Politics & Government

Concord Municipal Election Candidate Registration Begins Sept. 6

Mayor, two at-large council positions, as well as 10 ward seats and other positions are up for grabs on Nov. 5.

The Concord City Clerk has announced that registration for numerous municipal candidate positions will begin on Friday, Sept. 6, and run through Monday, Sept. 16.

Positions that will be up for election are mayor of Concord, a two-year term; two at-large city council seats that are four-year terms; 10 Ward seats that are all two-year terms; Ward moderator and clerk positions, that are also all two-year terms; and Supervisor of the Checklist, which is a six-year term.

The clerk’s office will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for candidate filings. On Sept. 16, the officer will accept candidate filings until 5 p.m.

Find out what's happening in Concordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The filing requirement for mayor and councilors is $5 or a collection of signatures due by Sept. 20.

For more information about the candidate filings, call the city clerk's office at 603-225-8500.

Find out what's happening in Concordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Who’s running, who’s not?

So far, the only candidate to publicly indicate that she was not running is Ward 1 City Councilor Liz Blanchard, who made the announcement at the end of the city council meeting on Aug. 12. Blanchard said she had spent a lot of time working to help Penacook and thought it was time for someone else to run.

In an unusual move, Blanchard, during her remarks at the meeting, endorsed Brent Todd, who is planning on filing to run. Another candidate, Adam Czarkowski, who challenged Blanchard in 2011 and lost by 17 votes, has indicated that he will run again.

Due to redistricting, Ward 2 will have a vacancy this year. 

Jennifer Kretovic, the current Ward 2 councilor, will live in Ward 3 when the new voting lines are instituted in January 2014. Kretovic has confirmed that she will run again this year either for the Ward 3 seat, currently held by Jan McClure, or citywide.

Allan Herschlag, who lost to Kretovic by 11 votes in 2011, has indicated that he won't run for the Ward 2 seat this year.

In the spring, McClure said she hadn’t thought about re-election and would make up her mind closer to the filing period. 

Amanda Grady Sexton, the councilor from Ward 4, said she would be running for re-election.

Rob Werner, a Ward 5 councilor, also confirmed he would be running again. 

Ward 8 Councilor Dick Patten, who is also a state representative, said he was considering another run, but hadn’t made a final decision.

Candace Bouchard, another council-rep. combo, over in Ward 9, is also running again. 

At-Large City Councilor Michael DelloIacono has indicated that he plans on running again. 

Ward 10 Councilor Fred Keach said he would be filing to run at-large as well. 

Other councilors didn’t respond to requests for comments about their future plans.

Mayor Jim Bouley indicated last week that he would seek re-election to a fourth term. While there have been rumors about a potential challenger surfacing, no one has come forward or prepared for a run at post time.

School board candidates

The signup dates for the city council coincide with the Concord School Board seats, which are three district board seats, not at-large seats.

Two of the incumbents, who were previously elected at-large – Bill Glahn and Jennifer Patterson – both live in Ward 5, in the new Board District B and one will not be returning to the board. Patterson indicated last week that she would like to serve another term. Glahn did not return an email seeking comment.

Tara Reardon, who was also elected at-large three years ago, lives in Board District C, Wards 8, 9, and 10, and could run for that seat but it is unknown if she will or not. She did not return an email seeking comment about the race. So far, no one has announced they will run for the Board District A seat, which covers Ward 1, 2, 3, and 4. 


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