Strafford County commissioners reelected. What's next for new nursing home plan?

DOVER — Strafford County’s trio of Democratic commissioners were all victorious in Tuesday’s general election, according to official results from the New Hampshire secretary of state.

This means the commissioners will press ahead with their goal to replace Riverside Rest Home with a new 215-bed nursing home nearby on County Farm Road in Dover, possibly scaled down in size from the original $170 million proposal.

Commission chairperson George Maglaras of Dover, clerk Deanna Rollo of Rollinsford and vice chairperson Robert Watson of Rochester won reelection by a wide margin over their Republican opponents.

“I’m very humbled by the support I received in this election. Working to help the sick and the elderly and frail has been the work of my life and it’s nice to have that be recognized by the voters,” Maglaras said.

The Republican candidates the trio of Democrats defeated were Fergus Cullen, a Dover resident and member of the City Council, fellow Dover resident Jonathan T. Otterson and state Rep. Susan DeLemus of Rochester. In late October, Cullen said the nursing home project was being rushed and options to privatize it should be considered.

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How many votes did each candidate get?

Results of the 2022 general election showed Maglaras, the former two-term mayor of Dover and longtime city Planning Board chairperson, was the top vote-getter with 29,970 votes. Also a former state legislator representing the Garrison City, Maglaras, who has sat on the commission since 1983, will now serve a 20th two-year term as commissioner.

Rollo received 28,832 votes, followed by Watson with 28,569.

DeLemus was the first runner-up with 21,183 votes, trailed by Cullen with 20,710 and Otterson with 19,533.

The Democrat-leaning county has not had a Republican serve as a commissioner since Catherine Cheney in 2012, acording to county records.

Now, with the election in the rearview mirror, Maglaras said, the commission is turning its focus back to getting the nursing home facility proposal passed.

What does the nursing home proposal entail?

The existing Riverside Rest Home, located at 276 County Farm Road in Dover, was built in 1978, has 215 beds and is a Medicare and Medicaid certified facility. Maglaras has said in the past that the new facility could be built on county land behind the Hyder Family Hospice House at 285 County Farm Road in Dover.

In recent months, the commission has proposed a $170 million, 330,000-square-foot new nursing home, while pushing for the Riverside Rest Home to be converted into a transitional shelter modeled off Cross Roads House in Portsmouth.

“It’s not just for your typical homeless population,” Maglaras said. “It's for people being displaced because of evictions, because of market forces that are happening in this region, because of affordability. It's a temporary transitional situation.”

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Maglaras said the proposed nursing home’s overall square footage will now be decreased, though the project would still call for 215 beds. He added that utility infrastructure would still be built to support the potential expansion of the proposed facility in the future, though he did not have an updated project cost estimate.

“The demand is coming,” he said of possibly expanding the proposed facility in the future. “There is no getting around that. Demand is here now, we’re experiencing it now, and it’s just going to progressively increase over the next 20 years as the baby boomers get older and they move through the progression of life. It’s just math.”

When could the proposal receive approval?

Maglaras said he hopes to have a workshop with Strafford County's delegation of New Hampshire House representatives soon, where he would present the modified plan, and follow that with a vote on the proposal before the current legislators leave office at the end of 2022.

“I think the people recognize that what we’re talking about is more than just a nursing home here. I want to keep people home as long as possible. I want to use telehealth to do that. I want to expand home and community-based services for the elderly and the chronically ill. That’s what people want. People want to stay home as long as they can,” Maglaras said. “I'm very appreciative of the faith that people have shown myself and my colleagues in this past election to try and make some of these become a reality. And I want to do my damndest to see it happen.”

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The nursing home facility would serve the current elderly population, and the aging baby boomer generation for decades to come, Maglaras said.

“It’s exciting. It's going to last for decades and decades,” he said. “I’m probably in the twilight years of my time in political office. I’d like to see this get done."

A vote on the project, which would involve the county’s delegation of state representatives, has been on hold since the county’s commissioners learned a $25 million federal funding request for the project had been denied in mid-October.

Maglaras said the commission’s appeal was denied without reason but that they are automatically in a second round of funding conducted by the Governor's Office for Emergency and Relief and Recovery.

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Strafford County commissioners reelected, focus on nursing home