Richard R. Gerken: Re-elect Mark Billings to Inter-Lakes School Board

To The Daily Sun,

There have been several recent letters in The Sun discussing Inter-Lakes School Board candidate qualifications. I would urge voters to carefully consider seasoned and tested candidates vs. single issue candidates making emotional appeals like masking in schools.

I have known Mark Billings for 20 years. He has been a true volunteer treasure for the Town of Meredith in many capacities. He chaired the Page Pond Community Forest campaign to preserve 800 acres of recreation and wild like habitat for our community. This effort took two stages and almost 10 years to complete. He was a long-time chair of the Meredith Conservation Commission and I personally observed his carpentry skills in creating “stringers” for bridge replacements completed by volunteers in various town forests. For many years he served as Meredith Town treasurer and was intimately involved in town finances. As a school board member, he used his knowledge and contacts in the energy industry as a member of the Meredith Energy Committee to modernize and update our schools’ energy efficiency saving taxpayers thousands of dollars. Working with Honeywell Corporation, heating costs were reduced by 50% over five years, and the schools now have a significant solar component as well as new flexible multi-fuel heating system. Mark is currently chair of the Capital Improvements Committee serving as the school board representative on the committee, and I am vice chair serving as planning board representative. Working with the town manager and director of development, this committee acts like a long-term budget committee evaluating expected town capital equipment needs over a constantly changing projected seven-year period. The goal is to prevent “spikes” or major surprise increases in the Meredith town tax rate by advance planning and anticipating the timing of major town capital expenditures. These include projects like the Community Center, new fire equipment and apparatus and most recently, the Meredith Library renovations and town transfer station reconstruction. Mark’s financial background and acumen have been invaluable in leading the CIP through the maze of capital requests utilizing tools such as Expendable Trusts Funds and retiring town debt obligations to maintain stability in the Meredith town tax rate.

Mark is a fair person and good listener. He and I don’t always agree on policies but we can have a frank and honest discussion about the idea or policy and sometimes agree to disagree. For all of the above reasons, I urge your vote to re-elect Mark Billings to the Inter-Lakes School Board.

Richard R. Gerken

Meredith