The officials of the
Village District of Eastman have repeatedly made conscious decisions to deny
appropriate public participation in meeting discussions which are required to
be open to the public. The manner of public participation is prescribed by law
including the right to record.
In January 2012 the Village
District of Eastman, a municipal water company, commenced a series of
non-public sessions to acquire the privately held Eastman Sewer Company.
Supporting these non-public sessions were non-public communications with
officials of the Eastman Sewer Company and the Eastman Community Association.
Over a period of at least ten
months, the Commissioners of the Village District of Eastman violated RSA 91-A
at least five times by holding secret, non-public meetings at which they
discussed purchasing the Eastman Sewer Company.
That topic should only have been discussed in a public meeting, as such
discussion would not have qualified for consideration in a private executive
session. The known violations of RSA
91-A are detailed below.
1st Violation of RSA 91-A
The first known 2012 Non-Public Village District
of Eastman (VDE) session occurred on January 19, 2012. The first page of
purported draft minutes for the session are in VDE Non-Public Minutes 1/19/12. Source: P. 4, attachment #1 at click here
2nd Violation of RSA 91-A
The second known 2012
Non-Public Village District of Eastman (VDE) session occurred on February 7,
2012. The purported minutes for that session are VDE Non-Public Minutes 2/7/12. Source
click here.
3rd Violation of RSA 91-A
The third known 2012
Non-Public Village District of Eastman (VDE) session occurred on February 15,
2012. The purported minutes for that session are VDE Non-Public Minutes
2/25/12. Source click
here.
At a regular (public) VDE
commission meeting on July 18, 2012, the VDE commissioners voted unanimously against
the acquisition stating that "after due deliberation it has been concluded
that the possibility of expanding Village District oversight to include sewer
operations is not appropriate". The VDE commissioners' dialogue and
vote is shown under the topic Old Business in the minutes for the July 18, 2012
public VDE meeting. Source-- click
here.
No mention is made in
either the August 15, 2012 VDE minutes
or the September 26, 2012 VDE public minutes that a reversal of the July
18th decision was under consideration by the VDE commissioners. With no public
VDE commissioners’ discussion or authorization, two VDE officials reopened the
discussions with ESC and ECA officials on October 16, 2012 in attending the
Eastman Sewer Company Board of Directors meeting. The ESC minutes of 10/16/12
document that participation in the afternoon meeting of Messrs. Wood and Weber.
Source click here
VDE discussions were
reopened immediately the next morning October 17 at 8 AM in an open VDE public
meeting with the same ESC and ECA officials participating. No public
notification or awareness was disseminated regarding the ESC and ECA officials
participating. This participation is documented in the October 17, 2012 VDE
minutes under the section labeled ESC. Source
click here.
The Village District of
Eastman's standard procedure is to review and approve the minutes from the
previous month's session at the beginning of the current month's meeting. Then
having done so, make available those minutes at the VDE office and eventually
on the VDE website. In this case that approval of the October 17 minutes is not
publicly documented until the November 14, 2012 meeting. Source click here. THE
RELEASE OF THOSE MINUTES WOULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST PUBLICLY DISTRIBUTED
DOCUMENTATION OF THE COMMISSIONERS’ REVERSAL ACTION.
4th Violation of RSA 91-A
Preceding the public
release of the October 17, 2012 VDE meeting minutes on November 14, 2012 was an
announcement on November 7, 2012 by the PRIVATE EASTMAN Community governance
authored by the Eastman Sewer Company Board of Directors and the Village
District of Eastman Commissioners stating that they would have a
"Special Community Open Forum" on November 17, 2012. This meeting was
characterized as "a (private) ECA meeting” and was held in accordance with
ECA rules. These rules were defined by ECA Board Pres. Maynard Goldman as part
of the Discovery Process for PUC docket DW 13–171. In a Discovery response to
Geraldine Logan's 1B – 7 request, Mr. Goldman states:
"Minutes
are not taken nor is there any formal documentation of what is said…"
"as
you have indicated (Geraldine Logan), we are a private organization and are not
subject to the rules of the Right To Know law".
·
Recordings are not allowed
at ECA Forums
As noted above, no minutes
were taken at this meeting nor were recordings allowed. This represents the
fourth violation of the public Right To Know Act—RSA 91-A on the part of the
VDE commissioners during 2012.
5th Violation of RSA 91-A
The fifth (5th)
known violation occurred at the ESC/ECA/VDE July 24, 2013 ECA
(private) Forum. For this forum, Mr. Brian Harding representing the
petitioners ESC, ECA and VDE officials, rejected Mr. Phil Schaefer's request to
have that meeting held in conformance with RSA 91-A at a public site. Robert
Logan’s PUC testimony of 12/19/13 reviews at length the recurring VDE
management failures and violations of the commissioners’ oath of office. This
Testimony is posted at the PUC website-- click here.
Beginning in January 2012
or earlier, the VDE officials denied the public the right to attend or record
illegal non-public meetings that they held, as well as their right to properly
interact at those sessions. In doing so VDE officials denied the public the
opportunity to formulate a timely alternative proposal to the VDE's acquisition
of the Eastman Sewer Company.
For a period of 10 months
from January 2012 to November 2012, the VDE Commissioners consistently and
repeatedly participated in meetings, held illegally out of view of the public
that elected them and in violation of RSA 91-A. In the first nine months of
2012, the VDE Commissioners’ public meetings documented no positive inclination
to acquire the Sewer Company. This position was emphatically emphasized by the
Commissioners’ unanimous July 18, 2012 vote to reject any consideration
of the requested acquisition by ECA and ESC officials. The deceptive practices
in which they had engaged in parallel to the public meetings and in
orchestrating a perceived public meeting on November 17, 2012 was an affront to
the public and to the public’s Right to Know. The first VDE public meeting
during which the “potential” acquisition (merger) was discussed is documented
in the April 18, 2012 VDE minutes under the heading “New Business” indicating
to the public that this potential Sewer Company acquisition was being addressed
for the first time. (Source: click here.)
The actual release of the
April minutes did not occur until June 20, 2012 as this was the date that the
VDE commissioners attested to that meeting’s minutes. No mention is made of the
possible acquisition in the May 16, 2012 minutes, which were also released on
June 20, 2012.
Furthermore, at the VDE
January 2013 special meeting, Commissioner Robert Fairweather, amongst others,
made numerous misrepresentations of what had occurred publicly regarding the
proposed ESC acquisition. His statements are contained on page 4 and 5 of that
meeting’s minute. Source: click here.
His misrepresentations include:
· "In
February 2012, as mentioned, the VDE Commissioners met with the Eastman Sewer
Company (ESC) for the first time. In my opinion they made a strong and cogent
case for getting out from under PUC control and possibly “merging” sewer
operations into the VDE. The VDE Commissioners had further meetings with ESC
representatives and discussion amongst ourselves about a merger........” (para.
4)
o
Comment: As the above exhibits document, the
meetings commenced (at least) in January AND the Commissioners voted
unanimously in July to NOT pursue the acquisition.
·
"Throughout the VDE Commissioners’
deliberations on the sewer acquisition, the meetings have open to the public
and minutes of the meetings available to the public. The process has been
totally transparent and open. (para. 6)
o
Comment: As the above exhibits document, there
are at least 5 documented violations of the Public Right to Know making the
process not transparent or open.
The ill-gotten achievements of the VDE
officials’ secretive maneuvers, resulted in misinformed voter support in
January 2013 of the acquisition of the Eastman Sewer Co. by the VDE. The VDE
acquisition efforts need to be disallowed.
