Well, I’m not letting the speed of return responses from my Right To Know requests get the better of me yet although I AM pleased that they aren’t being slow rolled. To recap, what I asked for:
-
- Revenues to date for this fiscal year (GL account line item for the last budget process: 01-3404-917)
- Fees paid by Town residents for any materials brought to the Recycling Center by type of fee
- Payments by other entities by type of payments
- The following expenses for this fiscal year (last budget season’s GL Account line items):
- 01-4324-101 SW – Full Time Wages
- 01-4324-102 SW – Part Time Wages
- 01-4324-103 SW – Overtime
- 01-4324-104 SW – Holiday Pay
- 01-4324-107 SW – Accrual Payout
- 01-4324-109 SW – Merit Wages
- 01-4324-121 SW – Social Security
- 01-4324-122 SW – Medicare
- 01-4324-125 SW – Retirement
- 01-4324-131 SW – Health Insurance
- 01-4324-132 SW – Dental Insurance
- 01-4324-133 SW – Life & Disability Insurance
- 01-4324-241 SW – Professional Development
- 01-4324-321 SW – General Supplies
- 01-4324-325 SW – Transfer Station Coupons
- 01-4324-331 SW – Uniforms
- 01-4324-363 SW – Hazardous Waste Day
- 01-4324-421 SW- Vehicle Maintenance Expenses
- 01-4324-451 SW – New Equipment
- 01-4324-511 SW – Telephone
- 01-4324-512 SW – Electricity
- 01-4324-515 SW – Tipping Fees & Transportation
- 01-4324-518 SW – Recycling Expenses
- 01-4324-532 SW – Recycling Center Impro
- Revenues to date for this fiscal year (GL account line item for the last budget process: 01-3404-917)
If any of the above GL account items have been superseded or deleted, provide the new/updated GL accounts.
Note that I asked for THIS Fiscal Year as I have the budgets already from previous years. Plus a bit more but that’s that’s most of it. So on Friday, Scott Dunn responded (emphasis mine):
From: “Scott Dunn” <sdunn@gilfordnh.org>
To: “Skip Murphy” <skip@granitegrok.com>
Sent: 6/25/2020 9:16:22 AM
Subject: FW: RSA 91-A Demand – Expenses and Revenues, year to dateDear Mr. Murphy,
I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your demand for certain public documents.
Please be advised there is no building or structure owned by the Town of Gilford known as the Scott Dunn Monument to Economic Illiteracy.
Amusing or sarcasm? I’ll take it as the former!
Attached is a budget worksheet that shows all line item expenses and revenues for the Town for the period 2013-2019.
Yeah, this is 2020. So “chaff” has been sent as I am certainly not interested in 2013 and the like.
For information concerning the official records of the Board of Selectmen as they pertain to the Recycle Center, you will find minutes and video recordings of the Selectmen’s meetings available on the Town website. Minutes are also kept on file in the Town Clerk’s Office. If researching the minutes on line is not convenient for you, you are welcome to visit the Town Clerk’s Office to inspect all of the minutes available in search of the information you are seeking.
The Town website also includes all monthly financial reports that have year-to-date expenses and revenues as you have requested for the Solid Waste charts of accounts (and all other municipal expenditures as well). The most recent report available on the website is dated June 15, 2020. The website also includes all bi-monthly accounts payable manifests going back to 2011 that should provide you with the information you have demanded concerning payments to vendors. If you would like to obtain a copy of a specific invoice, let me know the name of the vendor and invoice date or amount paid after you have an opportunity to review the manifests.
OK, so Dunn is letting me know that there are “responsive records” – information that the town has on the Solid Waste budget and must be delivered. Notice even more “chaff” is going to be sent – unasked for information (the “and all other municipal expenditures as well” bit). I really could care less – I HAVE all that information up to last year’s budget season. Well, if he wants to knock himself out, who am I to deny that?
However, perhaps I erred on the “amusing or sarcasm” part above. He knows that I have always asked for spreadsheets – all those years budget numbers in a PDF. Which means he sent it in a format that is just about unusable because all of the GL line items and descriptions are on the left margins on the first 20 pages with the amounts for 2013-2015, but the information for THIS year starts on page 37 and proceeding to page 54. Like that old plane, fog, and Microsoft tower joke, technically correct but unusable. But that’s ok – it was just the approved budget.
FY2020 BOS Final BudgetNot the actuals year to date that I asked for.
So with this email and that PDF, he:
- Hasn’t returned with any “responsive records” even though I know they exist (how else would you run a town budget)
- Sent information that had the appearance of but not the important of said “responsive records”.
He’s stalling because this information is right at his finger tips either in that monstrosity of an EXCEL spreadsheet that I know he keeps or in the actual accounting system that the town pays for every year.
Lastly, with regards to your demand for communications, I estimate it will take approximately 2 weeks for me to compile this information. I will let you know when this information is available and the fees that may be involved.
Regards,
Scott J. Dunn, Town Administrator
Town of Gilford
47 Cherry Valley Road
Gilford, NH 023249
603-527-4706
Now that I’m writing this, I see he is flooding my inbox with emails. This will be interesting to see what it is: Letter of the Law (the PDF already sent) or the Spirit of the Law