This is one in a series of responses to Foster's questionnaire sent to Rochester City Council candidates. All responses will be published at fosters.com/topics/rochester-election-2019.

Name: Richard Krauss

Address: 47 Governors Road

Education: 1997 graduate of Somersworth High School, 2000 graduate of McIntosh College with associates degree in criminal justice.

1. Why are you running?

I decided to run for City Council to assist our city government in being more efficient and effective for the residents. Some of our city departments are running on outdated policies and technology, and these should be updated. We have understaffed police and fire departments to combat the problems the city is currently experiencing. I also believe we are ill-prepared in our schools for the influx in population we will start to see, if development of the city continues. If we decrease the number of elementary school buildings we have, from eight down to four, and split the city in half, I believe we can give our children a more efficient and equal education.

2. If you are an incumbent candidate, what do you feel are your biggest accomplishments in office? If you are running for a position you haven’t held, what accomplishments and experiences make you qualified for office?

I have never held a position of elected office, but I have been a public employee for 18.5 years. I have worked my way through the ranks of law enforcement from a patrolman to the rank of chief of police. Working in a smaller town government has allowed me to gain insight into multiple departments within a community and how they must work together to forward the views and ideas of that community. I am an extremely hard worker and love to do the necessary research on topics in order to develop my own insight into those topics, prior to having an opinion on them. I believe in planning for the future and laying out a process in meeting those plans.

3. Do you feel the tax cap is working for the city and school district, and how would you help manage the tax rate?

I do not feel that the tax cap is working for the city or the school district. The tax cap restricts the city in being able to add new police officers if we need them and it forces the school to eliminate open positions and/or possibly lay necessary staff off, just to stay under the tax cap allotment for the next year. This is not giving our children a quality education. Even if the Police Department or Fire Department was able to get a cops or fire officer federal grant, that paid for the officer for three years and the city had to absorb the employee for the fourth year, the city would not move forward with it, due to tax cap fears. On the school side, we cut ourselves short, expecting things from the state of New Hampshire, when we already know that our elected officials in Concord are dumping things out of the state budget and down onto local communities. But we then wonder why we are hitting the tax cap and have to override it because we didn’t/couldn’t plan for it in the first place and had to expect that money from the state level. This is not good budgeting. I feel that because of the tax cap, the City Council is forced to go to the department heads and say, this is how much the budget can go up, and then it is divided up evenly between each department. There is minimal work done and it does not allow our department heads to correct the things they need to do the job we are asking them to do. If elected, I would review each budget line by line to try to find cuts to control the tax rate, while still effectively supplying the residents with quality services, but with a long-term plan.

4. Please provide at least one concrete idea for how you can play a role in furthering downtown Rochester’s improvement and revitalization.

One idea that I know has come up in the city before about downtown, is a parking garage. Parking has always been an issue in downtown and we do not have enough. I would push to see a parking garage built in the municipal lot on Main St and Union St. I feel that this lot is centrally located in the city and large enough to allow for a garage that would be the most impactful for the city. A parking garage there would be beneficial for all the business trying to come into downtown, for all the city buildings, and would allow for the expansion of the sidewalks on Main St because we would remove the parking spaces in front of the business. Most drivers will currently bypass these spots because they are not comfortable parallel parking in a spot if they can’t just drive into it.

5. How can the city do more to address the opioid crisis and the people impacted by it?

I believe that the city can help with the opioid crisis by working with our local medical professionals in offering low cost office space in public buildings for them to meet with people looking for help. This would be both mental health assistance and drug related addiction assistance matters. This would draw more medical professionals into the city and offer more opportunities for people to receive the assistance they need in a timely manner. Many of the residents who finally come to the realization that they want help, need that help in a timely manner. One of the hardest things for them is the wait time to get that assistance. Our hospitals are already overburdened and cannot be expected to have a bed for everyone needing that assistance. If we had more outpatient medical locations within the city, we would give our vulnerable residents the ability to seek that assistance quickly.

6. As housing authorities throughout the region report lengthy waitlists and area shelters grapple with insufficient space to meet demand, how can the city further the affordability and availability of housing?

I feel that the city has the opportunity to build on using RSA 79-E. If the City Council is going to give developers large tax breaks for 5 to 11 years, then we should be putting in protections on how much they can charge for the apartments that the taxpayers are already subsidizing through the tax breaks. We should build into the agreement that, during the time of the tax breaks, apartment costs cannot exceed that of what the Council sees as an appropriate market rate, and we would require the developers to have at least 10 percent of the building’s apartments be available for the city’s housing authority.

7. Do you support Keno and sports betting in the city? What kind of impact do you think it will have if either or both of these ballot questions are approved by the voters?

I personally do not have an issue with Keno or sports betting being in the city. I would not use either of them, but if other residents want to partake in playing Keno or sports betting, it is their personal choice. I feel this is not a City Council issue, it is a city resident question and should be sent to the voters. I do not feel that it will have any impact on the City if Keno or sports betting is approved by voters. Both are State controlled items and would be dealt with by state of New Hampshire agencies, not local departments.

8. Do you believe the city’s government is open and accessible to the public, and what specific steps would you take to make it more open an accessible?

I feel that the city government is open and accessible to the public. With the access to the meetings, both through the internet and the local television channel, the city’s website allows for residents to do most of their city business on-line as well. I would like to see the Assessing Department allow for residents to file abatements electronically in the future and would like to see the systems between the Assessing department and the city tax collectors office work in a more efficient manner to save taxpayers money.

9. What other key issue does the city face, and what specifically would you do to address it/them if elected?

School buildings and Route 11 traffic are two issues that I feel need to be dealt with over the next two years. We currently have four elementary schools that, in my opinion, are out of date and not appropriate for additions. I believe that if we do additions to Chamberlain Street School and McClelland School, we can stop using those other four schools. This would allow the district to use Gonic Elementary, McClelland School, Chamberlain Street School and East Rochester School to set up primary and secondary elementary schools within the city. This would allow all children to receive the same educational options and allow for the possibility to incorporate some of the skills being offered at the Magnet School to all the students in the district. In terms of Route 11 traffic, the City Council needs to collaborate with the town of Farmington to put pressure on the New Hampshire Department of Transportation to widen Route 11 so that the road can handle the increased motoring traffic on the road. This should decrease the number of calls for our emergency personnel to this area for motor vehicle related issues and allow for easier access to the multiple businesses and developments that are currently on the road.