Board of Aldermen Page 4
August 9, 2016
Attorney Bolton
| don’t think that the communication from Alderman Cookson to President McCarthy violated the right-to-
know law. | would however caution you that there is at least one Superior Court judge who would think
that it does. There was a case out of Strafford County where this judges opine was that a single e-mail
from one member of a public body copies to all of the other members of that body was a violation of the
statute. My understanding is that is going to be appealed if it hasn’t already been, to the Supreme Court
and there are many municipal lawyers are eagerly waiting for further guidance on that. | think it would be
crystal clear if it was a direct communication from one Alderman to another or the President of the Board if
the other members were not copied. Certainly when it starts getting into two or three more members
voicing an opinion through e-mail to which the rest are copied then we certainly run into problems. My
office is in the process of preparing some advice on this, for not only this Board, but the other Boards and
Committees in city government and that should be forthcoming sometime later this month. We will do our
best to provide further guidance in that regard.
Alderman Cookson
Regardless, my action this evening covers us in any instance, whether it is the one opinion of the one
Supreme Court Justice or whether it is not a violation of the right-to-know law. By putting this out in the
public you will see the dialogue that took place.
MOTION CARRIED
PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT RELATIVE TO ITEMS EXPECTED TO BE ACTED
UPON THIS EVENING
Ms. Paula Johnson, 15 Westborn Drive
I’d like to pass down to the President a petition. | didn’t do a lot of work on it but its names regarding the
David W. Deane Skateboard Park. First of all, | think the right-to-know law was broken in this. | had a
little conversation with Attorney Clark. First of all, let’s talk about transparency which there was obviously
none when it came to these meetings. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information
for citizens about what their government is doing. Well, the area around Stellos, the neighborhood there;
we did not know anything that was going on because we are not direct abutters. The city is a direct
abutter. | went to 505 West Hollis Street and they didn’t know. | went to the Pratt Homes and they didn’t
know. Mayor, you were going to be the transparent Mayor after everything you said about our previous
Mayor. Information maintained by government is a national and city asset. We have to have
transparency. | have to ask if there was coercion and is this a rigged system? My answer to this is
absolutely because you kept the citizens out in the dark that live in that particular neighborhood and the
surrounding area on West Hollis Street. Some people say that there is no problem on West Hollis Street
but we all know that there is. When you get off of the highway at Exit 5W and from the highway all the
way down to Ledgewood Hills you are stuck in traffic and there is a bad intersection there and
supposedly it was fixed but it's worse now. Since there are no minutes to this meeting the last time there
were minutes, which | got from Assistant Corporation Counsel Dory Clark, the last time there were any
minutes to these meetings were from August of 2013. What happened to the last three years in that
there were numerous meetings because Alderman Deane talked about them? When Alderman LeBrun
asked if there were minutes to the meetings he said no, | don’t believe so. That’s a violation of the right-
to-know law. The question is since this committee was formed by the previous Mayor, there were
meeting minutes at one time but there’s none.
I’m going to discuss a few things that happened at the Infrastructure Committee meeting. Back in 2003;
we are going to talk about code of conduct again which was written by Alderman Deane. Members of
the public attending or participating at meetings and hearings shall be treated with respect and courtesy
in accordance with this section. Isn’t that great because let’s fast forward here; New Hampshire courts
