Concord’s Ward 4 voters will have the choice between a conservation lawyer, a state Lottery Commission auditor and a longtime state employee in Tuesday’s special election.
Meredith Hatfield, Edith Chiasson and John Cook have all logged several years in Ward 4. One of the city’s smallest wards, it covers the law school and NHTI, a major office park, White Park, downtown, and a mix of single-family homes and apartments.
Such a diverse area comes with a variety of perks and challenges, and all three candidates have slightly different views on the best way to handle them.
Whoever wins will fill the seat left empty by new At-Large City Councilor Byron Champlin until November.
If you don’t know them, allow us to introduce your candidates:
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Edith Chiasson has lived in Concord for 33 years, but it took a proposed price hike to her street’s residential parking permit for her to find her voice.
Last year, the city proposed raising the permit costs for street parking on Essex, Blanchard and Rowell streets and Perry Avenue from $5 to $50. But they kept the permits at $5 after residents spoke out against the change.
Chiasson said she led the charge after the changes took her and others by surprise, going door to door and encouraging people to speak to the city.
“Our piece was one teeny bit of a 40-page section,” she said, referring to the city’s sweeping parking system changes implemented last year. “So we missed it, my neighbors missed it.”
The process inspired her to run when the Ward 4 seat opened up. “The way I see it, I spent my life voting for people who will represent me, and I rely on that representative to have my interests in mind,” Chiasson said.
“I got involved because I realized I have a voice that is very much like the people around me,” she continued.
Chiasson may have never run for public office before, but she thinks her years of working in the financial sector and eight years in the New Hampshire Lottery Commission, as well as years of volunteering at St. Peter’s and now St. John the Evangelist churches, make her a good candidate for the job.
Chiasson is concerned with the city’s tight housing market, pointing to her neighborhood’s mix of elderly residents, young families and law school students renting rooms as an example of where more options need to be available.
“I think the housing has gotten a little out of control in terms of pricing,” she said. Chaisson said the city should consider working with developers whose projects may have stalled – like Harold Ekstrom’s elderly housing project on Warren Street – to help make projects viable.
Chiasson said her ward’s narrow streets and older buildings also pose a challenge, especially when it comes to parking. She said she thinks the city did its best to alleviate the parking issues on some narrow streets surrounding White Park and the law school but said the situation should be monitored to see if it’s working.
In terms of broader city challenges, Chiasson said the Interstate 93 widening project will certainly change the way the city’s traffic flow moves – and that it’s up to Concord to keep an open dialogue with the state.
The state’s aging population concerns Chaisson, as it means more residents qualify for elderly tax exemptions, she said.
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If there’s extra money to be found, John Cook says he can find it.
That’s what Cook, a Concord resident of 42 years, who has done financial work for the state’s health and welfare departments and the now-closed Laconia State School, and has done auditing work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, thinks makes him the best candidate for Ward 4.
“I’d always find money,” he said of his past experiences. “They don’t want me looking at the budget at city hall.”
Describing himself as a “budget conservative,” Cook said he is concerned by the effect increasing property taxes have on the elderly in the state, saying the city’s tax rate has increased faster than retirement benefits.
But he also said city administration “does a good job managing a complex city” that includes state hospitals and prisons along with non-taxable nonprofits.
Cook said he would like the city to explore ways to shift some of the tax burden to people who come from outside the city, saying the high amount of traffic that comes into the city due to its state capital status means the city focuses its snow removal and paving efforts more centrally.
That means residents “get our services last and pay for them first,” Cook said. He suggested either a gas tax or a “head tax” to help with the burden.
Locally, Cook said he is concerned not so much about parking in Ward 4, but snow management. He said the city plows “relocate” snow into people’s driveways, making it difficult for people to shovel out during the winter months.
Cook also wants to boost turnout in local elections, especially among young residents. “We need to stir the young people to vote,” he said.
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Meredith Hatfield has lived in Concord since 2004, but only became a Ward 4 resident by accident.
Her neighborhood was one of those incorporated into the ward a few years ago when the city redefined the ward lines. But the change suits her neighborhood, she said, and when the Ward 4 seat opened up, she saw it as a chance to fulfill a lifelong dream of public service.
Hatfield said she’s already involved in a group of residents who mobilize when there’s a major development proposed in the area. One of their successes was to convince the city to install another stop sign on Penacook Street to create a four-way stop; in another instance, the group was vocal about resisting a development at the former site of the Santander Bank (formerly Sovereign Bank) on North State Street.
Hatfield said those experiences defined one of her campaign goals: to explore if notification of major development projects can be expanded beyond abutters so residents can keep up with what’s going on in their neighborhoods without having to keep an eye on zoning and planning board agendas.
In addition, Hatfield said her time as the state government consumer advocate at the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission and as the head of the New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning has also prepared her for the rigors of city government.
It’ll be especially useful, she said, as the city navigates how to deal with rising recycling costs.
Locally, Hatfield said her ward faces traffic and parking challenges, noting some of the ward’s big streets – Washington and Centre streets, specifically – can be especially hard hit by high traffic volumes and heavy street parking. “It can be a challenge for them to back out of their driveways,” she said.
On a bigger scale, Hatfield said she’s keeping an eye on the I-93 widening project and the impact expanding Storrs Street would have on the community.
Hatfield also said she’s “blown away” by the cost of housing in Concord and wants to see a mix of housing opportunities come to the city.
Ward 4’s polling location is the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire location at 55 Bradley St. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The ward had about 3,200 registered voters during the March 5 special election, according to city data. Special elections typically see low turnout; during the March 5 special election that included an at-large city council contest, only 227, or 7%, of Ward 4 voters showed up.
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)