Erle Pierce, Ward 2 Concord City Council Candidate

Erle Pierce

Age (as of Election Day)

68

Position Sought

Ward 2 City Councilor

Party Affiliation

Undeclared

Family

Widowed. Two Children, Son on active duty as Army Ranger. Four Grandchildren.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No, other than military service.

Education

Attended Champlain College in Burlington, VT.

Occupation

Now retired. I worked for Verizon and it's predecessor companies for 35 years.

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

Incumbent Ward 2 Councilor. Former, two term School Board member in Bow, NH (1992-1995)

Campaign website

Facebook: Pierce4Council

Why are you seeking elective office?

To continue improving the lives and safety of Ward 2 and other City residents.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Lack of affordable housing and our homelessness population.
While the two may seem related, there is still a large percentage of our homelessness who cannot live in housing primarily because of addictions and/or lack of funds. The City of Concord (through taxpayers) fulfills their responsibility to provide a safety net and does much to help out the less fortunate whenever possible. The many churches and private organizations also do what they can to help alleviate the situation. I will continue to be involved in the dialogue to help search for solutions, realizing that every case of homelessness is an individual problem and no one answer will solve all issues.
Rising taxes are also a problem. The Council has worked hard trying to find the balance of business investment that will meet the needs of a developer and the City residents. Not only is expansion of the tax base important, but the services provided to developers by local businesses, before, during and after development is critically important. Imagine, for instance, a new downtown apartment building with 65 one and two bedroom apartments on a piece of property that currently generates $0 in tax revenues. Local construction would bring in jobs and once the building is completed, the people living there will visit local restaurants and retail establishments, making those places even more viable. This is, of course, in addition to new tax revenues put forth by the new building, perhaps totaling $300,000 annually, forever.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I don't know of any other candidate running yet.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

While unable to please everyone, I believe the City administration and Council did an admirable job of managing the response given the information we had been given. Our City Manager and his team took advantage of all possibilities for grants to help the City tackle the myriad of problems associated with the pandemic. Their attention to detail saved the taxpayers from having to fund an even larger safety net.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

I pride myself in providing great constituent service. I have has much success in answering my constituents questions, even though some did not always like the answers!
I hope to do it again for another two years.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

My first accomplishment when I took office in January 2020, was to work with the City's General Services Department and other Councilors to get Bog Road paved as soon as possible. The road was paved in the spring of 2020 and it has become a great east to west passageway for residents.
I was also able to work through City processes to get a 4 way stop added to the intersection of Bog/Horse Hill/Carter Hill and River Roads, making it safer for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists alike.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Listen, think, then respond.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I really love our City and I hope to continue serving the residents here. I do my homework on issues and believe that attracting businesses will lead to more housing and vice versa. While the City Council has no control over the tax rate for CSD or MVSD, I am always working on ways to create more tax equity for my constituents who send their children to MVSD, understanding that there will be times that the disparity will take care of itself.