The local elections have concluded and the new councilors at large have been chosen. The five councilors at large are Randy Filiault, George Hansel, Bettina Chadbourne, Gary Lamoureux and Jay Kahn. Bettina Chadbourne and Gary Lamoureux were unavailable to comment before deadline.
Randy Filiault is the only councilor at large who was re-elected for this term and said the one word he can use to describe the feeling of being re-elected is humbled. Filiault was born and raised in Keene and has been involved with city government for over 17 years. He said that although new people are joining the council, the council will just continue to move forward with regular business.
“ For those who are new councilors they’ll have to get up to date and do their homework very rapidly and there’s not a lot of training, so they’re going to have to do the homework and be ready to go,” Filiault said.
Incoming councilor and current Vice President of Finance and Planning at KSC Jay Kahn said he was very grateful for all the people who came out to vote for him, especially the Keene State community.
“ Voters showed their love for the community and interest in seeing it thrive in terms of diversity and economic climate and in terms of creating greater opportunities in the city,” Kahn said.
Kahn said he is excited for this next chapter in his life since he will be retiring from KSC in January and begin his councilor at large career.
“The plan has always been to be involved in my community and remain involved with higher education and be able to still have time to contribute to my family and grandkids and other interests that I have,” Kahn said.
George Hansel is also a new, young face to the council who said he is excited to get to work for the city and all its residents.
“I’m optimistic for the future of Keene and I think we have good people in place with newer ideas and I also think that economic development is at the front of people’s minds which is encouraging,” Hansel said.
Something Hansel said one of his goals is to make the city more attractive to young professionals.
“I think we have a lot of opportunities here and I’m hopeful that the city government t will be behind us in bringing high paying jobs to the area,” Hansel said.
Kendall Pop can be contacted at kpope@kscequinox.com
