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Select Board weighs legal review after Conservation Commission meeting; residents call for clearer liaison protocols
Summary
Board members and residents raised procedural and transparency concerns after a contentious Conservation Commission meeting. Issues include whether select board members' exchanges at the ConCom constituted an unnoticed meeting under RSA 91-A:2 and whether communications with outside counsel bypassed the liaison.
Select Board members and residents spent much of the July 28 meeting debating whether conduct around a recent Conservation Commission (ConCom) meeting created procedural defects that warrant legal review.
Several speakers, including the select board liaison to the ConCom, argued that the ConCom chair's forwarding of emails and the chair's subsequent voluntary recusal deprived the commission of an informed process. The liaison asked that town counsel examine the ConCom vote to determine whether the proceeding must be re-noticed and re-voted.
At one point a board member said aloud, "It's illegal to have an unnoticed select board meeting," invoking RSA 91-A:2 as central to the dispute. Another member, reading an affidavit into the record, said the language and actions raised impartiality concerns: "This is an integrity issue," the chair said while reading an affidavit from a commission member alleging biased comments.
Residents' correspondence read into the record criticized both appointment practices and the tone of recent meetings; one letter said the July ConCom meeting was "distressing" and urged adherence to transparent, established procedures. Trish Shannelaris, vice chair of the ConCom, defended her actions and said she shared information to ensure transparency and to inform other commission members.
Board members agreed to seek guidance from the town attorney to clarify whether an un-noticed exchange occurred and to establish consistent communication protocols (one proposal endorsed by the board was to channel scheduling and factual meeting notices through town staff rather than individual members).
