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Laconia council trims Human Relations Committee to seven members, adopts purpose statement
Summary
Council adopted Ordinance 2026-5-32 to reduce the Human Relations Committee from 13 to seven members (six council appointments and one mayoral appointment) with staggered initial terms, and approved the committee's purpose statement after deleting a provision about City Manager speech authorization; votes were unanimous.
The Laconia City Council on March 23 adopted Ordinance 2026-5-32, restructuring the Human Relations Committee (HRC) and approved a revised purpose statement for the panel.
Under the ordinance, the HRC’s membership is reduced from 13 to seven. Six members will be appointed by the council and one will be appointed by the mayor; the mayoral appointment is a two-year term aligned with the mayor’s term. Initial appointments will be staggered: two one-year terms, two two-year terms and two three-year terms so future terms expire on staggered schedules.
The ordinance had previously been reviewed by the Government Operations and Ordinance subcommittee and by legal counsel. Council unanimously waived a full reading of the ordinance and approved second reading before voting to adopt it 6-0.
Council also reviewed the HRC’s Purpose Statement. Councilor Bogert offered an amendment to remove a sentence in section D that would have authorized the City Manager to approve a speech and its content if prior Council approval was not possible; the amendment was seconded by Councilor Conant and supported by Councilor Soucy and Councilor Hoffman. Manager Kirk Beattie told the council he had no opinion on the amendment and that he would still make statements on behalf of the city if events required it. The amended purpose statement was approved unanimously, 6-0.
Patrick Wood (Ward 1) spoke in support of the ordinance during the public hearing earlier in the meeting.
