HB1137

I support the passage of HB- 1137. This is common sense legislation that aligns an ex-officio duties To current law as it pertains to conflict between serving on two or more committees. Currently, elected members on a municipalities Governing Board and serving as an Ex-officio to a Budget committe can vote on a budgetary item on both the Governing Board & The Budget Committee, In essence getting two votes on the same topic. Under Current Law a person can not run and be elected to both a Board of Selectmen and a Municipal Budget committe at the same time due to conflict of interest concerns. However that some person can get elected to a Board of Selectmen and while serving on that board be assigned as a voting ex-officio to budget committee, hence getting two votes on the same item and circumventing Conflict of interest concerns. Passage of this Bill would make any Ex-officio position advisory and (Non- Voting) this would add consistency and remove the double standard that exists in current law. Please vote OTP on HB-1137. Sincerely, The Honorable Peter Torosian

In Northwood, you usually need the support of approximately 40o town-wide voters to get elected to the Budget Committee (BC). In contrast, some village district members have been elected with as few as 10 votes - by voters focused on very narrow interests. Even though they might represent only 1/40th the number of people as a true BC member, the village district representatives' vote currently carries the exactly the same weight. This gives these representatives a grossly unfair level of influence. This bill would help level the playing field and give everyone equal representation. The effectiveness of the bill would be further enhanced in terms of fairness by stipulating that appointed members may only participate in the BC discussions that are directly related to their appointment. For example, it makes no sense to allow the representative from a village district formed to maintain their roads to participate in, and perhaps greatly influence, a discussion regarding the school budget. It should only be the school district representative participating in that discussion with the BC.