Marie Bradley: City transparency seems to depend on what the isssue is

To The Daily Sun,

I attended the April 27 city council meeting specifically for the public hearing concerning approving the Colonial Theatre contract between the city and Spectacle Entertainment.

Another agenda item that night was the dissolution of the council’s subcommittee, which interviews applicants for boards and commissions. Apparently, there was an alleged violation of the state’s 91-A law by two committee members regarding the appointment of an alternate and full member to the Planning Board. As someone who previously worked for two former city managers for 20-plus years and a recent library board interviewee, let me say the council gets a better idea of a candidate’s positions and intentions from being interviewed by the subcommittee instead of during a council meeting. After the mayor lost on his proposal to disband the interview subcommittee, in an exceptionally petulant and vindictive manner, he turned to Councilors Bob Soucy and Jon Hildreth, immediately removed them from the committee and replaced them with two others.

Councilors Soucy and Hildreth should request a legal opinion from the city attorney regarding the alleged violation of 91-A, as well as the mayor’s right to peremptorily remove them from their committee. The City Charter specifically states the mayor is a “ceremonial” position with “no right to vote except in the event of a tie vote.” There was no motion or vote to remove these councilors from their positions.

The Colonial/Spectacle contract public hearing was next. The council moved quickly to approve the contract even though several taxpayers asked for a delay of the vote. Taxpayers and city departments affected by this contract should have had more of their concerns heard. Taxpayers, did you know the city will pay Spectacle approximately $900,000 over the next five years? The mayor constantly talks about transparency, apparently that depends on what the issue is.

Marie Bradley

Laconia