Q. Are you in favor of seeking alternative means for town revenue?
If so, in what way?

A. I am absolutely in favor of seeking alternative means for town revenues! I don't think this business of always paying the bills with money raised on the backs of property owners - many of whom are already having a hard time making ends meet - is a good plan.

I am willing to listen to all ideas, want to hear the pros and cons of each of them, and will make recommendations and vote based on what I learn from those discussions, from looking at facts and figures, and from seeing how different plans have played out in other communities.

Q. What is your position on the proposed Board of Education budget?

A. I am glad to see that we have a chance to replace the middle school - that place was pretty bad when my kids were there and that was a decade ago now. I hope people will take advantage of the information the school board has put out and will continue to provide to the local newspapers over the next weeks to learn about the new project and the costs and savings. And I hope voters will take the opportunity to get $10M worth of engineering and building for $2M, while the offer lasts.

I am in favor of making every effort to have the Board of Selectmen and the School Board work together as much as possible. When I worked for the town it made me wild to see the different departments working against each other when it was clear that ultimately it was the taxpayers who lost. We all live here together and if one boat sinks, we all will go down with it.

Q. What is your vision for the future of Littleton?

A. Littleton already has an incredible wealth of positive attributes: a beautiful setting in the White Mountains, a gorgeous river running right through the middle of town, an interstate highway with three exits into town, reasonable proximity to two major metropolitan areas, a beautiful main street with the proven capability to be a thriving and vital town center, bus service already available to airports and other transportation centers, and - best of all, perhaps - a whole town full of New Englanders with the work ethic that is the envy of much of the rest of the country.

People in this community have already paved the way for diverse employment opportunities including light manufacturing, retail, and services. We have good education opportunities, high-speed internet access, affordable housing, a hospital and a clinic. We need to figure out how to make the most of all these opportunities while keeping our taxes under control. I believe we can find ways to encourage more light manufacturing to come here and more of us who are already here to start and succeed with additional small businesses. The federal government is encouraging the growth of green jobs and green technologies and manufacturing – let’s get some of those businesses here. Additionally, I would like to see more agricultural businesses in the area and greater self sufficiency in terms of energy and food production.

This is a great town and a great place to live. We have a fantastic framework for opportunity here, people who care and are willing to put time into improving the town, and we need to make the most of those things.

Q. What specific steps would you suggest to encourage manufacturers of green technologies to locate here?

A. I would like to see the selectboard appoint and work with a committee of interested people to look into what has worked in other areas, to study what has already been started in the North Country and to assess where we stand in the process. I know there are already many initiatives begun in this area and I want Littleton's efforts to help the region as well as the town. If there are opportunities out there, we need to identify them. If we need to apply for grants, I want us to know the dates, the requirements and have our applications complete and strong.

I recently saw an article in the Union Leader about UNH starting a new program with $750K of stimulus money that involves being a launching pad for new green businesses. This is exactly the kind of thing we need to get involved in, somehow. I hope someone from Littleton is already in touch with the Governor's office, UNH and anyone else involved to make sure that we are at least on their list of places for those businesses to go to get started.

Q. Do you have children?

A. Yes, I have two children, both in their twenties now. My son lives in Vermont and works as an arborist and logger in this area, and my daughter is currently living and working in New Mexico.

Q. Where do your children (or did they) attend school?

A. Both attended Lakeway Elementary and Daisy Bronson Middle School. My son attended Littleton High School for 9th grade and then finished high school at a polytechnical/engineering school in Austria. My daughter attended Littleton High School for three years and part of a fourth, and St. Johnsbury Academy for just under one school year. She went on to attend the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine and graduated in 2009 with a degree in Human Ecology.

Q. To what religious and civic organizations do you belong?

A. I am a member of WREN, the New Hampshire Bar Association and the American Bar Association. I don't belong to any religious organizations, though I support completely everyone's right to practice whatever religion they wish.

Q. On what boards do you or have you served?

A. I have served on the following non-profit boards:
Support Center Against Domestic Violence; Littleton Library Board of Trustees; Northeast Resource Recovery Association. Currently, I serve on the board of the Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust.

Q. What are your professional qualifications pertinent to the office of town selectman?

A. I have been responsible for developing budgets and living within them in my own life, managing a household, working and raising children, but also working as the landfill manager and recycling coordinator for the Town of Littleton, as the owner of two small businesses, and as the executive director of a non-profit corporation.

I have experience writing grant applications and have successfully secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money, including some for the Town of Littleton.

I have supervised the work of employees, part of that time as a Littleton Town employee, thus I have an understanding of how the systems work, how to work collaboratively with town department heads and to accommodate many different viewpoints.

I have worked extensively with elected boards, agencies, and commissions.

In both my personal and professional life I have always worked hard to maintain a high level of integrity by being honest, living within my means and keeping my bills paid, and carefully considering both sides of issues with the understanding that diverse opinions make a broader foundation of options and knowledge.