Who died and left HIM boss?
As many people are now aware, the board of the Gunstock Acres Water District (GAWD), an official "district" within the town, has appointed Terry Stewart, a member, to serve as representative to the Budget Committee. Here is the NH law that provides for this position:
32:15 Budget Committee Membership. –
I. The budget committee shall consist of:
(a) Three to 12 members-at-large, who may be either elected or appointed by the moderator, as the town or district adopting the provisions of this subdivision shall by vote determine, who shall serve staggered terms of 3 years; and
(b) One member of the governing body of the municipality and, if the municipality is a town, one member of the school board of each school district wholly within the town and one member of each village district wholly within the town, all of whom shall be appointed by their respective boards to serve for a term of one year and until their successors are qualified. Each such member may be represented by an alternate member designated by the respective board, who shall, when sitting, have the same authority as the regular member.
In Gilford, we elect 9 members "at large" to the BudComm, along with a Selectman's rep, a school board rep, and a rep from the GAWD, for a full total of 12. While the law stipulates that the Select and School boards appoint a member of their respective "boards", the district simply appoints a "member."
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When one reads the law and considers 50 years of Gilford BudComm history, this has never posed any problems. Some years saw the GAWD seat filled, and some did not. Never did anybody complain, or give much thought to the seat... until now.
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Enter Dale Dormody, a man who has apparently decided that the law and 50 years of history has it all wrong.
Consider his statements to the Citizen following his BudComm seat recount victory Thursday:
Dormody referred to his opponent's last-minute appointment to the committee as a ploy in light of the election outcome.."It would be interesting to see how other budget committees throughout the state handle their appointed positions," Dormody said to Hickok, adding, "the days of flying below the radar [with this district appointments] are over."
EXCUSE ME!? Perhaps Mr. Dormody might wish to conduct a little research before making such statements and such broad assumptions in the future. Mr. Dormody, who is NOT a member of the GAWD, has absolutely NO say in this affair whatsoever. It really doesn't matter how other BudComms in the state "handle" such positions, because the BudComm, as he would know if he had read the above law, has NO say in the appointment either. It is a matter left to the District to handle. If Mr. Dormody wishes to try to control the actions of that District's board, he'll have to move there.
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This guy has some nerve calling a legal following of the law a "ploy."
No, Dale, a real "ploy" is what you yourself have brought to the table- your "civility pledge", which was a ploy to distract voters from the real issues at hand, and away from the fact that YOU signed a petition to eliminate the committee and that your spouse is on the town payroll.
Another real "ploy" is Mr. Dormody's "best practices" proposal for the BudComm. It is my belief that Mr. Dormody, knowing that the BudComm will continue to conduct REAL fiscal oversight in Gilford, plans to gum up the works as much as possible by starting fights over "process". In this way, the real task at hand, dissecting the budget, will get sidetracked. Or so he hopes...
Comments
I find this disturbing. I guess Mr. Dormody will have to acquaint himself with the relevant laws and procedures before remaking the committee to his liking.
I'm wondering what his comments will be once he finds out that he may be thwarted in that task by the other members of the committee and those pesky RSA's.
Posted by: DCE | March 25, 2007 07:25 PM
When the facts aren't on your side, you argue "process".
Posted by: doug | March 25, 2007 07:48 PM
Ah, Yes! Process. Yet another buzzword for making sure nothing substantive gets done.
Posted by: DCE | March 26, 2007 05:28 PM