In Moultonborough: Information brouhaha not due to deviousness

Recreation and municipal needs representatives have concluded that information on the proposed community center project given in a recent mailing by a citizens group were the result of figures mentioned during a past committee meeting and not an alleged information leak.

Recreational Strategic Planning Team member Laurie Whitley raised concerns during the March 13 selectman's meeting about a possible issue with information flow that may have resulted in information being released to the public on the proposed community center project before being reviewed by the selectmen.

Whitley cited an information flyer mailed to residents by the Moultonborough Citizen's Alliance the week before that stated the operational costs of the proposed community center would be $350,000 a year according to the Municipal Needs Committee, while the RSPT had quoted a figure of around $208,000.

Whitley expressed concern that the figure cited by the Citizen's Alliance came from a document attached to the minutes of the March 4 Municipal Needs Committee meeting that would not have been made publicly available at the time the flyer was mailed out. Whitley expressed concern that there was a break in the flow of information, including the possibility a member of the municipal needs committee may have leaked the information.

Carrasco said the information in the flyer matched information from the minutes of the Dec. 4, 2007 meeting of the municipal needs committee where the members of the RSPT attended to review a list of points from the RSPT's report.

"He called me and he knew right where this information had come from," Whitley said. "It had come from a public meeting. My request has been satisfied and I was comfortable with that."

RSPT chair Tom Howard, who also attended the March 13 selectman's meeting with Whitley, said the $350,000 figure for potential operating costs had been discussed at the December meeting as a preliminary figure, while a figure of around $251,000, which Howard said would likely be closer to $208,000 after projected revenues from the proposed center, was more up to date.

"Some of the costs were in there only because they were not clear as to what we were presenting," Howard said, saying the "numbers reduced" when the prospect was discussed of eliminating other projects mentioned in the RSPT report on the town's overall recreational needs.

Howard said the $350,000 mentioned in the Citizen's Alliance flyer was an older number, saying Carrasco had also called him to confirm the source of the information.

In a letter to The Citizen, Moultonborough Citizen's Alliance member Nancy Wright confirmed the information in the flyer did come from the Dec. 4 meeting.

Carrasco spoke with Whitley and Howard on March 14, later saying the confusion was "cleared up" after that discussion.

"I think Ralph did a very good job," Whitley said. "He was responsive and professional."

Carrasco and Wright have both said they felt that their respective groups were falsely accused of wrongdoing and residents have asked for an apology from Whitley and Howard.

Whitley said it was never her intention to accuse anyone of wrongdoing, saying she was expressing a concern about the flow of information.

"I think any citizen in this town is allowed to express a concern to the selectboard at the public session of the meeting," she said.