Chair Niles Rejects Mbr Legal Opinion Request

Mr. Niles’ legal interpretation in his reply to Mr. Schaefer’s request for a legal opinion is not attributed to anyone other than himself. It is not a legal opinion. His legal interpretation claims that the definition of voting rights “does not apply to voting by Council Members since they are not representing their individual properties but are representing a block of properties which make up a Special Place.”

How well are Council Members representing their “block of properties” aka, Special Places? From the results of the last Council Vote, we know that West Cove Special Place members voted 61% against a new building and that their representatives voted 94%  for (the new building). Therefore, West Cove Council Representatives are not representing their constituents.

Unless a special place has a By-law that requires that the representatives vote according to the residents’ wishes, they have no obligation to do so.

Mr. Niles goes on to quote “case law” as interpreted in NH Judkins v Hill. In interpreting this “case law” Mr. Niles says “you would need to prove that the outcome of the vote would have changed.” Mr. Schaefer’s December 4 Blog Post substantiates the fact that the outcome could have changed by removing the duplicity of property representation (one property—one vote).

However the Judkins v Hill case also assumes that there has been no violation of voting rights law in the first place. The Eastman Declarations repeatedly declare that there is only one vote per property. Multiple members or owners of a household get ONE vote. The one vote per property interpretation was however applied to the recent Non-Binding Petition by the ECA Board and its President—more duplicity?

We do not know Mr. Niles’ legal qualifications. Regardless of what they are, as a Council Member who voted for the $4.5 new build in Sept, he has a conflict of interest in providing any legal interpretation of that vote. If he has provided a legal interpretation of which he is not the author, he has failed to disclose who is.