Jonathan Hayden | Ward III candidate

Age: 37

Address: 344 Winter Street

Years lived in Claremont: 4

Community organizations you belong to: Claremont Growers Collective, starting a choir with Mellissa Richmond.

Employment: Co-owner of Winter Street Farm

Incumbent? If so, how many terms? No.

What do you believe are the top 3 issues facing Claremont?

Building a thriving downtown. Responsible fiscal spending. Restore our housing stock and create healthy homes.

What do you propose to address them?

I plan to listen to my constituents and bring their ideas and proposals to the council where we can, with civility, collaboration and partnership, work together to create the best plan to keep Claremont moving in the correct direction.

Is Claremont headed in the right direction or the wrong direction? Please explain your answer.

Claremont is absolutely moving in the right direction but we need to stay focused to get there.

We moved here without any connections to start a small-scale vegetable farm and create a public space within our new community. Since we have moved here, we have seen Claremont change and move forward. I see a community that is at a pivotal point where it can retain its historical identity, while embracing changes with a positive attitude.

How do you plan to engage the public, get its input on city matters and address those issues with the council?

I plan on listening. I understand that lots of people write to the city council and often do not get responses. I will engage in respectful and considerate discussions with our citizens. We all have different views of what we want for this city but, in the end, we want it to succeed. We are not the city of the past but are a city of the future and it takes all of us to figure out what that is going to be.

How could city government be more transparent to the public it serves?

The public should be made fully aware that it can attend public sessions of city government and/or view recorded sessions. We can encourage the public to take a more active part in the process and then be available to respond to the questions and concerns of our constituents.

Do emergency responders need mental health training? If so, how should it be provided?

Mental health training is incredibly important for our responders, since it gives them more tools to be able to assess situations and properly diffuse them. It should be provided in any way that we can. Not only will this help the responders, but it will also help those in need get proper treatment or not get arrested for a worse crime.

Businesses on Pleasant St. have not only had to contend with the COVID shutdown but also Pleasant Street’s construction shutdown. What, if anything, should Claremont do to assist businesses struggling to recover from these events?

We can continue to create events that pull people downtown, keep costs lower for downtown businesses, while they recover, and try and promote more businesses to invest downtown so that everyone can thrive.

What do you like about Claremont?

That Claremonters really do want Claremont to succeed. People remain positive and hopeful that we are trying to do our best and figure out a way forward. Our foundations remained strong, even through COVID, because we are self-sustaining and vital to our nation.

If you could wave a magic wand, what would you change about it?

I would make all our existing housing stock lead free, healthy and energy efficient. I would build new housing stock and ensure enough for low-income families so every child has a safe and healthy home to grow up in. Fix up all the mill buildings for apartments or businesses to really make a thriving downtown.

What would you like voters to know about you?

We moved to Claremont to start a community supported farm. We produce food for over 150 families.

I grew up in Colorado in a military family. I have also lived and farmed in Italy, France, Connecticut and Massachusetts. I am now proud to call Claremont my home.

We have collaborated with the county conservation districts, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, NOFA-NH, Land For Good, and Vital Communities. We donate produce from our farm weekly to the Claremont Soup Kitchen. We also support the Opera House, Kiwanis and the Rotary Club.

I have worked seasonally in Antarctica, managing remote field camps for 11 seasons to help support our farming life.

I am running for council because I am finally able to live here year-round as we are expecting our first child this October.

I look forward to continuing to invest myself into my community as I raise my family here.