Herschlag: Concord The Budget And Your Right To Know

During budget discussions, the city council convenes as the finance committee.

Over the course of six meetings, the finance committee meets to hear the upcoming year’s budget through presentations by the city manager and staff members.

At the end of the sixth meeting, the committee adjourns, and the city council convenes to discuss recommendations from the finance committee and to vote on the budget.

During both the finance committee and the city council meeting, the city councilors have an opportunity to discuss the budget, ask questions, and make changes. The public is allowed to testify at these meetings and prior to the vote on the budget.

So far, so good. Well, not quite.

It was decided years ago that, to not bog down the budget process, questions from city councilors needing detailed answers would be asked and responded to outside the public’s view.

Councilors are required to fill out a yellow piece of paper with their questions. The yellow sheets are collected and distributed to the appropriate staff members for a response. The responses are then sent by email to all councilors.

What’s missing is you. You don’t know what the questions are. You don’t know what the answers are.

Is this just expediency (laziness) by the finance committee — who recommend rules for budget deliberations — an end run around the state’s right to know law or both. Why would they expect you to be aware of and have a discussion on the questions councilors have on the budget? After all, it would just bog down the process.

You are expected to be satisfied with the few scraps the council and administration have deemed appropriate for you to see and comment on.

During the last couple of weeks of the recent budget deliberations, I asked for and received copies of the yellow sheet questions asked by councilors and the staff answers that were distributed by email to all city councilors.

Not always being the brightest bulb on the block, it took me awhile (read years) to come to the conclusion that this isn’t only something the public should be aware of — but in my opinion — the questions and responses are a continuation of the meetings and must be included in the agenda and minutes of the budget meetings.

The questions and answers need to be accessible before the finance committee and city council open their meetings to public testimony and for you to be able to comment on the same information the finance committee and city council have access to.

The questions and responses I saw provided insights and information on a number of subjects that were left unanswered in public and provided a clearer understanding of how we got to where we are.

But regardless of any insight the questions and answers did or didn’t provide, the bottom line is they are part of the public record. By excluding them from you, it is my opinion that this is a violation of the state's right to know law.

RSA 91-A:1-a Definitions.

II. "Governmental proceedings" means the transaction of any functions affecting any or all citizens of the state by a public body.

III. "Governmental records" means any information created, accepted, or obtained by, or on behalf of, any public body, or a quorum or majority thereof, or any public agency in furtherance of its official function. Without limiting the foregoing, the term "governmental records" includes any written communication or other information, whether in paper, electronic, or other physical form, received by a quorum or majority of a public body in furtherance of its official function, whether at a meeting or outside a meeting of the body. The term "governmental records" shall also include the term "public records."

91-A:2-a Communications Outside Meetings

II. Communications outside a meeting, including, but not limited to, sequential communications among members of a public body, shall not be used to circumvent the spirit and purpose of this chapter as expressed in RSA 91-A:1.

91-A:1 Preamble.

Openness in the conduct of public business is essential to a democratic society. The purpose of this chapter is to ensure both the greatest possible public access to the actions, discussions and records of all public bodies, and their accountability to the people.