Officials Plan Changes to Right to Know Law

GOFFSTOWN --- 12/21/06:  State Rep. Pamela Manney yesterday said that in the next legislative session she will push for an amendment to the Right to Know law that would require the Goffstown Board of Selectmen and other public bodies of similar size to include names in records of votes. 

Manney, a Republican, said she was asked to introduce the necessary legislation by Guy Caron, the chairman of the Goffstown Residents Association, a 270-member organization that monitors local town and school issues.

Discussion of state legislation comes after a decision by the board of selectmen on Dec. 4

to not record names of members who had voted for or against a motion. Caron, who had requested the change, said he had expected the board to revisit the issue at its next meeting.

Two meetings later with no action taken, he said his organization is considering a petition drive and a warrant article that would compel the selectmen to record their names with votes. Caron said he has also asked state representatives Manney and Randolph Holden to intervene at the state level. Holden could not be reached for comment yesterday.

“I never ever expected this at all,” said Caron. “I thought this was the simplest thing to ask.”

Manney said that Caron contacted her about the issue after Dec. 8—the deadline for the submission of bills for the next legislative session. But she is confident she will be able to attach the measure as an amendment to one of the approximately 1,300 bills that made the cut. 

The Right to Know law, adopted in 1967, mandates that public bodies keep minutes of their meetings, including descriptions of any final decisions that are made. The law, however, explicitly requires roll call votes only when public bodies are entering a nonpublic session, according to Nancy Smith, a senior assistant attorney general.