The below letter was sent to the city clerk’s office this morning for the Council. As I indicate, I believe Mayor Bouley has acted improperly by being involved in city business with developer Steve Duprey. Since it was revealed that the mayor and Duprey have been in a financial relationship for the past 5 years, Mayor Bouley has refused to acknowledge any conflict of interest. In fact, the mayor has repeatedly acted in ways that benefit his landlord developer.
The mayor’s actions appear to be in violation of the City Charter and Council rules. Such actions need to stop.
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Dear Mayor Bouley and Concord City Council,
Due to the Concord Monitor’s revelation of Mayor Jim Bouley’s financial relationship with developer Steve Duprey [Mayor Jim Bouley, developer Steve Duprey have business relationship, Nov. 22, 2012] and the mayor’s subsequent acknowledgement of that relationship, I ask that Mayor Bouley recuse himself, or be recused, from any Council business with Steve Duprey.
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Since the City is reportedly considering a private/public partnership with developer Steve Duprey involving the Dept. of Employment Security building, I believe this recusal should happen as soon as possible—in fact it is long overdue. Documents that I recently attained from the City through a Right-to-Know request show that Mayor Bouley went to extraordinary lengths to assist an earlier Duprey downtown project.
The documents are from 2009 and show Mayor Bouley acting improperly in regards to developer Duprey, with whom he had an undisclosed financial relationship. (It was revealed in 2012 that Duprey has been renting his 6 Hills Avenue space to Bouley’s lobbying firm, Dennehy & Bouley, since shortly after Duprey purchased the property in 2008.)
Documents show Mayor Bouley on 3/9/09 chairing a nonpublic meeting discussing a possible public/private partnership between the city and Duprey concerning the Sanel Block. This appears to be a violation of Council Rule 6A and Section 53 of the City Charter [official interest in contracts].
The Council (including Bouley) gave Matt Walsh, the city’s assistant for special projects, initial consent to explore a limited partnership with Duprey. There is no more Council discussion or action concerning Duprey’s project until late summer, but emails reveal that on 6/3/09 Duprey sent RSA 79-E amendments changing state law for the Sanel Block development to Bouley who forwards them to City Manager Aspell. This is the beginning of Bouley bending and breaking Section 27 of the City Charter [noninterference by a Council member with city officers] to benefit his landlord, Steve Duprey.
Other emails from that time reveal Bouley—without Council approval—directing city staff to do work on behalf of Duprey and his project. So you have Mayor Bouley lobbying and influencing city staff, overstepping his charter limited mayoral powers [Section 13] and violating the noninterference charter section, to change the laws of New Hampshire in a way that benefits Duprey and his Sanel Block development.
Bottom line: the mayor overstepped his powers and violated the charter on behalf of one of the biggest developers in town—a person with whom he had an undisclosed financial relationship.
As long as this financial relationship continues, the mayor should not be involved with Steve Duprey’s bidding on the D.E.S. building or any other city business directly involving Duprey.
I thank the Council for your attention and look forward to action on this matter.
Rick Watrous
