At the most recent Hudson Board of Selectmen meeting, a discussion took place regarding RSA 673:13 Removal of Members.
The RSA states:
“I. After public hearing, appointed members and alternate members of an appointed local land use board may be removed by the appointing authority upon written findings of inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.
II. The board of selectmen may, for any cause enumerated in paragraph I, remove an elected member or alternate member after a public hearing.
III. The appointing authority or the planning board shall file with the city or town clerk, the village district clerk, or the clerk for the county commissioners, whichever is appropriate, a written statement of reasons for removal under this section.
IV. The council, selectmen, county commissioners with the approval of the county delegation, or district commissioners may for any cause enumerated in this section remove the members selected by them.”
Board of Selectmen Chair Dillon Dumont explained he wanted to have a conversation about it, after there was an issue raised.
“The threshold is not something to be looked at lightly if it was to be used,” Dumont said. He noted that it has not been used since he has been on the Board of Selectmen.
While details were unclear about what the concern raised was, Dumont said some of the claims made include social media posts, which he said many different board and committee members make different social media posts or comments.
“I can think of almost every board where people do that,” Dumont said. He explained that he doesn’t think that social media posts rise to the level of removing a board member. However, since the question was raised, he said he thought it made sense to have a general discussion about it.
Selectman Heidi Jakoby noted that the RSA doesn’t give clear guidelines on what would apply to rising to the level of removing a board member and said she was asked by a community member to see if the RSA applies. “We have elected people, we have appointed people, everyone does go out and makes public statements. What types of public statements might rise to this level,” Jakoby said.
Dumont noted that the issue when people make comments on Facebook is that it looks like they are speaking on the behalf of the board or the town. “You have certain information that a member put out that, in my opinion, could be interpreted in multiple different ways,” Dumont said. Ultimately, the question, he said, was does it rise to the level of invoking the RSA.
“My question to the board would be is somebody stating their view on what happened at a meeting on Facebook rise to this RSA being utilized,” Dumont said. He said he doesn’t think it does.
Board of Selectmen Vice Chair Bob Guessferd said they have not removed other members for those types of things in the past. “We’ve never removed people in the past for these things,” he said.
No action was taken during the meeting.
The next Hudson Board of Selectmen meeting is slated to take place on June 10 beginning at 7 p.m.
