Lack of Competition Abounds in Concord Council, School Races

With one more day to go to register for Concord City Council positions and School Board seats, here’s the state of the race: While nearly all the seats have a candidate, there are few competitive races.

The filing deadline for mayor, city council and school board seats ends at the end of business on Monday, Sept. 16. Both the city clerk’s office and school clerk Roger Phillip’s office will remain open until 5 p.m. for candidate filings.

Seats with no competition

Most city races and all the school board seats have no competition at this point in the filing period.

Concord Mayor Jim Bouley, the first candidate to sign up to run when the filing period started more than a week ago, does not have an opponent. 

Neither do incumbent Councilors Rob Werner in Ward 5, J. Allen Bennett in Ward 6, Keith Nyhan in Ward 7, Candace Bouchard in Ward 9, and Dan St. Hilaire, an at-large councilor who has switched races to run in Ward 10.

Ward 2 has a single candidate, newcomer Tim Bauman.

Jennifer Kretovic, the incumbent Ward 2 councilor, is being redistricted in to Ward 3, and has filed to run there. There’s no word yet on whether incumbent Ward 3 Councilor Jan McClure will attempt to retain her seat. Some city politicos suspect privately that after 10 years on the council, she may be ready to call it a day.

This year, the Concord School Board will have three candidates elected by districts and three people have filed to run for those three seats: Melissa Donovan has filed to run in the District A (Wards 1, 2, 3, and 4) seat; incumbent Jennifer Patterson has filed to run in the District B seat (Wards 5, 6, and 7); and George Jack is running for the District C seat (Wards 8, 9, and 10).

Competitive council races

At least three races will be competitive this fall:

Ward 1 has three candidates running: Adam Czarkowski, Cassandra Rasmussen, and Brent Todd.

Ward 4 has two candidates: Kevin Bloom and Michael DelloIacono, who, like St. Hilaire, is switching from at-large to a ward race.

The at-large council race – two seats, with four-year terms – now has four candidates: Councilors Amanda Grady Sexton and Fred Keach, who are both moving from ward seats to citywide races, along with Timothy Willis and Scott Welch.

Welch, who mounted an unsuccessful run for state representative last year, had also previously run for the council in 1985, losing to William Veroneau. Veroneau, he said, “turned out to be a great mayor and a great councilor." However, Welch jumped into the at-large race this year because he thinks the council is “out of touch” with voters. They are following “their own agenda instead of what the people of the city of Concord want,” he said. Welch was also prompted to run after a decision by the council to approve the federal grant for a Bearcat armored vehicle.

“I really think there are other priorities in the city,” he said. “Look at the Sewalls Falls Road bridge … we’ve gotten to the point where the thing is ready to collapse and it has been for quite a while. The city stalled. They were more interested in checking the historical (background) of the bridge. But when you get to the point where it’s more than a eyesore but a safety hazard, you have to do something. (The council) should have done something about it years ago.”

Welch also pointed to the Main Street Complete Streets project which he feared would end up costing more money than officials predict. That is money that will be footed by property taxpayers instead of the businesses that will benefit from the cosmetic redesign, he said.

“Republicans have been screaming that the private sector can take care of everything,” he said. “Main Street businesses should be willing to foot the bill. I think a majority of the people of Concord don’t want a Main Street remodel … especially the way they are doing it.”

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Welch said councilors should be listening to the voters instead of their own opinions and that’s what he would do if elected. He pointed to the Bearcat issue, noting that “the overwhelmingly majority of the public input was against (it)” but the council still voted for to approve it. He said federal grants, like the Bearcat and TIGER grant for Main Street, are still taxpayer-funded items.

“We still pay for it,” he said. “These are two things, in this economic climate, that are unnecessary.”

Patten may be out

Ward 8 City Councilor Dick Patten has not filed and had previously stated that he planned on running again. He was planning on filing on Monday when he returned from vacation. However, in a post on his Facebook page on Sept. 14, while in Michigan, Patten gave the impression he might not run.

“I appreciate everyone sending me notes about filing again,” he wrote. “Monday is the deadline, if someone wants to serve, please don’t let me stand in your way. I love serving, but if someone can do a better job, then by all means file Monday.”