Participants
Everyone heard or recorded in the minutes. Spellings and attendance follow the agenda masthead and the draft minutes. Where the dialogue file leaves a voice Unidentified but the minutes name the mover or speaker, the minutes' attribution is given and marked as such; the voices themselves stay unattributed in the transcript.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Arlene Hawkins | Chair (Claremont member) | Presides. Adds two items to the agenda: a vote on "previously sealed minutes" and a contact-information system (0:01:27, 0:01:47). Corrects the September 12 minutes (0:02:19). Moves the nonpublic session under "RSA 91. Dash a colon 3.2 A and M" (0:03:59). Notes the requested FY25 year-to-date report and audit timeline are not in the packet (0:07:44). Questions the superintendent's cell-phone line: "I believe it should be 2500. And I'm seeing 2000." (0:18:06). Proposes cutting the board's contracted-services line back to $5,000 (0:28:59). Reads the eight sets of minutes to be unsealed (0:41:47). |
| Rocco Ruggeri | Vice chair (Unity member) | Moves the staff-raise discretion motion (0:29:17). Asks whether policy KE should carry a response timeline like KEE (0:36:07) and points out GBEAB still offers two options (0:38:52). Reports the Unity planning committee's withdrawal report: sent to the state "I believe, October 8th" (0:44:20), reviewed by the state board today (0:44:54), and Unity "would still be part of Siu six until July 1st, 2026" if the town approves (0:45:34). The draft minutes also credit him with moving the September 12 minutes and the nine-year seal, which he withdrew. |
| Heather Whitney | Member (Claremont) | Not named in the dialogue file. Per the draft minutes: moves the agenda amendments, seconds the nonpublic motion and the raise motion, moves the policy package and its amendment (the chair recognizes Okay windy at 0:34:56), moves the unsealing, moves to adjourn, and tells the public the 7.23% is not a true increase and speaks for retaining the fund balance. On tape those last two passages sit in rows labeled Mary Henry (0:14:29, 0:31:59); see the footer. |
| Frank Sprague | Member (Claremont); chair, superintendent evaluation subcommittee | Asks what FY24 was budgeted against the actual (0:11:52): "And we spent 2.3343." (0:12:56). Asks for another meeting on the fund balance (0:16:31). Moves to return to public session (0:05:49). Reports the evaluation subcommittee will meet after Thanksgiving and that the superintendent has submitted his goal artifacts (0:40:35, 0:40:52). |
| Kelly Simpson | Member (Unity) | Asks why the SAU reimburses cell phones rather than carrying its own plan (0:23:22): "I pay $2,052 a year for four lines." (0:24:56). Totals "$166,460. Just in salaries increase with an additional $86,640 in just health insurance increases" (0:26:28): "That to me is huge. And that's without even giving them a raise." (0:26:47). Objects to receiving Claremont emergency texts (0:46:50). The draft minutes record her as the one member opposed to the raise-discretion motion. |
| Atonya Hart | Member (Unity) | Abstains on the September 12 minutes because she was absent from that meeting (0:03:57). Per the draft minutes, seconds the seal motion, the policy package and the amendment moving KE to a second read (the chair: "And Tanya seconded it", 0:35:58). |
| Michael Petrin | Member (Claremont) | Not named in the dialogue file (the roll renders him Michael. Patron and Mr. Peterson). Per the draft minutes, seconds the return to public session and asks why mileage and cell-phone payments are lump sums rather than tracked reimbursements; the matching Unidentified rows run from 0:18:45 to 0:21:48, and the "who wants to carry around two cell phones" history at 0:24:11. |
| Candace Crawford | Member (Claremont) | Answers the roll (Ines Crawford here, 0:00:43). Per the draft minutes, seconds the unsealing motion (0:42:38). No other attributed words. |
| Bonnie Miles, Whitney Skillen | Members (Claremont) | Absent (draft minutes). |
| Marjorie Erickson, Shannon Popescu | Members (Unity) | Absent (draft minutes). |
| Chris Pratt | Superintendent | Reads all three roll calls in the clerk's absence (0:00:43, 0:04:41, 0:06:13). On stipends: before this administration "people are getting checks for that amount" (0:22:35), "And so that's why we're hypervigilant." (0:22:41). Asks whether "the real number isn't really 180,000" (0:33:23); the draft minutes put that question to Frank Sprague. |
| Mary Henry | Business Administrator | Presents version 1 of the FY26 budget: increases "mainly in benefits" (0:08:11); one position added and offset through Title I (0:08:40); retirement down "almost 5%" (0:09:19); health plans up 2%, 3% and 7.7%, dental 9.93% (0:10:21, 0:10:37). FY24 budget "2,396,000" (0:12:39). Surplus "a little over $300,000", unaudited for three years (0:13:40, 0:14:05). Gross increase: "No it's 305 okay." (0:33:32). Promises the revised budget by November 22 (0:34:37). |
| Noelle Kronberg | Board clerk | Absent ("Miss Cronenberg is not here tonight", 0:01:00); signs the draft minutes. |
| Chelsea [Weatherford] | SAU staff (communications), named only | Named by the chair as the person who will post the unsealed minutes (0:42:43) and manage the contact-information list (0:46:16). Not present on the record; the surname is from the draft minutes. |
| Unidentified | Various | 105 of 434 dialogue rows (24.2%), mostly motions, seconds, single-word votes and the policy exchange from 0:38:52 to 0:40:15. Several are named in the minutes as noted above; none is named on this page from voice alone. No member of the public was present ("Not seeing any citizens in the audience", 0:03:59). |
Agenda
Items from SAU#6 School Board Agenda 11.14.24.docx (1).pdf; agenda wording is quoted from that document. Dispositions from the recording, checked against the draft minutes.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:02 | I. Call to order, pledge | Agenda: "6:30 PM Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance". |
| 0:00:33 | II. Roll call; agenda amendments | Superintendent reads the roll; eight present. Floor amendments add item IV.4, a vote on "previously sealed minutes" (the transcript renders it See it regarding. Sealed minutes and later on ceiling previously sealed minutes), and Other Business item 2, the contact-information system (0:01:27, 0:01:47). Draft minutes: Whitney moved, Ruggeri seconded; voice vote, all present in favor (0:02:06). |
| 0:02:19 | II. Minutes approval, 9/12/2024 | The chair asks the minutes to record that the board "did not actually receive the global review of actual to budgeted 2425 budget as listed in that agenda" and the three health-plan options (0:02:19, 0:02:59). Draft minutes: Ruggeri moved, Sprague seconded, approved as corrected; Hart abstained (0:03:43, 0:03:57). |
| 0:03:59 | II. Citizens' comments | Invited; none ("Not seeing any citizens in the audience"). |
| 0:03:59 | III. Nonpublic session | Agenda heads the item "Non-Public Meeting Session 91-A:3" and prints the text of exemption (c), reputation. The chair moves under "RSA 91. Dash a colon 3.2 A and M", that is RSA 91-A:3, II(a) and (m); the draft minutes agree (Hawkins moved, Whitney seconded). Roll call read by the superintendent; passed (0:04:41, 0:04:59). Return to public session: Sprague moved, Petrin seconded (minutes), roll call (0:05:45, 0:06:07). A motion to seal the nonpublic minutes for nine years is made and seconded (0:06:35), then members say the minutes are "pretty. Generic to two sentences" (0:06:47); no vote is called. Draft minutes: "Mr. Ruggeri withdrew his motion, minutes were not sealed". See flag 2 and flag 5. |
| 0:07:00 | IV.1 Budget discussion (Exhibit A) | Agenda: "Budget Discussion (Discussion) (Exhibit A)". Exhibit A is SAU6 FY26 Proposed Budget V1: FY25 budget $2,489,151.00, proposed FY26 $2,794,151.54, increase $305,000.54, less $125,000 of revenue, "Total Budget % Increase 7.23%". The FY25 year-to-date report and the audit timeline the chair had requested were not in the packet (0:07:44, 0:07:51). Motion (Ruggeri, Whitney seconding per the minutes) giving the superintendent authority to set SAU staff raises of 2.5% to 3% (0:29:17); carried by voice. The draft minutes record Kelly Simpson opposed; the recording has no audible count (0:29:39). Budget vote set for December 3 at 6:30 p.m. (0:30:01, 0:30:57). See flag 3, flag 6, flag 7. |
| 0:34:56 | IV.2 Policies BEDB, EHAC, GBEAA, GBEAB, GBEB, KE, KEE (each "1st read") | Motion to adopt all seven "as written" (Whitney, Hart seconding per the minutes) (0:35:19). Friendly amendment moves KE (Public Complaints) to a second read "with consideration" of a response timeline (0:37:51, 0:38:05). GBEAB still carries two options; the one the committee chose "would be corrected on the final" (0:39:58). Voice vote, all present in favor (minutes) (0:40:20). Six adopted on their first reading. See flag 8. |
| 0:40:20 | IV.3 Superintendent evaluation subcommittee | Report only; the subcommittee will meet after Thanksgiving (0:40:35). |
| 0:41:47 | IV.4 (added) Previously sealed minutes | Unseal: July 13, June 14, May 10 and July 17, 2018; April 13, May 11, July 31 and August 17, 2023 (0:41:47, 0:42:17). Whitney moved, Crawford seconded (minutes); voice vote, all in favor (0:42:40). "These minutes will be posted within 72 hours on the website." (0:42:43). See flag 2, flag 4, flag 10. |
| 0:42:43 | V. Future dates and agenda items | Agenda dates: Claremont board 11/20; SAU 6 strategic plan 11/21; SAU 6 FY26 budget public hearing 12/12; Unity board 12/10. Future item "Audit Dates": the business administrator will send them (0:43:11). |
| 0:43:38 | VI. Other business: Unity study; contact information system | Ruggeri's Unity withdrawal update (0:44:20); board members added to the emergency text system, with an opt-out through Chelsea (0:45:46). |
| 0:47:29 | VII. Adjournment | Whitney moved, Sprague seconded (minutes); carried (0:47:45). |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/16142 SAU6111424.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:00 | Clerk absent; agenda amended | "Miss Cronenberg is not here tonight. So that's why Mr. Pratt was so gracious in taking a local." The chair adds the sealed-minutes vote and the contact-information system. | |
| 0:02:19 | September 12 minutes corrected | The chair wants the minutes to record that the board did not receive the FY25 actual-to-budget review listed on that agenda, and the specifics of the three health-plan options. | MEDIUM |
| 0:03:59 | Into nonpublic | "I would like to move that we enter into a non public meeting session under RSA 91. Dash a colon 3.2 A and M." Roll call by the superintendent; "Motion passes." (0:04:59). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:06:21 | Seal motion left without a vote | "I'll make a motion to seal the minutes from the non public meeting for nine years." (0:06:35); then "It's pretty. Generic to two sentences. Is that right?" (0:06:47) and "Okay. No need to see the minutes." (0:06:52). The chair moves to the budget (0:07:00). | MEDIUM |
| 0:07:44 | Packet incomplete | Chair: "I had requested that be part of the packet last week, along with the timeline for a presentation of audits. So those are not in the packet?" Henry: "No. The audits I can talk about, but I didn't put something together for it." (0:07:51). | MEDIUM |
| 0:08:11 | Version 1 of the FY26 budget | Increases "are mainly in benefits because of changes in personnel"; retirement "went down almost 5%" (0:09:19); the highest health plan "only went up by 2%" (0:09:39); dental "went up actually by 9.93%" (0:10:21); "The lowest premium one went up by 7.7%" (0:10:37). | |
| 0:11:52 | FY24 actuals | Henry: "So you budget for 24 was 2.3 million. 2,396,000." (0:12:39). Sprague: "And we spent 2.3343." (0:12:56). Exhibit A prints FY24 actual expenditure of $2,334,194.33. | |
| 0:13:20 | The SAU surplus | "there's usually surplus money left over and say you it doesn't go back to taxpayers. It stays within the say you to use how you see fit." "Right now we have probably a little over $300,000 in there as your surplus that is sitting for whatever you want to do." (0:13:40); "because of course, we haven't been audited on the other three years that I have listed." (0:14:05). | MEDIUM |
| 0:14:29 | "Not truly a 7.23% increase" | "it says here a total budget increase of 7.23%, which would put people into panic." Henry estimates "not looking at more than 2.5% increase" after revenues and fund balance (0:15:16) and: "this is not truly a 7.23% increase" (0:16:05). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:16:38 | Another meeting needed | "We need to have another meeting prior to the public hearing, which is the December 14th, I want to say." Later: "The, the public hearing is the 12th." (0:30:22). The agenda says December 12; the draft minutes carry "December 14th". | OBSERVATION |
| 0:17:41 | Stipends and reimbursements | Chair: "So within the superintendent's office, I believe it should be 2500. And I'm seeing 2000." (0:18:06). A member: reimbursement in "my world" is based on actual miles and bills, "Not just a chunk of a dollar amount." (0:18:45). Pratt: stipends are in his and the assistant superintendent's contracts (0:20:04); before, "people are getting checks for that amount" (0:22:35). | |
| 0:23:22 | Cell-phone plan question | Simpson: "Why doesn't the say you have its own business plan?" (0:23:29); "I pay $2,052 a year for four lines." (0:24:56). Chair: "I think this is an easy, clean way to provide them the opportunity to do that." (0:25:38). | |
| 0:26:08 | Salary and health increases | Simpson: "$166,460. Just in salaries increase with an additional $86,640 in just health insurance increases" (0:26:28). Chair: "the raises have not been determined at this point." (0:27:09). | |
| 0:27:30 | Board's contracted-services line | The chair asks whether the board needs the $10,000 line used before for an evaluation consultant; "That was the $5,000 that was in there. That amount has been doubled." (0:28:15). Consensus, no vote: "leave it at five" (0:28:59). | |
| 0:29:16 | Raise discretion delegated | Ruggeri: "To give the superintendent the authority to give six staff, raise increases per his discretion for fiscal year 2526. Between the two and a half, 3% second." (0:29:17). Voice vote; "Motion passes." Chair: "We also have to go over the superintendent's contract, which we did not have a chance to discuss tonight." (0:29:39). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:30:01 | December 3 set for the budget vote | December 10 is Unity's meeting; the board picks Tuesday December 3 at 6:30 p.m. (0:30:57), with a nonpublic session and then the budget vote (0:31:13). | |
| 0:31:45 | Fund balance | "I would retain at all if it's going to reduce the tax rate." (0:31:59, row labeled Mary Henry; the draft minutes attribute the view to Heather Whitney). Henry: "So take the full 180 out of your surplus." (0:32:09). Revenue: $50,000 of Title I contracted services and $75,000 of grant indirect costs (0:32:54). Pratt: "So some of the money is coming from grants then the real number isn't really 180,000." (0:33:23). Henry: "No it's 305 okay." (0:33:32). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:34:56 | Seven policies | Ruggeri asks whether KE should have a response timeline as KEE does (0:36:07); KE goes back for a second read. On GBEAB's two options: "Second to that would be corrected on the final topic." (0:39:58). Adopted by voice (0:40:20). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:40:35 | Superintendent evaluation | Sprague: the subcommittee will meet after Thanksgiving; the superintendent has supplied "the artifacts, relating to to the specific goals" (0:40:52). | |
| 0:41:47 | Eight sets of minutes unsealed | "The board did review previously sealed minutes and has agreed to unseal the minutes from the following dates" (four 2018 dates, four 2023 dates, 0:42:17). Carried by voice (0:42:40). "These minutes will be posted within 72 hours on the website." (0:42:43). | MEDIUM OBSERVATION POSITIVE |
| 0:44:20 | Unity withdrawal | Ruggeri: the planning committee "met on September 26th and included [concluded] to submit the report to the state in favor of Unity's withdrawal from the SA six"; sent "I believe, October 8th"; "They had their board state board meeting today to review many items as well as our planning committee withdrawal report." (0:44:54). Town vote in March; "the unity would still be part of Siu six until July 1st, 2026." (0:45:34). | |
| 0:45:46 | Emergency text system | Members will now receive the staff alert texts; contact the chairs, not the superintendent, about an incident (0:46:16). Simpson: "So you're telling me that I will get texts about things that happen at Claremont Schools." (0:46:50). | |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer's aid, not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each one names the rule it rests on, as that rule read on November 14, 2024, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM This meeting's draft minutes reached the public share three weeks after the five-business-day deadline
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes "promptly recorded and open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting", which made Thursday, November 21, 2024 the deadline. The draft's Drive file was created December 12, 2024 at about 4:00 p.m. Eastern, inside the packet folder for the December 12 budget hearing; it was not in the folder for the SAU 6 meeting held on November 21 itself. This is graded MEDIUM, not HIGH, under the project's severity rule: the minutes exist, are detailed, and record a mover and seconder for every motion; Drive dates show when the public could read them online, not whether a copy could be inspected at the SAU office earlier. The same night the board approved the September 12 minutes, whose own draft had reached the share only on November 8, eight weeks after that meeting (see the September 12 page).
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2024 codification; 5 business days; movers and seconders); 11.14.24 draft minutes (Drive createdTime 2024-12-12)
MEDIUM Nine sets of nonpublic minutes became public records this night, and none has been located in a public share
RSA 91-A:3, III requires nonpublic minutes to be disclosed within 72 hours unless a recorded two-thirds vote taken in public session seals them on a statutory finding. The motion to seal this night's nonpublic minutes for nine years was made and seconded (0:06:35) but never voted; members called them "Generic to two sentences" (0:06:47), and the draft minutes say "Mr. Ruggeri withdrew his motion, minutes were not sealed". So the 72-hour clock ran from this meeting. The board also voted to release eight sealed sets from 2018 and 2023 (0:42:40), and the chair said "These minutes will be posted within 72 hours on the website." (0:42:43). None of the nine has been found: the Claremont Meeting Minutes share holds no SAU 6 file (MAP.md), and that share's Unsealed Minutes folder, created January 13, 2025, lists only 2025 Non-Public, 2026 Non-Public and 2027 Non-Public (checked October 3, 2026; Drive listings can under-report, so this is a search result, not proof). The SAU 6 packet folders in MAP.md list no nonpublic minutes either. The limit of that check: the SAU 6 website as it stood in late 2024 cannot be inspected from here, so this is "not found", not "never posted". MEDIUM because the votes and the promise are on the record and only the publication is unverified.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, III (72-hour disclosure unless sealed by recorded 2/3 vote in public session); 11.14.24 draft minutes, items III and IV.4
MEDIUM Three SAU fiscal years remain unaudited while the board plans to spend a "little over $300,000" surplus
The business administrator put the SAU's surplus at "a little over $300,000", then qualified it: "because of course, we haven't been audited on the other three years that I have listed." (0:14:05). Exhibit A shows the Business Office "Auditors" line at $0.00 actual in FY23 and FY24, with $10,000 budgeted in FY25 and FY26. The chair had asked for an audit-presentation timeline in the packet and it was not there (0:07:44); the agenda carries "Audit Dates" only as a future item. RSA 194-C:4, II(a) lists audits among the services every SAU must provide. No located statute sets a deadline for an SAU audit (RSA 21-J:19, the audit statute for school districts, is permissive and does not name SAUs), so this is graded MEDIUM as a control weakness rather than a missed deadline. The practical point is that the fund balance the board was told to "take the full 180 out of" (0:32:09) has no audited figure behind it.
Sources: RSA 194-C:4, II(a) (audits among SAU services); RSA 21-J:19 (permissive; towns, school districts, village districts); Exhibit A, SAU6 FY26 Proposed Budget V1, line 100.41.2520.383
OBSERVATION The April 11, 2024 six-month seal is not on the unsealing list, though its term had run
The April 11, 2024 draft minutes record a roll-call vote "to seal the minutes for six months to allow time for the negotiations to finish". Six months ran out about October 11, 2024. The list read this night (0:41:47, 0:42:17) covers four 2018 and four 2023 sets and nothing from 2024, and the recording does not say whether the April 2024 minutes were reviewed and kept sealed or simply not reached. RSA 91-A:3, III keeps minutes sealed only while the statutory circumstances apply, and RSA 91-A:3, IV(a) lets a body review that by majority vote; neither turns a time-limited seal vote into automatic release, so this is an observation. A reader should ask the SAU whether the April 2024 nonpublic minutes are now public.
Sources: 4.11.24 draft SAU 6 minutes, item IV; RSA 91-A:3, III and IV(a)
OBSERVATION The agenda noticed a reputation session; the board went in under the employee and sealed-minutes exemptions
The posted agenda heads item III "Non-Public Meeting Session 91-A:3" and prints the text of exemption (c), matters likely to affect a person's reputation. The chair's motion cited "RSA 91. Dash a colon 3.2 A and M" (0:03:59), the draft minutes print the text of II(a) and II(m), and the sealed-minutes review that (m) covers was added to the agenda by floor amendment minutes earlier. The statute was followed where it binds: the motion stated its exemptions and passed on a roll call (RSA 91-A:3, I(b)), and the unsealing vote was taken in public session as II(m) requires. RSA 91-A:2, II requires notice of the meeting, not a final agenda, so the mismatch is not a violation; it does mean a member of the public reading the agenda was told the closed session concerned something else. The chair later said the superintendent's contract, a II(a) subject, was not reached (0:29:39).
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a), II(c), II(m); Agenda, item III
OBSERVATION The printed 7.23% nets revenue against a gross base; the gross increase is 12.25%
Exhibit A's totals are $2,489,151.00 for FY25 and $2,794,151.54 proposed for FY26, an increase of $305,000.54, or 12.25%. The sheet then subtracts $125,000 of revenue ($50,000 of contracted services and $75,000 of grant indirect costs) and prints "Total Budget Increase $180,000.54" and "Total Budget % Increase 7.23%". That percentage divides a net increase by the gross prior-year budget, so it is neither the gross nor a like-for-like net change. On tape the 7.23% is described as one that "would put people into panic" (0:14:29) and "not truly a 7.23% increase" (0:16:05); the gross dollar figure comes out only when the superintendent asks (0:33:23, 0:33:32), and 12.25% is never said aloud. No statute or GASB standard governs the arithmetic of a proposed budget worksheet; this is noted so a reader of the exhibit knows which number is which.
Sources: Exhibit A, SAU6 FY26 Proposed Budget V1, totals page
OBSERVATION The board delegated individual raises within a 2.5% to 3% band to the superintendent
RSA 194-C:5, III says the SAU board "shall fix the salaries of all school administrative unit personnel". The motion gave the superintendent "the authority to give six [SAU] staff, raise increases per his discretion for fiscal year 2526. Between the two and a half, 3%" (0:29:17). The board did set the band, which is a form of fixing; whether a band delegated to the superintendent meets the statute is not settled by its text, so this is an observation. The vote is also an example of the tape and the minutes diverging: the recording has "Opposed.", an inaudible response, and "Motion passes." (0:29:39); the draft minutes record "all present voting in favor with the exception of Kelly Simpson who opposed".
Sources: RSA 194-C:5, III (SAU board fixes salaries); 11.14.24 draft minutes, item IV.1
OBSERVATION Six policies listed as first reads were adopted the same night, one with an option still to be removed
Every policy on the agenda is labeled "(1st read)" under an Action heading, and the motion was to adopt them as written (0:35:22). Six were adopted that night; KE was held for a second read. GBEAB went through with both of the drafting committee's options still in the text and the chosen one to be "corrected on the final" (0:39:58), so the adopted wording is not the wording in the packet. The draft minutes say the second option "will be removed in the final copy". Whether SAU 6's own policy-adoption rules require two readings was not checked for this page, so no rule is cited.
Sources: Agenda, item IV.2; Exhibit E, GBEAB first-read draft
OBSERVATION The draft minutes carry the chair's slip on the hearing date and differ from the recording in several places
The draft minutes say the meeting before "the public hearing on December 14th"; the chair said 14th and corrected herself to "the 12th" (0:30:22), and the agenda says December 12. They keep the board's contracted-services line at "$5,000 for FY25" where the discussion was about FY 2025-26 (0:28:15). They credit Frank Sprague with the "real number" question that the dialogue file gives to the superintendent (0:33:23), and Frank Sprague with the remark that others used to receive the stipend amount without having the stipend, which on tape is the superintendent's (0:22:35). None of these changes a vote, but the minutes are the only document most readers will see.
Sources: 11.14.24 draft minutes, item IV.1; Agenda, item V(c)
POSITIVE The board reviewed old seals and released eight sets of nonpublic minutes, some sealed since 2018
RSA 91-A:3, IV(a) lets a public body review sealed minutes and release them by majority vote once the reasons for sealing no longer apply, and II(m) requires that vote to be taken in public. The board did exactly that for four 2018 and four 2023 sets (0:41:47, 0:42:40), adding the item openly by amendment at the start of the meeting. Combined with roll calls on entering and leaving nonpublic session (0:04:41, 0:06:07), minutes that name a mover and seconder for every motion and record a named dissent, and an agenda folder posted November 8, six days ahead, this meeting's process went beyond what was strictly required in one respect and met it in the others. The open question is publication (flag 2).
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, II(m) and IV(a) (2023, 189:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023); Packet folder 2. SAU6 11.14.24 (created 2024-11-08)
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/16142 SAU6111424.mp4.CSV (434 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/16142 SAU6111424.mp4Input/Transcripts/16142 SAU6111424.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 241
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:2, II, 2024 codification: minutes within 5 business days; movers and seconders recorded (2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019)
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a), II(c), II(m), III, IV(a) (2023, 189:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023): nonpublic motions, exemptions, 72-hour disclosure, review of sealed minutes
- RSA 194-C:4, II(a): audits among SAU services
- RSA 194-C:5, III (1996, 298:3): SAU board fixes salaries of SAU personnel
- RSA 21-J:19: permissive audit provision; does not name SAUs