Ombudsman Asked To Remove Newmarket Town Councilors From Office

Newmarket, NH Town Council members Scott Blackstone, Katana Conley, Brian Ward, Joe Lamattina, Colin White, Sonke Dorblut, and Justin Glazebrooke have violated their oaths of office and the trust of Newmarket Citizens and must be removed from office.

These Newmarket councilors acted unethically, immorally, and in violation of NH State Laws to perpetrate fraud upon Newmarket Citizens. These bad acts occurred when council members discussed and voted to enter into a settlement agreement outside of any public meeting.

The bad acts Identified above were confirmed by Newmarket Town Manager Steve Fournier’s affidavit to the Ombudsman, which states that the settlement decision of the Town Council was not conducted at a Town Council meeting but was the product of the Town Council email responses to the Town legal counsel’s email inquiry.

These trusted public servants discussed, deliberated, and voted to enter a settlement agreement via individual emails exchanged with the town's legal counsel, John Ratigan. Ratigan and the council members knew what they did was unethical, immoral, and in violation of NH Right-to-Know Laws (RTK), but they did it anyway.

Under RTK, members of public bodies have no authority outside of public or non-public meetings. This means any discussion, deliberation, or votes taken by public bodies must take place in a public or non-public meeting and there must be minutes of those meetings.

These public officials, and Attorney Ratigan, claim in public documents to the Ombudsman that there is nothing wrong with their actions. They claim their email discussions, deliberations, and votes taken via email outside of any public or non-public meeting are perfectly legal under RTK as “consultation with legal counsel.” They further claim that all of these emails containing votes by council members are not available for public inspection due to “attorney-client privilege.”

In response to all of the above, I recently filed a complaint against Newmarket officials, including Town Manager Steve Fournier, with the NH Office of the RTK Ombudsman, where I have asked the Ombudsman, among other things, to remove all of Newmarkets Town Council members from office. Additionally, I have also filed criminal allegations against Town officials with the State for submitting false statements to the Ombudsman.

Elected public officials are supposed to set an example of honesty and integrity for the rest of us to emulate. Sadly, this is not the case in Newmarket with Newmarkets officials.

Jeffrey Thomas Clay