Conservation Commission chair resigns after contested meeting; Select Board debates email forwarding, recusal and transparency

Tom Rittenberg read a letter to the Select Board announcing his immediate resignation from the Conservation Commission, citing increased personal obligations and frustration with recent events on the commission. “Dear Mr. Casper, I'm writing and informing you of my decision to resign from the conservation commission effective immediately,” Rittenberg said while reading his letter.

The resignation opened an extended exchange among Select Board members, conservation commissioners and residents over whether the ConCom chair had improperly communicated with outside counsel and whether a forwarded email and a notarized affidavit from commission member Caleb Fields compromised the commission’s impartiality. One Select Board member said the town attorney should review whether procedural defects require re-notice or a revote for the ConCom matter. The debate repeatedly invoked RSA provisions: participants warned that two select-board members chiming in at a commission meeting might constitute an unnoticed meeting under RSA 91-A:2 and reminded members that individual selectmen have no statutory authority outside a board vote under RSA 41:8.

Commission vice chair Trish Shannelaris and others said transparency failures — including whether the commission inbox was accessible to members — led to confusion and eroded trust. Several residents and correspondents, quoted in letters presented to the board, urged a clearer protocol for routing communications: one email read into the record asked why the commission was not informed of the exchange and urged adherence to an open, transparent process. The board agreed to seek the town attorney’s guidance on whether any votes or procedures need formal correction or re-notice and discussed centralizing routine communications through town staff to avoid ad hoc, private communications that might expose the town to appeals or litigation.