Washburn: Will Someone Step Up To The Plate And Calm Things Down On The Concord City Council?

I will never stop being amazed at the tomfoolery going on at the city council and city hall.

You might think that at least one of the adults left in the room might step up to the plate and try to calm things down.

The orientation session was largely an anti-Stacy Brown orientation. The manager had the audacity to excoriate Brown for simply doing her job. And then in an attempt to school the new councilors and existing councilors that their primary function was to “protect the brand.”

I seem to remember most candidates promising to look out for taxpayer interests and no one promising to “protect the brand.”

But Brown isn’t the only councilor to take a hit.

The mayor, Lord Bryon, refused to appoint certain valued and experienced councilors to key requested committees for fear that they would do their job and not “protect the brand.” The latest kerfuffle over removing the Ward 5 city councilor takes the cake. If I were a Ward 5 resident, I would be terribly upset.

So, what is the real knock against Brown? She has questioned the propriety of city expenditures from reserve funds and operations of the Beaver Meadow Golf Course.

Municipal reserve funds are an authorized creation of the legislature for specific purposes, and they may be modified at any time for another specific purpose after a public hearing and a three-fourths affirming vote has been taken. This did not happen with the Economic Development Reserve and the Recreation Reserve. The Recreation Reserve gets a bit murky, as the administration claims there is an arcane RSA that superimposes authorization over RSA 34:11. But the Economic Development reserve has turned out to be a shell game in which someone forgot to put the pea under a shell.

The mayor convinced the manager to put $150,000 in the FY2025 budget to fund downtown events, with the funding coming from the Economic Development Reserve. $106,875 was expended. Among the more notable events were $20,000 for the Northeast Coffee Festival and $25,000 for the Kimball Jenkins Estate Celebration of the Season. The manager did not include any amount for the FY2026 budget, but the mayor convinced the council to budget another $150,000 for the same purpose.

The problem is that no one told the council that they had to change the purpose of the reserve account by a three-fourths vote after a public hearing in either budget cycle. This was either an oversight or a deliberate attempt not to inform the council of their statutory responsibilities under RSA 34:11. You can draw your own conclusion.

What most residents do not understand is that the city council has no independent legal advisor and the city solicitor serves at the pleasure of the manager. So, when the solicitor proposed changes to the purpose of the reserve accounts, he was doing the manager’s bidding. In most all changes requested the specific purposes were watered down to convert the specific reserve funds into slush funds that can be appropriated by the council for whatever the current whim of the day is. Somehow, the now-approved changes do not pass the intent test for creating a specific reserve fund.

At the council meeting, concerned citizen Jason Gerhard suggested the Grand Jury look into the city's finances. Well, this may work well in Florida, but the NH legislature realized that from time to time, concerned citizens may have concerns over alleged fraud, waste, and abuse in municipal government, and created the Public Integrity Section in the Attorney General’s Office.

If you have a concern about malfeasance or misfeasance, this is where you file an inquiry, and I will be doing so soon.

The other knock against Brown is that she has the gall to question the operation of Concord’s most sacred cows, the Beaver Meadow Golf Course.

The Beav is micro-managed by the deputy City Manager for Finance, which further strains relations with the administration. At the most recent meeting of the Council Fiscal Committee, Concord’s “independent” auditor of 15 years noted that there were inventory irregularities at the Beaver. In keeping with the “Protect the Brand” philosophy, there was no mention in the minutes of this problem. Under the manager’s “Dynamic Pricing” scheme, Beaver loses between $250,000 and $300,000 a year. This is more than enough to cover any past, present or future debt service requirements or any required maintenance. If the Beaver were a private course, the driving range would be shut down as a health hazard.

The city needs an independent auditor and 15 years on the job raises a legitimate question of actual independence. Putting out an RFP for a 5-year non-renewable contract for a new auditor is long overdue. Sharing with the full Council and the public the management letter issued to the administration, along with the administration’s responses over the past three years from the current audit firm, would be a good start.

How and when the Brown inquisition will end makes for great political theater. Kangaroo courts are fun to watch unless you happen to be the kangaroo. Any further action by the Council will place two councilors in a predicament, as they are salivating to replace Lord Bryon as mayor when he retires from office at the end of his current term.