Democrat Strafford County Commission Chair George Maglaras, a political powerhouse in the county for more than four decades, took a couple of rare shots across the bow this past week, first on Tuesday when Strafford County Delegation Republicans blasted him on running around the delegation to unilaterally steamroll a massive housing project on county land; and then a couple of days later, when he was unable to put together a comment on an accusation by county GOP chair Ken Hilton that one of his fellow commissioners lied about his residency in the primary two years ago.
Hilton accuses county commissioner Sean Leavitt, who currently serves as county commissioner in District 3 and filed for his 2024 candidacy using 99 Columbus Ave. in Dover as his residence, of misstating his proper residence in his filing. According to Hilton, the property houses his commercial electrical business, and Dover Zoning Administrator Paul Crouser has confirmed in writing that “at present, the primary structure located at 99 Columbus Ave. is not permitted for residential occupancy.”
Information provided to election officials indicate that Leavitt actually resides at 37 Ash St. in Dover, which is located in District Ward 1, which is outside of District 3, Hilton says.
Leavitt has voted in Ward 1 in the previous two statewide elections, Hilton noted.
“He remained in District 3 on a technicality under the law as it then existed, an issue subsequently corrected by the Legislature,” he noted.
Last Tuesday Leavitt told Hilton that he was “not going to step down” and was “working with the city to get the zoning corrected by the end of the week,” according to Hilton.
Leavitt also claimed that “everyone knew that he was planning to move there.”
“If 99 Columbus Ave. is already Sean Leavitt’s lawful residence when he filed for office, why is he now, one week before the primary, trying to obtain a zoning variance allowing residential use?” Hilton said on Monday.
Hilton requested immediate action from Secretary of State David Scanlan Office, which on Monday confirmed to The Rochester Voice that he would be looking into the matter.
Now, with the primary just two days away, it’s unclear whether Scanlon will be able to render a ruling on whether Leavitt violated residency policy.
Former Rochester state rep Cliff Newton, who lost to Leavitt in the primary for the District 3 commissioner slot two years ago, said he wasn’t surprised that something like this didn’t turn up sooner or later.
“Just more high jinks from Maglaras, because you know he’s behind it,” Newton quipped last Tuesday.
The Rochester Voice asked Maglaras to comment on the Leavitt situation, but the county chair who rarely shies away from a question or comment just said, “talk to Sean.”
Leavitt was also contacted multiple times, but also refused comment.
Meanwhile, State Rep Susan G. DeRoy of Middleton and the Strafford County Delegation Executive Committee Republicans on Tuesday ripped into Maglaras’ plan to – at the utmost speed – develop an “affordable” housing development on county-owned property that would comprise three five-story apartment buildings that would house 50 apartments apiece for around $45 million.
In DeRoy’s op-ed in The Rochester Voice she voiced serious concerns regarding whether the commissioners had the statutory authority under which to pursue this mammoth project.
In her piece, she argued the County Commissioners’ primary responsibilities include oversight of county property and facilities, county finances, corrections, long-term care, and other specifically authorized county functions and that “New Hampshire’s housing and land-use statutes generally place zoning, planning, and workforce-housing responsibilities with municipalities under RSA Chapters 672 through 677.”
It looks to me like Maglaras is using the same playbook he used to run around the county delegation when it came to the $3+ million dollar warming shelter now being built where the old animal shelter was, also next to the jail.
Keep in mind that when The Rochester Voice looked into the average number of folks staying at the Willand Warming Shelter in Somersowrth last winter those running the program said the average number of homeless residing there when it was open during inclement winter nights was around 27.
The county, instead of getting the OK from the delegation got the OK from the tri-cities instead. Dover paid $1.7 million, Rochester $1.3 million and Somersworth $484,000.
All the other towns in the county were, I guess, of no consequence.
A New Hampshire Press Association member