Candidates for multiple town offices, including School Board and library trustee, stated their cases during Jaffrey’s candidate forum Thursday evening at Jaffrey Woman’s Club.

School Board candidate Judy Wilson Ferstenberg is running unopposed for a three-year term, and described her background as an electrical engineer. Ferstenberg said she was concerned with the rising property taxes, but did not support the $3 million cut to the proposed budget which was approved during the district’s deliberative session. She said while the budget needs to be reeled back, it should be done in a more carefully planned way, and more gradually.

Regarding places to cut, she said the district’s day care center would be wonderful in an ideal world, but was not self-sufficient, and not the district’s business. She said students may have to pay for some extracurriculars, as things like music are great, when a district can afford them. Ferstenberg said she did not support the district’s proposed Career and Technical Education center expansion, particularly if the reduced budget passed, calling it an insult to build a new facility while teachers were likely getting laid off.

Sandra Stewart is running for re-election to the board for a separate seat for a one-year term, but was not able to attend the forum.

There are a total of five candidates running for library trustee, for a total of four seats.

Emily Carr has been a trustee since 2016, and said the library has become a center of the community, offering programs for all ages. She said the board is a solid team.

Deb Weissman has been a trustee since 2020, joining during COVID restrictions, and said the library does much more than just offer books or movies. She said it provides programs that range from teaching sewing to financial literacy. She said the board and director are constantly looking to stretch the dollars they receive as far as possible.

Carol Greenwald was not present, but sent a statement which was read by current Trustee Chair John Stone. Currently an alternate on the trustees, she said libraries were a crucial resource, and Jaffrey was a model of what libraries should be offering. Greenwald said her professional experience as a producer with PBS offered her experience in budgeting and dealing with various groups of people.

Trustee Karie Swift is also a music teacher at Conant. She said the library is a part of her day-to-day life for her and her children, and she wants to continue to help provide materials and resources to the community that many people could not afford on their own.

Marlena Ferstenberg is running for trustee for the first time, and said she grew up loving the library, is impressed with the passion the town has for their own facility and would like to contribute.

Frank Sterling is running for reelection to the Select Board. He said in his most-recent term, the town was able to hold a special Town Meeting and approve funds for the purchase of the former TD Bank. The building is in the process of being converted to new town offices, which he said has the end of a six- to eight-year search for a new location. The enhancements to the Route 202 corridor are expected to start this summer, with the start of the construction of a bridge over the river, which will eventually create a more-direct route for 202 traffic.

Bill Raymond is running unopposed for trustee of the trust funds, and said that the job entails management of the town’s trust funds, expendable trusts and capital reserves, which total millions of dollars. He said one of his proudest duties is administering scholarship awards to  graduating Conant seniors,which this year totaled $31,900 between 11 students.

Bob Schaumann is running for re-election as the school district’s moderator. Schaumann has experience as a moderator for Amherst before moving to the district, and has had a total of 42 years of experience between town and district moderating.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @Ash leySaariMLT.