MANCHESTER, NH – In their final public action of the evening, the Manchester Board of Aldermen appointed Pat Long to the Manchester Board of School Committee.
The board opening arose after Nancy Tessier resigned from the board in August, citing health reasons.
Four candidates received nominations from the Board of Aldermen, but an impasse at the last aldermanic meeting prevented the appointment of a replacement. Due to the absence of Alderman Normand Gamache, the aldermen were unable to find a candidate that obtained the eight needed votes for appointment. The aldermen also could not split the votes equally among the candidates, which would have allowed the mayor to cast the tie-breaking vote.
With Gamache in attendance on Tuesday night, the process did not face the same deadlock.
In the first round, the votes echoed those from the previous meeting. Chris Herbert voted for former Central High School principal John Rist and John Cataldo voted for local resident Michael Porter while Long got votes from Gamache, Dan O’Neill, Tim Baines, Will Stewart, Kevin Cavanaugh, Barbara Shaw and William Shea.
The other five members of the board voted for former BOSC member Debra Gagnon Langton.
In the second round, Herbert and Barry changed their votes to support Long, giving him nine votes needed.
Joseph Kelly Levasseur then made a motion to make Long’s appointment unanimous, which received approval.
Long, a current ex-officio member of the Planning Board, has also served as a state representative and an alderman in the past, following a career with the New Hampshire Ironworkers Local 7.
He will now serve the remainder of Tessier’s term, which was set to run out in 2019.
