By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

CONCORD – Sununu Youth Services Center Bureau Chief Joshua Nye, who took the job in January, has offered his resignation effective immediately, Gov. Kelly Ayotte said Wednesday when talking with reporters after the Executive Council meeting.

An attorney for Nye was not immediately available for comment.

Jake Leon, spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said Nye submitted his resignation today, May 20, 2026, effective immediately, and it was accepted by DCYF Director Marie Noonan.

It comes after a committee set up by Senate President Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, to explore allegations of abuse of children at the center, formerly called YDC, in March called for him to be replaced and for funding for the Office of the Child Advocate to be restored in the budget.

Ayotte had previously said at a meeting with reporters that she would be open to a change in leadership at the detention center for troubled youths, which is based in Manchester, and expected to be closed in the coming years and relocated in Hampstead with more of a therapeutic approach.

In March, Cassandra Sanchez, the state’s child advocate, notified the Executive Council of abuse allegations including long-term solitary confinement and a case where a child’s arm was broken in an illegal restraint, and noted that much of the issues raised by those who called out the abuse was from the past winter months.

The department has disputed those allegations but another, similar complaint has been filed largely corroborating the findings of the child advocate by the Disability Rights Center.

A state investigation is ongoing at the same time as a legislative committee was formed that looked at the situation and has come up with a list of recommendations. Nye was not available to the committee and state health officials said he was taking a break over the past few weeks.

Ayotte was asked about the legislative committee’s work and how transparent it has been. She said the Attorney General is conducting a thorough investigation, and there are protections for the children in terms of health issues, privacy issues so she didn’t know what things they weren’t allowed to ask. “.. but I know there are reasons that we would want to make sure that we are providing legal protection for certain information based on, you know there is children involved and also health information involved, whether it is mental health other issues so I am sure the attorney general had to be mindful of that.”

“I just learned from the Commissioner of Health and Human Services that the head of that facility has submitted his resignation. So that was effective immediately so he will no longer be leading that organization. We will have to find a good leader,” Ayotte said.

GOVERNOR REACTS TO HIGH GAS COSTS/NHFPI REPORT

Ayotte was asked to respond to the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute Report issued Monday which shows that poor rural residents who drive longer distances to work are being disproportionately impacted by the high price of gas and that if fewer people are driving because of the costs that could have a bottom line impact on the condition of state roads as the gas tax is paid at the pump by the gallon and is about 23 cents a gallon. Ayotte could suspend the tax but is not yet willing to do so.

“I think we need to focus on costs overall. Energy costs, and that is whether there are bills, there are air conditioning bills as we get into hotter weather. That is why I am focusing on transmission costs, what the (Public Utilities Commission) is doing, all the energy companies. So yes, and we are going to continue to look for ways across the board, whether it is housing, child care,” the governor said. “I wake up every day trying to think about what makes sense that we can do.”

CHILDCARE RELATED CONTRACT REJECTED

The Executive Council voted 3-2 to oppose a tabled contract expansion Wednesday which would add funding for expanding statewide professional development services for childcare workers, which included bolstering the state’s quality rating and improvement and support young children with special needs by amending the contract by adding  $1.2 million to a $2.4 million contract with Pyramid Model Consortium of Missoula Montana. It is a federally paid contract.

Both Executive Councilors Janet Stevens, R-Rye, and Karen Liot Hill D-Lebanon supported the contract, along with the governor.

“I’m really disappointed that that contract was voted down today because it is my understanding these are really needed dollars to provide workforce training for our childcare workforce and it is critical. So I am not sure. I don’t understand why the executive council voted that down…I’ve heard from many child care providers that they think it is an important and useful contract for them.”

REACTION TO BERLIN POLICE INTERNAL REPORT ON MURDER/SUICIDE

The governor reacted to a report by the Berlin Police department that was critical of its role in the case of Sandra Marisol Fuentes Huaracha, 25 of Berlin who was killed last July by her husband, Michael Gleason Jr. who turned the gun on himself.

The report found that the department made a number of mistakes and it was the second such report issued, the first being from the Attorney General’s office.

Ayotte said she hopes that every member of law enforcement and the courts should take the report very seriously to make sure victims are protected.

“I hope, number one, that the Berlin Police Department takes the lessons learned but other departments look at what happened there too and learn from it. And we will incorporate that also through police standards and training any lessons learned. And then, if there are people that should be held accountable then they should be. Because, it is important that we never let this happen again.”

The governor said that changes to the state bail law to keep victims protected and a change in the legal standard would have been helpful.

“There’s a lot of lessons to be learned here. I hope the judiciary – with especially the changes we made to the law – they need to follow them and they need to make sure that they take them very seriously. I think we are seeing improvements but we can always learn and be better and that I do hope that for Marisol and for her sake and her tragic death that we all take a moment to learn from what happened here.”