Graham, Donna
From: Laurie Ortolano <laurieortolano@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2021 6:07 PM
To: Board of Aldermen
Ce: Board of Assessors; Kleiner, Kimberly; Griffin, John; McKinney, William; Jim Tollner;
Cummings, Tim; Vincent, Richard; Fauteux, Lisa; Mayor's Office Email; Fredette, David;
Marchant, Sarah; Miseirvitch, Nick; Matt Plante; Nick Dahl; Graham, Donna; CD-
Planning Dept; Trask, Nancy; Deshaies, Jennifer
Subject: Letter for the Board of Aldermen Packet
Attachments: RTK response TEMPLATE.docx; RTK tracker template.xlsx; Redaction Blurbs.docx;
Pertinent Sections of 91-A.pdf; RTK response TEMPLATE with comments.docx; Excel
Tracker Tutorials.pdf
CAUTION: This email came from outside of the organization. Do not click links/open attachments if source is
unknown.
Donna, Can you make this letter part of the Next Board of Aldermen Packet.
The Nashua Legal Office - Case Study for the Abuse of the Attorney Client Privilege Exemption.
In June, | learned that the City legai office conducted Right-to-Know training for interested City
employees. Learning about this during a deposition for my Right-to-Know lawsuit, my Attorney
asked City Attorney Bolton to provide the training material. Attorney Bolton, provided no
explanation and never provided the city training material.
On June 30, 2021, a citizen filed a RTK to request for this training material. On July 7, 2021, City
Attorney Neumann denied the request under exemption RSA-91A:5,IV — confidential attorney-
client communications and work product.
The legal office considered materials to train employees on the law of open public records a
secret. So much for transparency. The RSA 91-A has been a hotly contested and a costly issue in
Nashua; public interest is high. One would think the Mayor would want to showcase that the City
is training employees to understand the law and respond in a lawful manner. After all, the City
had lost some recent RTK court cases.
| spoke with Aldermen June Carron in July and asked her to look into this matter and to please
consider activating the City Municipal Records Committee. She provided no follow-up.
On July 5, 2021, | wrote to Attorney Bolton and asked if the training materials could be placed in
the clerk’s office so | could inspect the records in City Hall. | filed a pro se RTK lawsuit and wanted
to see this training material. Attorney Bolton fired back to my attorney claiming my attorney had
the material (he did not) and that “if Ms. Ortolano appears at my office on Wednesday or any day
