MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BMA) Committee on Administration and Information Systems recommended a proposal initially proposed by Alderman Sebastian Sharonov on Monday, albeit with a slight modification.
Sharonov requested that the City Charter be amended to require Special Elections for Aldermen to occur within 90 days of the declaration of a vacancy. The BMA did not approve this request, instead referring to this committee for the possibility of instituting something comparable to Sharonov’s recommendation that would not tie the hands of the city under a charter requirement.
Alderman Pat Long (Ward 3) alluded to a comment made by Sharonov following the vote saying that his request was defeated at the full board as an attempt to deny him a victory, saying he was disturbed by the comment and indicated that Sharonov did not reach out to him to discuss the matter.
Sharonov replied that he is happy to answer any questions from any Aldermen, but no one reached out to him with questions.
Long replied that he reaches out to all Aldermen with his proposals to provide additional information whether he believes they will support his proposal or not and he did not hear from Sharonov regarding this proposal
“I don’t appreciate having a motive put on me, you don’t know me and you didn’t talk to me about this,” said Long.
Long made a motion to recommend Sharonov’s proposal to fill vacancies with a single special election without primaries, but without the 90-day requirement, instead having the special election be held as quickly as possible.
That motion passed unanimously and will now go before the full BMA again in the committee’s next report.
The Committee also recommended two other items, with all three items recommended in a total of approximately five minutes.
Sharonov’s item was third on the agenda, the first request was to renumber Straw Road to bring it in compliance with the city’s code of ordinances and state law regarding E-911 standards.
The second request came from the city’s Chief Engineer, Frederick McNeill, regarding needed updates to the city’s stormwater ordinances.
Additional information on all three items can be found in the meeting packet below.
