Photo by PAULA TRACY Girl Scouts from around New Hampshire attend the Wednesday Executive Council meeting at the State House, while sharing cookies with Gov. Chris Sununu and councilors.

CONCORD – Gov. Chris Sununu on Wednesday nominated three lawyers to be Circuit Court judges, his first judicial picks since last summer when his choice for chief justice of the state Supreme Court, Attorney General Gordon MacDonald, was voted down on a 3-2 vote along party lines.

During Wednesday’s regular Executive Council meeting, Sununu nominated Kimberly Chabot of Henniker, John Curran of Londonderry and Thomas F. Reid II of Epsom to be Circuit Court judges. If approved, their terms would end at age 70. It will be up to the Executive Council to decide whether to confirm Sununu’s nominations.

Reid graduated from the former Franklin Pierce Law Center in 1996 and is a private practice attorney in Concord. He is a former Deputy Rockingham County Attorney. Curran is a litigation attorney in Nashua who graduated from Suffolk Law School in Boston. Chabot is presently a per-diem justice in the Circuit Court and graduated from Franklin Pierce in 1990.

Abuse Caseworkers

The state has not done enough to hire an adequate number of child caseworkers, leaving millions of dollars appropriated for new hires on the table, some Executive Councilors complained.

Democratic Councilors Debora Pignatelli of Nashua and Andru Volinsky of Concord questioned officials of the Department of Health and Human Services about a transfer request for about $3.4 million from a salary line within the Division for Children, Youth and Families that was unspent from July to December 2019.

The council approved the transfer, however, which will be used instead for child provider services such as foster home care and residential housing.

But the issues of caseloads and inadequate staffing to meet the needs of children in the state remain, said Volinsky.

New DHHS Commissioner Lori Shibinette told councilors that there is progress being made to fill vacancies and the average caseload of a worker has gone from 90 children to about 30. Still, she conceded, that is more than the national average.

The $3.4 million is part of an $11 million request to capture funds that would otherwise lapse. There are more than 3,000 employees in the department.

Councilor Russell Prescott, R-Kingston, congratulated Shibinette’s department for hiring 113 new people, but Volinsky said there is still work to be done.

The same request first went before the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee last Friday for a vote and received a narrow passage, with longtime chairman Rep. Mary Jane Wallner telling Pignatelli that the request was confusing.

Sununu said that Wallner has lots of experience and should have been able to understand the concept of transferring unspent wages that would otherwise lapse.

New Insurance

Commissioner

The council unanimously confirmed Christopher R. Nicolopoulos of Bow as the state insurance commissioner, succeeding John L. Elias of Henniker.

Nicolopoulos will be paid $118,707 annually and the term ends in June 2023.

Choose Love

Scarlett Lewis, whose son, Jesse Lewis, 6, was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School by a gunman, stood with educators and members of law enforcement from across the state as the governor proclaimed February 2020 “Choose Love Social and Emotional Learning Month.”

Lewis said there have been 424 schools in New Hampshire that have embraced the Choose Love effort that seeks to reduce bullying, improve the mental health of young children and take actions that will help to heal young lives.

Lewis said New Hampshire has done an outstanding job embracing the concept and working to help children and adults heal from the sorts of tragic school shootings that took her beloved son, a first-grader.

Girl Scout Cookies

Members of the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains will be knocking on doors and taking orders for Girl Scout cookies this weekend, hoping to sell as many as 1.3 million boxes.

Sununu proclaimed this weekend Girl Scout Cookie Weekend, which will raise funds for community service projects and for the benefit of the various troops. This is the 103rd year of selling cookies for the Girl Scouts.

They gave the governor and council a number of boxes of cookies, which were quickly consumed with Sununu stacking up a number of them on the desk and enjoying them during the meeting.

Water on the Table

The council discussed whether members should have plastic bottles of water on the table during the meeting with Pignatelli arguing that there were reports that residual chemicals are found at the bottom of the bottles and it is a waste of plastic.

The governor responded that he tends to not drink the statehouse water. He said he used to pour a pitcher of water from the bathroom sink and bring it into his office, but he found after a day as it sat there, there would be a bit of sediment at the bottom, which he referred to as “guck.”

Sununu attributed it to old pipes. But he said it seems to not be as bad anymore since the pipes were replaced.

Charles Arlinghaus, commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services, said he would have the water tested. They did not vote on whether to have bottled water on the table.

In New Hampshire, the Executive Council has the authority and responsibility, together with Sununu, over the administration of the affairs of the state. Each of the five councilors represents one fifth of the population, or approximately 263,000 residents.

Democrats on the council are Executive Councilors Andru Volinsky of Concord, Michael Cryans of Hanover and Debora Pignatelli of Nashua. Republicans include Ted Gatsas of Manchester and Russell Prescott of Kingston.

Paula Tracy of InDepthNH.org can be reached at 603-738-5635.

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