A recent motion to remove Henniker select board chairman Kris Blomback from his position for allegedly violating state right-to-know laws was called “appalling” and “inappropriate” by other board members.
When Blomback sent an email asking whether select board members had issue with his signing a letter of support for a new performing arts center at New England College, Ben Fortner said he knew it wasn’t in line with state statute, requiring that any document needing select board approval must be discussed and voted on during a noticed public meeting.
Fortner told Blomback as much in an email last month, less than 24 hours after Blomback sent his initial email to board members. Blomback had been contacted by the school’s chief financial officer, Paula Amato, who said the letter was needed quickly because the school was seeking a USDA loan for the project, and the deadline was approaching.
“I understand you are trying to get things accomplished. However, we are forbidden from conducting business via email,” Fortner wrote to Blomback.
But the letter, which stated that the board had reached a majority vote in supporting the project, went out anyway after former board member Scott Osgood emailed his approval and board member Bob French spoke to Blomback in person. And on April 4, two weeks after the board voted to ratify Blomback’s signature during a March 21 meeting – with at least two members unaware the town’s attorney had deemed Blomback’s actions as a violation of right-to-know law the day before – Fortner made his motion.
Blomback should be removed from his position as chairman of the board, he said, for “knowingly and willingly putting us in the position” of violating right-to-know, according to audio from the meeting. “We have to talk about this,” he said then.
But other board members weren’t interested in talking, according to audio from the meeting. Member Bob French said he did not respond to Blomback’s email, and board vice chairwoman Tia Hooper simply stated, “Kris got an email from New England College.”
A few moments later, the motion died without a second. Blomback was not at the meeting.
For Hooper, the lack of interest in discussion is telling. “You have to look at it and say ‘Okay, the entire board has ratified this,’ so this incident, this situation, is done,” she said on Wednesday.
She then went on to say: “We’ve discussed this, how many weeks now, and I think Kris was acting in good faith, not acting maliciously,” she said. “And I think anybody in this situation, if you honestly take a step back, if you got this letter, he was probably not thinking about it. You want to do what’s best for the town, and there was a deadline and I understand what Kris was doing. And, I’m sorry, but I found the motion appalling.”
Hooper also accused Fortner of derailing meetings by not allowing residents to speak during periods outside public forum without a majority vote of the board, something she said Blomback allows and that Fortner has challenged at every meeting this year.
“People have a right to be heard,” she said.
Henniker select board policies state “Citizen participation shall generally not be permitted once the members of the Board begin discussion of a motion and/or amendments without a majority of the members approving such participation.
“The significant workload at each meeting does not permit the Board to actively engage in discussions with visitors at these times during the meeting,” the policy reads.
French said Fortner misunderstood what Blomback was trying to accomplish with his emails. He said he avoided emailing Blomback back in regards to the NEC letter because the board has talked about how email correspondence can violate right-to-know laws. Instead, he said he drove up to Pats Peak, which Blomback manages, and talked to Blomback about whether the building would be tax-exempt, and then said he was okay with the letter. Blomback has said French’s approval was the majority approval he needed to send the letter.
French said he didn’t take issue with Fortner’s motion, although he said he would have preferred more of a warning that the motion was coming.
“Ben obviously thought it was enough to bring it to action,” he said, “and I told him, you had concerns and did what you should do as a board member to try and correct issues you think you see.”
Peter Flynn, former Henniker town administrator and now a selectman, had stronger words.
“I’m astounded he would come up with that motion … with no warning to the board,” he said. “It upset me slightly that it happened. It felt inappropriate.”
Flynn said he was not involved in the NEC letter email chain because he was not on the board at the time. He suggested Fortner write a paper explaining his reasoning because he wasn’t comfortable voting on this issue without having all the facts of the NEC email situation.
According to Fortner, he did try to place the motion on the agenda by talking to Henniker Town Administrator Chris Trovato the week before. Trovato said Fortner had followed proper procedure by asking for the item to be on the agenda at the beginning of the meeting. She said Fortner had requested a right-to-know discussion be held on March 21, not April 4.
Blomback wrote via email that he was “heartened that the rest of the board saw no cause to support the action.” He also wrote he was appreciative of those who reached out privately to support him.
Fortner said he accepts the board’s decision and does not plan to make the motion again, but is adamant that Blomback’s behavior was incorrect and that the board needs to follow its policies. He said town officials have displayed a “pattern of issues” when it comes to conducting business outside public meetings, something he said he said not everyone in the town is comfortable with.
“There’s a bunch of good ol’ boys in the town, and then there’s me, and that’s okay,” Fortner, who is serving his first term as a selectman, said. “But there’s more people in the town of Henniker than just the small pool of people making decisions outside the town hall.”
He later wrote in an email, “I won’t quit doing what I swore to do. This isn’t a club. It’s our home.”
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)