This is the story of how the Gunstock Area Commission (the “GAC”) and its so-called “leadership” wasted over $100,000 of taxpayer assets.
On November 11 of last year, the GAC had a large law firm based in Manchester file a lawsuit in Belknap Superior Court against the Belknap County Convention, which is also known as the Belknap County Delegation, consisting of all 18 elected state representatives in the county.
Although the suit was brought in the name of the GAC, it actually sought injunctive relief solely for the benefit of 3 individuals who were described as commissioners of the GAC, namely Gary Kiedaisch, Brian Gallagher, and Rusty McLear. That suit sought to enjoin the Convention from removing the three individuals from the GAC, so rather than seeking some sort of protection of the GAC itself, it was simply seeking to preserve the status of the three individuals in question, who should have brought any such suit in their own names and on their own dimes.
There has been no explanation of why the suit was brought in the name of the GAC rather than in the name of any or all of the 3 commissioners involved in the matter. Of course, if it had been brought in the name of the individuals, presumably they would have had to pay their own legal expenses for the suit.
The enabling law that established the GAC in 1959 expressly provides that the Convention has the power to appoint and remove commissioners from the GAC.
After the suit was filed, the Superior Court denied, without even holding a hearing, the request for a temporary restraining order against the Convention, and later, after an extensive hearing, denied the request for a preliminary injunction, stating in its order, in part, that . . .” it appears that the Plaintiff-Commission now seeks to preliminarily enjoin the Defendant¬Convention from removing the subject Commissioners, despite their statutory authority to do so . . ..”.[emphasis added]
In recent weeks, after the resignation of Commissioner Gallagher, and the appointment of a replacement commissioner to serve out the balance of his term, a majority of the GAC commissioners, including the newly appointed commissioner, voted to terminate the lawsuit. But that has apparently not yet been done by the counsel for the GAC in the suit. So, presumably, the legal “meter” of charges for legal expenses is still running.
It has now been disclosed that the GAC has paid its counsel for work on that suit the sum of $94,150.62 through the bill paid in January of this year, which presumably covers through the month of December of 2021, but does not include any charges incurred this year.
Aside from those sums having been paid and to be paid by the GAC, the suit against the Convention necessitated that the Convention obtain its own counsel to defend it, and that counsel must be paid with county funds.
Gunstock is a county-owned property, so every taxpayer in the county has a vested interest in its operations and finances. How do the taxpayers feel about having over $100,000 of their assets being wasted in a fruitless exercise that simply sought to protect the status of 3 individuals in the face of clear language in the enabling law that authorizes the Convention to remove GAC commissioners?
For those who have asserted that it is not taxpayer money that has been spent on legal fees, the natural question that arises is: if not the money of the taxpayers of the county, whose money was being spent? Gunstock’s money is money belonging to the taxpayers of Belknap County, plain and simple.
