There are three contenders for this year’s open Bennington Select Board seat.
Zackary Andersen, incumbent James Cleary, and Stephen Clarke are all vying for the spot. Nick Dostaler’s name appears on the ballot but he is no longer seeking the position, due to a career change.
Here are candidate statements:
“I have been a resident in town for six years now and a taxpayer for three. I have been a volunteer on the Bennington Fire Department for six years where I am now a Lieutenant on the department. I work full time for the Antrim Water and Sewer Department and I like maintaining the water and sewer system in Antrim and Bennington very much. I enjoy living in this town and would like to be more involved with what happens in town as I am raising a family here. I would like to provide input on how we can make our town more efficient in spending, funding and budgeting to potentially save on the tax rate. I cannot tell you I will be the one to make those changes alone because that takes the whole board to work together to accomplish that. I have some positive ideas that our town would appreciate.”
“My name is Stephen Clarke and I’m running to be your newest selectman for the town of Bennington, NH. I’ve lived in Bennington for 21 years and have a pretty good feel for the people and ongoings in the town. I think I would bring a fresh sense of new ideas to the table. Everyone has an equal voice and I would be open to hear everyone’s! I’ve been a supervisor for a reputable construction company in NH for 5 years and before that I was a supervisor in MA, in that same field, for over 20 years. I’m looking forward to serving the amazing people and town of Bennington.”
“My name is Jim Cleary. I’ve been a lifelong resident and have served on this board for 19 years. I worked for Monadnock Paper Mills for 23 years and I’ve run my Property Management and Maintenance business since 2006.
I fully understand the functions and needs of all of the boards and committees of this town. I’ve never looked at myself as a Selectman but as a resident that truly cares about this town. I’ve always encouraged residents to be more involved and bring any or all issues to the Select board. My fundamental basis for being a good Selectman is to treat everyone the same way. Never make anybody jump through hoops to fulfill a personal agenda. This town has always come first with me and always will. Getting better communication between the select board, employees, and residents in town have always been one of my priorities. This is not an easy task but an important one. It can never be good enough and has to be worked on continuously.
The hardest part of being a Selectman is dealing with the Tax rate. The burden and capability of our residents on paying their Tax bill is our # 1 concern.
Conval is the real issue and as much as we cut spending, Conval’s rate of increases is detrimental to the survival of all towns in this district. I’ve talked with several selectmen from other towns about these issues and I feel we need to take a different approach to address this situation. I would like to create a district-wide committee to look at this increased spending with the huge drop in enrollment. If anyone would like to be involved or has any ideas for this future committee please get in touch with me.
We’ve looked at every line item in our budget to see what can be reduced and decreases have been made. Our 2021 Budget is a 1.5 % decrease over last year. If the Conval issues don’t get resolved there will be some difficult decisions on what gets cut or modified to reduce our tax burden.
On a positive note, another way to help with our tax burden is by encouraging new businesses. I was very instrumental in getting the ski area back open. I put in hundreds of hours getting through all of the red tape and issues relating to the opening. I’m very proactive in finding and encouraging new businesses and several new prospects are coming to town.
I’m very happy to see other individuals are running for this position. Volunteerism has been on the decline but others getting involved is very promising for the future of this great town called Bennington.”