Norm Silber: Gunstock Area Commission wasting taxpayer assets

To The Daily Sun,

This is the story of how the Gunstock Area Commission and its “leadership” wasted over $100,000 of taxpayer assets.

On Nov. 11 of last year, the GAC had a law firm based in Manchester file a lawsuit in Belknap Superior Court against the Belknap County Convention, which is also known as the Belknap County Delegation, consisting of all 18 elected state representatives in the county. Although the suit was brought in the name of the GAC, it actually sought injunctive relief for the benefit of three individuals who were described as commissioners of the GAC, namely Gary Kiedaisch, Brian Gallagher, and Rusty McLear. That suit sought to enjoin the Convention from ousting the three individuals from the GAC.

There has been no explanation of why the suit was brought in the name of the GAC rather than in the name of any or all of the three commissioners involved in the matter. Of course, if it had been brought in the name of the individuals, presumably they would have had to pay their own legal expenses for the suit.

The enabling law that established the GAC in 1959 expressly provides that the Convention has the power to remove commissioners from the GAC.

After the suit was filed, the Superior Court denied, without holding a hearing, the request for a temporary restraining order against the Convention, and later, after an extensive hearing, denied the request for a preliminary injunction, stating in its order, in part, that . . . ”it appears that the Plaintiff-Commission now seeks to preliminarily enjoin the Defendant­-Convention from removing the subject Commissioners, despite their statutory authority to do so . . .”

In recent weeks after the resignation of Commissioner Gallagher, and the appointment of a replacement commissioner to serve out the balance of his term, a majority of the GAC, including the newly appointed commissioner, voted to terminate the lawsuit. But that has apparently not yet been done by the counsel for the GAC in the suit.

It has now been disclosed that the GAC has paid their counsel for work on that suit the sum of $94,150.62 through the bill paid in January of this year, which presumably covers through the month of December 2021, but does not include any charges incurred this year.

Aside from those sums having been paid out, the suit against the Convention necessitated that the Convention obtain its own counsel to defend it, and that counsel must be paid with county funds.

Gunstock is a county-owned property, so every taxpayer in the county has a vested interest in its operations and finances. So, how do the taxpayers feel about having over $100,000 of their assets being wasted in a fruitless exercise that simply sought to protect the status of three individuals?

Norm Silber

Gilford