The City of Nashua has installed office signs that say, “By Appointment Only.” Has the City has eliminated access to records available for immediate inspection? Yes. You have to schedule an appointment, but the City won’t provide an appointment.
Catch-22.
Given these signs posted all over City Hall, does this mean that a Citizen who knocks on the door to speak with someone or schedules an appointment is subject to arrest for trespassing? As Attorney Bolton has stated, are we just citizens out to disrupt the operation of government?
On January 23, 2023, I emailed Dir. Cummings with a request to meet with him or anyone who could provide some answers on the Mohawk Tannery project. The mayor indicated in his personal newsletter, released last week that the project is full-steam ahead. The City has a well-documented history of moving forward rapidly on multi-million dollar projects with little public input.
The Phone number, 589-3020, on the plaque rings to an unanswered and unrecorded line, so you cannot set up an appointment. Just another City game to harass citizens.
On January 27, 2023, I received a response from Gary Perrin. Mr. Perrin’s first sentence in his response is that this is not a “Right-to-Know request (RTK). This is an interesting twofold response. Has the City now decided that basic questions or requests for a meeting are NOT RTK requests?
20230127- Mohawk Tannery Meeting RESP.RTK.2023067.GP
Why did Director Cummings give Gary Perrin, hired into the Right to Know paralegal position with the job title of Records Administrator, this question to respond to if it was NOT an RTK request or a request for a record?
It is not Gary Perrin’s job to answer this.
The request for a meeting was not answered, was logged as 2023-067AS for city tracking, and was formally responded to five days later as if it was an RTK request. This was Dir. Cummings’s responsibility to respond to.
I stopped by City Hall to speak with Mr. Perrin and ask if I could set up an Appointment with Mr. Cummings. He stated that he was only the Records Administrator and could not help me. I asked who could help me, and he wouldn’t respond other than to state it was not “his job”.
I told Mr. Perrin that he did not answer my question in his response for an appointment. He said it was not his job to do that. He explained that my question was not a Right-to-Know request and I agreed with him. I asked him why he responded to it, if it was not his job. Mr. Perrin was silent.
Mr. Perrin explained that Dir. Cummings gave him the email to respond to. I asked him why he didn’t hand it back to Dir. Cummings and inform him that this was not his job, after all, he was vociferously expressing to me that it wasn’t his job. Mr. Perrin was silent. I pointed out to Mr. Perrin the Plaque on the door that says “By Appointment Only.” So who can schedule an appointment? Nobody will give you an appointment or respond to your request. Catch- 22
Dir Cummings, the Mayor and City officials are committing acts of Official Oppression under RSA 643:1 by leading citizens to believe that appointments must be scheduled, establishing an unanswered or recorded phone line, and then never responding to requests for appointments or scheduling an appointment. This has been going on for years.
A public servant, as defined in RSA 640:2, II, is guilty of a misdemeanor if, with a purpose to benefit himself or another or to harm another, he knowingly commits an unauthorized act which purports to be an act of his office; or knowingly refrains from performing a duty imposed on him by law or clearly inherent in the nature of his office.
Mayor Donchess and Mr. Cummings stop wasting our tax dollars and needlessly creating paperwork, purchasing plaques and harassing citizens by establishing “rules of engagement” that are maliciously fictitious and designed to prevent people from understanding what their government is doing.
