Hatcher withdraws from Peterborough selectboard race, citing ethics policy

May 10—PETERBOROUGH — Karen Hatcher, the selectboard candidate whose campaign drew ethics concerns because she also serves as a town employee, has withdrawn from Tuesday's election.

Hatcher ended her candidacy Sunday after learning that Peterborough's employee handbook prohibits town staff from simultaneously serving on the selectboard — a policy she did not know of previously, she said Monday morning.

"None of us saw that before it was brought to our attention," she said.

The handbook's conflict-of-interest clause, Section 15-8, states that "No appointed employee of the town can, at the same time, hold the office of Selectman."

Hatcher joined the selectboard in 2018 but resigned that post last September, several months after becoming the town's community and economic development coordinator. In announcing her resignation, she attributed the decision to time constraints from holding both positions and to state regulations that she said complicated her ability to report to the board in her role as a municipal employee.

Hatcher told The Sentinel last week, however, that those issues had largely been resolved and that she was running for her old seat to help Peterborough create more affordable housing, expand child care opportunities and provide mental health services to residents.

She said Monday that she was disappointed to withdraw from the race but did not challenge the conflict-of-interest provision in the employee handbook.

Hatcher said she will remain Peterborough's community and economic development coordinator, a role in which she has overseen the town's housing task force and construction on its new Main Street Bridge.

"The work is too important," she said. "My commitment to the town is what's most important, not my personal desire to be on the board."

Her campaign had drawn criticism from several residents, including former Peterborough officials, who said she would create a conflict of interest by serving on the three-member selectboard and as a town employee at the same time.

Barbara Miller, who retired in 2019 after 12 years on the selectboard, told The Sentinel previously that Hatcher would be in the "untenable" position of managing Town Administrator Nicole MacStay while also reporting to MacStay as a town employee. That arrangement could lead to accountability problems that would reduce public trust in government, according to Miller.

"We have many good people in this town that can serve in either of these two capacities," she said last week. "I don't see why one person has to do both."

Hatcher dismissed those concerns, however, saying that she would evaluate MacStay's performance honestly, if elected, and that holding both positions would not benefit her personally or materially. She also pledged to recuse herself from selectboard decisions on matters related to her work as community and economic development coordinator.

Full-time municipal employees in New Hampshire are barred from serving on the local selectboard under state law, but Hatcher typically works 28 hours per week in her staff role, according to MacStay.

Miller applauded Hatcher's decision to withdraw from the selectboard race, reiterating that her opposition to Hatcher's candidacy was over conflict-of-interest concerns, not her qualifications.

"I think she made the right decision," Miller said.

Hatcher's withdrawal leaves two candidates vying for the three-year selectboard term: budget committee member Richard Clark III, who owns a local construction company, and Bill Kennedy, a technology entrepreneur and former educator. (A fourth candidate on the ballot, Judy Wilson Ferstenberg, has also dropped out of the race.)

Hatcher endorsed Clark on Monday, following her decision to withdraw. Ferstenberg is backing Kennedy.

Peterborough residents will head to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots in municipal elections and on the town's full slate of warrant articles. Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Community Center on Elm Street.

Caleb Symons can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1420, or csymons@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @CalebSymonsKS.