Laurie Ortolano
41 Berkeley St
Nashua, NH 03064
603-930-2853
computer but that the 2021 year had not yet been done. Mr. Vincent, with hesitation, did state that he
conveyed this information to Attorney Neumann. | explained to Mr. Vincent that Attorney Neumann's
response was misleading and violated Part |, Article 8 of the NH Constitution. | explained to Mr. Vincent
that he carries a responsibility to be sure that the written responses are accurate and forthright.
Part |, Article 8 of the New Hampshire Constitution provides that:
All power residing originally in, and being derived from, the people, all the magistrates and officers
of government are their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them. Government,
therefore, should be open, accessible, accountable and responsive. To that end, the public's right
of access to governmental proceedings and records shall not be unreasonably restricted
Chief Vincent should be performing his duties in a manner expected of a 25 year assessing veteran. He
should call or email Ms. Colquhoun with the format of this existing document. Mrs. Colquhoun would have
simply requested a copy of the 2020 sheet and the matter would be closed. But instead, both Chief Vincent
and Attorney Neumann enacts the narrowest possible interpretation of the request and deny it outright.
This is clearly not the intent of RSA 91-A or Part | Article 8 of the New Hampshire Constitution.
To the requester, Attorney Neumann’s original denial was clear that no document existed in the assessing
office in the form of a PILOT spreadsheet. But once Ms. Colquhoun clarified this with the fired clerk and an
iterative process, the problem with the request was with the date. Please note, there is no information in the
assessing manual or any internal policy that describes the process for updating the PILOTS and the date
for such updates. The year is 2021, so itis reasonable to believe that your average citizen would believe
that a 2021 document exists.
Nashua City Hall presently has very restricted access and is requiring appointments for most visits. Unlike
other City Halls in the state, citizens are not able access city hall freely and query employees about
information they are seeking. This situation should make our government more receptive to clarifying
requests rather than more restrictive.
Chief Vincent tried to explain that he had nothing to do with the legal write-up. | disagree. Attorney
Neumann is capturing Mr. Vincent's search of the documents and findings into a letter that represents both
him and the work of his office. If the information is not forthright or in any way misleading, Mr. Vincent
should be correcting the response because it represents the work of his department and his name.
The following example of the cockamamie practices the legal and assessing office are taking in addressing
information requests ties into the response Mrs. Colquhoun received.
In September 2020, | submitted a Right-To-Know request to obtain the name of the consultant assigned to
my 2019 abatement.
“provide me with the invoice and payment for the consultant who worked on my 2019 abatement.”
