By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

Former Weare selectman Brian McDonald wonders why the town denied his requests for information on town settlements with former employees while the town freely provided the same information to local media and another former selectman.

“The board of selectmen is obviously playing favorites in not giving me the information I’ve requested and then giving it out to other people,” McDonald said.

McDonald acknowledges the town did provide him with information on settlements with former police department secretary Sherry Dunham, former building inspector Everett Stone, and accrued sick, vacation and benefits pay for former police chief Myles Rigney.

However, McDonald said the town gave him that information only after supplying it to a local newspaper and to former selectman Doug Cook.

According to records, the town of Weare paid Dunham $75,000 to settle the complaint of discrimination she had filed with the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Weare also paid Stone $45,000 to settle a case of unspecified nature in U.S. District Court last September, and paid Rigney $60,465 in accrued pay and benefits, according to documentation from March of 2005.

A statement from Dunham and attorneys Douglas, Leonard and Garvey of Concord says Dunham resigned from the police department in August 2004 due to sexual harassment.

She filed a complaint against the town and Rigney in October of that year. Selectmen placed Rigney on paid administrative leave that November, according to Dunham’s statement.

Dunham said did not file a civil lawsuit against the town because Weare did not have a sexual harassment policy in place to resolve the matter.

In settlement information from July of 2005, Dunham received $5,000 in lost wages, $45,000 for emotional distress, and $25,000 for attorney’s fees.

Neither Stone’s settlement, nor Rigney’s accrual pay is broken down any further than their total dollar values in the available paperwork.

Although McDonald has seen the information about Dunham, Stone and Rigney’s pay-outs from the town, he said other matters remain unresolved.

Specifically, McDonald said he still wants to find out if the Weare Patriotic Committee is a town or a private committee.

If the Patriotic Committee is a town committee, McDonald said he wants to see their financial records.

The Weare Patriotic Committee is responsible for the town’s patriotic celebration in the summer, and McDonald said members of that group are also allowed to discuss their business in town offices.

McDonald said he is also seeking written confirmation that a Weare senior citizens’ group is entitled to town sponsorships, while the Weare Athletic Club, a children’s athletic program of which McDonald is the president, is not eligible for sponsorship.

McDonald said Selectman Heleen Kurk is on record as saying a Department of Revenue Administration official told her this. McDonald said he wants to see this statement in writing.

After months of waiting for a hearing on his right-to-know request, McDonald’s case was scheduled to be heard in the Northern District of Hillsborough County Superior Court on Friday, April 7. However, Laura Spector, the attorney representing the town with the law firm of Mitchell and Bates of Laconia, said a motion of continuance has been filed because one of the witnesses in the case will not be available on that day. The court has not yet ruled on that motion, Spector said.

McDonald also said the town is now countersuing him for attorney’s fees. While Spector said the town is not countersuing McDonald, she acknowledged the town has filed a claim for attorney’s fees, but the court has not yet ruled on that matter.

Neither Spector or McDonald said they could predict when a new hearing date will be set.