Participants
Names follow the agenda masthead and the draft minutes; the roll calls are badly garbled on tape. Where the dialogue file and the minutes disagree, the row says so.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Steven Horsky | Chair (Claremont) | Presides; reorders the agenda to take the nonpublic item first (0:01:27); summarizes the budget as a projected surplus of about $77,000 (0:25:09); proposes that board members' information requests go through the chair and vice chair (0:35:03). |
| Rocco Ruggeri | Vice chair (Unity) | Answers the roll calls (rendered Gary and Rocco). The minutes name him as mover of the agenda amendment and seconder of the April 13 minutes; the dialogue file gives no row to him and labels the amendment motion as Sprague's (0:01:58). |
| Marjorie Erickson | Member (Unity) | Introduces policy BCB as the NHSBA model, citing Kelly Simpson's concern about conflicts of interest (0:30:49). |
| Shannon Popescu | Member (Unity) | Votes on the roll calls (minutes); no attributed speech. |
| Kelly Simpson | Member (Unity) | Seconds the sealing motion on tape (0:10:49) and the recess (0:11:27). The minutes record her "Arrival at 7:00pm", yet she is on the nonpublic roll call at 0:08:13. |
| Atonya Hart | Member (Unity) | Seconds the Henry appointment (0:14:27) and the GCQB-R adoption (0:29:19); corrects the chair on her name, Tanya (0:14:33). |
| Frank Sprague | Member (Claremont) | Moves the April 13 minutes (0:02:31), the Henry appointment (0:14:13), GCQB-R adoption (0:29:06), BCB to second read (0:31:55) and adjournment (0:41:35). |
| Heather Whitney | Member (Claremont) | Moves to enter nonpublic session (0:07:47); suggests information requests wait for board meetings unless urgent (0:37:24). |
| Whitney Skillen | Member (Claremont) | Seconds the nonpublic motion with or before Gallagher, per the chair (0:07:52); asks why the board calendar is missing from the agenda (0:39:59). |
| Arlene Hawkins | Member (Claremont); SAU 6 treasurer | Seconds the agenda amendment (0:02:07). The minutes credit her with asking that the dates and notes be removed from policy BCB; on tape that exchange is unlabelled and Sprague's (0:32:10). |
| Jennifer Gallagher | Member (Claremont) | Arrives during the roll call (0:01:20); moves the recess (0:11:25). |
| Bonnie Miles | Member (Claremont) | Absent (minutes; no answer when her name is called at 0:01:06) |
| Michael Tempesta | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Answers Crawford on the publicist's employer (0:04:44); gives no formal report (0:07:21); nominates Mary Henry (0:12:35). |
| Ben Nester | Director of Special Education | Calls the roll at the chair's request, there being no secretary (0:00:35, 0:08:13). |
| David Jack | Consultant, Municipal Resources Inc. (MRI), covering the business office | Presents the year-to-date SAU budget report (0:15:03); describes his role and how MRI will be paid (0:26:14, 0:27:41). |
| Mary Henry | Nominee, then appointed business administrator | Thanks the board and notes she grew up in the Fall Mountain area (0:13:37). |
| Candace Crawford | Citizens' comments, Ward 2 (Candy in the minutes) | Asks about unanswered SAU office phones, the publicist's role and office closures during vacation weeks (0:03:11). |
Agenda
Items and wording from the posted agenda, _SAU 6 School Board Agenda 5.11.23 (1).pdf; dispositions from the recording and the draft minutes. The agenda numbers its sections I, III, IV, V, VI (there is no II).
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:06 | I. Call to order, pledge | Called to order by the chair. |
| 0:00:35 | III. Roll call | "Secretary Roll Call of Attendance" (agenda); with no secretary, Nester calls it. Minutes: present all but Miles, Whitney arriving 6:40 and Simpson 7:00. |
| 0:01:27 | III. Agenda amendment | Move item 4 (the nonpublic, called "number five" on tape) to first and the information-request item to last. Motion 0:01:58, Hawkins seconds (0:02:07); voice vote. Minutes name Ruggeri as mover. |
| 0:02:22 | III. Minutes approval, April 13, 2023 | Sprague moves (0:02:31); approved with "three abstentions" (0:02:55); minutes: seconded by Ruggeri, "all in favor via voice vote with 3 people abstaining." |
| 0:03:03 | III. Citizens' comments | Crawford. Closed at 0:07:06. |
| 0:07:14 | IV. Superintendent report | None; time ceded to the budget presenter. |
| 0:07:33 | V.4 (taken first) "Non- Public RSA 91-A:3,* (Discussion)" | The agenda's asterisk leads to a footnote reciting grounds (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (j), (k) and (l). Motion and roll call 0:07:47 to 0:08:31; motion to leave 0:09:53, roll call; motion "to seal the minutes for ten years" (0:10:46), roll call, "And that passes." (0:11:16). The minutes head the item "Non- Public RSA 91-A:3,II (a)*". See flags 1 and 2. |
| 0:12:19 | (Not on the posted agenda) Nomination of business administrator | Tempesta nominates Mary Henry (0:12:35); Sprague moves to accept, Hart seconds (0:14:13, 0:14:27); voice vote, carried (0:14:42). The minutes list it as item 2. |
| 0:14:54 | V.2 Budget update | David Jack reviews the year-to-date report. Discussion only. See flag 5. |
| 0:28:42 | V.3a GCQB-R Personnel Exit Interview, third read | Sprague moves adoption (0:29:06, restated 0:29:31); Hart seconds; "passed unanimously" (0:29:52). |
| 0:30:37 | V.3b BCB Board Member Conflict of Interest, first read | Sprague moves to second read (0:31:55); the chair names Whitney as seconder (0:32:04); dates and notes to be struck; carried (0:33:23). |
| 0:33:40 | VI. Future dates | Claremont retreat 5/16 and meeting 5/17; Unity retreat 5/30 and meeting 6/13; no SAU 6 meeting expected in June (0:34:37). Minutes: SAU 6 retreat set for August. |
| 0:35:03 | V.1 (taken last) Information request from board members/procedure | Discussion; the chair's proposal is accepted without objection (0:39:33). |
| 0:39:41 | Other business, closing | Board calendar question; Sprague moves to adjourn (0:41:35), Whitney seconds per the chair; carried. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/15073 SAU6051123.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:35 | No secretary | Horsky: "Seeing that we don't have a secretary yet." He asks Nester to call the roll. | MEDIUM |
| 0:03:11 | Citizens' comments | Crawford: "I've actually gone through the whole list of everybody listed and nobody answers the phone" at the SAU office, and a newspaper reporter told her the same (0:03:41). On the publicist, Tempesta: "He's hired by Claremont. And in some asset money from unity." / "So through through federal grants." (0:04:49, 0:04:58). Crawford: "I haven't seen any reports from him either." (0:05:27); she asks why the office closes during vacation weeks when "the school budget is 85% of their taxes" (0:06:00). | |
| 0:07:33 | Into nonpublic | Horsky: "Can I get a motion to go into the nonpublic under RSA 91 a three." Whitney: "I'd like to make a motion to move into nonpublic." (0:07:47). No paragraph II exemption is stated. Roll call by Nester (0:08:13); "This time I'd like to enter nonpublic session." (0:08:36). | HIGH |
| 0:09:53 | Out of nonpublic; seal | "Make a motion. Nonpublic." (unidentified); "Seconded by Whitney." Roll call (0:10:11). Then: "I'd like to make a motion to seal the minutes for ten years." (0:10:46); Horsky: "Seconded by Kelly." (0:10:49); roll call (0:10:58); "And that passes." No reason for sealing is stated. | MEDIUM |
| 0:11:25 | Recess | Five-minute recess; "We're going to take a five minute recess. Meeting at 822." (0:11:39). Resumes at 0:12:19. | |
| 0:12:35 | Business administrator appointed | Tempesta: Mary Henry "is highly skilled and specifically what we need, which is getting caught up on audits and things, particularly with our visions software." Henry: "I know Dave very well." (0:13:55). Carried by voice vote (0:14:42). | |
| 0:15:03 | Budget report | Jack: "you got a six page expenditure report. It's it's a year to date report." Health insurance is over budget from plan selections (0:16:36); superintendent's-office salaries run "about a $12,000 deficit" (0:17:13), but "you're not in any danger of being in a deficit at the end of the year." (0:17:34). One line holds "an error in there. We're going to make that journal adjustment" (0:17:59); contracted services "You've spent 16,000. You had 5000." for the organizational study (0:18:12); the merit pool "You started with 361 90. You still have 361 90." (0:22:42); electricity over budget (0:23:09). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:25:09 | Projected surplus | Horsky: "we're projecting currently a 77,000 surplus", about 40,000 of it the merit pool. Jack: "there's $217,000 worth of encumbrances there" to be reviewed (0:25:41). The packet report's grand total shows a budget of $1,795,945.23, encumbrances of $196,794.01 and a balance of $97,773.58. | OBSERVATION |
| 0:26:14 | Who the consultant is | Jack: "I'm consultant with MRI municipal resources." Asked "How are we paying for you?" (0:27:36): "It's going to be a contracted services. It'll be. The Po will be to MRI. And I've got to go back and look and see where that exists." He adds "I don't want to look like I'm creating a feel for myself" and will route it through the business office (0:27:41). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:28:42 | GCQB-R adopted | Third and final read; adopted unanimously (0:29:52). Erickson offers a clean Word copy (0:29:58). | |
| 0:30:49 | BCB conflict of interest | Erickson: "Both Claremont and Unity have a policy BCB and Kelly, this speaks to your concerns at our meeting about conflict of interest for board members. But I noticed that the saw does not." The text is the NHSBA model (0:31:20). Moved to second read (0:31:55). | |
| 0:34:37 | No June meeting | Horsky: "Currently, there is not. Okay. I don't believe we'll need one." The second-Thursday date conflicts with graduation; requests go to the chair and vice chair. | MEDIUM |
| 0:35:03 | Information requests | Horsky: "I personally would like to see requests for information. Go to the chair and vice chair." so answers go to all members "without a bunch of reply alls" (0:35:28); "my goal is, is to control the agenda" (0:36:13). Whitney suggests non-urgent questions wait for a meeting (0:37:24). A member restates it: the chair forwards to the administrator and emails the whole board the response (0:39:02). | |
| 0:39:59 | Board calendar | Skillen: the April 13 minutes listed the board calendar as a future agenda item and "It's not." on tonight's. Horsky: the SAU calendar "is pretty much complete", held back over "some discrepancies" and whether to run by calendar or fiscal year (0:40:33). | |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer's aid, not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each one cites the rule it rests on as that rule read on May 11, 2023; check the recording and the primary source before relying on any of them. Severity: HIGH, a likely breach of a binding rule or a missed statutory deadline; MEDIUM, a probable process gap or control weakness; OBSERVATION, notable with no confirmed rule; POSITIVE, practice beyond the legal minimum.
HIGH The motion to enter nonpublic session named no exemption, on the agenda or on tape
RSA 91-A:3, I(b) requires that "Any motion to enter nonpublic session shall state on its face the specific exemption under paragraph II which is relied upon as foundation for the nonpublic session." (statute). The posted agenda lists the item as "Non- Public RSA 91-A:3,*" with a footnote reciting eight different paragraph II grounds, so it does not identify one. On tape the chair asks for "a motion to go into the nonpublic under RSA 91 a three", and the motion is "to move into nonpublic" (0:07:33, 0:07:47); no paragraph or subparagraph is spoken before the roll call. Only the minutes, drafted afterwards, head the item "RSA 91-A:3,II (a)", the ground for "The dismissal, promotion, compensation or disciplining of an employee" (agenda footnote). The board then appointed a business administrator immediately after the session; if that was the subject, II(b), "The hiring of any person as a public employee" (agenda footnote), would be the closer fit, but the record does not say what was discussed, and this page does not assume it. In mitigation, the vote was by roll call as I(b) also requires, and the minutes supply a ground after the fact; the statute asks for it on the face of the motion.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b) and II (2022 codification; source note ends 2021, 172:1); May 11 agenda; draft minutes
MEDIUM The nonpublic minutes were sealed for ten years with no statutory finding stated, and the record disagrees on who seconded
RSA 91-A:3, III allows nonpublic minutes to be withheld only if, "by recorded vote of 2/3 of the members present taken in public session, it is determined that divulgence of the information likely would affect adversely the reputation of any person other than a member of the public body itself, or render the proposed action ineffective" or would concern terrorism (statute). The vote here was taken in public session after the board came out of nonpublic, on a roll call answered Yes throughout (0:10:58), which satisfies the two-thirds and public-session conditions. Neither the motion, "to seal the minutes for ten years" (0:10:46), nor the minutes ("a motion to seal the non-public meeting minutes for 10 years" (minutes)) states which of the statutory determinations the board made, so the record does not show the finding on which a seal depends. The two records also differ on the seconder: on tape the chair says "Seconded by Kelly." (0:10:49); the minutes say Whitney Skillen. The ten-year period itself is not a defect: the text then in force set no term, and the ten-year review rule of RSA 91-A:3, IV did not take effect until October 3, 2023.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, III (2022 codification); RSA 91-A:2, II (mover and seconder in the minutes); draft minutes
MEDIUM The SAU board had no secretary three weeks before the statutory organization window closed, and set no further meeting before it did
RSA 194-C:5, I provides that the SAU board "shall meet between April 1 and June 1 in each year" and "shall organize by choosing a chairperson, a secretary, and a treasurer." (statute). The masthead shows a chair and a vice chair, and the April 13 minutes in this packet record the election of a treasurer; the chair opens tonight with "Seeing that we don't have a secretary yet" (0:00:35), and the special education director calls the roll in the secretary's place. The board then said it did not expect to meet in June (0:34:37), and the minutes list no SAU 6 meeting before June 1. On this record the June 1 window closed with the secretary's office unfilled. The vice chair the board did elect is not one of the three statutory offices. The minutes are recorded by an SAU staff member, so the practical gap is the office itself rather than the record; the statute is the anchor for asking why the office stayed empty.
Sources: RSA 194-C:5, I (2022 codification; source 1996, 298:3); April 13, 2023 draft minutes (treasurer election)
OBSERVATION The draft minutes and the recording disagree on attendance, on movers and on the nonpublic roll call
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to record "The names of the members who made or seconded each motion" (statute). Against the recording, the draft minutes: name Ruggeri as mover of the agenda amendment, where the dialogue file labels the motion Sprague's (0:01:58); list the entry roll call with Rocco Ruggeri twice and Kelly Simpson not at all, though she is called and answers at 0:08:13; record Simpson's "Arrival at 7:00pm" although she votes on that roll call; and give the sealing motion's second to Skillen where the chair says Kelly (flag 2). The diarizer gives no row to Ruggeri, so some of his speech may sit under Sprague's label; the minutes and the recording cannot both be right on the amendment's mover. The minutes also attribute to Hawkins the request to strike the policy's dates and notes, which on tape is an unlabelled voice and Sprague (0:32:10, 0:32:53).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II; draft minutes
OBSERVATION The budget report shows overspent lines and a consultant engaged before the payment route was settled, and the spoken figures differ from the printed ones
The packet's year-to-date report (printed May 4 and May 11, 2023) shows superintendent's-office contracted services budgeted at $5,000.00 with $16,119.99 spent, the line Jack ties to the organizational study (0:18:12); superintendent's-office salaries over by $12,319.92; and maintenance electricity budgeted at $2,200.00 with $5,445.41 spent. Asked how MRI is paid, Jack said a purchase order would go to MRI and "I've got to go back and look and see where that exists." (0:27:41), although the April 13 minutes already describe him as "the current BA consultant filling in at the SAU office" (April 13 minutes). Spoken and printed figures also differ: Jack's "$217,000 worth of encumbrances" against $196,794.01 on the report, and the chair's "77,000 surplus" against a printed balance of $97,773.58, which the chair reduced for items he expected to be spent. The overall picture, as Jack put it, is "you're not in any danger of being in a deficit at the end of the year." (0:17:34). No rule verified for this page is engaged; the points are for anyone reconciling the FY2022-23 SAU audit.
Sources: SAU6 Budget Update 5.11.23
POSITIVE Draft minutes were filed in the meeting's own packet folder on the third business day, with every roll-call vote listed by name
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes open to inspection within five business days (statute). The draft minutes were created in this meeting's packet folder on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, the third business day, and list each member's vote on all three nonpublic roll calls. Earlier SAU 6 drafts were filed with a later meeting's packet; this is the first SAU 6 meeting in the project's record whose minutes sit in its own folder within the window. The flags above concern what those minutes say, not their timing.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (five business days); draft minutes, created May 16, 2023
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/15073 SAU6051123.mp4.CSV (283 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/15073 SAU6051123.mp4 (local copy of the recording)Input/Transcripts/15073 SAU6051123.mp4.json (diarized transcript)Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 195 (video-to-document map)
Laws and rules cited on this page
- State, as codified for the meeting date (2022 codification): RSA 91-A:2, II; RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II and III; RSA 194-C:5, I
- Mentioned for dating only: 2023, 189:1 (added RSA 91-A:3, IV, the ten-year review of sealed minutes, eff. Oct. 3, 2023)