Council's Rules Committee to Meet About Patten

When the meets next month, it will have a full docket of issues to look at, including investigating whether or not a sitting city councilor about a summons issued to a friend.

According to at-large City Councilor , the committee’s current chairman, the board, which oversees procedures by the council, will look at three matters: Whether or not Ward 8 Councilor inappropriately became involved in city business when calling the police officer on behalf of a friend who received a traffic ticket he couldn’t afford to pay; ethics questions raised by state Rep. , D-Concord; and procedures about pulling items from the council’s consent agenda after the traditional noon on Monday deadline, an issue raised by Ward 6 Councilor a number of months ago.

St. Hilaire said the meeting was tentatively scheduled for noon on Thursday, March 8, in the . He would not comment specifically on any of the matters. Returning members joining St. Hilaire on the committee include Ward 1 Councilor , Ward 4 Councilor , and Bennett. Mayor has also added Ward 7 Councilor Keith Nyhan to the committee, to replace Ward 2 , who did not run for re-election last year.

Since the January memo recommending the Rules Committee look at the Patten-Police matter, virtually everyone who has a role in decision-making processes for the city – from the mayor, councilors, the city manager, department heads, and Patten himself – has clammed up. Some privately have said they wished the incident would just go away. Others have stated that they hoped the Rules Committee would create some guidelines as to what is and is not appropriate when it comes to communication between councilors, and city employees and department heads.

A number of people have rallied support for Patten especially in the wake of an editorial in the Concord Monitor and some online commenters calling on him to resign. The state Republican Party also called for a serious review of the matter. A “Thank you Dick Patten” Facebook page was created by Ryan Linehan of the , who said he just wanted to let Patten know there were people that appreciated all he has done for Concord. Others, like Concord NH Patch blogger and a number of letter writers and other online commenters, also .

The battle for , another issue to be looked at by the committee, has been at the forefront of work done by . Watrous testified last year that he didn’t think the ordinance was tough enough, sharing his previous experiences being investigated by a Concord Police detective, at the behest of a city councilor at the time, for being in possession of a public document. In a letter to the council last week, which was forwarded to the Rules Committee, Watrous called for clarity on the ethics issue, as well as other potential conflicts of interest, personal interests that they may vote on, and the role city councilors play in interests that may have connections with the city. He said he was pleased to hear that there would be a public hearing and some movement on the issues.

“At this point, I’m just happy they’ll be taking some action on it this time,” Watrous said.