silber and was signed off on by Rep. Sylvia as Chair of Convention. The letter nowhere mentions any maximum expenditure under the agreement; in other words, the delegation signed onto an open ended obligation, completely disregarding the maximum limit of the delegation's appropriation. 

The comments in this letter are purely my own, and not those of my fellow commissioners. For the reasons set forth in this letter, I expect to vote no on Chair Sylvia's request that the county pay the $36,000 legal bill. In my view, he is wrong on the law, and particularly wrong regarding the excess over $20,000. 

Hunter Taylor

Alton