Robert Carrier (At-Large)
For an At-Large seat: Robert Carrier (Incumbent)
Age: 63
Occupation: Self-employed contractor
Years living in Dover: Lifelong resident.
Prior public service experience: City council; member, Recreation Advisory Board, Joint Building Committees, Master Plan Committee, Seacoast Endowment Education Dover (SEED).
As rental housing development increases downtown, what can the city do to keep Dover affordable for middle- and working-class residents?
The people that own buildings and rent apartments really have to flow with the market. We really don’t have any jurisdiction on that as a city. We try to make sure it’s affordable. We try to make sure the buildings that are put up, and the existing buildings, maintain renters. We don’t want a lot of vacancies and a ghost town. The city itself doesn’t have any jurisdiction what people charge for rent. Supply and demand is what it amounts to.
How can the city address the impact of downshifting costs from state government to municipalities?Unfortunately, every bit of the way, between federal and state, they keep chopping away at a lot of things they support for municipalities. What we have to do is look closely at our budget and make sure we maintain affordability in the city. A lot of times, the problem is we have to pick up the slack and it costs citizens more money. We try to do that in a fashion that … maintains the services that are provided.
Would you be willing to support a tax cap override while developing city budgets? Why or why not?
Yes I would. I’ve never believed in the tax cap, I think it takes accountability away from the city councilors. I think we as city council can do good fiscal management and supply a budget that’s within the means of the citizens. What people don’t understand is if the percentage is upwards of 4-6 percent, we’d be allowed, and considered heroes, to be at the tax cap or under, but it wouldn’t be fiscally prudent to increase our taxes that much. It doesn’t make sense to me.
The council recently voted to approve funding for a new high school, and construction of a new police station/parking garage is under way. What should the city’s priorities be for future capital improvement projects?
I think the largest capital improvement project in the forefront is the brand new high school. I’m chairman of the joint building committee for that and we’re moving along quite nicely. The police/parking facility is moving along and we’re on budget for that. … The largest thing is the development of the waterfront. I think that’s in the pipeline for the next large project that the city’s going to take a really hard look at. … Roads are a major concern; we have to keep pumping money into the roads. And sewer and water is important. We’re getting mandated by the EPA with strict guidelines … and those guidelines are very expensive. That’s something we’re taking a hard look at.
How can the city best address the increased costs associated with federal EPA regulations regarding stormwater and wastewater management?
First, I think the EPA isn’t some monster out there, the EPA are people just like us. You go to drawing board and talk with them and develop some kind of prudent plan. I think … there’s always going to be a cost in the future for the EPA’s standards. We’ll just have to follow guidelines and do it so we’re not spiking tax increases. A lot of those EPA guidelines with stormwater runoff, those are user fees, so you have to be very careful in telling a person that pays $300 a year for their water/sewer bill that, all of a sudden, because of EPA standards, it’s $600. We can lobby with the state and federal government … to do it in a slower way.
What was the most recent cultural event you attended in Dover?
I attended the Woodman Institute Pine Hill Cemetery walk, with 18 stations at 18 different grave sites. That was a tremendous cultural event that I loved. They did a great job.
What is the most important issue facing the city that no one is talking about yet?
We have talked a little about this, but we have to open the door and look at the majority of elderly that live in the city and make sure they maintain their homes and stay in the city. Some of these people are third and fourth generation residents and we don’t want to drive them out through taxes. That’s an important issue we have to take a harder look at and see if there’s some major adjustments we can make for those people.