CONCORD, NH – The Executive Council meeting became contentious at times on Wednesday as Democratic councilors pressed Republican Gov. Chris Sununu on why he didn’t invite Secretary of State Bill Gardner to discuss election concerns in the face of COVID-19 as had been requested.
Sununu said he wasn’t asked to invite Gardner and election law doesn’t fall under the purview of the Executive Council. He was also pressed about a new office that he created to handle federal funds without consulting the five-member council.
And in a bit of good economic news for the North Country, the council approved a contract between the state and the Nansen Ski Club which could allow for national and international ski jump competitions to occur there in the future.
Executive Councilor Debora Pignatelli, D-Nashua, asked Sununu to start the meeting with Gardner speaking.
“A lot of my constituents and people around the state are dialing in to hear what he might have to tell us,” Pignatelli said.
Sununu said the Attorney General’s Office and Secretary of State are going to release a guidance document about the elections in the next couple of days and will probably address her questions.
“They don’t really come under the purview of the governor and Executive Council,” Sununu told Pignatelli.
“If you’d like to reach out to him directly as a followup … you are always encouraged to do so. Anybody is frankly. He is very accessible. I don’t believe he is joining us this morning,” Sununu told Pignatelli said. “The questions you are proposing don’t pertain to the Governor and Executive Council agenda.”
Pignatelli responded: “They might not pertain to the agenda but as far as I know we are the only constitutional body meeting now and I think it’s very important for the Secretary of State – in a public setting – to address the citizens of this state and to answer some of the executive councilors’ questions about where he is and what he’s thinking.”
She asked what measures Gardner is taking to insure people will be able to register and vote in September and November if people are still operating under COVID-19 restrictions.
Pignatelli said she worries that people may have to make the untenable choice between their health and whether to vote.
Sununu said he would provide those questions to Gardner.
Volinsky told Sununu that Gardner was willing to attend and speak publicly as long as he received an invitation from Sununu. “I just want to ask you directly, did you decline to invite Secretary Gardner when the council wanted to hear from him and he was willing to attend?” Volinsky asked.
Sununu responded: “It wasn’t a matter of declining anything … these are very important questions, of course, but they don’t pertain to the council agenda so therefor no.”
Volinsky said: “So you declined to invite him?”
Sununu: “It’s not about declining … I was never asked to invite him. I’m not going to invite people to meetings where they don’t have business, direct business on the council agenda.”
Volinsky said: “It was my understanding that you were specifically asked to invite the Secretary and the Secretary would come upon your invitation. If that wasn’t communicated to you, that’s fine.”
Pignatelli said, “It’s unfortunate (Gardner) is not with us today.”
Pignatelli called Tuesday’s Presidential Primary in Wisconsin “a chaotic disaster” and said unless the state does some comprehensive planning on how to handle an election in a pandemic, the state could face the same situation.
Councilor Mike Cryans, D-Hanover, said he was concerned about college students having access to the polls.
Volinsky also pressed Sununu on a number of issues related to federal stimulus funding, creating a new office of oversight going around legislative bodies and whether the governor has constitutional authority to act on such matters.
Attorney General MacDonald said the governor has broad authority in a time of crisis.
Nansen Ski Jump Approved
The council approved a contract between the state and the Nansen Ski Club which could allow for national and international ski jump competitions to occur there in the future.
A license agreement was approved between the club and the state Division of Parks and Recreation for the improvements to and operation of U.S. Nordic sanctioned ski jump competitions at the Nansen Ski Jump, which is located just north of the city on Route 16, along the Androscoggin River. The state owns the land.
The jump was once a major ski jump venue. The agreement, effective upon approval, runs for 10 years and allows the club to access federal grants.
U.S. Rep. Annie McLane Kuster, D-N.H. secured a $250,000 Northern Border Regional Commission grant. Additionally, the Friends Committee of the “Big Nansen” as the jump is known, has been working to raise the required $62,000 match, according to the Berlin Sun.
The club hopes to have the work done by December which includes restoration of the jump and re-engineering of its landing slope.
Cryans said everyone in Berlin is “very excited about the opportunity to move forward,” and “that for Berlin, this would be a big item to be passed.”
The vote was unanimous to accept the agreement.
No Edwards Vote
Sununu did not bring forward a vote on his nomination of Eddie Edwards as executive director of the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification.
Despite issuing a public plea to waive a public hearing on the nomination and noting the need to get that office filled during this time of emergency, Sununu did not bring it forward.
Edwards, who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for Congress in District 1, was been nominated for the $112,000-a-year position, succeeding Lindsey B. Courtney of Manchester who served as the interim director.
The council unanimously approved the nomination of State Police Capt. Nathan Noyes of New Boston to be the Colonel of State Police.
Other Matters
Issues related to paying unemployment benefits, closing state parks, road paving, and more in the days of the COVID-19 pandemic were also taken up Wednesday.
George Copadis, commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Employment Security, said the state has paid out over 67,000 claims and has dealt with requests for more than 100,000 with the public sometimes facing call-waiting times as long as an hour.
Since March 17, his office has handled more than 79,000 calls with call center wait times today at 52 minutes, with 296 calls waiting when he last checked, Copadis said.
The time is long because some of the people who need help have never used a computer, and “some of those calls are lengthy.”
Copadis said the first additional federal supplement of $600 in weekly checks “should hit next week” and go forward for a period of several months to July to help ease the burden of lost wages.
Out of Staters
New Hampshire will not be closing state parks to out-of-staters, Attorney General Gordon MacDonald and Sununu said despite calls from local officials near Pawtuckaway State Park who expressed concern that keeping the massive park open adds virus risks to their local communities.
The state is barred constitutionally from limiting people based on their residence and the parks will be closed to all if it has to come to that, Sununu said, adding he doesn’t want to do that.
Parks and Recreation Director Phil Bryce said the only place where the state has limited access specifically are the beaches at the Seacoast, but the boardwalks are still open.
Bryce said the state has also gone to a reservation system for use of Monadnock State Park, thereby controlling the number of people in the park.
There are some limited facilities open at Monadnock, Pawtuckaway, and Miller state parks, which have bathroom facilities, but the buildings are closed.
The concerns councilors are hearing from are primarily focused on Pawtuckaway, which is located in Raymond, Deerfield, and Nottingham.
