The Four Selectman of the 23 Million Dollar Salem Safety Apocycomplex - Granite Grok

The Four Selectman of the 23 Million Dollar Salem Safety Apocycomplex

salemNHsignsmTo what lengths will four selectman in Salem, New Hampshire go to get what they want?

What they want is to take $23,000,000.00 ($23  million dollars) and turn it into the Salem Taj Mahal and safety complex.  There is one dissenting selectman who is concerned about the process, the cost, the lack of enough open debate, and the refusal to seriously consider cheaper alternatives….

As has become the habit of local boards of late debate becomes a one-sided affair and the rules are changed to protect the people from dissenting voices.  But! have the  Salem Mahalists, the Taj-a-goo goo’s if you like, done something in their zeal in violation of the law?

There are flyers available to the public in at least two town buildings we know of, the Town Hall and the Kelley Library.

Problems?

The flyers have the town seal on them.

The flyers support the public safety complex.

This constitutes advocacy for a measure by the town.

So…

How did these flyers come to be?

Who and how many people designed them and decided what points to put on them?

Are they employed or elected to serve the town?

Who paid for them?  Private money?  Public money?

Where were they printed and by whom?

Who authorized use of the town seal or letterhead?

Who distributed, posted, or mad them available on town property?

Were any other public employees, public materials, or public equipment used to create or distribute them?

And where was the unauthorized secret meeting held when all these things were decided, by whomever decided them (most likely) – out of the view of the public.  And that would be against the law.

91-A:2-a Communications Outside Meetings. –
I. Unless exempted from the definition of “meeting” under RSA 91-A:2, I, public bodies shall deliberate on matters over which they have supervision, control, jurisdiction, or advisory power only in meetings held pursuant to and in compliance with the provisions of RSA 91-A:2, II or III.
II. Communications outside a meeting, including, but not limited to, sequential communications among members of a public body, shall not be used to circumvent the spirit and purpose of this chapter as expressed in RSA 91-A:1.

Source. 2008, 303:4, eff. July 1, 2008.

91-A:2 Meetings Open to Public. –
I. For the purpose of this chapter, a “meeting” means the convening of a quorum of the membership of a public body, as defined in RSA 91-A:1-a, VI, or the majority of the members of such public body if the rules of that body define “quorum” as more than a majority of its members, whether in person, by means of telephone or electronic communication, or in any other manner such that all participating members are able to communicate with each other contemporaneously, subject to the provisions set forth in RSA 91-A:2, III, for the purpose of discussing or acting upon a matter or matters over which the public body has supervision, control, jurisdiction, or advisory power. A chance, social, or other encounter not convened for the purpose of discussing or acting upon such matters shall not constitute a meeting if no decisions are made regarding such matters.

There is a flyer, with a town seal.  Decisions were made.

So, if the four Selectman of the 23 Million Dollar Salem Safety Apocycomplex got together or, say, several selectman and a Town Manager got together to plan, design, organize, and deliberately deploy a piece of political–I’ll call it propaganda–with the town seal-of-approval to persuade voters to cast in favor of a $23 million dollar ballot question, and then made it available on public property….

Did they break the law?

Could it be compelled speech?  Does it violate 91A?

We know we have a violation of the Boards own prohibition against political material on public property but how many state laws, rules, regulations, provisos, and so on did they violate along the way?

Did anyone ask the town lawyer about any of this stuff, seeing as the 23 Million Dollar Salem Safety Apocycomplex advocates may have just exposed the town and the taxpayers to some serious consequences over these actions?

I know, I’m asking a lot of question, but guess what!?  I believe there is a Board of Selectman meeting tonight in Salem.  Maybe someone else can ask these same questions?

Anybody want to lay odds on whether someone gets answers?

Anybody want to lay odds on whether someone gets arrested at that meeting while looking for answers?

Stay tuned-more to follow…

 

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