Brunette pressing economic development in bid for county commissioner

LACONIA — Peter Brunette, the Democratic Party candidate running for Belknap County commissioner, believes the county should play a major role in the area’s economic development, and needs to take steps to address housing and elder-care issues.

Brunette, who has spent much of his career as a lawyer working in the field of child protection, is making his first bid for elective office. He is challenging Republican Peter Spanos for the seat on the three-member County Commission which represents Laconia, Sanbornton, and New Hampton. David DeVoy, the commissioner who currently holds that seat, is not running for re-election.

The County Commission oversees the operation of all county departments, including the County Nursing Home.

With a growing aging population in the county, Brunette said he would advocate for the nursing home to build an assisted living facility for seniors who need some assistance in their daily routine, but who do not need the level of professional care provided in a nursing home.

He added that the nursing home needs a designated section for residents with dementia.

Brunette also believes that the county can play a vital role in efforts to transform the former Laconia State School complex into a mixed-use development that would generate jobs and tax revenue.

That initiative was recently awarded a $1 million federal matching grant. In order to receive that money, the Lakeshore Redevelopment Planning Commission, which is overseeing the redevelopment effort, has until next Sept. 30 to raise another $1 million from other sources.

Brunette said he believes the county could help the State School commission secure at least some of those matching funds, perhaps by floating a bond.

He also said the County Commission needs to work to get the state to provide more funding for county services.

“The state is not adequately funding the services the county needs to provide,” Brunette said.

That effort, he said, will require closer collaboration between the County Commission and the County Convention — also called the delegation — which approves the county’s budget.

“The commission and delegation have to agree on what the (county’s) functions are,” Brunette said.

“The delegation needs to support (the commission’s) efforts to increase our revenue by insisting the state provide its fair share for services (which) if it were not for the county, would have to be covered by the state,” he said.

He said that, if elected, he would be a strong supporter of community corrections programs which are offered at the House of Correction, where the majority of inmates have a drug or mental health problem, and sometimes both.

He also said the county can help with the area’s homelessness problem by being a partner in making transitional housing available.

“There needs to be a cooperative approach to the problem,” Brunette said of homelessness. “It’s in every town.”