The Rot at the Top of Gunstock. - Granite Grok

The Rot at the Top of Gunstock.

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Leadership in any organization starts at the top, but so does rot. The past so-called leadership of the Gunstock Area Commission (the “GAC”) exemplifies these principles.

For the past few years, the GAC has been under the purported leadership of Gary Kiedaisch, whether serving as its chair or vice-chair or in any other capacity. He volunteers that he has a lot of money, whether one asks him or not. His self-important pomposity apparently has no bounds, and his presence on the GAC is the obvious cause of its existing rot.

Example #1: When a vacancy occurs or is about to occur on the GAC, it is the duty of the leadership of the GAC to notify the County Convention (consisting of the 18 elected state representatives in Belknap County), post a notice of the vacancy and solicit applications from interested individuals. Only when those steps have been taken does the Convention start its work of evaluating the applicants and ultimately voting to fill the vacancy.

So, when Stephan Nix resigned from the GAC in early 2020, creating a vacancy, Rusty McLear was appointed by the Convention to fill the vacancy thereby created. But under the enabling laws for Gunstock, an individual selected to fill a vacancy on the GAC only serves until the normal expiration of the term of the individual whose place the new commissioner is taking. Since the Nix term would have expired on November 15, 2020, the McLear term expired then.

Yet, the GAC under Kiedaisch took no steps to advise the Convention of the upcoming vacancy and did not post a notice of the vacancy to solicit applications, nor were any formal lawful steps taken to fill the seat occupied by McLear. He was simply allowed by the GAC leadership to continue to purportedly function as a commissioner without lawful authority to do so. This would seemingly call into question the validity of any votes by the GAC during this period as to which McLear’s voted was required for passage.

In short, McLear is not now a valid commissioner of the GAC and has not been for well over a year.

Why has this been permitted to occur? Perhaps because of negligence or inattention to detail by Kiedaisch, or perhaps because McLear has effectively functioned as an acolyte of Kiedaisch?

Example #2: In recent weeks, Kiedaisch has apparently led the way in orchestrating personal attacks against, and vilification of, several elected state representatives in Belknap County who are members of the County Convention, which is empowered by state law with the power and authority to appoint or remove commissioners from the GAC, as well as attacks against two of the three individuals who submitted applications for appointment to fill a vacancy o the GAC.

After the Convention voted overwhelmingly to appoint Dr. David Strang to fill the vacancy on the GAC (on the first ballot garnering 53% of the votes), Kiedaisch had the unmitigated gall and nerve to claim that Strang was not legally a member of the GAC because he had not been sworn in at the next regular meeting of the GAC, which purported requirement appears in the GAC by-laws appearing on the GAC web site.

However, Kiedaisch conveniently overlooked that in the GAC meetings of January 29, 2020, & February 24, 2020, the GAC unanimously voted (with Kiedaisch voting with all other commissioners) to amend the by-laws to provide that a newly-appointed commissioner could be sworn in immediately after appointment, conforming to state law. He has yet to explain why the by-laws appearing on the GAC web site have not been corrected to show that amendment. But the bottom line is that he has knowingly lied about the legal status of newly-appointed commissioner Strang.

Example #3: The by-laws of the GAC appearing on its website contain as an exhibit the form of oath to be taken by newly-appointed commissioners. That form purports to require that the oath be taken before a notary public. But existing state law (RSA 92:5) expressly provides that the oath of a GAC commissioner is within the category of officials whose oaths must be administered before a justice of the peace, not a notary. Even Kiedaisch took his oath before a justice of the peace, but McLear took his now outdated oath before a notary, so it was a nullity. Commissioners Ness, Wood and Strang have all taken their oaths before a justice of the peace as required by our laws.

How to cure rot? Cut out the rotten wood and install new, solid wood in its place.

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