The BudComm’s Public Hearing for both the Town and the School District budgets was last Thursday and that’s when the BudComm is officially done with its duties within NH’s SB2 governance model. The next step will be the two Deliberative Sessions: the First Session is when the Legislative Body (the town’s voters) get to ask questions about the budgets and pretty much anything else what is going to be on the ballot like the various Town / School Board warrant articles as well as Citizen sponsored petition warrants. The budgets may have no controversy at all and everyone goes home early but I’m betting there will be at leas two warrants that will have folks jumping up and down to go to the mics (so maybe not so early).
The Second Session, held about a month later will be when we actually vote on the budgets as they stand after the First Session at the ballot box. This is not a big deal. However…
It turns out there were two petition warrants that were not available to the BudComm when we last met:
- Two outside entities came with hands outstretched seeking what I used to call “charitable donations”. Nope, not like the Salvation Bellringers who ring their bells saying Merry Christmas and God Bless when individual people pull a bill or so out of their pockets and voluntarily put their donation into the pot. More on them later (it’s an annual thing with me).
- The other was a Citizen petition looking to move the Second Session a few weeks out for the benefit of the infirm, elderly, and snowbirds (e.g., fly to Florida for the chilling winter season).
Both have to do with appropriations and the Budget Committee must, according to State RSA/statutes, vote to either recommend / not recommend. The vote was split 1 and 1 to Not Recommend.
Before the meeting started, however, and upon noticing them, I went to the BudComm Chair, Sean Murphy (of “micromanagement” fame) and simply asked “Hey, Sean, can we (the BudComm) vote on these FIRST because once you go over the Town budget (followed by the School budget), most of the audience is going to get up and leave. I realized that the outside agency and move-the-date warrants would generate some controversy and they should be heard by the most number of people.
Hmmm…that went well. Not.
He passed by me a few minutes later and I asked “are you moving them up to the top of the Agenda”? He said no and then he said something that really concerned me because it is epidemic here in NH for those that don’t understand the Powers set for them (e.g., just like the Founders that believed each of the three branches of Government would “jealously guard” said Powers):
“I can’t – the Town Administrator said they had to go last”
WHAT!!!!??? In this decision, Sean Murphy decided that the Budget Committee was subservient to Scott Dunn, the Town Administrator? Go ahead Sean, show me where in the RSAs where it says that ANY of the elected committee or boards report to an employee of the town? Heck, I may go back and ask Dunn where it says so as well.
I just stared at Murphy and he knew it. Folks, SB2 elected BudComms are independent of any of the Town selectmen or School Board members. They are ABSOLUTELY outside the purview of any municipality or school district employee. Sure, we can ask for information and, from time to time, advice and “what ifs” questions. However, TOO MANY regular folks, elected to such boards and committees, believe they are supposed to obey what they are told by somebody with a title as to how they are to act or conduct their business.
NONSENSE! We may ask for said advice and ask informational questions but our DUTY is to decide things ourselves. That responsibility is not given to others to make for us – the “go along to get along” is a most dangerous phrase and outlook. Why?
Now, in the large vision, was this one incident a problem? No, not when its a singular event. However, if it happens, even in small ways, over and over, you end up with a “captured” board or committee; in effect, it decides to lose it independence, oversight, and Powers. And when that happens, what good is it other than to do the will of that person with a title or the wills of who is pushing their buttons? If you are complicit with this subtle process, who are you serving? Your board? Your Committee? How about your constituents that elected you to DO YOUR JOB (as opposed to being told how to do your job)?
No, none of those questions would be answered in the affirmative. You end up being merely a puppet to some Rasputin – and that is not doing your job.
Me? I would have put the warrants first. If there was any attempt to twist my arm to vary the agenda (barring some emergency), I would have told them to go pound sand.
After all, who serves whom? Do the townfolk serve their employees? As Doug and I used to say a lot, if it is happening here, it is probably happening in your place, too. Do YOU serve your elected officials and the employees they oversee in your town?
I’d be happy to hear from you in the comments and I’ll have more to say on this later in a later Tales from the BudComm.
