Laurie Ortolano
41 Berkeley St
Nashua, NH 03064
603-930-2853
Director James Gerry
Department of Revenue Administration
109 Pleasant St.
Concord, NH 03301
Cc Commissioner Lindsey Stepp, Attorney Peter Roth, Nashua Chief Rick Vincent, Attorney Jesse
Neumann, Attorney Rick Lehmann
March 27, 2021
Dear Director Gerry,
| am writing to address concerns that our New Assessing Chief, Mr. Rick Vincent is not performing his
duties when responding to information requests as specified by Asb regulations and DRA guidance to
provide assessing information to the public. Code of Ethics Standard of Professional Conduct ER 1-4
states:
“It is unethical for DRA certified Personnel to refuse (by intent or omission) to make available all
public records in their custody for public review...Assessing officers must make every reasonable
effort to inform the public about their rights and responsibilities under the law and the property tax
system.”
The responses to public requests written by Attorney Neumann, Right-to-Know coordinator of the Nashua
Legal Office, are deceiving and misrepresenting the searches done by the Assessing staff and the
Assessing Chief. Mr. Vincent is either not seeing the responses until they are released or not correcting the
misinformation thereby hindering the publics’ right to an open, transparent and responsive assessing office.
| have written a number of times, in PA-71’s and general communications, that the City is usurping the
Assessors ability to respond to public questions and requests.
We are trying to turn around a contentious situation here in Nashua and this will not happen if the
Assessing Chief and his staff allow Attorney Neumann to misrepresent the searches for documents thereby
restricting access to open public records. We will vocally respond fo this as we simply cannot tolerate the
same pattern of behavior that we have been dealing with for over two years now.
As you are aware, Ms. Colquhoun has been actively seeking assessing information. My concerns with the
responses from Attorney Neumann on behalf of Mr. Vincent are illustrated with a specific event regarding
an information request from Mrs. Colquhoun,
Ms. Colquhoun began studying PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) properties as the Mayor has been
proposing these initiatives in Board of Aldermen meetings.
On March 8, 2021, Mrs. Colquhoun submitted a Right-to-Know request to Mr. Vincent that read,
