CONCORD, NH — The city’s board of ethics cleared the chairman of the Transportation Policy Advisory Committee (TPAC) of any wrongdoing after he gave a brief overview related to a project he was employed to work on without recusing himself, in the first of its two meetings to discuss complaints against officials.
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In late June, the board, which had not met for nearly 12 years, reviewed several complaints from the public and dismissed most of them despite evidence in the public sphere of violations. Two of the complaints, however, the board agreed to eye: Whether Greg Bakos, an engineer with VHB, violated the rules by discussing the Interstate 93 Bridge Park proposal in February, for which he is the project manager for his firm, and a complaint brought against Ward 5 City Councilor Stacey Brown for voting on a street closure memo that involved police details, which she should have recused herself from, due to her husband working for the Concord Police Department, which could led to a direct financial benefit to her.
One of the five board members, Marcia Moran, was not in attendance, while Tenley Callaghan participated remotely.
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Former Ward 2 City Councilor Allan Herschlag raised the complaint against Bakos, stating the TPAC minutes from the meeting reflected he spoke about the bridge park feasibility study for which he was the project manager without recusing himself. He did this as chairman of the subcommittee.
John Sullivan, the board chairman, called Herschlag’s complaint “polite” and said he thought the board would be considering a “narrow perception of two points.”
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Herschlag presented handouts and during his testimony, offered clarifications from his initial complaint. The study dates back to June 2023, when VHB, an on-call contractor in Concord, was awarded the job for $200,000. Bakos had been the chairman since January, he said. Herschlag pointed to Rules 1-6-4 and 1-6-3, specifically, showing VHB had a financial interest in the project. He believed Bakos was in conflict due to him working for his employer which had a financial interest in the study (“An employee of an organization shall mean an officer or elected official or the officer or elected official’s family member who is employed by a public or private organization and such individual receives compensation as a part of the employment.”). No member of a public body, he said, could testify or participate if there was a conflict and was required to recuse themselves and needed to state why.
Herschlag also pointed to a prior lawsuit stating public officials could not serve two masters.
Former at-large City Councilor Steve Shurtleff asked Herschlag about the case and prior changes to the rules. He said the rules were changed to ensure the public had confidence there would be no conflicts.
Sullivan asked about the test of an employer and whether it should be broader than just a financial interest, and Herschlag agreed. What interest of the employer is it encompassing, he asked? Herschlag said any time an employer’s interest comes before the council, they must recuse themselves, despite their role in the company. The interest, he said, becomes more expansive and is a reason to disqualify themselves from meetings.
Bakos, in his testimony, explained the deck park study was included in the agenda of “important transportation projects” and when he saw it, he decided to update the board about it.
“There were no decisions made,” he said. “I was not promoting the project. It had no benefit to me other than to provide knowledge no one else provided. That’s how everything occurred.”
Subsequent meeting minutes added the deck park to the list of issues TPAC might have to examine, he said. Bakos said TPAC did not make decisions but was a resource and advisory board. His hiring was long before the meeting in question, he added.
Rosenberg asked Bakos how long he had been on TPAC, and he said since June 2018. A former city councilor recommended him after working on a bike and pedestrian subcommittee, he said. Bakos was also the vice president of the Bike-Walk Alliance of NH. Former Mayor Jim Bouley asked him to become chairman later.
Callaghan asked if he had ever recused himself from meetings in the past, and he said no, adding that was probably the result of there never being a perceived conflict. Bakos looked back at past agendas and said the board, most of the time, analyzed referrals like stop sign installations, street speed limits, or sidewalk construction. The I-93 bridge park study and the expansion of I-93 in general was a “more weighty” issue. Bakos said after the complaint, he stopped speaking about issues even though he knew he had information about them.
“That’s kind of the difficult part,” he said. I’m here as a resource and I feel like I should be free to add information. But now, I know, I have to be a little bit more careful (due to) perception.”
Matt Walsh, the deputy city manager of development, gave the board an overview of how the “economics work,” saying the firm was one of three on call. The study was contracted after the state began looking at widening the highway between Bow and Concord, and some in the community expressed interest in a park being built to connect the river to downtown.
TPAC, he said after being asked by Shurtleff, did not make recommendations about contracts.
When asked about future bidding by Rosenberg, Walsh said, “It was difficult to answer,” but he added, the state, not the city, would need to decide how the park would get built. When asked if VHB would be a part of that, Walsh said, “I would be surprised by that.”
Callaghan was asked how city staff interacts with a committee about contracts and how that is avoided. Walsh said the committees were not involved and TPAC only provided guidance on sidewalks, bike lanes, public transportation, complete streets, and other recommendations. He had not been to one of its meetings since September 2022 — so he could not answer whether members had to recuse themselves in the past.
The board needed to rate the conflict in seven ways: innocent, placed on file without a finding, reprimand, public censure, suspension, recommended removal, or accept resignation.
Shurtleff said he would vote innocent while also calling the complaint filed sincere. He added Bakos clearly did nothing wrong and was issuing an update.
Rosenberg agreed while also stating Herschlag was “wishing for transparency” when filing the complaint.
Callaghan also agreed but suggested that moving forward, a board member should be allowed to leave one side of the table and testify at another — something the current rules forbade. She added the issue needed to be “fleshed out” so the city and its boards could “utilize the talent” of its members.
Sullivan said staff should provide reports in the future so there would be no violation or perceived violation. Even if there were no financial benefit, there was an action, he said. Sullivan also thought the ruling should have language to “give guidance, going forward.”
After working on the specific language, the board voted 4-0 to rule Bakos was involved in no wrongdoing, which was worded: “Although innocently introduced, the introduction of information was an action that raised the possibility of a conflict. However, given the city’s understanding of the relationship with VHB, the action taken did not affect the (Bakos’) interests.”
After the meeting, Herschlag said the issue was about clarity. The intent of the rules was to separate officials from potential financial interests, whether personal or family members. That intent, however, was not always clear from a common reading of the city’s rules, he said.
“The board did the best shot they could, with the information that was presented and the ambiguity of the way the code is written,” he said.
The board will meet again to address the complaint against Brown. That meeting has not yet been scheduled.
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