Three candidates are vying for Peterborough’s open three-year seat on the Select Board this year. The position is currently held by Ed Juengst, who was appointed temporarily in September after Karen Hatcher resigned, citing conflicts with her paid position as Peterborough’s Community and Economic Development Coordinator, which she took in April 2020. Hatcher is in the race to reclaim her seat, and intends to keep her job with the town as well, she said. “I believe that my work in the community both as a volunteer and as a town employee … provides a deep understanding of what needs to be considered to solve the complex issues before us,” in the post-pandemic world, she said.
Richard Clark and William Kennedy are also challenging for the seat. Judy Ferstenberg is on the ballot, but told the Ledger-Transcript on Monday that she’s decided not to run and backs the voter’s choice of either Kennedy or Clark.
Clark has lived in town since he was in high school in 1976. His goals are to get a broader consensus of voters and slow down the escalating debt service, he said last Tuesday.
“Lately I feel the loudest and most litigious are being heard,” he said. “I feel that every taxpayer has a point of view that should be heard.”
Clark started his own construction company in 1988 after working with Ken King to redevelop the Noone Falls mill, he said. He’s served on the Planning Board multiple times, and served on the town’s Budget Committee. Being the operator of a small company and a building tradesperson has served both boards in their goals, he said.
William “Bill” Kennedy has been living in town for 37 years. As a Selectman, Kennedy said he’d pledge to support zero-based budgeting practices and holding operating budgets flat.
“I will continue to apply pressure on our state Senator and Representatives to reverse downshifting and increase revenue sharing, which reduce funds to towns and are the core causes for property tax increases. I will work with school district authorities to finally find a way to achieve consolidation,” he said in a statement last week. Kennedy also pledged to work with the School District to “finally find a way to achieve consolidation,” he said.
Kennedy is currently a member of the Peterborough Economic Development Authority. the MAxT Makerspace board, and the Peterborough Recycling Center Advisory Committee, and chairs the Greater Downtown Tax Incremental Finance Advisory. Previously, he taught high school technology, served as Editor-in-Chief for IDG’s A+ magazines, co-owned a small business with his wife, Jeanne Dietsch, and served on the Peterborough Energy Committee and the ConVal Community Scholarship Foundation. Addressing workforce shortages is on Kennedy’s list of post-COVID priorities, as is balancing property tax rates with an optimal quality of life in town, he said.
Hatcher has lived in town for eight years. She served as a Select Board member from 2018 to 2020, during which she formed the Community Task Force on Housing, chaired the ConVal Selectmen’s Advisory Committee, and hosted community listening sessions on racial justice. She also co-founded the Peterborough Welcome Team and the Monadnock Nonprofit Network, and previously served as the Executive Director of the Cornucopia Project, among numerous other professional and volunteer roles, she said.
As a Select Board member, Hatcher pledges thoughtful consideration on decisions involving the economics, quality of life, and community health in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the best use of municipal funds the town anticipates receiving from the American Recovery Plan. She also plans to re-engage with ConVal’s Selectman’s Advisory Committee to ease the burden on local taxpayers caused by the state downshifting public school costs, she said.
Some residents are concerned about the potential for a conflict of interest in Hatcher’s bid for Select Board while still holding a town job. “This issue has nothing to do with her, but it has to do with the importance of the position itself,” former Select Board member Barbara Miller said, adding that she served for a year alongside Hatcher and believed that she was “highly qualified” for the position.
The law (RSA 669:7) prohibits a Select Board member to work full-time for the town they represent. Hatcher’s works 30 or fewer hours a week for the town as an hourly, part-time employee with no benefits, as previously reported. However, there’s still potential for incompatibility between two positions if one is subordinate to and interfering with the other, and the statute specifically disqualifies Select Board members from positions that control a budget, Miller said, referencing guidance from the New Hampshire Municipal Association. Miller also said she wanted Hatcher to explain what had changed since she resigned in August, as at the time she said it was difficult to manage both roles at once, and had concerns about what would happen if Hatcher had to recuse herself on a decision where the other two Select Board members disagreed.
“It’s natural to raise this question,” Hatcher said, addressing her previous resignation and questions of a conflict of interest. She said she stands by her decision to leave the Select Board this fall to focus on helping the community through the Main Street Bridge closure and the pandemic. “That was clearly the right decision at the time,” she said, considering how long the pandemic continued.
The town would benefit from her occupying both positions once again, she said. “My part-time position as Community and Economic Development Coordinator allows for more direct community engagement and implementing solutions on the ground, in real time. I connect with resources at the state level and participate in regional discussions on current issues. I would be able to bring all of this knowledge and information to bear on board discussions,” she said.
Hatcher would recuse herself from any vote or action directly related to her paid position “as with any member of the Select Board with a daytime job,” she said, in addition to any direct evaluations of the Town Administrator. The Select Board oversees the Town Administrator, who in turn evaluates town employees, including Hatcher, she said. “Like all town employees, I am evaluated by measuring my performance against annual goals that are reviewed on a regular basis. I would be judged by my accomplishments in my position, as would anyone who works for the town,” she wrote. Members of the public, furthermore, can assess for themselves how she’s doing as both positions are front-facing and highly visible, she said. “I work hard to conduct my life with a high level of integrity,” she said.
A virtual Select Board candidate forum co-sponsored by the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript and the League of Women Voters New Hampshire is planned for Wednesday, April 28 at 6:30 p.m. Visit ledgertranscript.com for Zoom login information.
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