Voting for City Council seats will be held Tuesday, Nov. 5. Polls are open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters also are being asked whether they want to allow sports betting in Claremont. Ward I and Ward II will vote at the Claremont Middle School; Ward III votes at Disnard Elementary School.
CLAREMONT — Of the nine seats on the City Council, the only ones offering voters a choice are the Ward II contest between James Contois and Dave Pacetti and the four at-large seats with seven candidates. Incumbents for mayor, assistant mayor, Ward I and Ward III are running unopposed.
City Councilors Abigail Kier and Nicholas Koloski are on the ballot, as are Bill Kennedy, Erica Sweetser, Deb Matteau, Patrick Lozito and Chris Fazio, for the at-large seats.
Kier, 33, is a practice manager at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. She was appointed to fill a vacancy and then was elected to a two-year term in 2017.
Kier has said she decided to join the council because her generation — she’s a working parent in her early 30s — was not represented on the nine-member panel.
“We need that sort of representation,” Kier said. “I am passionate about Claremont, and I want to move the city forward and be sure all viewpoints are looked at before a decision is made.”
Kier, who is one of three councilors on the council’s policy committee, said it is essential that the committee continues its work of looking deep into issues that the full council does not have time for.
“We want to keep looking at ordinances and be sure they are up to date,” said Kier, noting some have not been updated since the 1970s.
Overall, Kier said, she wants to continue her promise to listen carefully to all residents and what they see as important or necessary, whether it is infrastructure improvements or more community events.
She is personally opposed to sports betting but is glad voters will have the final say, and she will accept that decision. Regarding a holiday display in Broad Street Park that became controversial last year, Kier said the policy committee did a good job of listening to all views and crafted a recommendation that preserves the tradition but does not offend anyone.
Koloski, 42, was first elected in 2009 and is seeking his sixth two-year term on the council. He is owner of the Timeout Americana Grill and Escape Factory on Mulberry Street and also sits on the Planning Board
“I want to focus on lowering the tax rate burden,” Koloski said. “We are moving in the right direction but have a long way to go. I still hear from a lot of people who wonder how they will pay their tax bill.”
Koloski thinks the city could do a better job getting grants and other funding and use that income instead of taxes to pay for some projects.
Though he has a bar, Koloski said he has no opinion on whether sports betting should be allowed in Claremont, and if voters approve the ballot question on Nov. 5, he would not seek to have it in his establishment.
“Why go somewhere when you can bet using a mobile app on your phone?” he said.
Koloski voted against the council’s recommendation on the holiday display and is undecided how he would vote on a final ordinance.
“Some stuff we don’t always need a policy for,” Koloski said.
Kennedy, 59, is retired from a career in the Air Force. He is self-employed and owns the building at 19 Pleasant St., which he bought at auction in 2018. He serves on the Historic District Commission and recently was appointed to the new Board of Assessors, a position he would have to relinquish if elected to the council. Kennedy also served on some Master Plan subcommittees.
“I’ve been in Claremont for three years and unfortunately do not see a lot of people engaged in an effort to get things done,” Kennedy said. “People gripe but rarely get in and do something.
“Politically, I am a middle-of-the-road guy. I want to bring maturity to the council. I think, with my global experience in the military, I have a lot to offer.”
Kennedy said he is not a big advocate of sports betting.
“It is people not being responsible,” he said.
On the holiday display controversy, Kennedy said the city took a “diplomatic approach,” but added that it should not have taken up that much of the council’s time.
“There are many more significant issues,” he said.
Matteau, 61, is general manager of Sulco Corp., a property management company in Claremont. She has served on the School Board, Zoning Board, the two most recent city manager search committees and subcommittees of the Master Plan.
“I want to give back to the community, and I feel I have a lot to offer,” said Matteau, who worked for the city for 13 years as zoning administrator and wrote community development block grants. “I have the background and knowledge, and I know how things are run.”
Matteau said she is responsible for a $2.5 million budget in her job and believes she could contribute to the council.
If elected, Matteau said she will push to see that the council abides strictly by the city charter.
“I have seen city politics. I want the council to remember we have a strong city manager form of government, not strong mayor,” she said. “We need to let the city manager do his job.”
She is noncommittal on sports betting and though she does not oppose it, is not sure it would benefit Claremont. Matteau also said the council recommendation on the holiday display appears to have been a good compromise for all sides.
“We’ll see what happens this Christmas,” she said.
The council’s recommendation allows religious symbols in the park but no one symbol can be given prominence over others.
Sweetser, 37, is a waitress and also works at Cumberland Farms.
She said her decision to seek a council seat and serve her community stems from the help she received during a difficult personal time in her life from organizations including Turning Points Network and TLC.
“The city of Claremont gave me my life back, so the last five years, I have tried to involve myself in the community,” Sweetser said.
She serves on the Board of Directors for TLC Resource Center and is involved in Green Dot, a program to combat domestic violence.
“I am outspoken against domestic violence and bullying,” she said.
She also organized an anti-bullying rally in the city two years ago.
Chris Fazio, 50, is a radio disc jockey who goes by Chris Garrett on the Hanover-based WFRD.
“The reason I am running is because I have lived here so long and all you see is taxes keep going up,” Fazio said. “Property taxes just keep going up and people don’t think they are getting a good return. They are getting nothing for it.
“If you want to get something done you have to step up and do it and not just complain.”
Fazio sees sports betting along the same lines as keno and does not oppose it.
He also thinks the city took the right approach to resolving the controversy over the holiday display in Broad Street Park by taking into account the long-standing tradition but also listening to residents who objected to religious symbols on public property.
“I am glad to see it has been resolved and is going to remain,” Fazio said.
Messages left for the seventh candidate, Patrick Lozito, were not returned. Lozito, who moved to New Hampshire from Long Island in 2008, ran and lost as a Republican for state Senate in 2018. He has been known previously as a supporter of the libertarian Free State Project.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
Correction
Claremont resident Chris Fazio is 50. An earlier version of this story misstated his age.
