Issues and Opportunities:
The Carroll County Commission’s main job is to manage the County’s facilities and services to provide excellent service and maximum benefits to residents, while keeping costs low. That guiding principle will always be front and center for me as Commissioner.
Those overriding objectives dictate care in making changes, with rigorous evaluation of costs and benefits. Below are three areas with opportunities which I will work on for the benefit of Carroll County's residents.
This is not an exhaustive list of opportunities. For example, the expansion of the Mountain View Community nursing home, now being considered, is something I support and which will help address current and future needs in this area.
Solar Power Generation
The Carroll County Complex in Ossipee has a range of buildings set among agricultural fields with ample sun. The buildings’ annual electric bill is over $400,000 annually. With that much electricity use, and plenty of sunny space, solar power is a great opportunity to save taxpayer dollars.
Starting in the summer of 2025, I proposed and led a committee to explore this. The Solar Exploratory Committee delivered a proposal to the County Commission in early 2026, for a 100 kW solar array, 1/2 acre in size, which would cover about a quarter of the electricity use of the Department of Corrections building. It would save upwards of $30,000 per year based on current power rates, and would involve minimal upfront investment of less than $100,000.
The incumbent County Commissioners declined to take a vote on supporting the proposal, and it was rejected by the County Delegation at their March 20th meeting. I’ve discussed this disappointing missed opportunity in a recent Conway Daily Sun op-ed.
If elected I hope to revisit the opportunity for installing solar power generation at the County Complex. It's a way of saving taxpayers money, and protecting against rising power rates, using our ample sunny space for locally-generated clean electric power.
Expanded Utilization of the County Farm
The County Farm comprises over 100 acres of high quality agricultural land, surrounding the main campus of facilities at the County Complex. It is situated within the County’s 894 acres of mostly wooded land in Ossipee.
Uses of the County Farm once included vegetable gardens and livestock. Those uses have been stripped away over the last decade or two, to the point where the only products are hay, plus a small plot of blueberry bushes.
While reducing the Farm to hay and blueberries has certainly saved on costs for personnel and farm infrastructure, it has come at a steep cost of lost benefits from a wider range of agricultural activity at the County Farm.
As Commissioner I will lead the evaluation of using more opportunities for the County Farm. Possible areas of expansion could include reintroducing vegetable gardens to provide produce for residents of the Mountain View Community Nursing Home and inmates at the County Jail. I would also like to consider involving Jail inmates as volunteers to help with vegetable gardening. That would be a win-win by adding fresh produce to the menus, and allowing Jail inmates to acquire life skills and the pride of accomplishment in agriculture and gardening.
Another benefit to consider is use of the County Farm for agricultural demonstration projects, for example novel crops, livestock, or agricultural techniques, which may benefit local farmers. These could also bring in the public for education, and kids in 4H, Future Farmers of America (FFA), or Scouting.
The agriculture sector is vital to Carroll County’s rural way of life. The County Farm has been managed towards minimal activity in recent years, but a rejuvenated County Farm could be a resource and catalyst for expanding opportunities in the agriculture sector in Carroll County. Similar considerations also apply for the County’s forested lands, which are an opportunity for forestry training, demonstration and experimentation projects, and recreation.
It is my hope that wider utilization of the County Farm will bring more of the public to the County Complex and increase awareness and benefits from this valuable asset.
Greater Public Involvement at the County Complex
In line with expanded County Farm utilization, as Commissioner I will look for opportunities for greater involvement and presence of the public more generally at the County Complex.
On the County Farm, broadening the range of produce and projects for supporting local agriculture and forestry, will create a draw for more public presence at the Complex. Extra produce could be sold to the public via periodic farmstand sales, further adding to the benefits to Carroll County residents.
Another opportunity is providing building space for use by the public as meeting spaces. The Annex building is currently slated for renovation. At a minimum I believe this should include adding some small meeting spaces which the public can reserve and use. This would lead to more of the public coming and going on the Complex, and using its assets. Other possible uses of building space could include adding a daycare facility for kids of County employees.
With greater public utilization and presence at the County Complex will come a greater community awareness and input on County affairs. The County’s assets - forests, fields, buildings and facilities - belong to the public, and it will be my mission as commissioner to put them to greater use to serve the public.