The Secrecy of Nashua's Economic Development Office
The Locked Door of Nashua’s Economic Development Office
In 2022, I filed the Right to Know Lawsuit in Nashua Superior Court with claims against Nashua's Economic Development office. The lawsuit primarily concerned the lack of notice of public meetings and posting minutes and records involving economic development projects.
Citizens (including myself) were frustrated by the inability to locate, access, and obtain records and information in this department. Why so much secrecy?
Before Donchess took office, the Economic Development Office was located in the Community Development Division. The Community Development Division was then and is now open to the public; citizens can speak with knowledgeable employees about their requests and obtain many public records readily accessible and inspectable to walk-in citizens.
From 2008 to the end of 2016, Tom Galligani served as the City's ED Director under Mayor Lozeau. Salaried at $85K, he had extensive New England city/town municipal experience. His office was accessible to the public. He was personable, well-liked, and connected with the public.
In 2016, Mayor Donchess hired Tim Cummings, who lacked experience in economic development. Cummings' office is located in a locked room, with no office hours, adjoining the mayor's office. Cummings' resume read like he was a job butterfly. Cummings was paid approximately $130K and served as the Mayor's puppet and pawn.
Hundreds of millions of dollars of projects are being run through this office behind closed doors with no accountability. I filed the lawsuit in 2022 because the City attorneys, the Mayor, and Dir. Cummings refused to assist me in locating or providing records under Cummings control. There was a policy, created before Donchess took office, identifying where City records were stored. According to the policy, the clerk's office maintained most of the records, but Community Development and Public Works kept their records within the open and accessible public office. When Mayor Donchess took control of the Economic Development office and created the secret den connected to his office, the policy was not updated (and is still not updated); the records could not be located.
I have raised the issue of immediate accessible records with the Court for four years, but the Court ignores these claims. The Court's alignment with the City denies citizens our legal rights to public records that should be immediately inspectable. There is no reason to wait eight days to receive minutes when the law requires them to be readily available and posted in a consistent location accessible to the public. The unwritten policy (Nashua has few written policies regarding RSA 91-A and record access) is to make the requester wait days to receive something as basic as minutes created six months prior.
The Mayor and the Economic Development Office decided on the downtown barrier plan; the Mayor personally sponsored the legislation to close down two lanes of Main Street for outdoor dining. That was a jam-through plan that talked about the importance of public participation but then slammed the door and shut the public out. This issue remains a bee in the bonnet and burr in the saddle for many. There was then and is now little support for these barriers.
The deception and fraud perpetuated in constructing and operating the Performing Art Center project happened in this locked office. A $15M project became a $34M project with citizens stuck with a long-term Mascoma Bank mortgage, the need to fund three shell corporations directly and indirectly controlled by the city, pay the insurance for these corporations, and other shadowy elements that left unknown the actual cost of this facility and the long term taxpayer commitment. These 91-A matters were also before the lower court, and the court punted on virtually all the rulings regarding the Art Center. It was a little too hot for even a Judge to tackle—more on this.
After 20 months to complete an "expedited" Right to Know Trial involving records in an Economic Development Office, it is clear why the City placed five attorneys on the "team" to beat-up the pro se litigant trying to access records in an Economic Development Office and shell companies formed by that office. Not only had I kicked the hive, but I was hovering right over the corruption. The Mayor's development plans for Nashua, funneling public money into corporations (private and public) created by the City, appear to be nobody's business but a select few loyalists. I was certainly not part of the secret club.