Yes Everyone, the long awaited, much anticipated meeting with Terry Knowles from the Attorney Generals Office is on for tomorrow at 10:00 am at the Attorney General's office on Capitol St. in Concord. There is only one problem....
The Meeting posting lists the meeting as starting at 10:00am and going into Non-Public session under RSA91-A:3, II (e) "Pending Litigation" WTH???
WHAT pending litigation?
They have been touting this meeting as getting direction on the handling of the donation account money through the Trustees of the Trust Funds, and discussing the splitting up of the PD and elderly affairs, NONe of which has anything to do with a lawsuit, nor is any of it grounds for a non public meeting!
What do our selectmen have to hide, that they can not just post it as a meeting? Let's be honest, how many people would drive to Concord for this if it were posted honestly and correctly? probably none, so why the need to post it as a non public? what are they trying to hide?
(Putting on my tin foil hat)
Here is a conspiracy theory for you...
They have the meeting with Ms. Knowles, they show her the signed letters authorizing the transfer to the chief's new slush fund. She says great!
They show her the transfer of the rest of the money to the Trustees of the Trust Funds, and ask for her guidance in setting up the Trust Fund, She says Great!
They come back and at their workshop, they announce that they are NOt going to separate the two depts. because it can only run effectively out of the PD, and it will be too costly to separate, yada, yada, yada, and they talked about this with Terry Knowles and they have her blessing. When in reality they never talked about separating the depts. with her.
What do you think?
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18 comments:
If the selectman realy let this issue go, then they truly are the chief's children. Serving the people of Atkinson ? Far not, but serving the whim of PC and his doings. These people are unamerican and should move to China. They would fit in real good.
They can not be talking to the Attorney General about "pending litigation", in a non public, because the Attorney General is not thier lawyer!
If there were an active lawsuit against the Town filed by the State, then the Attorney General would be prosecuting, and they would not be talking to her.
Here is the actual text:
RSA 91-A:3 II (e) Consideration or negotiation of pending claims or litigation which has been threatened in writing or filed against the body or agency or any subdivision thereof, or against any member thereof because of his or her membership in such body or agency, until the claim or litigation has been fully adjudicated or otherwise settled. Any application filed for tax abatement, pursuant to law, with any body or board shall not constitute a threatened or filed litigation against any body, board, or agency for the purposes of this subparagraph.
You can't use the exemption unless litigation has been filed or threatened in writing, not just some vague fear that what is discussed might lead to a lawsuit in the future.
However, if they are bringing town counsel along, then RSA 91-A doesn't apply at all and they don't even have to post the meeting.
My suggestion is that somebody notify Terry Knowles of this posting. Surely she would not knowingly participate in an improper nonpublic session.
She didn't know it was posted as non-public until this morning.
I wonder if PC went to Concord too.
For those who are interested;
I went to the meeting, I was in Concord on some other business, and attended this meeting, when I heard about it.
Terry Knowles informed the selectmen that it had to be a public meeting under the right to know law.
It was a very good meeting with both selectman Sullivan, and selectmen Friel asking very good questions, about how to set up the Trust acct. for the donation money with the Trustees of the Trust funds.
Ms. Knowles also informed the selectmen that there HAD to be a CLEAR line of demarcation between the responsibilities of the police chief, and the elderly affairs director. Time sheets must be kept, and the Town had to know when he is acting as a volunteer doing elderly work, and when he is paid doing police work.
She also said, the Town MUST hold public hearings to accept ANY donation, even cash, over $5,000. something that has never been done.
I dont want to step on selectmen's toes by putting the meeting out there even before they have had the chance to write their minutes, but it was a very good meeting, very informative, and the selectmen and new TA handled themselves well in my humble opinion.
Oh, BTW,
About half way through Ed Naile from CNHT stopped by. Said he was representing a local taxpayer organization. Good fun.
"The meeting was held as a public session and two members of the general public attended. The Chair of the Board of Selectmen took the minutes and you should e-mail your request to Chair Paul Sullivan.
Terry"
Very interesting comments, Mark. The Selectmen now have clear marching orders. Let's see if they follow through.
Very interesting comments, Mark. The Selectmen now have clear marching orders. Let's see if they follow through.
Mark,
So why did they post this as a non-public session, and eluding to some pending litigation??
I dont know, you should ask the selectmen that
Very interesting Ed Naile was there and i hope he can help in our long going issues with this topic.
They are never going to be able to control PC, let alone if he's still wearing both hats. He will do whatever he wants and has proven this time and again. The only solution is to give the EA over to someone else. The better solution is to fire his a*& from both jobs.
If they let him have both jobs, he won't adhere to the scheduled hours anymore than he does now. He is always working EA while on the PD payroll.
I am appalled that the Selectmen lied to the town by posting this as non-public to discuss litigation.
Maybe they didn't lie. maybe they just didn't know
Dont you see...
If they didnt know how to post a meeting, they shouldnt be there, that is just too basic to excuse.
Are you saying they just thought they was litigation pending? They didn't know for sure so just in case they posted it that way?
Get real.
I agree. While I am pleased to hear they represented themselves well in Concord, I find it hard to believe they didn't know what they were doing when they posted this as a non-public meeting. Something does not add up here. How do we get some clarification on how this happened?
From Ed Naile at www.NHInsider.com
Give'm Enough Rope
As usual, I got a tip that a public body was going to have a “non-public” meeting which was in all likelihood a public meeting that just innocently wandered off the path. In this case it was this Friday, Sept. 26 morning at the Attorney General’s Office – Charitable Trust Division in Concord. The attendees were to be two Atkinson Selectmen and their new Town Administrator. Throw in another guy, our surprise attendee, an activist Atkinson taxpayer we will call, “Mark”. Mark spotted a posting of a non-public meeting at the AG’s office and called me as well.
Terry Knowles of the Charitable Trust Division let Mark and me into the meeting, which turned out to be more educational than anything - and for good cause. (CNHT LIKES Mrs. Knowles, she is one of the State Employees we count on to do the right thing every time, she rarely disappoints.)
For some time, the Town of Atkinson has had to put up with a big, fat, sore spot known as - the part time police chief/full time huge liability. He is one, Chief Consentino.
Chiefo Consentino has had some “problems” with a slush fund of donated money he has control of. The donations were to the Town of Atkinson Police Department which is dominated by Chiefo Consentino and his merry band of Chiefetts.
Here is how the deal works:
Chiefo hauls grateful senior citizens to doctor appointments in a taxpayer-funded patrol car looking vehicle – at very questionable expense to Atkinson taxpayers, even the ones who don’t use his service. The grateful seniors make donations, write letters, defend the idiot chiefo through his many lawsuits and stupid actions – and prop up his political career with votes.
Nice gig if the Chiefo likes ya – not so much if you are subject to his tiny-minded wrath. (See lawsuits involving this dope on the CNHT web site.)
Enter the AG’s Office and the slush funds. They are not quite LEGAL.
This leaves the Atkinson Selectmen and the Chiefo in a quandary. From what I can see, several of the Atkinson Selectmen want to follow the law and are learning how to set up proper funds for tax-free donations to the PD.
Chiefo Carpentino, on the other hand, has already started his own 501(c)3 to stash donations without any supervision except the Chiefetts. This is most likely doomed to fail but until CNHT gets the MANDATORY filings Chiefo has to submit, we will not know for sure. I have a hunch Chiefo will use his expert bully skills to try something slippery here as well.
Back to the AG’s office:
When Terry Knowles introduced me to the Atkinson Selectmen she mentioned I was a former selectman myself. I let them know I was there in my capacity as CNHT Chairman.
What the Atkinson Board does not know is how far back Mrs. Knowles and I go. They should take a look at what can happen in small town politics, especially in light of what they are going through.
Back in 1991 Mrs. Knowles was a selectman in the town of Weare. My Right to Know case in Deering, right next door to Weare, led to the temporary arrest of three selectmen and the crooked road agent they were hell-bent on protecting. The Deering Selectmen had to abolish the police department and wait out their trial date to avoid prosecution.
Hmmmm, protect bozo, get arrested and/or humiliated. Sound like something that could happen in another town?
Just a few years ago, Terry Knowles, like every other citizen who attended, sat at her Weare Deliberative Session and watched me dismantle the career of the then Police chief, Miles Rigney, someone cut from the same bully cloth as the Atkinson Chiefo. The voters of Weare sided with my arguments regarding a warrant article to make Rigney’s position elected instead of appointed and what do you know – no more Miles Rigney.
Now Weare has gone from the laughing stock of local police departments to a quiet, stable one. There are few areas in need of improvement, but it is vastly improved.
Take a hint Atkinson Selectmen! Do the right thing. It will only hurt for a while but the whole community will be better.
Don’t let yourselves or any portion of your community be bullied.
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