Bob Hamel, city councilor since 2005, dies

LACONIA — Bob Hamel, longtime city councilor, has died. Mayor Andrew Hosmer said he heard the news from a member of the Hamel family.

Hamel's death was reported to have occurred on Monday evening. The Daily Sun has not yet been able to contact a member of the Hamel family to confirm details.

Hamel took a leave of absence from the council in October to begin treatments for cancer. He had served on city council, representing Ward 5, since 2005, initially appointed to fulfill a vacancy. He was last reelected in 2021, for his ninth term on the council. His current term would have expired at the end of the calendar year.

City Manager Kirk Beattie said he hadn’t yet discussed with the council how to handle the vacancy. However, he said that in recent history, similar vacancies had been filled through an appointment, voted on by the other councilors, and the process would likely begin by soliciting letters of interest from qualified candidates. Beattie said any registered voter in Ward 5 was eligible to offer their candidacy.

“We will handle it similarly” to previous instances, Beattie said. “The council will end up naming a successor to complete the term. ... The exact dates of how that will happen have not been determined yet.”

Beattie, who served as the city’s fire chief before being named city manager, said he knew Hamel for “a good number of years,” and that the late councilor made the most of his obligation to serve.

“He was certainly one of those councilors who worked very closely with constituents, really put a lot of effort into making sure that the issues that the people in his ward cared about came forward before council. That’s really an important trait for councilors to have,” Beattie said.

Hosmer, who before being elected mayor served as a city councilor alongside Hamel, remembered a colleague who wanted to see projects through to completion, and wasn’t afraid to get into the complications.

“Bob didn’t want to bounce along at the 30,000-foot level, he wanted to dive into the weeds, understand projects, understand the people involved in projects. He formed very strong opinions based on the facts in front of him. But he wouldn’t get so dug in on issues that he would be unwilling to compromise,” Hosmer said. “Sometimes it would take a while to move him, but he wasn’t obstinate, he wasn’t a grandstander. His priorities were well-known to everyone. He was about pragmatic problem-solving.”

That pragmatism and collegiality left a legacy of successful projects. As a city councilor, Hamel helped to champion many landmarks of the city today: The middle school, new fire department and, along with his late friend and former Mayor Edward Engler, the Colonial Theatre.

Beattie said he learned more about Hamel’s view of public service during his interview for the job of city manager. Hamel listed some of the recent improvements the city had achieved, saying, “Look at the good that we can do,” which seemed to define Hamel’s motivation on the council.

“He was very proud of the larger things that make our city what it is,” Beattie said, adding that Hamel was equally concerned with things such as maintaining the city’s roads and keeping the parks in good condition for the enjoyment of residents.

Hosmer said Hamel seemed to appreciate his opportunity to serve his city, which is one of the reasons news of his death was hard to hear.

“Even when he started his treatments, he was still strong, he was still looking forward to getting his treatments out of the way and get back to council in short order,” Hosmer said. “I am going to miss having him on council.”