Staff Writer

LACONIA — The race for the Ward 1 seat on the City Council heated up on Tuesday when incumbent Paul Bordeau got slammed repeatedly for what critics allege is his failure to represent his own constituents, particularly those who live in Weirs Beach.

Bordeau defended his record and said as a city councilor he always tried to do what he considered best for the city as a whole.

"To some degree, you have treated me as if I should be at your beck and call, the Weirs Action Committee, exclusively," said Bordeau in a remark he prefaced by noting that it might anger some people. He added, and Ward 3 Councilor Fred Toll echoed the idea, that while a city councilor represents a ward, even more importantly, he or she represents the entire city.

Bordeau is being challenged by Judy Krahulec, president of the Weirs Action Committee, the group which that hosted the forum for City Council, School Board and Police Commission candidates at the Weirs Community Park Hall.

While all of the candidates were given the opportunity to make opening and closing remarks, as well as to answer questions from the audience, the forum was dominated by criticism of Bordeau.

Delivered toward the end of the event, the "beck and call" remark encapsulated a general theme that had been set earlier during the forum: a question was asked of Bordeau as to why he was not doing more for his constituents.

Mayor Mark Fraser defended his endorsement of Bordeau for the Ward 1 seat after a resident angrily inquired "why are you supporting him when he’s not doing anything for Ward 1 and the Weirs Beach area."

Fraser responded that, in fact, Bordeau and the council have been active in working with a developer from Bedford who wants to build a 170--home residential community on Route 3 in The Weirs. That project includes the construction of a water tower which will extend municipal water service in the area, said Fraser.

Bordeau said, contrary to what some people may believe, he was strongly in favor of Rusty Bertholet building an 80-room hotel in The Weirs, but reiterated that he opposed bonding any money to pay the estimated $1.5 million-$3 million cost to place electric, telephone and cable TV lines underground in The Weirs.

The city has many more pressing concerns than dealing with overhead utility lines, said Bordeau, and not burying the lines won’t "make or break The Weirs."

A suggestion Bordeau made last week at a candidates forum about a per-capita tax on Bike Week beer tents, drew complaints from Lou Gaynor, who is co-owner of the Weirs Beach Lobster Pound that businesses like his, which do operate a beer tent during the rally, were being unfairly singled out.

Bordeau stuck to his guns, saying the per-capita tax had merit and was worth discussing, but he also agreed to sit down with Gaynor and other business owners to help the city find ways of generating revenues during Bike Week.

Krahulec pointed out that the city’s using Endicott Rock Park for vending competed with local property owners, and Mayor Mark Fraser said his own philosophy was that the municipality shouldn’t be going head-to-head with the private sector.

Fraser did note, however, that at a public hearing held last month by the Motorcycle Week Advisory Committee, a significant number of people from The Weirs community had advocated that the city try to make as much money as it could from Bike Week.

The mayor said any cost to the city in terms of providing police, fire and public works services for Bike Week — the city budgeted around $200,000 for Bike Week 2003 — should be borne by the rally’s promoter, the Laconia Motorcycle Rally and Race Week Association.

A city ordinance says the promoter of any event that utilizes those services should pay for them, but, Fraser continued, Rally and Race has repeatedly and consistently maintained that Bike is "not our event."