News

The Claremont city manager: they come and they go

By WAYNE L. MCELREAVY
Claremont Historical Society
CLAREMONT — Though the city manager form of government has been a way of life for Claremonters for over 70 years, switching from town government was a decades-long battle.

The first city to have a city manager was Staunton, Virginia in 1908, followed by Sumter, South Carolina in 1912. The first large city to have a city manager was Dayton, Ohio. After the Great Dayton Flood destroyed much of the downtown, industrialist John H. Patterson convinced city leaders that the best way to rebuild the city would be through a city manager with an engineering background. This manager could make the best decisions for the city, thus removing city government from political parties. 

The Dayton city charter became the model for dozens of other cities, and by April 1914, there was an organized group promoting the city manager plan in Claremont. The group, apparently operating with no specific name, would meet with civic groups, church groups, and any other audience they could find.

A 1917 warrant article put the matter before the voters at town meeting with the city-manager form losing in a close vote, 610-651. Convinced that they had succeeded in flipping over 22 naysayers from 1917, the pro-manager group anticipated a win in 1918 only to be shocked at a 431-889 defeat.

Another try was made in 1921. Two days before the vote, the Claremont Daily Eagle published an editorial stating that Claremont, with a voter checklist three times that of the capacity of the town hall, had simply outgrown the town meeting form of government. Nonetheless, the city government was voted down, 847-1056. 

At the 1936 town meeting, Russell Jarvis proposed paying one selectman a full-time salary and making the other two selectman junior selectmen with a lower salary. This was withdrawn after being rebuffed as a town manager plan in disguise, and some considered it an incremental step to having a city manager.

James Holt made a motion at the 1939 town meeting that a committee be formed to investigate the advantages and disadvantages for a city form of government and that a city charter be drafted. The motion went nowhere when Melvin F. Colby motioned that this idea be postponed and passed over, which carried.

 

City manager

or strong mayor?

By the mid-1940s, most were in agreement that it was time for town government to end in Claremont, but the question was which type of city government — city manager or strong mayor. The issue became a big debate in 1947.

The city manager format was strongly supported by the Claremont Civic Association. The CCA’s public information committee, chaired by attorney Robert B. Buckley, was tasked with getting the word out to the voters. Those favoring the strong mayor format were led by municipal judge Albert D. Leahy. The two groups promoted their causes in community meetings and in the newspapers. When Daily Eagle publisher Lincoln O’Brien’s new radio station WLOB began broadcasting in May 1947, the debate extended to the airwaves.

Just days before the October 21, 1947 vote, Leahy announced that the city manager format would be best for Claremont. The city manager plan was voted in, 2433-1326. Claremont became the 12th city in New Hampshire and the third to have a city manager. 

It seems Leahy’s group may have acquiesced just to eliminate town government. The ink was barely dry on the city charter when the group began pushing for a switch to the strong mayor form of government. The strong mayor form went before the voters in 1949 and failed, 255-2944. Another attempt in 2014 also failed, 1024-2727.

 

A series of

city managers

Philip L. White, 43, a Brattleboro, Vermont, native and town manager of Brattleboro, was tabbed as Claremont’s first city manager, starting on March 1, 1948. He would resign in December 1952. While stating no reason, it was known that he was dissatisfied with the council’s actions regarding a Joy assessing controversy. With no immediate plans, he agreed to stay on until a replacement was on board.

White’s replacement was Gordon Dillon, 42, a native of Massachusetts and the assistant city manager of Quincy, Massachusetts. He started in February 1953. Stating a desire to return to his native state, Dillon left Claremont in February 1957 to become city manager of North Adams, Massachusetts.

Next came Thomas E. Duff, 36, a Boston native who was the municipal manager of the town of Middlebury, Vermont. Duff would stay just over two years before moving on to become city manager of Andover, Massachusetts.

Roy G. A. Petterson, 56, a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, was an attorney working in Worcester County Superior Court just prior to coming to Claremont in August 1959. He had previous manager experience in Pennsylvania and New York. He stated he had other interests to follow when he resigned only eight months later in April 1960.

George C. Benway, 48, a native of Sheffield, Massachusetts, was first selectman and chief administrator of Old Saybrook, Conn., before coming to Claremont. He would be the first manager to last more than five years. He tried resigning in December 1968 due to issues with the council, but the council rejected his resignation. Then in November 1969, Benway transferred to the city’s higher-paying job of director of economic development. 

Benway’s replacement was Peter G. Lombardi, only 24 years old, of New Britain, Connecticut. Lombardi was the assistant town manager and development coordinator for the town of Newington, Connecuticut. He started in June 1970 and left in August 1972 to become town manager of Hampton, citing a major salary increase as the reason.

Peter A Garland, 49, a resident of Bowdoinham, Maine and native of Saco, Maine, was assistant director of client relations for an engineering firm for pollution control prior to coming to Claremont in October 1972. He was previously town manager of Gorham, Maine and mayor of Saco, Maine. Having served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine’s 1st District, he is the only Claremont city manager to have served in Congress. He resigned the Claremont post in August 1973 to become the community manager of Ocean Pines, a large residential and recreational development in Maryland.

The next city manager, Louis C. Sarelas, was also a native of Saco, Maine. Sarelas was the town manager of Old Orchard Beach before coming to Claremont in November 1973. Citing council interference and devious undercutting hampering his efforts to run the city, he resigned in March 1976 to become the town manager of Bennington, Vermont.

Jerry L. Maxwell, 33, city manager of Bath, Maine, was our city manager from August 1976 until leaving in May 1979 to become county manager of Alachua County, Florida.

For the first time, the city hired an interim city manager rather than have a current member of city staff double as acting manager. Hired in May 1979 for six months was Donald R. Price, 46, a native of Columbus, Ohio who had been assistant administrator of Nashua. Price essentially ran the city of Nashua for two years while their mayor was hospitalized. Price’s time in Claremont was brief, productive, and stormy. He abruptly resigned in August, taking numerous parting shots at the council and city staff.

J. Edward Brookshier, 33, city administrator of Rolla, Missouri was Claremont’s next city manager. He started in September 1979 and left in January 1983 to become city administrator of O’Fallon, Missouri.

Next was Peter Caputo, 49, a native of New York City and an ordained deacon in the Episcopal church. He had held numerous manager positions and was temporary manager of Narberth, Pennsylvania, when hired in Claremont in May 1983. Having previously lived in the Plymouth area, he desired to return to the Granite State. Caputo resigned in January 1985 to become town manager of Littleton. 

When Joanne Wrench, 45, city manager of Allegan, Michigan, was hired to start in June 1985, she was not only Claremont’s first female city manager, but she was also the first female city manager in the state. She had also been the first female city manager in both Michigan and Illinois. She resigned in June 1986 citing her upcoming marriage and desire to enter private life.

Robert W. Jackson, 41, a native of Hamilton, Ohio and a Claremont resident since 1981, was the director of the Greater Claremont Chamber of Commerce when hired as city manager in September 1986. Jackson disappeared from city hall in July 1997, and the press was kept in the dark as to his status. It was later found that the council had placed him on 30 days leave with the intention to terminate. The meeting, however, was suspended. Weeks later, it was officially announced that Jackson had resigned. He moved on to become the town manager of Plainville, Connecticut.

Robert H. Porter, 46, a Claremont farmer and member of the N.H. Army National Guard, was hired on an interim basis in September 1999 with the interim tag removed beginning January 2000. He resigned in December 2000.

David Barker, 35, of Fremont, former assistant town administrator of Derry, was hired in February 2001 for six months as interim manager, but he resigned after only 18 days.

In April 2001, Richard L. Hodgkinson, 61, of Londonderry was hired for two months or until a permanent manager was hired. He ran his own management and consulting business and was an adjunct professor at the N.H. College Graduate School of Business. He stayed on until Guy Santagate was hired to begin in August 2001.

Santagate, 63, was the former city manager of Chelsea, Massachusetts. Despite starting at an older age than any full-time Claremont city manager had ever served, Santagate would remarkably set a record for longest tenure at fifteen years and five months when he retired in December 2016.

Former Keene city manager J. Patrick MacQueen, 69, was hired on an interim basis until Ryan McNutt was hired in February 2017. 

McNutt, 40, is a native of Peterborough but was raised in Massachusetts. He was the town administrator of Lancaster, Massachusetts. when hired by Claremont in February 2017. He was terminated in January 2019.

John MacLean, 70, who had served as city manager of Keene for 20 years, is currently the interim city manager while the search continues for the next full-time manager.

That makes 16 full-time city managers in 71 years with an average tenure of just over four years.

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