Fare Thee Well, Dennis Fowler

Dateline: Mar. 15, 2020

Election Day 2020 traffic was light to moderate at St. John's Parish Hall on School St. The flow of voters picked up slightly after 4 p.m. as people returning home from their jobs stopped in to cast their ballots. Select Board members Sandy McKenney and Maureen Higham were on hand, greeting residents as they came in.

Armand Verville and Dennis Fowler were stationed near the front windows helping residents feed their ballots into the voting machine. Soon-to-be-moderator Judy Silva was also there talking to Dennis.

In an effort to stage a photo op, Dennis was asked if he had a gavel with him. Lo and behold, he reached behind him and produced one. Thus you see this photo symbolizing the passing of the gavel from one Moderator to another.

Meanwhile McKenney and Higham were secretly engaged in organizing a surprise celebration for Dennis Fowler, who was retiring from his long held post as Town and School Moderator. They could be seen at times leaving the building to update the candidates outside about the surprise party, and at other times heading into the kitchen to check on ..... something.

Inside the kitchen, to sweeten the celebration, was a beautiful sheet cake decorated with white frosting, patriotic decorations, and a scroll that stated, "Allenstown Thanks You Dennis!" Sandy McKenney later said she had ordered it from a place called "The Cake Fairy." That sounded like some place from comedian Jerry Seinfeld's neighborhood.

Near the cake was a glass-framed Proclamation dedicated to "Longtime Elected Official Dennis Fowler." It even bore the selectmen's signatures and an official golden town seal.

When the time came to spring the surprise, Selectman McKenney wheeled in the cake, after which Selectman Higham read the proclamation before the crowd of residents who had gathered for the presentation. The reading was followed by a rousing round of applause.

At the bottom of the proclamation was this sincere sentiment:

Dennis was also given a greeting card signed by just about everyone.

He was deeply touched by what had just transpired, and commented that he had no idea this event had been planned.

While the cake was being cut and the slices passed around, Selectman Higham talked a bit with Dennis about his years of service.

A short time later, Selectman McKenney reminisced with Dennis about years gone by.

While waiting for his serving of cake, Dennis took some time to take in the fact that so many people had come to show their love and respect for this man who had become a pillar of the community. Many attendees came over to offer their well wishes, hugs, and handshakes in between voters coming by with ballots to process.

When the cake finally arrived, he had another reason to enjoy the camaraderie. It was indeed a very good tasting cake, and he remarked that even the frosting was enjoyable.

All in all, it was a most enjoyable voting day, especially being able to spend some time celebrating an outstanding resident who had spent so many decades giving his best for the town.

Memorable Events Over the Years

With retirement comes the time to look back and remember. For those who may not have known Dennis, where he started from, and where he has served, here is a little history.

1977-2012

After graduating in 1977 with a Civil Engineering degree from the University of Maine, Orono, Dennis went to work as a Civil Engineer for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation in Concord, NH. There he eventually became Manager of IT Applications for tracking costs associated with building, operating, and maintaining the transportation infrastructure in New Hampshire. His career there spanned 35 years, an amazing accomplishment in this era of people who think it a good idea to frequently change jobs. He retired from the NH DOT in June 2012.

1982-83

Dennis entered public service way back in 1982. It was then that Don Chaput coaxed him into joining the Planning Board. After he was appointed, he decided that he enjoyed the experience.

In the following year, the current Moderator left town and Dennis was able to get appointed to that vacant position. After that, he kept running for that office and kept winning elections.

Early 1980s

At some point, a dispute arose with the Selectmen, who finally forced Dennis off the Planning Board by not re-appointing him. This unfortunate incident happened despite strong support from Planning Board members and others.

The following year, he decided to run for Selectman and won, and three years later, won again, thus serving for six years in a row.

Also in this time period he recalled moderating one town meeting at which a resident got up to speak and went off on a tangent and refused to calm down. It was then that Dennis had the resident removed from the meeting. After someone else talked with the unruly resident, he finally settled down and was allowed back into the meeting.

2014

A much more boisterous meeting took place during a period of contention between the Budget Committee and the School Board.

After much wrangling at the Dec. 19, 2013 Budget Committee meeting, the School Board agree to a cut that made the proposed budget equal to the default budget ($9,756,468). The School Board would not help with this decision but they agreed to the cut.

Fast forward to the Feb. 1, 2014 Deliberative Session which gave Dennis a workout as Moderator. The voters spent two hours debating the Town and Sewer budgets and warrant articles and then spent only five minutes on the much larger School District budget.

During the School budget discussion, one well-known voter – let's call him Larry – made a motion to cut this budget by a whopping $1 million. The proposed cut was hotly debated at length. The Chairman of the Budget Committee insisted that the committee had no involvement in this proposed cut. Finally, Dennis called for a show of hands.

The motion passed narrowly by a vote of 29-28. Because it was so close, Dennis decided to call for a secret ballot. This time the motion passed by 35-33. The remaining two articles were read with little comment and, after three hours, the meeting was recessed.

Between that meeting and the election, a major town battle erupted over the budget cut. The higher default budget eventually won out.

2020

Other than a few incidents as described above, Dennis felt that, at most Allenstown public meetings, the residents have behaved in a very civil manner compared to other towns. But, after 27 years as Town and School Moderator, he felt it was time to let others learn from his example, "step up to the podium," and find a way to serve their town.