ROCKINGHAM — Forums arranged and moderated by local resident Pat Fowler have given candidates for the Trustees of Rockingham Free Public Library, the Rockingham and Bellows Falls Union High School board, and the Selectboard a chance to go before the public with their election platforms.
One forum was held Saturday. A second forum will be held Feb. 23 at 5:30 p.m. at Falls Area Community Television studios at One Hospital Court for candidates who did not attend the first one.
In the Selectboard race, incumbent Peter Golec is running against Lamont “Monte” Barnett for a three-year seat.
Golec cited lifelong residency and integrity as his qualifications. He has served on the Selectboard for the last two years, on the Saxtons River Trustees for 10 years, and the Rockingham School Board for five years. He said respecting the intent of the voters is important.
His goals, if elected, include getting projects such as the Hotel Windham renovation and the TLR [Mill complex] building on Mill Street moving ahead faster. The TLR building should be a priority, as “once the building starts to deteriorate, it's going to go down fast, and it will cost the taxpayers more money to tear it down.” He also wants to coordinate “all the splinter groups working for town development so the community is shooting at one goal.”
Barnett said that “the challenge for us is to provide for the [needed services of the community's citizens] while keeping the community affordable.” He noted that caring for the elderly in their time of need, educating children, providing recreational opportunities for all, providing emergency management services and adequately maintaining roads and bridges are all vital to the community.
Barnett has served on numerous committees. He was the Selectboard chair for eight years, the Bellows Falls Downtown Development Alliance president for three years and served as the Chamber of Commerce president in 1996. He has taken a leadership role in numerous downtown development projects, such as the Howard and Exner block developments, and several Saxtons River projects.
Incumbent Ann C. DiBernardo is being challenged by four candidates for a one-year Selectboard seat - sitting Village Trustee Lance Allen, PK's Pub owner Josh Hearne, and Deborah Wright, who is also running for a seat on the Trustees of the Public Library.
Allen said that he has served on the Trustees for two years and is a taxpayer in the town of Rockingham. If elected, he will “keep an eye on the budget, understanding” that it is a “continuous struggle between keeping services [while] keeping the budget down.”
In a written statement, DiBernardo said that she has “been through many contentious issues - the merger, siting a landfill on the Connecticut River, bringing a prison to Rockingham, purchasing our own hydro facility, employee layoffs, to name a few. I survived them all, and each one made me a stronger person.”
DiBernardo said she originally ran for office because “I was sick of the 'good ol' boys.' Nobody ever ran against them. I helped organize Citizens for Participation in Rockingham because of this, [and] we held candidates forums, registered voters, etc. Now I feel I am one of those good ol' boys and its time to let some of the younger people run for office. Things will never progress in a community without new blood and new ideas.”
She said she has enjoyed being on the Selectboard, and would like to serve for one more term “to finish up the projects I have been working on.”
Wright, who has also thrown her hat in the ring for a three-year seat as Library Trustee, as well as the one-year Selectboard seat, said she felt confident in being able to serve in “both seats concurrently” if elected.
Wright's background in local municipal government in Washington state has given her a broader perspective. As a Selectboard member, she said she would like to be more proactive and see greater responsiveness from board member's to constituent concerns and questions, having seen questions and concerns tabled for further research, only to be dropped and unaddressed.
She said one solution could be a municipal blog where constituents could ask questions that could be answered by Selectboard members, and discussions could occur. As a DJ at WOOL Radio and a local business owner, and as someone who didn't grow up in Rockingham, she says she regularly takes a look at things from the larger perspective.
Hearne was not available at press time for comment.
School boards
Carol Blackwood is a candidate for a one-year seat on the Rockingham School Board. As a retired naval officer and physician, she said that she is “well equipped to assess and come to an informed decision based on a considered approach of all the facts.”
She has served the community all her life and feels that supporting children's education is important in society. Blackwood said she did not have a stance on the Middle School renovations yet but would look at all the facts and weigh what was the best choice.
Blackwood faces Bill Metcalfe, who said in a phone interview that his 18-year involvement in special education and social work, as well as his recently obtained masters in social work, gives him the “unique perspective of dealing with issues and choices with a holistic approach.”
As the father of two children in the middle school, he said he understands the importance of environment on education.
If elected, he would like to “see transparency and open communication between the school boards, parents, and the community before making decisions.” He said he is concerned about the shape of the middle school and “something needs to be done,” saying he feels the costs are worth the better environment for kids to learn in the classroom.
The two-year seat has incumbent Joseph Brissette as the only candidate. Suzanne Groenewold withdrew her name, citing a conflict of interest, as she is a paid employee of the school district.
Brissette said he has worked hard the past two years, and would continue to work hard to see that the children in school get the best education “we can give them.” He said he will focus on working together with all the members of all the boards and committees. He said he found listening to be the best method to learn and make informed decisions.
Chad Illingworth is running against Annie Guyon for the three-year Rockingham School Board seat.
Guyon noted her participation in the Saxtons River school playground project, as well as helping organize a community task force to keep Cornerstone Pediatrics from shutting down. She cites her background in communications and public relations, as well as being a parent who cares about the local community and schools.
“The need for a quality education is universal, as is the need to do what's right fiscally for folks in the community who are struggling to make ends meet,” Guyon said in a written statement. “I have a lot of hands-on experience in helping our local schools and our local economy. I'm a positive, respectful and hard-working person who feels very lucky to live in this community and know I would be an asset to the School Board, the District and the town of Rockingham.”
Illingworth grew up in the community, has coached at the Middle School for the past 18 years, and is a parent. He said that his focus would be to have education be a “fun place for the kids.” He said he knows the kids care about their education “because they tell me,” and he would be listening to them, as well as the parents and the administration, and “to work as a team towards the goal of the best education for the kids, a positive and fun educational experience.”
Incumbent Janice Mitchell-Love is running against Jim “Jiggs” McAuliffe, who was on vacation at the time of the first forum, for the three-year seat on the BFUHS Board.
Mitchell-Love said that she would be “the only educator on the board,” since she is a teacher at Community College of Vermont's Springfield site. She said she is active on many, “too many” boards, and felt she has contributed positively in all of them. She said she's a “good people person,” and that it's important to “work with people you disagree with in a respectful manner.”
Mitchell-Love said that she feels the middle school renovation project is “vitally important for the future history of the town,” not only for educational purposes.
McAuliffe said he has two reasons for running: “Kids first, and the taypayers second.”
He said he has reviewed the current budget carefully and, in doing so, came up with a “budget of $575,000 less without affecting a single program.” He said he did so by examining the teacher-student ratio, noting that 10 years ago there were 575 students at the high school. This year, there are 369, and next year, 15 fewer students are expected. However, the number of adults in the building has remained steady.
He said that most classes have 10 students or fewer and that, currently, per-student costs are around $3,000. McAuliffe said average costs on the high end should be no more than $2,500 per student. McAuliffe stated that the boards are there to look out for the taxpayers, and with Rockingham's higher than average taxes, he felt it was the responsible thing to run.
Library trustees
There are four candidates for a three-year Library Trustee seat: Sherri Arvin, Laura Senes, Steven Fuller, and Deborah Wright.
Arvin stated that, as a parent with a BFA degree and someone who crunches numbers during the day, she has a “good idea how to find creative solutions” to the real world parameters of budgets, “doing more with less and meeting increases in demand for services on a budget,” that either goes down or stays the same. She said she would do her best to help keep programs already in place.
Senes, a naturopath and a mother of a young child, as well as member of the PTO and a teacher at CCV in Springfield, said she “understands the importance of library programs” both as a mother and because of having worked in a library before. She said the library renovations “could be addressed through increased fundraising and grant-writing efforts,” and she wants to see volunteerism increased to provide more programs for kids and adults by members of the community.
In a written statement, Fuller noted that he was a member of the Restoration Committee and had served as “janitor-handyman” while in high school, and had seen the “the changes [the] building had gone through in the past 35 years.”
As an incumbent, he would continue to work on behalf of the community in improving the building and services. Fuller's understanding of building repairs is informed by his knowledge of the costs, having spent two years as treasurer and three years on the building committee.