3 hopefuls for Merrimack seat face interviews

MERRIMACK – Three residents have their eye on the newly opened town council seat after two of them were edged out in the last election.

Dave Nichols, Dave Yakuboff Sr., and Dan Dwyer signed up to fill the last eight months of former Town Councilor Betty Spence’s term. Spence stepped down two weeks ago.

The council will interview all the candidates tonight in public session. Nichols’ interview is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m., with Yakuboff at 7:15 p.m. and Dwyer at 8 p.m.

Nichols and Dwyer both threw their hats in for council in April – Nichols on a platform that included a “villages of Merrimack” concept, and Dwyer on a mission to give voters another fiscal conservative to chose in addition to Mike Malzone.

Councilors Finlay Rothhaus and Brian McCarthy won seats, with Dwyer coming in third and Nichols fifth out of six total candidates.

Yakuboff owns All Basics Stove Shop in Merrimack and was a member of the charter commission.

It’s possible the council will begin deliberations immediately after the interviews, council Chairman Tom Mahon said, but the decision may have to wait until Sept. 25. The council has until Sept. 26 to pick a new member, according to the charter, and it must achieve a majority in the process.

Spence, who has served the town in about six different capacities over several decades, resigned with a brief letter.

In it, she wrote that changes in the town government’s role and her personal commitments “hindered my performance and ability to effectively represent the citizens of the Town of Merrimack.”