Participants
Everyone in the record. Spellings and attendance follow the draft minutes; the dialogue CSV's labels are noted where they differ. 20 of 688 CSV rows are labelled Unidentified and 2 Multiple.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Arlene Hawkins | Claremont member; elected SAU 6 chair this night | Nominated by Candace Crawford at 0:00:46 and elected chair; presided from 0:01:09. Led questioning of the auditor on the electronic signature and the treasurer vacancy, ran the treasurer and voucher-signer elections, pressed the business administrator on mileage and cell-phone lines, presented the GBCD policy revision, and called the nonpublic roll call. 178 CSV rows. |
| Rocco Ruggeri | Unity member; elected vice chair | Elected vice chair at 0:01:25 (the CSV renders the name "Ruggieri" in the chair's speech). Volunteered to review and sign vouchers (0:16:27). Reported the Unity town vote to withdraw from SAU 6 at 1:20:12. |
| Candace Crawford | Claremont member; elected SAU 6 treasurer | Nominated Hawkins for chair. Questioned the auditor and business administrator on purchase orders, journal entries, missing deposit records, late payments, and the year-end surplus; pointed out the agenda's wrong audit year at 0:31:29. Elected treasurer at 0:17:00. |
| Frank Sprague | Claremont member; chair of the superintendent-evaluation subcommittee | Nominated Ruggeri for vice chair. Asked whether repeat audit findings will clear by FY23–24. Objected that the GBCD amendment buries sex-offender restrictions in an employee-hiring policy and pointed to Claremont's JLIF. Reported the evaluation instrument is finished, with a May 1 target. |
| Heather Whitney | Claremont member (Claremont board chair) | Asked about stale-dated checks and vacancy effects on encumbrances; proposed Sprague keep the evaluation subcommittee; moved to task the Claremont policy committee with JLIF instead of adopting the GBCD amendment (1:34:48); moved the nonpublic session (1:41:51). |
| Loren Howard | Claremont member | Seconded the treasurer nomination ("My timid second.", 0:16:59); volunteered for the policy subcommittee. One CSV row; the roll-call row at 1:42:21 ("Lauren Howard. Yes.") is labelled for the chair. |
| William "Bill" Madden | Claremont member | Elected second voucher signer at 0:17:45; joined the superintendent-evaluation subcommittee (1:24:09). The minutes record his questions on volunteer background checks and a possible typo; the CSV gives that turn to Sprague (see flag 4). |
| Michael Petrin | Claremont member | Present per the minutes, which credit him with seconding the 12.12.24 minutes and the nonpublic motion. No CSV row carries his name. |
| Marjorie Erickson | Unity member | Absent (minutes) |
| Atonya Hart | Unity member | Absent (minutes). Probably the "Tania"/"Tanya" from Unity thanked for evaluation work at 1:25:03 and named by Sprague at 1:41:14; the transcript gives no surname. |
| Shannon Popescu | Unity member | Absent (minutes) |
| Noelle Kronberg | SAU 6 board clerk | Called the attendance roll (0:01:53); the minutes credit her with the nonpublic roll calls. |
| Christopher Pratt | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Called the meeting to order and presided over the chair election; explained fire-grade locking cabinets for special-education files, the district-issued phone plan, the GBCD amendment's purpose, and his evaluation artifact sheet. |
| Mary Henry | Business administrator, SAU 6 | Introduced the auditor; reported the FY22 SAU audit draft arrived that afternoon; answered the control findings; presented the FY25 year-to-date financial report line by line (159 CSV rows). |
| Michael Campo | Auditor, Plodzik & Sanderson | Presented the SAU audit (the agenda says 2020; the minutes and speakers say 2021). The CSV renders the firm "Classic and Sanderson" at 0:03:00. Joined remotely for part of the item; the connection dropped at about 0:15:43. |
| Matthew Fortier | Strengthening Families coordinator, TLC Family Resource Center (New Hampshire Children's Trust grant) | Presented the Claremont families needs assessment (0:32:53–0:58:54). The minutes spell the first name "Matthieu"; the chair introduces him as "Matt". |
| Unidentified | Board members and staff not anchored to a voice | 20 rows, including the second for the chair election (0:00:48) and the motion to approve the 12.12.24 minutes (0:02:49). |
Named but not present: Bonnie (Miles), former SAU 6 treasurer; "Laurie Morey"/"Lori Murray"/"Lori Marie" in the transcript, the finance director, whose name the district's 2026 banking resolution prints as Lori Mowrey; Jeff (Small), technology director; Chelsea, who will host the evaluation artifacts (surname not spoken); Patrick (O'Hearn), HR director; Matt Upton, cited as legal counsel; "Miss Gillen", credited by Whitney for evaluation work (the transcript's rendering; not resolved).
Agenda
The SAU 6 agenda as reproduced inside the draft minutes. No separate SAU 6 agenda was found in the meeting's packet folder (see flag 5).
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:00:03 | I. Call to order, Pledge | "6:30PM Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance- (Chris Pratt)" (agenda in the minutes). Pratt calls the meeting to order. |
| 0:00:33 | II. Election of officers | Chair: Crawford nominates Hawkins; second by an unidentified voice; Pratt calls the vote, no opposition heard. Vice chair at 0:01:22: Sprague nominates Ruggeri; the new chair says "I'll second that."; carried. The minutes name Heather Whitney as seconder of both (see flag 4). No secretary election is recorded. |
| 0:01:38 | III. General business: roll call, agenda, 12.12.24 minutes, citizens' comments | Roll call by the clerk at 0:01:53 (garbled on tape; minutes list 8 present, 3 absent). Agenda approved as presented at 0:02:24 (minutes: Whitney/Crawford). 12.12.24 minutes approved at 0:03:00 (minutes: Whitney/Petrin; tape: unidentified mover, Sprague second). Citizens' comments: none offered. |
| 0:03:00 | IV. SAU 2020 audit recommendations, Plodzik & Sanderson | The agenda says 2020; the audit presented is FY2021, corrected on the record at 0:31:29. Treasurer and voucher signers elected inside this item: Ruggeri to review and sign vouchers (0:16:27), Crawford treasurer (0:17:00), Madden second voucher signer (0:17:45), each by voice vote. |
| 0:32:35 | V.1 Strengthening Families needs assessment (Exhibit A) | Presentation by Matthew Fortier, TLC Family Resource Center; discussion, no action. |
| 0:59:11 | V.2 Financial report (Exhibit B) | "Up to Date FY 2025 detailed review of actual to budgeted and specific line items" (agenda in the minutes). Discussion only. |
| 1:20:06 | V.3 Unity town vote; a. timeline; b. 2025-26 wrap-up needs | Report by Ruggeri; no action. |
| 1:22:03 | V.4 Subcommittee appointments | Policy: Hawkins continues as chair, Howard joins. Superintendent evaluation: Sprague continues as chair, Madden joins; Sprague to ask a Unity member. No vote. |
| 1:25:29 | V.5a Policy subcommittee: GBCD revision | Motion by Whitney (1:34:48) to task the Claremont policy committee with updating JLIF instead of adopting the GBCD amendment; second by Sprague (minutes); voice vote at 1:36:50, no opposition heard. |
| 1:37:05 | V.5b Superintendent evaluation subcommittee | Report by Sprague; no action. |
| 1:41:29 | VI. Nonpublic session, "RSA 91-A:3, II (a & j)" (agenda in the minutes) | Motion by Whitney, second by Crawford on tape (minutes: Petrin); roll call begins at 1:42:11. Minutes: in at 8:12 p.m., out at 8:38 p.m., minutes sealed for one year by roll call. Recording ends here. |
| Not recorded | VII–IX. Future dates, other business, adjournment | From the minutes only: future dates 4/16, 5/7 (Claremont) and 5/13 (Unity); future item "Continued audit presentations (2021-2024) timeline prior to June 2026"; consensus to meet "on an as-need basis"; "State approved Unity's separation"; adjournment on Howard/Sprague, voice vote, time not stated. |
Discussion timeline
Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/16463 SAU6Mtg-041025.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:00:33 | Reorganization | Pratt: "The first order of business tonight is to reorganization and to elect a board chair". Crawford: "I nominate Arlene Hawkins." Second from an unidentified voice; carried. Hawkins then takes the chair; Sprague nominates Ruggeri and Hawkins: "I'll second that. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye." | OBS POS |
| 0:02:24 | Agenda; 12.12.24 minutes | Hawkins on the December minutes: "Seems like a long time ago." They were approved this night, 119 days after that meeting. | OBS |
| 0:03:32 | FY22 SAU audit arrives | Henry: "we received fiscal year 22 audit today for review" and expects the FY22 findings to repeat the earlier ones. Campo: "the goal is to be into 23 before the end of the month." | OBS |
| 0:06:04 | Electronic signature; no treasurer review | Hawkins raises the finding that an electronic signature is used. Campo: "At the very least, the treasurer should be reviewing the check registers to make sure that they're reasonable." Henry, on whether the former treasurer reviewed vouchers: "No Bonnie has not. So I need to get with Bonnie." Campo recommends "designating at least two individuals to go in, see the actual manifest" and "I tell my staff if if you don't document it, it didn't happen." | OBS POS |
| 0:10:43 | How the signature works | Henry: the signature prints with the checks and "it's scanned in through Infinite Visions"; "I have it set so that the only signature you can use is that signature in the system." Agreed the electronic signature should be the treasurer's. | |
| 0:11:56 | Repeat findings | Sprague hopes repeat findings are resolved by FY23–24. Campo: "we're talking about four years ago" and the governance and management letters "are very similar in the 22 audit as well." Henry: "It's better already." | OBS |
| 0:13:36 | Stale-dated checks | Whitney asks the size. Campo has no dollar figure; carrying them "gives you a really bad, bad, bad idea of where your cash stands". Henry: "They're not big numbers" and some "were duplicate checks to where they just weren't voided." | |
| 0:16:03 | Treasurer and voucher signers elected | While the auditor's connection is restored: Ruggeri "I'll do it." (vouchers, Unity), carried; Crawford elected treasurer, Howard: "My timid second."; Madden elected second voucher signer, Howard seconding. Henry: "I need one person to sign checks and then I need two people from your board other than your treasurer to sign the voucher." | OBS POS |
| 0:19:29 | Audits before Unity leaves | Hawkins wants all SAU audits finished before Unity's departure (she first says "June 26th", then corrects to July 1, 2026). Henry: "Unity is up to 22 as well." Campo agrees that is the goal. | OBS |
| 0:21:37 | Crawford's control questions | Purchase orders: Henry, "Nothing is ordered without a purchase order." Journal entries: Henry, "there are times when we are busy and I will enter journal entries on my own", but her staff accountant cannot post her own. Missing deposit records: Campo, "I think some records were shifted. And frankly, I think some of them were lost." Scanning began in FY24. | OBS |
| 0:26:27 | Late payments; unclaimed grants | Henry: "I had to go back and claim almost two years worth of grants to get the money in. We had cash flow issues. We were working off a spreadsheet." And: "when you're talking millions of dollars in grants and Esser funds that weren't claimed until two years later, that's it's a snowball effect". Inter-entity transfers once made by phoning the bank; "We do checks now". | OBS |
| 0:31:14 | DOE-25 | Henry: "I am so looking forward to doing the Doe this year and having real numbers" (the transcript's "Doe" is the DOE-25 annual financial report). | |
| 0:31:29 | Wrong audit year on the agenda | Crawford notes the agenda says 2020. Henry: "Should have said 2021. And I just got 2022." Crawford: the 2020 review was in an earlier packet for a meeting that was cancelled. | OBS |
| 0:33:28 | Strengthening Families needs assessment | Fortier's grant-funded role (New Hampshire Children's Trust, partnered with TLC) is Claremont-specific. Phase one interviewed community leaders and about 80 educators; phase two surveyed families through a district-wide email: "the very next day I had over 1500 responses", with "a $20 Amazon gift card" incentive drawing duplicates, leaving "over 800 unique responses". Leading struggles: finances, then parenting; parents who named parenting asked for community events and child care. He now runs "family cafes", "scheduled them for the 5 to 7 time". | |
| 0:54:49 | Board follow-up | Pratt offers to push material out through Parents Square. Crawford suggests Rotary and Kiwanis; Whitney asks whether non-Claremont families may attend ("I'm going to say that they can come."); Hawkins suggests principals and PTAs. | |
| 0:59:35 | FY25 financial report: totals | Henry: "I know this bottom line says 205. It's actually 212,000". School board lines largely unspent ($10,000 contracted services, $2,000 legal). Superintendent salary shows over only because of encumbrances. | POS |
| 1:02:11 | 403(b), cell phones, dues | 403(b) match "We budgeted 1000"; cell-phone reimbursement up; superintendent dues and fees up for an administrative program and to be moved to staff training. | |
| 1:04:25 | Out-of-district coordinator | An SAU-budgeted special-education position was carried in Claremont's budget for FY25 because the person served only Claremont students. Crawford: "So that 99,000 is basically one person." Henry: she returns to the SAU budget next year. | OBS |
| 1:08:18 | Special-education supplies; mileage | Pratt: fire-grade locking cabinets were bought because "By law, they have to be locked in the special ed cabinets." Mileage: "we budgeted $1,250" but "according to the agreement, it should be 2500"; Henry: "We're over budget by $1,921." No one could say why travel/PD and mileage are separate lines; Henry: "we're going to have one line next year." | |
| 1:11:52 | District-issued phones | Hawkins relays counsel's advice that personal phones can be subpoenaed: "So what he recommended was that it be district issued cell phones just for district business". Pratt says he and Jeff are pricing phones for administrators. | |
| 1:13:29 | Business office, HR, maintenance | Business-office salaries over on a vacation payout and overtime; software partly prepaid from ESSER. $217 of FSA premiums paid by the SAU "actually was Claremont's bill" and a fuel-oil bill "for $2,848.58, that actually belonged to Claremont Bluff School" moved to receivables. Henry: "we haven't had a meeting in a while". | OBS |
| 1:18:32 | Projected surplus | Crawford works the 3/25 statement's $205,000 down by the coordinator and software balances, first to "about 100,000", then: "It's still going to be to the good 150,000." Henry: "I would say that. Yes. Confidently. Yes." The minutes record "about $100,000". | OBS |
| 1:20:12 | Unity withdrawal | Ruggeri: on March 15, 2025 Unity voters passed the warrant article to withdraw from SAU 6; Unity is filling the needed roles; "the last day that unity will be part of saw six will be June 30th, 2026." Hawkins relays counsel's view that the work is Unity's to do. | |
| 1:22:03 | Subcommittee appointments | Hawkins keeps policy, expecting little work because priority and legally required policies are current; Howard joins. Whitney proposes Sprague keep the evaluation subcommittee for institutional knowledge, with Madden joining. | |
| 1:25:29 | GBCD amendment (offenders against children) | Hawkins presents Pratt's amendment adding persons classified as offenders against children to the SAU background-check policy. Sprague: "this is kind of buried in this background check, which is really guidance on our hiring of employees", and Claremont's JLIF already covers registry information (adopted, he says, in 2017). Ruggeri: Unity added "restrictions on offenders against children" to its policy title. Whitney's motion tasks the Claremont policy committee with JLIF instead; carried at 1:36:50. Pratt on volunteers: "Yeah, legally we have to. Yep." | OBS |
| 1:37:05 | Superintendent evaluation | Sprague: "I've finished the superintendent's evaluation instrument." Howard and Madden are ineligible to rate this year. Pratt will supply one artifact spreadsheet. Sprague: "I am shooting for May 1st." | |
| 1:41:29 | Nonpublic session | Hawkins: "a request for a non public session under RSA 91-83A colon three comma two a and J." Whitney's motion as transcribed: "per RSA 91-8 colon, three comma Roman numeral two A and a." Crawford seconds; roll call follows. Recording ends at 1:42:38. | MED MED OBS |
Items flagged for review
These flags are a reviewer's aid. They are not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each names the rule it rests on, checked as it read on April 10, 2025, or is labelled an observation where no verified rule applies.
MEDIUM The draft minutes reached the public share 60 days after the meeting, filed with a later packet
RSA 91-A:2, II requires minutes to be "open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting", which for a Thursday, April 10 meeting is Thursday, April 17, 2025. The meeting's own folder, 19. CSB 4.10.25, was created April 9 and holds one file. The draft minutes sit in the SAU 6 folder 6. SAU6 6.12.25; Drive dates the file's creation and its last modification to June 9, 2025, the 41st business day after the meeting, three days before the June 12 meeting approved them. The document itself proves nothing earlier. Graded MEDIUM under the project's severity rule because the meeting was recorded and the minutes do exist; only their timeliness fails. The same draft shows the board approving the 12.12.24 minutes 119 days after that meeting.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (minutes within 5 business days; drafts suffice); RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (school administrative units are public bodies); Drive metadata for file 1KcmceeO49Fd392oO_RBk86who2DyTLkT and folder 1fE2hgJ0SG6eDTxCP9S1qgPzbA5X2HSLg, read 2026-10-03.
MEDIUM The nonpublic motion cites RSA 91-A:3, II(j), which applies only in an adjudicative proceeding
The agenda in the minutes and the minutes' motion both cite "RSA 91-A:3, II (a & j)", and the minutes print the text of (j). That ground covers confidential commercial or financial information "in an adjudicative proceeding pursuant to RSA 541 or RSA 541-A". Nothing in the record suggests the SAU board was conducting such a proceeding, so (j) was not available to it. The session can still stand on (a), personnel, which was also cited. On tape the chair names "two a and J" at 1:41:29, and Whitney's motion is transcribed "two A and a" at 1:41:51; ¶I(b) requires the motion to "state on its face the specific exemption", so the spoken motion should be checked against the recording. Mitigation: a roll-call vote was taken in public, as ¶I(b) requires, and the tape shows it starting at 1:42:11.
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a), II(j) (text as amended 2023, 189:1, eff. Oct. 3, 2023); draft minutes, item VI.
MEDIUM Minutes sealed for one year with no statutory finding recorded
The minutes record: "Heather Whitney made a motion to seal the minutes for 1 year, Loren Howard seconded the motion; roll call vote taken by Noelle Kronberg, all present voting in favor". RSA 91-A:3, III allows nonpublic minutes to be withheld beyond 72 hours only by a recorded two-thirds vote taken in public session and only where the body determines that disclosure would likely adversely affect a non-member's reputation, render a proposed action ineffective, or pertain to terrorism. The vote count meets the two-thirds rule; the minutes state no finding at all. The vote happened after the recording stopped, so the tape cannot supply it. A fixed one-year term is not the statute's measure either: the statute withholds until a majority finds the circumstances no longer apply. No unsealed copy of these nonpublic minutes was located (a Drive title search is not reliable, so this is "not found", not "does not exist").
Sources: RSA 91-A:3, III (72-hour disclosure unless sealed by 2/3 recorded vote with a stated ground) and IV (review of sealed minutes); draft minutes, item VI.
OBSERVATION The minutes and the tape disagree on several movers, seconders and one figure
RSA 91-A:2, II requires the minutes to record who made and seconded each motion; the minutes do name one for every motion. Where the recording can be heard, it does not always agree. Chair election: minutes, seconded by Whitney; tape, an unidentified Second. at 0:00:48. Vice chair: minutes, seconded by Whitney; tape, the newly elected chair says "I'll second that." at 0:01:25. 12.12.24 minutes: minutes, Whitney and Petrin; tape, an unidentified mover at 0:02:49 and Sprague's Second. at 0:02:57. Treasurer: minutes, Whitney nominated Crawford; on tape the nomination follows Sprague's "I'm sorry. I can't think of anybody more." at 0:16:53. Nonpublic motion: minutes, Petrin seconded; tape, Crawford at 1:42:01. Volunteer background checks: the minutes give the question to Madden; the CSV gives it to Sprague at 1:35:22. Surplus: the minutes record "about $100,000"; the business administrator's last answer on tape endorses $150,000 at 1:19:50. The minutes win on names under this project's rules, and diarization can mislabel short turns; a reader relying on either record for who acted should check the recording.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (names of movers and seconders shall be recorded; in force from Jan. 1, 2019); draft minutes; Dialogue/16463 SAU6Mtg-041025.mp4.CSV.
OBSERVATION The meeting's packet folder holds a different body's agenda; the SAU 6 agenda and both exhibits were not found
The folder MAP.md links for this meeting, 19. CSB 4.10.25, holds one file, CSB Agenda 4.10.25.pdf, uploaded April 9, 2025. It is a Claremont School Board agenda for a separate meeting the same evening: call to order at 6:15 p.m., one action item (the Youth & Government overnight trip of April 11–12), adjournment at 6:30 p.m. The SAU 6 agenda appears only inside the draft minutes posted June 9. Exhibit A (needs assessment) and Exhibit B (financial report), both in members' hands on tape ("I see you guys have a copy" at 0:34:10), are not in the folder. RSA 91-A:2, II requires 24 hours' notice of the meeting, not a posted agenda, and the notice itself could not be inspected, so no rule is cited as broken. Separately, no recording, minutes or approval of the 6:15 p.m. Claremont meeting were found: the recording opens with the SAU 6 call to order, and the Claremont consent agendas of April 16 and May 7 approve only the 4.2.25 and 4.16.25 minutes. Whether that meeting took place is not settled by the record. The agenda's audit year was also wrong (2020 for 2021), corrected at 0:31:44.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (24-hour notice); CSB Agenda 4.10.25.pdf; approved Claremont minutes of 4.16.25 and 5.7.25 (appendix).
OBSERVATION A four-year audit backlog with repeat control findings, presented in April 2025
The audit presented is for FY2021; the auditor says it carries a 2024 issuance date (0:07:20), the FY22 draft arrived that afternoon, and FY23 fieldwork was to begin within the month. The findings discussed: an electronic signature used with no treasurer review of check registers, purchase orders not attached to invoices, journal entries posted and reversed without review, deposit support that could not be located (some records likely lost in a building renovation, per the auditor), late inter-entity payments tied to grants unclaimed for about two years, and accumulating stale-dated checks. Management says each has been corrected from FY24. In April 2025 no located New Hampshire statute required an SAU to be audited on any schedule: RSA 21-J:19 names towns, school districts and village districts, not SAUs, and is permissive; RSA 194-C:4, II(a) lists audits among the services an SAU provides. That changed later: 2026 N.H. Laws ch. 272 (SB 586), approved July 2, 2026, effective July 1, 2026, brings SAUs under RSA 198:4-d's audit requirement with a nine-month filing deadline. It does not apply to this meeting and is noted only so readers can follow the thread.
Sources: RSA 194-C:4, II(a) (audits among SAU services); RSA 21-J:19 (permissive audit authority; does not name SAUs); 2026 N.H. Laws ch. 272 (SB 586), RSA 198:4-d, VI and VIII as reenacted (later law, not in force on this date).
OBSERVATION SAU and Claremont costs crossed in both directions during FY25
Three items in the financial report move money between the SAU and one member district. An SAU special-education position (about $99,000 with benefits, per Crawford at 1:05:26) was paid from Claremont's budget for the year while its SAU appropriation went unspent, which accounts for much of the SAU's projected surplus. In the other direction the SAU paid a Claremont fuel-oil bill of $2,848.58 and $217 of Claremont FSA premiums, now being billed back through receivables (1:15:55, 1:17:35). RSA 194-C:5, III has the SAU board apportion "the expense of the salaries and benefits" of SAU personnel among the districts, and RSA 194-C:9, I fixes the apportionment formula; an SAU position carried for a year in one district's budget changes what each district bears, and Unity was a member that year. The record shows the reasons given, not whether the apportionment or any year-end settlement accounted for the shift. The business administrator reports the corrections openly, which counts in the district's favour.
Sources: RSA 194-C:5, III (SAU board apportions salaries and benefits among districts); RSA 194-C:9, I (apportionment formula).
OBSERVATION The SAU board voted to assign work to a Claremont School Board committee
Whitney's motion, carried at 1:36:50, tasked "the Claremont Policy Committee" with updating Claremont policy JLIF in place of the SAU amendment to GBCD. The Claremont policy committee answers to the Claremont School Board, a separate public body, so the SAU vote is best read as a request; all seven Claremont members were present and voting. The Claremont board did take up GBCD on April 16 and JLIF on May 7, 2025 (see those pages). The background-check substance raised on tape, including volunteers (1:35:35), was not resolved at the SAU level.
Sources: draft minutes, item V.5a; approved Claremont minutes of 4.16.25 and 5.7.25 (appendix). No rule is cited; this is an observation on governance.
OBSERVATION Everything after the nonpublic session exists only in the draft minutes
The recording ends as the roll call to enter nonpublic session begins. The seal vote, the decision to meet "on an as-need basis", the entry "State approved Unity's separation", the future agenda item on audit presentations before June 2026, and adjournment are known only from the minutes, which do not give an adjournment time. The arithmetic fits: 1:42:38 of tape from a 6:30 p.m. call to order ends at about 8:12 p.m., the minuted time of entry into nonpublic session. RSA 91-A does not require a recording; the point is that for the closing business the minutes are the only public record, which raises the stakes of flag 1.
Sources: draft minutes, items VI–IX; Dialogue/16463 SAU6Mtg-041025.mp4.CSV (last row at 1:42:37).
POSITIVE The board organized inside the statutory window and filled the treasurer vacancy the auditor's finding exposed
RSA 194-C:5, I requires the SAU board to meet between April 1 and June 1 and to organize by choosing a chairperson, a secretary and a treasurer. The board met April 10, elected a chair and vice chair, and, prompted by the auditor's point that the treasurer should review check registers, elected a treasurer and two voucher signers on the spot, with one Unity and one Claremont signer (0:16:27–0:17:45). The minutes record the chair noting "that the SAU Board currently has no treasurer". Limits: the minutes record no election of a secretary, and the vice chair is not a statutory office.
Sources: RSA 194-C:5, I (annual organization between April 1 and June 1; chairperson, secretary, treasurer).
POSITIVE A line-by-line budget-to-actual review with each variance explained
The business administrator walked every department of the FY25 SAU budget, explained each overage (encumbrance timing, health-plan elections, a contractual mileage figure budgeted at half its value, misposted Claremont bills), named the corrections already made, and took questions from four members. No statute requires an SAU board to receive a mid-year budget-to-actual report; doing so in public gives members and voters something to check the year-end figures against.
Sources: Dialogue/16463 SAU6Mtg-041025.mp4.CSV, 0:59:11–1:19:58; draft minutes, item V.2.
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/16463 SAU6Mtg-041025.mp4.CSV (688 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/16463 SAU6Mtg-041025.mp4Input/Transcripts/16463 SAU6Mtg-041025.mp4.jsonInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 262
Laws and rules cited on this page
- RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d): public bodies include any board of a school administrative unit.
- RSA 91-A:2, II: 24-hour notice; minutes within 5 business days; movers and seconders recorded. (The start-time, end-time and minutes-author clauses served today are 2025, 112:1, eff. Aug. 22, 2025, and are not applied here.)
- RSA 91-A:3, I(b), II(a), II(j), III, IV: nonpublic sessions, grounds, sealing.
- RSA 194-C:4, II(a); RSA 194-C:5, I and III; RSA 194-C:9, I: SAU services, organization, apportionment.
- RSA 21-J:19: audits by independent accountants (permissive; does not name SAUs).
- 2026 N.H. Laws ch. 272 (SB 586), approved July 2, 2026, eff. July 1, 2026: later law, cited for context only.