Sean SargentMunicipal Primary Election 2021 Winner
Running forWard 8 Alderman
in 2021
Running as
Member of the Planning Board for the City of Manchester and confirmed for a second term by the Board of Mayor and Alderman this past May.
Current jobI am currently a small business owner providing light remodeling and construction services, as well as a management level sales rep for a building materials company.
I attended school right here in Ward 8 going to Green Acres, Southside, and Memorial High School. After graduating I worked as a carpenter for about a decade before leaving the field about 6 years ago to enroll in college and pursue a sales career. I have an education in business administration having completed most of my courses through MCC and SNHU and had planned on working toward an MBA this fall before deciding to make a run for office.
Best way to contact candidateSeanSargent8@gmail.com
603.765.7513
Why are you running?
I’m running for the Ward 8 Aldermanic seat because I love the ward and I love the city. I grew up in this ward, went to three schools in this ward, and decided to bring my family here when we bought our first home. It’s truly a great place to live. I think it’s important to have leadership in place that is proud to reside in Manchester and wants to be here to help build it up. That’s what I want to do. I want our community to build together. We have a tremendous foundation from which to start, but we need to hit the ground running in the next term with the opportunities that have been provided to us. I would like to focus on making interactions with the government a more positive experience while emphasizing community cohesiveness. I want to empower constituents, every constituent, to be involved in helping shape our city and the decisions of our government. I believe that working together will go a long way in bolstering the many attractive qualities of our city and in alleviating some of the problems our city faces like the housing crisis, homelessness, and the drug epidemic.
What uniquely qualifies you to be an Alderman?
I think the path that brought me to where I am in life makes me uniquely qualified to be an alderman. I’ve experienced a little bit of everything and can empathize and relate to a lot of people from all walks of life, in this city, and in this ward. I can understand the impact my decisions will have on a wide range of people. I know what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck and fret about paying an electricity bill. I know what it’s like to own property and to worry about a tax bill when you’re trying to save for retirement. I have experience laboring long hard hours and working with my hands, but I also have experience sitting in front of a computer analyzing budgets and setting sales targets. I believe that aside from acting as a conduit between the city and constituents, and being a good steward of taxpayer dollars, being mindful of the fact that your constituency will have diverse life experiences is the most important responsibility of an alderman. Every decision holds great weight because every decision will affect each constituent differently. I will take that into consideration with every vote.
What do you see as the main function of an Alderman?
There are two main functions of an alderman. One is to act as a conduit between the city and the constituents. This means helping Ward 8 residents with problems with city services and connecting them with city hall. This means amplifying community events, getting your neighbors involved, and volunteering to help out. This also means being the face of the ward and representing the people that voted you in with class and respect during the good times and the bad. The other function is to make policy decisions of behalf of your constituency. Aldermen are tasked with analyzing the information available to them and making decisions that will create the best outcomes for the most people possible. Obviously, the biggest decisions being budget and tax decisions, but they are many other aspects of running a city the aldermen are responsible for such as public health and safety considerations and economic development.
What do you see as the key solution to reducing homelessness in the city?
I want to start by saying I do not have a solution. No one does. I also want to make clear the importance of making a distinction between houseless and homeless. There are a lot of homeless people living on their friends’ couches, or in campers in a family member’s yards, that are often not thought about. This is a problem. We need to address housing for these folks, and we need to get on it yesterday. As far as handling the houseless population, where we need to start is with getting everyone on the same page with how we’re going to handle it. We need government at every level working and communicating collaboratively. We need help from our private partners. We need to more efficiently render services to the mentally ill and drug addicted to coax them off the street. It’s going to be difficult, but it’s necessary to support business and neighborhoods that feel they are being encumbered by this population. We need to offer a hand up to anyone willing to take one. Job programs, transitionary housing, and other programs to help people get on their feet. I am hopeful that with the addition of the homelessness director position, we can get all the stakeholders better organized and better equipped to work as a team to help mitigate the current situation.
Do you feel that Manchester needs more affordable housing as defined by US HUD and NHHFA (costing no more than 30% of occupants' monthly income)? If so, how would you achieve this? If not, why not?
Manchester needs more housing, period. We could use both HUD definition affordable as well as housing that is simply affordable to regular working-class people. We can accomplish both. We can create an environment for developers to build more units with smart changes to our zoning ordinance that reduce costs and by offering incentives such as density bonuses to build more affordable units. As for the other affordable, our city was fortunate to receive $43M in covid relief of which $4.7M is slated to go toward developing HUD definition affordable housing. It’s a great start. I would also like to see the city build up an affordable housing trust. We must aggressively seek out grants and other opportunities to fund such initiatives.
What are your thoughts on public safety in the city?
Generally, I think Manchester is a safe city. I feel comfortable walking with my family pretty much everywhere. But I think like most people, I am concerned when we see gun violence making the 5 o’clock news. I think when you look at it, it seems like it’s mostly confined to people that have issues with each other, and we don’t see much random violence, but it certainly exists. I think the biggest step we can take is simply letting police officers focus on crime again. We need our department to focus as much resources as possible on ridding the city of criminals causing harm.
Please provide one or more examples of a person, organization, or business that exemplifies the spirit of Manchester
This is a great question and one I think I’d have a hard time in keeping an answer to brief. But three people popped in my head when I read it, so I am going to go with them. I’d say John Clayton for his work with the Manchester Historic Association and the Millyard Museum and John Patrick Jordan for his intense love of researching the history and the essence of our city. I have to admit I will sometimes nerd out and really get sucked into a story when I see something interesting published by those guys. In one instance, I found myself reading an archived online version of Manchester on the Merrimack by Grace Holbrook Blood until two in the morning. This was because John Patrick Jordan posted a picture of a building where Abe Lincoln once stayed on the corner of Elm and Lowell and I felt compelled to learn more. Incidentally, I believe that book is available for purchase at the Millyard Museum. The other person that came to mind was Dean Kamen. I think the city is lucky to have a person so committed to building what he’s building in the mills. A lot of what he has accomplished has helped create a new identity for what was once our town’s calling card, the mill buildings that once housed the largest textile producing factories in the world. We’ve seen a renaissance of the area happen right before our eyes and I think a lot of it is influenced by his ingenuity and commitment to developing new technologies in our city. I like to think that Manchester is ready to embrace this new era.
How would you describe the city's current infrastructure and business climate?
Well one of the first things someone will tell you when you’re knocking on doors is they’d like to see the roads fixed. We’ll start with that. It’s difficult in a New England climate, we’ll always be fighting an uphill battle, but must do our best. We need to try to focus on getting to some of the neighborhoods that have been waiting a long, long time for repairs. In general, I think we have decent infrastructure in the city. I’d like to see greater accommodations for multimodal transport and public transportation. I think some of our schools need to be repaired or possibly closed, and I think we have a lot of work ahead of us in dealing with our outdated sewerage system. I think our business climate is great considering we’re in the midst of a global pandemic. The city is well positioned for a great comeback, though many businesses have maintained strength all along. New businesses are looking to do business here, whether in the mills or by the airport, and I am confident established businesses will come out stronger on the other end of covid. I am very optimistic for our future.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Manchester School District? What is the top need for improvement or change?
Manchester schools offer a great foundation for learning but we can do better. Our district offers a solid curriculum and many opportunities for advanced coursework and college credits. I think we have a great school in MST that we should continue building up to attract more families to the district. We also have opportunities to partner with our local colleges. SNHU is a leader in online schooling and they do a lot with our community. I’d like to see our district work with them creative ways to deliver education to our children. Maybe the most glaring weakness is our school’s infrastructure. Most of the buildings in our district need updating or major repairs. A lot of our schools also often lack proper supplies and our teachers and staff are spending out of pocket to supply items themselves. That’s unacceptable. I personally have purchased new textbooks because of the condition of some of the assigned texts were so terrible. I would like to see these issues addressed. I’d be open to putting everything on the table and having a discussion on every idea to move forward to fix these problems.
Do you support the budgetary autonomy of the Manchester School District's governing body? (currently known as the Board of School Committee, but proposed to be renamed as the Manchester School Board). If so, why (or why not?)
I haven’t formed a definitive opinion on this question yet. When first proposed, because I knew I would be running for alderman, I held the opinion that the aldermen should be solely in control of the purse strings. It’s something I would expect to bear responsibility for if elected. Since then I have heard some good arguments in support of autonomy, the best being that one body would now bear complete responsibly for the success of the district. My stance has softened and I’m probably 60/40 against. I do, however, believe that putting the question before the people is appropriate.
What is the greatest strength of your ward and what needs improvement? For at-large candidates, what is the greatest strength of the city as a whole and what is in need of improvement?
I think the greatest strength of Ward 8 is its neighborhoods. We have some of the best, most family oriented neighborhoods in the city. That’s something I am proud to be apart of and it gives us an opportunity to come together as a community. I think this is reflected in our schools because we also have some of the best schools in the city. Another strength is South Willow St and the Airport. Our community is full of opportunity but this is also where we could use some improvement. The airport recently attracted a new airline which is great and I hope we can attract more. I also think that South Willow St could use some investment to make it look less like a giant strip mall. I think we can attract businesses to the area that offer not only commerce, but culture, and experiences that people from all over the area can enjoy.