How Public Oversight has Changed Nashua City Government

There has been more public oversight at the Board of Assessors meeting over the last 18 months. How has this changed the operation of the Board and is it to the betterment of open government?

In 2018, the Board of Assessors held 20 regular meetings and entered non-public session once. The city attorneys attended one meeting. The Board operated with total transparency. From April 2019 to April 2020, the Board held 19 regular meetings and entered non-public sessions 15 times. The city attorneys attended virtually every meeting.

This new Board operation raises some concerns. The legal office pitches the position that their role is to serve the board when the Board requests assistance. However, this is not the case; the city attorneys have used their power to squelch the voice of the public in public meetings. They appear to be pushing discussions into non-public sessions that do not require non-public sessions. They appear to be creating by-laws and unconstitutional public comment policies without the direction or input of the Board. The Board is not functioning as an independent entity because the legal office has taken charge of the Board. The parent is doing the kid’s homework.

The legal office has advised the Board not to answer questions from the public. This advice was given long before there was a Freedom of Information lawsuit or a pandemic exploded. Attorney Leonard appears to have advised the Board to keep their meetings closed to the public during the pandemic and not to accept any written communications as part of the record. This was during the critical time of abatement decisions. Almost all other city boards were taking input at that time.

Attorney Leonard has taken control of all Right-To-Know requests of the people she perceives as “trouble-makers.” She is not conducting the research to respond to the requests,  not working with the public to reduce the burden of the request, denies many as unreasonable described and unclear, and is redacting information only from the documents requested by the “trouble-makers”, thereby slowing down our ability to access the information as any other citizen is able.

Decisions made in non-public session, in the presence of the legal office, are not being unsealed and released to the public as the law requires. Too many secrets exist.

The Assessing office came under more public oversight when significant problems were uncovered with the practices within the office. The knee-jerk reaction of the City legal office and Board to lock down information and push the public away has been totally counterproductive to transparency. The take charge initiative of Attorneys Bolton and Leonard has created a real mess that will be decided, in part, by the Superior Court and, in part, by the court of public opinion. 

Contact your Ward Alderperson and the Mayor and ask them to create more transparency and keep records open for public inspection.