Coen to Seek Re-Election [VIDEO]

Concord At-Large City Councilor Mark Coen has decided to run for re-election and would like to serve another term on the board, he said in an interview this week.

Coen was first elected in 2006, in a special election to fill the remaining term of long-time Councilor Jim McGonigle, who resigned after being arrested and found guilty of stealing money while he was police chief of the Allenstown Police Dept.

During his time on the council, Coen said, “I think I’ve made some contributions, in many subtle ways."

Coen has served on the library task force and worked on some of the more mundane tasks like improving the city’s infrastructure, making Concord’s utilities and water and sewer “ above average.”

“It may seem dull, but it’s really a core fabric of a city or town,” he said.

Coen commended his colleagues on the council, saying, “everyone brings a unique insight to the Council meetings.”

“I haven’t met anyone not dedicated to the good of the city,” he said. “Everybody has an agenda but we get together to reach consensus on issues.”

During his first year on the council, the city’s reserve accounts were relatively flush, he said. A lot of capital projects were constructed during this time period. But then, the economy started to suffer, and the city stopped making changes. When the recession started hitting everyone four years ago, “it became a different kind of setting for us,” he said.

“The impression, for me, was that the current councilors took the recession very seriously and were very sensitive about erosion of the tax base and property taxes, in this city and the state,” he said, “and how sensitive they’ve been trying to maintain the tax level on the municipal level as low as possible and to still provide services the citizens wanted."

Coen commended Mayor Jim Boley’s approach and mannerism. He said the council meetings were run very efficiently. Bouley welcomes citizens to testify and he’s very gracious to them, Coen said, adding that if re-elected, he will enjoy working for another four years with him.

“That sets a tone for the councilors,” he said.

Coen said during his first year, when Mayor Mike Donovan was still leading the council, some members would show up a few minutes before the meeting started and the meetings always “had an edge” that no longer exists today. It is now more relaxed and the dialog between councilors was “very well received,” he said.

“You can have a point of view that is different than the other one and there’s not that animosity towards it,” he said.

City Manager Tom Aspell also has an understanding of process and working with the city council, Coen said. He is a leader who can get things done. Coen said the frustration comes that it takes six months to a year to make any changes to the city. Aspell has made “very good” no hire replacements in key positions, he said. Coen called the city’s management “solid” and said they listen to the councilors and the citizens.

If re-elected, Coen would like to continue to work to keep the tax rate low while still providing necessary services to the community. He challenged the assertion some experts were making that the country was coming out of the recession. Coen said when the economy turns around, the city will have more revenue again to do more things.

A second worry for Coen is labor and benefit costs.

“It’s become a larger, larger piece of the pie, as far expenses goes,” he said.

Every time labor costs increase without revenue increases, services diminish, he said.

“We have to correct it now because in four years it will really get to a point where the costs are going to be too much,” he said.

Coen said it wasn’t a small problem but one that cost tens of millions of dollars. He said both here and nationally, public sector employees had more benefits and pay than their counterparts in the private sector. The reality is that people working for the city make more than people who live in the city but working in the private sector.

“The discussion can get pretty ugly, at the beginning, because the employees feel that you’re attacking them,” he said. “It’s not that; it’s the whole system. How do you retain good employees and how do you treat them fairly … but there have to be adjustments.”

Coen said the other option would be for the city to raise property taxes 10 to 15 percent each year, for 10 to 15 years, and that was not possible. He said this didn’t count other taxes, such as school and county.

Accomplishments

In five years, Coen said he was pleased that a lot of the work the council had done on the committee level. He pointed to the parking problem, including downtown issues and the garage, where the committee focused on the issues like a business, facing the financial ramifications. The parking committee offered recommendations to make the parking fund whole, he said. It also created a plan that would be viable to the business climate of the garage while not harming downtown.

Another was working with the Beaver Meadow Golf Course and the Everett Arena advisory committees in order to give the council better advice and solidify the long-term financial self-sufficiency of the enterprise funds.

Coen also commended the new financial director, Brian LeBrun, who was producing better reports and giving councilors more information to ponder. He said the new information was greatly improved over previous reports from financial officials.

The successes of public safety were also some other highlights, he said. New Hampshire is one of the safest states in the country and Concord, one of its safest cities, Coen said. Morale was high, he said, with leadership being shown in both the police and fire departments.

However, while most of Concord’s municipal government seemed to be doing OK, Coen was still aggravated by the snail’s pace of how issues are addressed and public policies are changed.

“The biggest frustration I have is that I have to pace myself,” he said. “If I wanted to do something at work, I could literally have it done that day or the next day. Or, if it doesn’t go well … literally two weeks or a month. Here, it’s not a negative thing, it’s a public, openness of it … It takes 60 to 90 days to get things done. It’s inefficient but that’s the nature of government. It’s frustrating.”

Coen said he hoped all of his colleagues would consider running for re-election, adding that any other residents who felt they had something to offer the council, should consider running too.

Bouley has decided to run for re-election, along with some Ward councilors. However,  at-large City Councilor Steve Shurtleff, who is also up for re-election, has not decided whether or not to run. He also serves in the Legislature.

Coen has lived in Concord since 1969 and moved here after a stint in the U.S. Coast Guard. He owns Page Belting Co., in Boscawen.