While most New Hampshire cities and towns have focused on the primary and general elections this year, the city of Franklin had one more on its list, sandwiched right in between: the Oct. 6 municipal election.
Voters in all three wards will elect city council and school board representatives this Tuesday. Ward 1 has races for both city council and school board, Ward 2 has a city council race, and Ward 3 has no races at all. Stephanie Wolff is the sole city council candidate in Ward 3.
Ward 1 City Councilor
Timothy Johnston is the incumbent in Ward 1, finishing his first term. Johnston, who has lived in Franklin for 16 years, has consistently voted to keep Franklin under its long-standing tax cap. He’s a fiscal conservative and wants to keep costs low for taxpayers.
“Fiscal responsibility requires complete transparency and regular accountability, and we need to conduct thorough audits of our municipal accounts, special funds and tax increment financing districts to ensure every dollar collected is spent strictly for its intended purpose,” Johnston said at a candidates forum Sept. 27. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Also in the city council race is Robert Desrochers Jr. He was born in Franklin, moved out of the city to pursue education as a historian, quit his teaching job around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, and moved back to Franklin in 2022. Desrochers said most of his family members held local government positions in the past.
“One of my first political memories is canvassing with my grandfather back in the ’70s,” he said. “Then, being a historian, I studied early American history and the American Revolution. So politics has always been part of what I taught and who I am.”
Economic development is an important issue for Desrochers, who saw Franklin’s downtown evolution between growing up and moving back. He said the city should financially invest in bringing in business, such as hiring a person who looks at grant opportunities.
The school district is also a large priority and he wants to serve on the council to be a “voice for our kids.” He said he recognizes state and federal shortfalls in funding public education, but believes that, until things change there, the city will have to step in more.
“We’re going to have to bite the bullet, and we’re going to have to fund the schools,” he said. “So I’m going to be somebody who’s going to want to do that too.”
Johnston said he, too, supports the schools and providing the resources they legally and responsibly need. But he doesn’t believe that commitment should stop the council from “asking questions about the budget.”
“My responsibility as a councilor is to understand the numbers, understand the legal requirements and balance that with what the taxpayers can afford,” he said at the candidates forum.
Ward 2 City Councilor
Emily Bieber Harris, Glen Feener and Raymond Yonaitis are running for an open council seat in Ward 2, left by Susan Hallett-Cook. Of the three candidates, Bieber Harris, 42, is the youngest and newest to Franklin, moving to the city two years ago, but said she believes both those factors are assets.
“I’m a different generation. I’m coming from a different place because I’ve experienced a different life than [the other candidates] have. I have worked more with technology. I have just a fully different perspective,” said Bieber Harris, a product manager and part-time singer. “I come into this knowing I’m behind because I’m newer, so I’ve tried to put in so much work.”
The other two candidates have decades of political experience between them.
Feener served seven terms on the city council before Sam Jacobson unseated him last year. He has also served on the school and zoning boards. Yonaitis was elected to the Republican National Committee in Florida; he moved to Franklin in 2003 and served on the school board for almost 10 years.
Both candidates prioritize maintaining the tax cap.
“I believe that, if you overtax people, they’re not going to be able to pay their taxes, and you’re no better off if you overtax people and they can’t pay their bills,” Feener said.
Yonaitis said he also wants to improve Franklin’s infrastructure sooner rather than later. Capital improvements, roads especially, have been a chronic issue for the city council for years, and Yonaitis advocates allocating money to those projects over new initiatives.
“We need to work on improving our infrastructure sooner than later, because every day, as we know, the costs to do anything are going up and up and up. I don’t see it turning around for quite a while,” he said.
Bieber Harris said the city is in a “really tough position” with its tax cap and she would like to see economic development prioritized — and to encourage small, local businesses to feasibly start in Franklin. She also supports school funding and providing opportunities within the schools for students.
Feener wants to see less divisiveness within the city council and in the Franklin community. He said he’s witnessed negativity during council meetings and on social media and hopes to foster respect and highlight the good in the city.
“That’s one of the things I hope by being on the council, being involved like that, that we can turn that around,” Feener said. “Finally let people be heard, but be respectful of people who come up to talk and be respectful of the people on the council too.”
School board candidates
The sole contested school board race is in Ward 1 between John Demakowski and Lily Johnson.
Ward 2 was set up for a race between Stephen Pascucci and Wesley Weyant, but Weyant told the Monitor he is no longer running.
Lillian Machos is the lone candidate in Ward 3.
Demakowski ran for school board last year but lost to Jack Finley. Demakowski largely campaigned on bringing religion and faith into the schools. He said he believes the 1962 U.S. Supreme Court decision to disallow state-sponsored prayer was wrong.
Johnson, 21, is a full-time student at Dartmouth College who grew up in Franklin and graduated from district schools. Johnson wants to bring to the table her firsthand knowledge of the current Franklin school system and her experience as a student representative on the board.
“I think that in some ways, college has also made me a little more qualified and capable in a role like being back on the school board, because my communication skills and ways of understanding things have grown a lot,” Johnson said.
Earlier this year, the school board asked the city council to approve a $21.5 million budget that exceeded the tax cap by $2.25 million. In August, the council approved a $19.4 million budget, which led to several positions being cut and put sports and extracurriculars under threat.
Johnson said it’s important to hold on to core curriculum while also offering as many arts and sports program options as possible.
In Ward 2, Pascucci, a longtime educator and restorative justice coordinator at Claremont High School, took a more open approach to seeing the best ways to balance funding and residents’ best interests.
“A big part of my responsibility is going to be to do a lot of connecting with the community, so that I’m not just pushing what I think should happen,” he said. “I think I’m a representative for the community, so I think there’s a lot of listening that needs to be done.”
Polls are open on Tuesday, Oct. 6 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Ward 1 voters will go to the Franklin Elks at 125 South Main St., Ward 2 will vote at Franklin High School and Ward 3 will go to Franklin Middle School.
