LANCASTER — The controversy over the legal residency of former state Rep. and Selectman Troy Merner has the Board of Selectmen considering whether it needs to revisit some decisions on which Merner voted.
Merner resigned from both posts in September in the face of allegations that he had voted in Lancaster but hadn’t lived in town for more than a year.
Chairman Leon Rideout said Friday the board wants its law firm to weigh in on whether to redo votes taken during two March meetings when Merner could have cast a deciding vote.
The board also wants a legal opinion on trying to recover a town stipend paid to Merner.
Merner was in the third and final year of his first term as a Lancaster selectman and was in his third two-year term as a state representative when he resigned amid increased scrutiny over where he actually lived.
Rumors had swirled that Merner, 63, was living in Carroll, not Lancaster.
On Nov. 28, Attorney General John Formella said the same.
Formella announced that Merner had been arrested and charged with one Class B felony count of wrongful voting for “knowingly voted for an office or measure at the March 8, 2023, Lancaster, NH, town election” while not qualified to do so.
Merner was also charged with theft by deception, a Class A misdemeanor, because he allegedly overstated his mileage cards to the Legislature. Lancaster is farther from Concord than Carroll, meaning that Merner could have received more in mileage reimbursement than he was entitled to.
Formella also said Merner committed unsworn falsification when he reported his home address on a mileage card received by the Legislature around Sept. 12. That led to a charge of tampering with public records or information. Both the falsification and tampering charges are Class A misdemeanors.
Merner is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday (Dec. 28) at 1 p.m. in Coos County Superior Court in Lancaster.
Stipend question
Rideout said that prior to its Dec. 18 meeting, the board of selectmen had discussed what it should do about Merner.
Rideout said Kathy Jean Lavoie, who was chosen from five candidates to replace Merner on the board, was the person who alerted the Attorney General’s Office about Merner’s dubious residency.
A special election will be held on Jan. 23 in conjunction with the presidential primary to fill Merner’s vacant Coos District 1 House seat, which includes the towns of Lancaster, Dalton, Northumberland, and Stratford.
Rideout said Lancaster selectmen receive an annual stipend of $3,300. After Merner’s resignation from the board, questions arose as to whether he should repay any portion of the stipend that he did not legally earn and whether the town should go to court to get the money back.
At last Monday’s board meeting, Rideout said that the selectmen and members of the public questioned whether it made sense to spend potentially up to $10,000 in legal fees to recoup $3,300 from Merner.
Still, the selectmen want that answer and expect to get it from the law firm of Waystack Frizzell early in the new year.
They also expect an answer on the question of redoing votes from meetings in March, including one in which they appropriated money for a new police cruiser.
Rideout acknowledged that “we knew” that Merner had moved out of Lancaster following the death of his wife and that he relocated to Carroll in 2022 to be with his new wife.
He said Merner told the selectmen that he had secured an apartment and office in Lancaster and that from then on his residency in Lancaster was “all set.”
“We didn’t push it further,” said Rideout, but Kathy Jean Lavoie did.
“It’s not a good look for anyone,” Rideout said. “We find it unfortunate.”
