My name is Nancy Carter and I am a candidate for the Hanover Selectboard. I appreciate your support and would like your vote today.
I am seeking my third term on the Hanover Selectboard; I have a variety and depth of experience with local issues and governance. I have learned about and voted on issues as diverse as $26+ million dollar budgets and the conservation of hundreds of acres of land within the town. I know that careful consideration must be taken with a myriad of decisions, both policy and fiscal, which comprise municipal governance. Before joining the Selectboard, I was a member of both the Hanover and Dresden School Boards. A new middle school was built and the high school was fully renovated during those years. Such votes and community-building actions by citizens gave me experience in controversy and the subsequent communal action required to bring change to our schools.
In more than 16 years of public service, I have learned the skills and necessity to listen to all sides carefully. By keeping my mind open to the opinions of others, I was always fully informed about issues; I used that insight whenever there were decisions that I needed to make to ensure I took into account the ideas and concerns of all parties involved. This ability to listen and empathize was on display during our public conversations with Dartmouth students and other citizens while debating the “Welcoming Hanover” initiative.
During all of my years on the Selectboard, and as one of only two women to serve, I have also been a member of the Planning Board. We have worked with Dartmouth to permit and ensure the quality of the College's new building plans and renovations, including the Hood Museum of Art, the Irving Institute for Energy and Society, the new parking garage and the Center for Engineering and Computer Science, as well as numerous smaller improvements all over campus. The Hanover Zoning Ordinance, written by the Selectboard to stipulate that rental properties allow only “three unrelated transient guests,” has been debated by the Planning Board. I know that the current zoning ordinance is controversial among Dartmouth students, and I remain supportive of the existing ordinance while working to find other solutions for the housing problems in town. I believe that the existing ordinance keeps students safe, eliminates overcrowding and maintains the residential nature of neighborhoods.
I am excited about the introduction of both Dartmouth's “Planning for Possibilities” strategic plan and Hanover’s ten year master plan, the “Sustainability Plan for Hanover,” both of which are being presented to the town this year. Dartmouth and Hanover are unique in how interrelated we are, both physically and in shared visions of growth. I have been a teacher, a private college lobbyist in Washington D.C., a mother of three children educated in Hanover schools and a member of a number of civic boards. As such, I am qualified to continue to serve as a necessary bridge between the College and its students and the town and its citizens.
Thank you for your support, and vote for me on July 13.
Nancy Carter is a candidate for and current member of the Hanover Selectboard.
The Dartmouth offered all three Selectboard candidates the chance to write guest columns ahead of the July 13 Hanover Town Meeting, and all three were published July 13. David Millman’s can be found here and Joanna Whitcomb's can be found here.
The Dartmouth welcomes guest columns. We request that guest columns be the original work of the submitter. Submissions and questions may be sent to both opinion@thedartmouth.com and editor@thedartmouth.com. Submissions will receive a response within three business days.
