Appointing a clerk and treasurer may once again become a power of the Concord School Board, as the School District Charter Commission is developing a legal argument on why electing the officers by citywide vote should be discontinued.
Currently, school board clerk and treasurer positions are elected by Concord residents in a ballot vote on Election Day every three years, a practice that has been in place since the last Charter Commission convened in 2011. Prior to that, the positions were appointed directly by the School Board. Now, the commission – a nine-member body that is reviewing the school district’s charter, is considering bringing that back.
“In general, I believe that City of Concord School District is uniquely positioned to examine its governance rules, and propose the ones that it thinks is best,” said commissioner Bill Ardinger, who presented the issue at a commission meeting Tuesday. “If the Concord voters approve it, that’s their local right, I think, under state law.”
The primary duties of clerk include handling the school board election process, and also certifying that school board votes meet state regulations. The treasurer’s duties mainly relate to bonding, signing off on projects when the school district needs funding to finance a big project.
The main argument among charter commission members for having the clerk and treasurer positions appointed by the board is the fear that voters could elect incompetent or even damaging people to fill the positions.
“The thought of hiring a stranger to do the treasurer’s aspect of the Concord schools was just really worrisome,” said commissioner Clint Cogswell, who is currently the treasurer. “I say that my goal is to do no harm. But that doesn’t mean some treasurer might not be elected that could do some harm.”
Ardinger agreed.
“I could see bond issues being held up by a single strange election, and I think that’s a concern,” Ardinger said.
Commissioner Kate Vaughn argued that the risk isn’t necessarily lower with school board appointment.
“The thought is you would have consistency with a treasurer if the board appoints them,” Vaugn said. “Right now you’d have nine people making that decision as opposed to the voters, a bigger pool of people making the decision.”
For clerk and treasurer candidates, the stakes are not usually high in Concord elections. Both races have been uncontested every year since 2011, according to City of Concord election archives.
However, many Concord residents don’t even cast a vote for the positions. In November’s election, Patrick Taylor, who ran unopposed for school board clerk, got 2,523 votes, which was 68% of the 3,680 votes cast and represented just 9% of all registered Concord voters. Tom Croteau, who ran unopposed for school board treasurer, got 2,619 votes, which was 71% of all votes cast and represented 10% of all registered Concord voters. The total election turnout for November 2021 was 14.26%.
According Ardinger, who was also on the last Charter Commission, the practice of appointing the positions by the school board ended in 2011 when the Attorney General and Secretary of State said the board didn’t have the power to do that under RSA 671:6, a state law that says the voters of a school district must be the ones to elect a clerk, treasurer and moderator.
“I remember my answer was, ‘Secretary of State, with due respect, this is the Concord Union School District, which has 100 years of history as a separate and independent chartered entity,’” Ardinger said. “For that time period, the School Board gets elected to be representatives of the voters and that School Board, properly elected, appoints key officers from a professional staff to serve as clerk and as treasurer.”
In an earlier section of the same law, a specific exemption was given to the Concord School District for a different topic, saying that it can hold elections on the same year as national elections, although most towns can’t. Ardinger said that because of Concord School District’s unique independent governance structure under its own charter, it could be argued that the exception extends to other things too, such as the clerk and treasurer appointments.
Ardinger, Glahn and Vaughn, the three commissioners who are also attorneys, are going to develop an argument for school board appointments of the treasurer and clerk that could be presented to the NH Attorney General. They will share the argument at the next meeting. Ardinger, Glahn and Vaughn are also going to take steps to hire an outside lawyer for the Charter Commission’s proposed changes to the District Charter and make sure they comply with state law.
At the next Charter Commission meeting, which will be held Jan. 18, 2022, commissioners will discuss whether Concord School Board members should be elected from Districts A, B, C and at-large, rather than all members being elected at-large. Electing by district was one of the changes that resulted from the last Charter Commission when it convened 10 years ago. They will also discuss School Board composition, and whether to expand the Board to include more than nine members.
Full Charter Commission meetings are available for viewing at YourConcordTV.org