How the VDE Commissioners Defied the Right To Know Law

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.

1^st 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

2^nd 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.

3^rd 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.

4^th 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

Source: click here.

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.

5^th  Violation of RSA 91-A

The fifth (5^th) 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.