Citing need for city to have a strategic plan for the future, Seymour says he'll run for 2nd term as mayor

LACONIA —Mayor Mike Seymour confirmed yesterday that he will seek a second term.

"I don't want to leave now," Seymour said. "There has been a lot of change at the top with a new city manager, the retirement of our finance director and the pending retirement of the city manager's executive assistant. Consistency," he continued, "does make a difference."

Seymour, vice-president of marketing and retail services at Franklin Savings Bank, said that there are a number of unresolved issues before the City Council, including the rising cost of the Winnipesaukee River Basin (sewer) Project, the prospect of acquiring the Laconia State School property, the future of the Colonial Theater, the improvement of the Huot Regional Technical Education Center and the introduction of "Pay-As-You-Throw" trash disposal.

"Familiarity with these issues is an advantage and I'd like to see them through to completion," he said, conceding with a laugh that he could find himself saying the same thing in another two years.

Meanwhile, Seymour said that he also wanted to pursue two initiatives he undertook in his first term, the establishment of a business roundtable and the development of a strategic plan for the city. He said that after a number of meetings with local business owners the roundtable has adopted a mission statement and charted a direction.

Meanwhile, the council, together with city manager Scott Myers and the department managers, intends to develop a strategic plan for the city.

"These are things I said I would do when I ran for mayor, " Seymour said, "and now that we've made a start, I want to bring them to fruition." He explained that the intention of the strategic plan is to set priorities and monitor the progress toward fulfilling them.

Seymour said that although serving as mayor has placed heavy demands on his time, his wife, urged him to seek another term. "I don't know whether she just wanted to get me out of the house," he laughed, "but she said that as a resident and a taxpayer I should run."

Bob Hamel, who was first elected to represent Ward 5 on the City Council in 2005, this week also confirmed that he will seek re-election to a fourth term "I still like serving on the council," he said. "As long as I can bring something to the table for the ward and the city, I would like to serve." Like other incumbents, he stressed the importance of maintaining continuity on the council in light of the outstanding issues remaining to be resolved.