Stubborn, he is – Tom Day, General Manager / President of the Gunstock Mountain Resort (“GMR”). He had decided to refuse to turn over the Governmental Record known as the GMR fiscal budget claiming that it was proprietary and confidential even after I had shown the Gunstock Area Commission (“GAC”) that a previous GMR budget had been “put out into the wild” a few years ago when GMR was on its knees looking for money from the Belknap County Commission (bad years). Fine then but he refused to Follow The Law and I took it to the GAC.
The GAC finally voted, after taking time to look into the “proprietary” and “confidential” on the part of a Government Agency (whose majority product is snow), to have Mr. Day release it to me. I’m still looking into it. As well as RTK’d emails and going over the various Meeting Minutes of the GAC to see if there were any nuggets to be found.
There was!
“Rep. Bordes asked for the average cost per skier. Tom said that they have that number, but it is not something they want to share in a public forum due to competition.”
…the answer was no, again, from Mr. Day. All I can think of for a reason for this is that Mr. Day (and the others) have it in their heads that GMR is a business that happens to be a subdivision of the State (of NH). It’s not; it is part and parcel of Belknap County and is owned, not by the GAC, but by the residents of Belknap County. It can’t be any clearer than that – it isn’t a business. That isn’t to say that it can’t use best-of-business practices in doing its work but, as I have said, when it comes down to it, it is a department of Belknap County like the County Jail and the County Nursing Home.
So, I made it clear and just put in a new Right To Know to make that Governmental Record public:
Pursuant to the Right to Know Law (RSA. 91-A:4 (I) ), I am demanding access, within 5 business days, to the below enumerated governmental records Otherwise, if this cannot be fulfilled with the mandated 5 business day window per RSA 91-A, please advise when the Responsive Records will be made available.
This demand applies to Gunstock Mountain Resort, Gunstock Ski Area, Gunstock Area Commission, or other such allied entities (“Gunstock”).
The approved Gunstock Area Commission Meeting held on January 19, 2022 at the Gilford Library (Gilford, NH) has the following:
“Rep. Bordes asked for the average cost per skier. Tom said that they have that number, but it is not something they want to share in a public forum due to competition.”
Thus, with that remark, Mr. Day revealed the existence of a government record which IS a public record and subject to RSA 91-A. Thus, this Right To Know is demanding that Gunstock supply the following information:
- The average cost per skier for both last year and the current season just completed
- The average revenue per skier for both last year and the current season just completed
- If Gunstock Mountain Resort has broken out the various categories for either/both #1 and #2, this Right To Know is also asking for those breakouts.
Per RSA 91-A:4 IV(c) If you deny any portion of this request, please cite the specific exemption used to justify the denial to make each record, or part thereof, available for inspection along with a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the information withheld.
As you are aware, in 2016, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that a governmental body in possession of records is required to produce them in electronic media using standard of common file formats: Green v. SAU #55, 168 N.H. 796, 801 (2016). Unless there is some reason that it is not reasonably practicable for you to produce these records in the requested format, I ask that you either do so or explain why it is not practicable for you to comply.
Please also note, per RSA 91-A:4 III, III-a, and III-b, you are required to maintain the safety and accessibility of such responsive records.
Please let me know when these records will be sent to me for inspection.
You may email the responsive records to me at Skip@GraniteGrok.com. If the volume turns out to be substantial, I have already set up a Dropbox folder for all of your responsive records to which they can be uploaded.
Thank you for your lawful attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Skip Murphy / GraniteGrok.com
What will the response be to this? I have my suspicions from some but I do believe that the GAC will do the right thing and see that it is lawful – after all, it is in their Minutes, asked by a State Rep, and I could get the same info from the Jail and the Nursing Home if I was so inclined (no, I’m not).
So, we’ll see what happens.
It’s about accountability. Commissioner Jade Wood had it completely correct as part of her email signature:
Individuals have Privacy, Government should be Transparent
Again, while this is about Gunstock, it really could be ANY part of Government: your town or school board, some State department or agency, some bureaucrat (or group thereof), or politicians anywhere. THAT’S why I keep going after this and long time readers unst
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