Thomas Tardif: Up to public officials to familiarize with Right to Know law

To The Daily Sun,

It appears the Belknap County Delegation’s brouhaha is over. Their habitude of illegal meetings over the years, “failure to notices meetings, most recently the emergency meeting of Aug. 1, 2022," now water over the dam. The question is, is it?

The complaint was founded on RSA24:9-d, seven days' notice before the meeting, “insufficient notice,” which was dismissed. However, both the petitioners and court overlooked the historical delegation's habit of failing to notice its meetings, per RSA91-A. In fact, a previous delegation was compelled to take Right to Know remedial training of RSA 91-A. The New Hampshire attorney general’s March 20, 2015, memorandum on New Hampshire’s Right to Know (pages 11 and 15) strongly recommends that all public officials learn their responsibilities under the Right to Know law.

Specifically, an emergency shall mean a situation where immediate action is deemed to be imperative by the chairman or presiding officer of the public body, who shall make a diligent effort to post a notice of the time and place of such meeting as soon as practicable, and shall employ whatever further means are reasonably available to inform the public that a meeting is to be held. The minutes of the meeting shall clearly spell out the need for the emergency meeting is being overlooked; in fact the minutes of the Aug. 1 meeting does not spell out the need for the emergency meeting per RSA9-1A:2, therefore is ripe for litigation or the delegation voluntarily seeks remedial training. Belknap County has the only taxpayers who have interest in attending the emergency meeting associated with operation of Gunstock Mountain Resort. Let’s hope the pending election will result in a delegation with the wisdom to motion that the majority download for free the Attorney General’s memorandum on the Right to Know.

Thomas Tardif

Laconia