To the editor:

We have both served on one of Portsmouth’s charter review committees, reading the town’s governing document line by line and sometimes debating a single word for hours. So we attended the Aug. 11 town council meeting with a particular perspective and want to share our concerns about the process we saw — not because of the outcome, which was correct, but because of the reasoning offered along the way.

The council correctly confirmed the town administrator’s recommended hire of a new finance director. That is how the charter divides the responsibility: The administrator appoints department heads; the council approves or rejects them. But the path to that vote was anything but smooth.

The council has now twice heard legal advice that the charter leaves “wiggle room” for councilors to participate in the hiring process because Section 305 only prohibits them from “direct(ing) or request(ing)” an appointment, but does not expressly prohibit participation. On that theory, councilor McDowell proposed a subcommittee to sit in on interviews and provide “advisory input into the search process.”

That turns the charter’s logic inside out. Section 305 is literally titled “Non-Interference by the Council.” It says councilors “shall not direct or request the appointment of any person” by the administrator and, “except for the purpose of inquiry,” shall deal with the administrative service “solely through the town administrator.” We were told at the meeting that a section’s title is non-binding. That may be legally true, but when a reading must set aside both the title and the plain words beneath it, the title is not the problem.

The charter does not have to list every possible means of doing what it prohibits. A council committee that sits in on interviews with candidates and provides “advisory input” on whom the administrator should consider is, in ordinary English, requesting an appointment. The resolution promised that the administrator’s authority is “fully preserv(ed).” But the administrator is appointed by, and answerable to, the council; a recommendation from two of its members carries the weight of the body whether or not it is labeled advisory.

Section 305 is what insulates hiring from politics. Council President Keith Hamilton was right to reject “wiggle room,” and the council was right not to advance the proposal. The charter is Portsmouth’s constitution. It reflects the will of the people and deserves to be respected, not evaded.

John and Karen McDaid

Portsmouth

Editor’s note: John is a candidate for town council in November; Karen has served on the school committee since 2018.