Ward 5 Newsletter - January 2026

PUBLIC HEARING 6pm, JANUARY 5, 2026, 38 Liberty Street. JOIN ME!

The School Board is planning to approve $168.77 Million for a new middle school on January 5th. They must legally hold a vote before they can borrow funds.

Please show up and demand they vote against this.

• This is $50 Million MORE than the City's entire existing long-term debt!

• There is NO School Building Aid available.

• We are STILL paying the debt for Rundlett's HVAC (updated in 2010) and the three elementary schools (constructed in 2012).

• The proposed building is BIGGER than necessary:

  • 2015 middle school population: 1,010 / Rundlett: 165,000 sq ft

  • 2025 middle school population: 756 / proposed school: 214,000 sq ft

  
  

*If more than 85 people show up, they will have to reschedule the vote because 38 Liberty Street Board room can only hold 95 people.

Stranger Things

(not the science fiction on TV)

1. Donation Deception. The Friends of the Beav brought a big, cardboard check to the December City Council meeting for a photo op. They claimed on their Facebook page that we got also got a real check that night for $25,000. We didn't. Donations have to be approved by the City Council, but there were no funds to approve.

2. 'Groundbreaking'. Two days after the City Council meeting, a load of dirt was dumped at Beaver Meadow and golden shovels stuck in it for another fictional photo op. The mayor even had folks applaud the $25K donation City Council didn't get. No donations have been received, and no money was bonded for the clubhouse or parking lot.

3. Transparency missing for taxpayer funds. Councilors pull consent agenda items to ask questions, highlight information, and discuss. At Large Councilor Amanda Grady Sexton interrupted questions to accept the report and Mayor Champlin moved on to the next item without allowing me or anyone else to ask about the capital reserve accounts. video clip here.

December was exceptionally strange, and it looks like the shenanigans will continue.

Committee Assignments

Mayor Champlin recently assigned councilors to committees for the next two years. When the call went out to request committees in mid-November, I responded that I wanted to stay on my current committees (Energy & Environment, Transportation, Community Development, Parking, and Ad Hoc Outdoor Dining), as well as Fiscal Policy since I recently attended municipal training on budgets and have an attendance rate of 91% for committees.

Yesterday, I learned that I was removed from all my current committees, except for Outdoor Dining which didn't meet at all, and placed on three others that barely meet (Everett Arena, Facilities Naming, Contoocook River Commission). Oddly, neither the Everett Arena nor the Contoocook River are in Ward 5. Odder still, the longest-serving At Large Councilor who has a committee attendance rate of 18% for the last two years, was placed on eight committees, including Fiscal Policy (he attended 2 meetings out of 10) and Public Safety (he attended 1 out of 14).

I'm getting the sense the mayor doesn't like folks who ask questions.

Capital Reserve Accounts - Public Hearing, January 12th City Council meeting

These reserves are set aside for future needs or long-term projects. The reserves can only be used for the specific purpose of the fund; any other withdrawals and the Trustees of Trust Funds who oversee the funds are guilty of a misdemeanor.

• By law, the city must submit an annual report (MS-9) documenting transactions about these reserves to the Department of Revenue Administration by September 1st. The 2024 report was almost 1 year overdue and by November the 2025 report still hadn't been submitted.

• At the October Trustees of Trust Funds meeting, the longest-serving trustee stated they had never verified the reason for withdrawals from the capital reserve accounts.

• The MS-9 report through October 31, 2025 (Report) shows multiple capital reserve account withdrawals that did not have Council approval or Trustees verification. I have included the original purpose the reserve funds were created:

  • $270,000 from the Economic Development reserve: investment in office park, industrial park or civic center

  • $100,000 Recreation Reserve: purposes related to the new city-wide community center CIP #443

  • $449,000 Community Improvement: support future community improvement opportunities

The City Administration would like to change the purposes to be broader and more vague, but there must be 3/4th of a majority vote to do that. You have an opportunity to weigh in during the public hearing portion at the January 12th Council meeting.

Original Resolutions and Modified Resolutions

Immediately after City Administration hopes to dilute the purpose of the reserve funds, they would like to add an additional $100,000 for anything economic development related, $250,000 for anything recreation related. $3.5 Million has been added to the Recreation Reserve since 2016, $749K remains.

Before any additional funds are added, we should have a full accounting for where the funds went since it appears none of them went to CIP #443.

Scenes from Ward 5: Roads and sidewalks may be icy, and the skies may be gray,

but our city has a lovely skyline,

interesting architecture, and vibrantly colored homes. This view is of both sides from the top of School Street facing downtown. Pictures don't do Concord justice; you must see it in person!

What I am reading now:

A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander. Recommended by John Chorlian, the developer who has converted three churches into residences. Available via Interlibrary Loan from Acworth Public Library. This book is divided into short, digestible lessons that will make you look at the layout of your home, neighborhood, and our community differently.

*If our library doesn't have a book, you can request it by interlibrary loan, recommend ordering it by talking with staff, or clicking on 'Send a Request' in the blue bar on the library's Search the Catalog page and then using the gray dropdown button.

The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich by Evan Osnos. National Book Award Winner and tough to put down. Physical book available at the Concord Public Library. *I found it while browsing the New Book stacks in the center of the library. I highly recommend doing this whenever you can. Defy: the power of no in a world that demands yes by Sunita Sah is there!

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any".

-Alice Walker