Board dispute boils over after Chichester town meeting
Published: 5/15/2021 4:48:29 PM
Officials in Chichester breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday, thankful that their annual town meeting, full of potential for fireworks because of recent infighting on the select board, wrapped up after two-hours of civil discourse.
Then, minutes after the meeting had ended, a heated, demonstrative face-off occurred between Select Board members Richard Bouchard and Jason Weir, causing the issue over Weir’s eligibility to serve on the board to resurface.
Most of the residents had filed out of Chichester Elementary School by the time the two board members revisited an old feud that’s been bubbling for months. The scene overshadowed the $2.78 million budget that had just been approved, with some spirited yet reasonable debates over taxes and their connection to capital reserve funds, highway and rescue equipment, and a purchase and sales agreement.
Chichester lightning rod Jason Weir has sparked controversy over residency and mask-wearing
Selectman Jason Weir and girlfriend Allie McIntosh GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff
Published: 5/13/2021 4:36:10 PM
On Election Day in Chichester on Tuesday, Town Moderator Ewen MacKinnon had a question for Select Board member Jason Weir.
Before Weir even got close to a voting booth a prickly relationship between an outspoken board member and several in town who say they’re tired of his grandstanding had already been laid bare. Last month, Weir’s refusal to wear a mask forced the postponement of a Select Board meeting.
This week, after Weir entered Chichester Central School to vote, MacKinnon wanted to know where Weir lived. Really lived. His pending divorce and subsequent move to Loudon were well known in town. Did Weir realize a Loudon home address would nullify his vote in Chichester? And disqualify him from the Select Board?
Through fluctuating times, town halls stand tall
Epsom and Chichester are neighbors, less than four miles apart in the Suncook Valley.
Their schools both funnel students to Pembroke Academy. Their residents share parks and conversation, and many outsiders consider the two towns to be synonymous with Pembroke, the big-boy on the Suncook Valley’s six-town roster.
When it comes to rules in town offices, however, Epsom and Chichester reflect the pattern and national single-mindedness that has emerged since COVID hit the state 13 months ago. That is to say there is no pattern or single-mindedness and there never has been, and that has made mask wearing more complex than calculus.
In Chichester, a selectman’s refusal to wear a mask spurs debate over what is ‘right’
Tom Houle, seen here in March 2020, said he was a friend of Jason Weir’s, but disagreed with him over mask-wearing. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor file
GEOFF FORESTER Monitor staff
Published: 4/22/2021 3:56:25 PM
At a Chichester Select Board meeting last week, longtime resident Tom Houle sought to tear down a former ally’s soapbox.
Via Zoom, Houle, in an understated yet pointed manner, told Selectmen Jason Weir that his refusal to wear a mask at the Select Board meeting on April 6, which forced a week’s postponement, was selfish.
In Chichester, the town meeting show goes on – this time in May
Published: 2/15/2021 3:18:29 PM
Voters in Chichester won’t have to worry about a snowstorm mucking around with annual meetings and voting this year.
Town and school officials met remotely last Friday to change their meeting and voting schedules, part of an effort to smooth COVID-related problems that have become a normal way of life.
With no reason to believe the pandemic will drastically improve in the coming weeks and even months, the Chichester Select Board and School Board, with a blessing from the governor, chose to postpone their annual meetings form March until May.