I believe the legal office should be accommodating to these types of requests because city hall
remains closed (unlike any other city hall in the state), the public cannot access these records at the
counter any longer and Ms. Kleiner's office redesign has made record retrieval difficult. Given
these extraordinary times, the legal office could accommodate this future request, but is choosing
not to. While Mr. Neumann is correct that RSA 91-A does not require the governmental body to
produce records not in their possession, the legal office is well aware that these documents are kept
(time sensitive March Ist deadline) and reported and the requested documents for 2020
abatement applications are clear and reasonably described public records. The attorneys are
justifying their salaries and complaining about workload by creating more unnecessary paperwork.
So, steps 1-13 have to be repeated for the 3 months to receive all the applications. This seems
totally absurd. While we hired a new RTK legal coordinator, we did not add legal clerks or staffing
and this position. It would not be surprising for the legal office to request more clerical support as
they spin up the paperwork and the required tracking to waste taxpayer dollars.
I am so disappointed that this is how a newly hired RTK legal coordinator is justifying his job on
the back of our tax dollars.
A simple request by you to just post the applications bi-weekly online is their original form will
eliminate all these costs and quickly put this time sensitive public information in the hands of those
interested in understanding how their government functions.
Laurie Ortolano
Al Berkeley Street.
Ms. Colquhoun's RTK request:
From: Laura Colquhoun <lauracolguhoun2(@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 18, 2020 at 10:35 AM
Subject: Information Needed
To: Brown, Louise <LouiseBQnashuanh.gov>
Louise,
Please provide electronic copies of 2020 abatement applications and supporting
documentation received by the city as of Friday December 18, 2020.
I would like weekly email copies of all 2020 abatements submitted to the Assessing
Department. I should not have to submit a weekly Right-to-know to obtain this data. I am not
required to submit biweekly RTK’s to receive the public information for the Board of Assessor
meetings and if the office were opened, I could review these applications upon walk-in.
Thank you for your assistance.
