Board of Aldermen 3-31-2020 Page 37
Alderman Klee
Thank you and | agree to doing this all virtual would be the best thing, but I’d like to hear from Attorney
Bolton as far as do we set ourselves up for any kind of litigation that says that anything that we do here can
be undone? Do you know what | am saying? If we don’t do certain types of things like allow the people
there, they say “the Right to Know”. | just want to make sure that nothing that we do during this timeframe
can be undone because they said we didn’t follow the rules? | mean I’ve seen, | thought | saw something
that stated how our meetings had to go, like public comment at the beginning. As long as we are not
violating anything.
Attorney Bolton
You have your own rules and procedures which as they are now, provides for public comment at the
beginning of the meeting and issues expected to be dealt with at the meeting and at the end of the meeting
on general issues. But that is your rule, that is not imposed on you. You can change that at any time you
wish to change and you can ignore them when you wish to ignore them frankly. Were you proceeding in
violation of your own rules, that’s the equivalent of a unanimous vote to dispense for that purpose? As |
said, there are certain things in your power that would require to hear from the public first at a public
hearing, so you have to follow the State Laws. You have to follow the State Laws about open meetings
and public’s right to observe what you do. Under current circumstances the Governor has made some
orders to be waived, sometimes waived with conditions, some of those open meeting requirements. But as
long as we adhere to those conditions, where they’ve been made, but the statutes that have not been
made, you should be alright as far as the proceedings overruled or undone or what have you. So when in
doubt follow the law, when in doubt on the law.
Alderman Klee
Thank you. You and | have had discussion about meetings that if we did this that the public has to have
the right to say, “I can’t see this meeting and therefore the meeting has to be ended”. Is that follow through
with this?
Attorney Bolton
Now one of those orders that | was referring to about the Governor was that the portion of RSA 91-A that
requires that meetings be physically open to the public, that is they take place at a location, that location is
identified in the Notice of the Meeting and the public cannot be physically excluded from coming to that
place and observing the meeting; seeing and hearing the meeting. The Governor waived that requirement,
you can close the meeting to the physical presence of the public if you make the audio available by
telephone simultaneous through the actual time of the meeting and you provide a separate means of
communication, another telephone number that would be monitored during the meeting and that other
telephone number would provide a way for a member of the public to call in and let it be known that that
audio was not in fact being made available, that that person was not able to hear it when he called into the
number to hear the telephone broadcast of the meeting. That requires telephone, television doesn’t count,
computer video doesn’t count. You can do that too, but if you are going to exclude physical presence of the
public, you have to have a telephone audio simultaneous presentation available with a separate means of
communication by the public if that audio presentation fails. (inaudible) presentation by telephone fails, you
have to discontinue the meeting. (inaudible) Tonight happens to be no one here, but we did not exclude
anyone from coming.
Alderwoman Lu
Could | please just ...
