County commission candidates in District 1 stress better budgeting, better pay

LACONIA — Sitting Belknap County Commissioner Glen Waring is facing a new challenger this election season in a former representative from Belknap County District 1, Fran Wendelboe. Both candidates are Republicans with significant experience in county government.

“I’ve been in the position now for six years, I think that I've proven to be an effective county commissioner in those six years,” Waring said. “I am a registered Republican but I see this as an apolitical position and not hung up in any party lines. That's not what county government is, nor should it be.”

In addition to his past six years as county commissioner, Waring stated his 30 years experience in finance made him “duly qualified” to remain in the role. The sitting county commissioner stated he was “not surprised” to find an opponent on this year's ballot.

“When I was on the ballot two years ago I was uncontested on either side, so I was not surprised to see someone put their name in the ring,” Waring said. “We encourage alternative choices and opinions, and if the residents want something different in a county commissioner than what I have proven to be in the last six years, that is totally fine with me.”

“I don’t have a beef with Mr. Waring or the job he’s doing,” challenger Wendelboe said. “It’s just that I believe that my qualifications make me a better county commissioner. I spent 14 years in the Legislature, which means that with 14 years of county government budget that I had oversight as a member of the delegation. My fields of expertise are exactly the fields the commissioners handle.”

Wendelboe decided to run after her husband suffered a severe brain hemorrhage in December. Suddenly, Wendelboe found herself searching for the proper, high level of medical care her husband needed. That's when she encountered the county nursing home's issues with bringing on new patients.

Since that time, Wendelboe has made the county nursing home the center of her race for commissioner.

“I really now understand what the average person goes through having a loved one that needs nursing home placement and you can’t find anywhere," Wendelboe said. “The county nursing home for a long time was taking no new patients. I want to make sure our senior citizens' needs are met.”

The county nursing home has long struggled with budget cuts and staffing issues. Despite this, it has remained operational, albeit with a heavily reduced capacity. Both the county and other health care providers have struggled to find enough nurses since the onset of the pandemic.

“Between COVID and between the shortage of employees, it’s been extremely difficult now,” Wendelboe said. “You sharpen a pencil, you prioritize, and pay your employees right. There are some places that pay much more money but they tend to treat their employees as work animals. I think people will work for less if they have a happy experience. I believe that the county should be number one on the list. They have good benefits, and the county has a higher Medicaid population, which makes less profit.”

Waring stated that the county needs to make its positions more attractive and competitive with private entities. That means fighting for better pay for nurses and other county employees, something the delegation has frequently opposed in a bid to save taxpayer dollars.

“Similar to corrections and the sheriff’s department, it’s a matter of workforce, salaries and benefits,” explained Waring. “Being able to attract and retain the best and brightest in the nursing home, county corrections, and sheriff's departments, anything we as the county commissioners can do to make wages attractive and benefits competitive with our counterparts, we have to continue to do that.”

According to both candidates, one of the largest obstacles to improving the situation with the nursing home has been disagreements with the county delegation.

“Some members think we should privatize it and not be in the business of running a nursing home,” Wendelboe said, “I realized if I privatize something, the company you privatize it to wants to make profit. All of that profit, what does it take away from? Does it take away from services? I don’t believe by sharpening the pencil they save enough to make it worthwhile.”

“Last four, five, six, seven, eight years, there's been an unwillingness to support those same measures,” Waring said of increasing pay. “[The county delegation] have been more about cost-cutting and that’s kind of a recipe for disaster, as I would say. We should do anything we can do to continue to make those positions as attractive and competitive as we can.”

According to Wendelboe, it's up to the county commissioners to increase their budgeting skills with the various departments.

“If our commissioners properly budgeted and watched expenses, knowing sometimes you're not in control, the federal government is in control of nursing home regulations, sometimes if you have more people and the county picks up part of the Medicaid cost and you say 'no,' you have to sit on the sidewalk. It has to be well-managed, tightly run, so if someone needs a bed, we need to make it available,” Wendelboe continued. “It's a balance. Nothing's off the table. Maybe we do need to bite the bullet, and say we need to pay a little bit more.”

Waring thinks that educating and improving communications with the delegation can help pave the way for making the county positions more attractive to applicants.

“In my experience as a county employee and as a commissioner, there has to to be a willingness to listen and be educated about the services being offered and not be so quick minded to say 'you can do more with less,'” Waring said. “It comes from folks touring the facility, speaking with residents and family members of the residents to understand what it is and what’s so important.”

“It’s difficult to work with the delegation,” Wendelboe said, calling herself a fiscal conservative. “They know fiscally, I'm their kind of person, but I also understand the obligation we have to the county. Everyone says local education is better. The closer to home your government is, the better it is as far as service and costs. I believe the same thing for county government.”

The state primary is Sept. 13 and the general election is Nov. 8.