Fosters – Municipal group in legal fight over public information

Municipal group in legal fight over public information

The Local Government Center is already in the hot seat with the Professional Firefighters of New Hampshire for not disclosing financial information the organization believes is public under the state’s Right to Know Law.

Now the LGC has until Oct. 30 to comply with a separate subpoena from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office to disclose similar information under a different law.

Though the firefighters’ group and the AG, which is representing the Secretary of State’s Office, cite different laws in arguing that they have a right to the information, they want it for similar reasons: to see if taxpayer money given to the center for specific purposes, such as for health, property and liability insurance, is being used for its intended purpose, or if some funds are being diverted elsewhere within the organization.

The center denies the allegations and says it considers some of the financial information private and proprietary. It argues it has released as much financial information as it believes the law requires.

The center, located in Concord, is an umbrella organization that encompasses five other entities, including a health trust, a workers’ compensation trust, a property liability trust, the New Hampshire Municipal Association and LGC Real Estate Inc.

A board of directors comprised of local municipal, school, county and employee representatives manages the center. It provides programs and services that include training, insurance and risk management surveys and legal support and advocacy to many of the state’s school districts, municipalities and county governments.

Kevin Moquin, staff attorney for the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s Office’s Securities Division, said his department, because of a law change that went into effect in July, now has the authority to oversee health and property insurance trusts as well as to enforce state law governing them.

“Up until this year there was virtually no oversight and no enforcement,” he said, adding that the law previously only required such organizations to file a general financial statement with the Secretary of State’s office.

He said in the same month the rule change took effect, someone alleged the Local Government Center was misusing funds. He would not disclose who made the allegation, citing the ongoing investigation.

The law in question, RSA 5B, sets standards on how pooled risk health trusts are to be organized and what they can do. Moquin said the original law was passed about 20 years ago and he is not sure why no oversight was included in the original legislation.

He said they also are seeking information about the Property Liability Trust, over which they also have oversight, as well as about the other arms of the center’s organization.

“We need to see information to investigate the allegations, to determine if money is being improperly used as is alleged,” Moquin said.

The center has taken the Secretary of State’s Office to court, claiming it has no right to the information and is misinterpreting the changed law.

Moquin said the Secretary of State has until Nov. 3 to respond to the center’s motion, only recently filed in Merrimack County Superior Court.

He added that the legal case has nothing to do with the case brought against the center by the Professional Firefighters of New Hampshire. That organization’s president says the center must provide detailed financial information to anybody because it’s a nonprofit, public organization subject to New Hampshire’s Right to Know Law.

David E. Lang, president of the firefighters’ association, based in Londonderry, said all he wants is information on where money communities paid to the center is going and exactly how it is being spent.

He said since the organization is a nonprofit and serves city and town governments and departments — entities subject to the Right to Know Law — he should be able to get the information and shouldn’t even have to give a purpose for his request.

Lang said Wednesday he’s seeking the information because he thinks not all the money cities and towns are paying the center is being used for its intended purpose but instead is being spent on other programs and services. Such funds are supposed to be earmarked for specific services. Lang said by law, any amount over the cost of specific services is supposed to be returned to cities and towns.

“We want to know when surpluses are being given back or if there even are surpluses,” Lang said.

He said the situation began in 2007 when he asked the center for six months’ worth of financial information and meeting minutes as well as copies of communications with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

The center said it did not have to reveal the information, he said.

Lang said the group brought the matter to Rockingham County Superior Court where a judge ruled in his group’s favor.

The Local Government Center appealed to the State Supreme Court, which also ruled in the firefighters’ favor. The high court determined the center is a government agency and therefore subject to the Right to Know Law.

Lang said the union then re-requested the information they originally sought.

The center again refused to comply, so the Professional Firefighters brought the case before Merrimack County Superior Court and a judge ruled that the center had to provide the information, he said.

The center again refused to give the information, appealing to the State Supreme Court. Arguments in that appeal were heard Oct. 8, Lang said, and the justices have yet to issue a ruling.

“What’s going on in there? We don’t know,” he said of the center, adding that cities and towns, which are paying thousands of dollars, should want to know exactly where their money is going.

“We think the public should be outraged,” he said.

Maura Carroll, interim executive director of the Local Government Center, said the center has not gone against the court decisions.

She said the center has released all the information it thinks it’s required to according to current law. She said the court rulings and interpretations of the laws involved have been vague, as has the health trust law change.

“What we’re trying to do is respond as fully as we can to requests for information,” Carroll said.

In the Right to Know Supreme Court case, Carroll said their disagreement with the Professional Firefighters stems from what the center considers proprietary information, which is information related to the business arm of the organization that runs the insurance pool.

“Unlike local governments, the LGC has a private business section,” she said. “We compete with the private sector.”

She said to reveal the information sought would impede the center’s ability to compete and affect its ability to provide affordable insurance which then would cost cities and towns more to procure.

Carroll said the law does not say it must reveal its long-range business strategy, which is something being sought by the association.

“We’ve already provided the Professional Firefighters association with information regarding our finances and our organization from a general perspective,” Carroll said.

She added that they also have provided what is needed according to RSA 5B, the law regarding the risk pools.

On surpluses, Carroll said she did not have detailed financial information immediately accessible, as she was calling from an out-of-state conference.

She said information about what money they get from municipalities should be in the documentation they have to submit according to RSA 5B.

Carroll said, as with the firefighters’ association, the center wants to cooperate with the Secretary of State’s Office.

She said the center has requested a face-to-face meeting with the Secretary of State but has been denied.

“We have had a difficult time in meeting face-to-face,” she said. “And I think they haven’t made it clear what their definition of and interpretation of the law is.”