For years, my son and I volunteered to help build community in Ossipee. We believed a public park and its Main Street building could bring generations together. On November 20, 2025, they demolished that building. The loss cannot be undone.
The public still deserves to know how its decisions, donations, property, and money are protected.
Consider two records.
First, Ossipee’s independent audit of fiscal year 2024, issued May 27, 2026, identified a $32,234 violation of New Hampshire’s Municipal Budget Law: General Fund expenditures exceeded available appropriations. The auditors also issued an adverse opinion on government-wide governmental activities, a qualified opinion on the General Fund, and noted a $178,158 clearing-account balance needing reconciliation.
These are findings by independent auditors, not simply accusations from a frustrated taxpayer. They do not prove anyone stole money or intentionally broke the law. But the budget-law violation is real, and its correction should be publicly traceable.
The audit also raised questions concerning $300,000 approved for paving and subsequently used in connection with a municipal building purchase. The original warrant and clerk-signed Town Meeting minutes identify that paving appropriation as Article 21; the audit references Article 18. New Hampshire law sometimes permits transfers between appropriations. The unanswered question is what authorizations, account entries, and offsets actually support this transaction.
Second, there is the Main Street public-park record.
In 2024, residents petitioned to bring the building’s fate to an annual Town Meeting. Instead, the Town conducted a June 27 special meeting. Its public notice told residents, “Please come and vote to demolish the building.” The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Election Law Unit later said the wording came close to urging a particular vote, but expressly found no actionable electioneering.
A probate judge later approved removal of a deed restriction, and the Town demolished the building. A court order must be acknowledged. But it does not answer every question about the earlier public process, the charitable and community purposes associated with the site, or what happens there now.
The property was formerly used for petroleum storage and remediation. Questions concerning soil disturbance, water protection, demolition disposal, and future parking or redevelopment matter long after the building is gone.
On June 19, 2026, I requested the Town’s underlying safety, environmental, demolition, and redevelopment records. The Town provided seven attachments in July and offered file inspection. Some records were produced; I will not pretend otherwise. Whether the full requested record has been accounted for remains unresolved. On October 21, New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services acknowledged a separate environmental-records request.
I also submitted the audit to the Department of Revenue Administration and the Ossipee Budget Committee, seeking documented review rather than another argument at a microphone.
Under RSA 32:22, the Budget Committee can request detailed comparisons of appropriations and expenditures, including subaccounts. Voters deserve to know whether that review occurs and what it establishes.
This is bigger than one town, one building, or one auditor’s report. When an asset is gone and an audit identifies a legal violation, citizens should not have to piece together years of missing explanations to learn who was responsible for what.
Our Constitution puts government in service of the people. Public records, honest corrections, and accountable decisions are how we honor that promise.
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