By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

More accusations have filled Hooksett’s town hall chambers, as one town councilor suggested another unethically dissuaded a resident from running for a seat on the planning board.

In a July 27 Hooksett Banner letter to the editor, and at the council’s Wednesday, June 26 meeting, new councilor David Ross accused Town Councilor Michael DiBitetto of encouraging Denise Pichette-Volk to withdraw her application for an alternate position on the planning board.

“You have subverted this board’s ability to choose board members,” Ross told DiBitetto.

In his letter to the editor, Ross wrote, “A councilor asking someone to serve on a town board is proper and even meritous, but discouraging someone is not. I contend it’s unethical, at best, and must not be tolerated.”

Ross cited an e-mail from Pichette-Volk, in which he alleges she said DiBitetto called her and suggested she step aside.

“I didn’t suggest anything,” DiBitetto responded at the latest meeting. “I have no concern about my actions in this regard.”

Pichette-Volk arrived later in the meeting and said her withdrawal was of her own volition.

Pichette-Volk told the council she has served on town boards in the past, and said she’s lately been interested in serving again. She said she applied for the alternate position to familiarize herself with issues currently facing that board.

Not long after she submitted her application, said Pichette-Volk, she learned that another candidate who’s lately been more involved with planning board issues had also applied.

Pichette-Volk said she withdrew her nomination in favor of the more prepared candidate.

When Ross asked how she’d learned about the other applicant, Pichette-Volk responded, “How I became aware is really a private matter.”