Table of Contents
- Mayor (2-year term, 2026-2027)
- Councilor-At-Large (2-year-term, 2026-2027)
- Councilor Ward 1 (2-year term, 2026-2027)
- Councilor Ward 1 (4-year term, 2026-2029)
- Councilor Ward 2 (4-year term, 2026-2029)
- Councilor Ward 3 (4-year term, 2026-2029)
- Councilor Ward 4 (4-year term, 2026-2029)
- Councilor Ward 5 (4-year term, 2026-2029)
Biographical information is included below for candidates who have shared that information.
Mayor (2-year term, 2026-2027)
Jay Kahn
Bradford “Bill” Hutchinson (no photo)
Councilor-At-Large (2-year-term, 2026-2027)
Mitchell “Mitch” Greenwald
I am committed to Keene and its residents. I have the knowledge, experience and drive to do the job as Councilor At Large. I desire to continue to serve as I have for the past 33 years.
I have proudly served the public and have worked with seven Mayors and four City Managers. Over the course of those years, I have worked with many City Councilors, each with their own styles and personalities. As a member and Chairman of each of our committees, I have worked with all and coordinated the different perspectives into positive actions. Leadership requires creating a healthy forum for debate, facilitating a consensus and then moving on to the next issue. Without any doubt, the Council will face very serious issues in the coming years. I look forward to working with my fellow Councilors to find solutions.
Economic growth continues to be a major challenge for our community. We are faced with decreasing revenue from the State and Federal governments. In order to provide the high levels of services that our residents deserve, we must find ways to increase revenue without increasing the property taxes. To accomplish this requires increasing our tax base by attracting new employment opportunities. We must facilitate new housing and training for the needed workforce. During this critical time, we need imagination and continuity to complete work that has been in progress for years. I have dedicated over 5 decades to our community and cultivating a thriving, stable economy.
I have owned and operated several small businesses in Keene. As such, I understand the needs of small businesses. I do not just talk about the issues; I work toward solutions. I am Chairman of the committee that has been charged with developing the plans for the current Main Street infrastructure project. To date, there have been 72 meetings that discussed the urgent need to replace decaying underground systems. When replacing the systems, it is an opportunity to creatively update the surface areas with better parking, sidewalks, landscaping and include a bike lane, which was very requested by the public. My challenge has been and is to accomplish this economically and with as minimal disruption to the downtown businesses and residents as possible. Recently, my committee recommended several cost and time-saving measures to address the increased costs.
I stand firmly in support of continuing to make sure that Keene is a welcoming, inclusive city. Everyone must feel valued and safe. I believe in actions that will make this occur, not just words. Residents with disabilities, housing instability or are dealing with addiction issues must be supported.
My wife and I were both 18 years old when we laid down roots in Keene and decided to make this our home. We graduated from Keene State College and raised 3 children and 6 grandchildren here. Keene is my past, present and future. I ask you to please join me in my commitment to Keene and elect me Councilor-At-Large.
Michele Chalice
Good Morning, my name is Michele Chalice. You may know me as a mother raising my adopted daughter here in Keene these last 18 years, a former graduate student at Antioch New England University, a staff planner with Keene’s Planning & Development Department, a horticultural teacher at the Cheshire Career Center, a Monadnock Food Coop grocery clerk during COVID, a UPS holiday delivery person, a United States Post Office back-of-the-house worker, a permaculture gardening teacher at Gathering Waters Charter School, a columnist in the Monadnock Shopper News, or the environmental landscape educator/designer/owner of @HealthyHomeHabitats.
I write to announce that I am running for an At Large seat on our Keene City Council to continue and expand the terrific quality of life to our citizens that I’ve had for twenty years. Keene offered my family a safe, walkable, amazing place to raise our child. I want other working class residents to have the same experiences.
I am grateful for my part in our city’s planning. I look forward building on the increased options for residents to communicate with Council what aspects of our City are working for their lives and what is not.
I am grateful to have had walking access to local green spaces that enhance our quality of life. I’ll be looking for ways to continue and expand Keene citizens’ ability to relax, recreate, learn and connect in green spaces that are close to their homes.
I am grateful that our city’s property tax rate has been kept a low as possible. But I look forward to pushing back on the state’s continued dumping of increased expenses to our local government.
I am grateful for the terrific educational opportunities both my daughter and I have been able to experience in Keene. I look forward to continuing and expanding a wide variety of education opportunities here for all ages.
I am grateful for Keene and Cheshire County’s success in grant funding many of our City’s projects. So I am in midst of Cheshire County’s Grant Writing Program to be an active and productive part of continuing this successful history forward.
I am grateful to have been able to turn my older home into a duplex allowing us to live with less expenses. I’ll be exploring ways to expand affordable housing options to a larger humber of our residents.
I am grateful for our community support systems for those who are struggling financially. I’ll be looking to further and expand opportunities of our amazing programs that help us to provide respectful assistance as we help to keep each other healthy and safe.
I am grateful to have had the ability to increase the energy efficiency of my older home. I will be looking to expand on our current efficiency programs to assure these options for more of our residents into the future.
We are indeed, in midst of a time of great challenge. I seek the opportunity to continue Keene’s amazing success in gathering our community resources of volunteers, grant funding, educational opportunities, green spaces, energy efficiency and expanded housing options as an At Large, Keene City Councilor.
Please feel free to share with me your thoughts as I go door-to-door. You may also call or contact me at michele.chalice@gmail.comI have experience with how messy, complex, frustrating and time consuming our democratic process is, 14 years total in public service. I believe that it is even more important to weigh our decisions and choose our focus when possible, from the perspective of our working class residents. And so, I hope to be granted the opportunity, as a Keene City Councilor, to advocate for increased emphasis on values, ethics and justice for Keene’s Working Class residents. I will need your vote. Michele Chalice michele.chalice@gmail.com
Robert Johnson (no photo)
Randy L. Filiault
Emily Benson
Emily Benson has dedicated the recent years of her career and volunteer service to strengthening Keene’s cultural, economic, and civic life. As Vice Chair of the Board of The Colonial Theatre, she has played an important role in guiding one of downtown Keene’s most important cultural institutions. In 2024 she chaired the search committee that brought Keith Marks to Keene as the theatre’s Executive Director and helped secure a major Northern Borders Regional Commission grant, positioning the theatre for long-term sustainability and expanded community impact.
Professionally, Emily serves as the Employee Success Officer at Bensonwood, a nationally recognized sustainable prefabricated building company based in Keene. In this role, she has championed workforce development and apprenticeship programs, supporting pathways into careers in the building trades. Her work emphasizes both economic growth and community resilience, values that also shape her civic leadership. Emily also serves as a Commissioner of Keene Housing, where she advocates for access to affordable housing and opportunities for residents to build stability, and recently joined the board of the Monadnock Economic Development Corporation. By combining her experience in nonprofit leadership, business, housing, and workforce development, Emily brings a balanced and pragmatic approach to public service. As a candidate for Keene City Council at-large, she is committed to fostering an inclusive, vibrant community that supports families, businesses, and the cultural institutions that make Keene thrive.
Laura Ruttle-Miller
Laura Ruttle-Miller came to Keene in 2009 to attend Keene State College, where she earned a B.A. in American History. During her time there, she worked in the college Archives & Special Collections and served as president of the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society. She spent a number of years working at C&S Wholesale Grocers in a variety of roles before joining W.S. Badger in 2024 as the Deviations Coordinator in Quality Assurance.
Laura has been an active community volunteer with organizations including Score’s Running Club, where she also served as treasurer, Girls on the Run, the Special Olympics, and the Keene Young Professionals Network. She and her husband, Todd, were married in Keene in 2024 and love enjoying the city’s parks and trails with their dog, Hank. Her campaign focuses on building a welcoming and inclusive Keene, supporting local small businesses, and addressing the critical need for affordable housing so that people of all ages—from those just starting out to retirees—can thrive here. Laura is committed to serving on City Council with transparency, respect, and accountability, ensuring that decisions reflect the needs and values of the community.
“Sam” Jackson
Sam Jackson grew up in rural Richmond, NH where she could enjoy the natural beauty of our state. She’s home-grown through and through, attending Monadnock’s school system before attending Keene State College where she settled into the community. She married Autumn DelaCroix in 2016, and has worked and lived in Keene ever since. Whether in procurement at our own C&S or where she’s settled as a friendly baker at Firedog Breads to get a little more time to help the community. She’s been working with BPPAC for years since discovering her love of biking.
After one bad accident, she realized the precarity of most drivers’ situations. The best driver can do nothing wrong and lose their life or way of life in a second. No one should be forced to drive, and she’s dedicated to helping others have the opportunity to opt out of the most dangerous activity most people partake in every day. She strives to make every available alternative to driving possible, and in so doing, make it all the safer and more enjoyable for anyone who remains that chooses to drive. But wouldn’t it be nice if that were a choice, rather than being stuck driving every day, regardless of weather, mood, exhaustion, etc.
Sam imagines a world where walking is safer and more convenient, where the road isn’t so wide that it takes 2 crosswalks signals to finish crossing the street, where wheelchair users don’t have to rush out of the way of cars, or have their baskets dislodge on cragged sidewalk. A world where kids don’t have to sit quiet on the way to school, but instead pedal themselves along, using their native energy productively before school instead of finding misplaced outlets for it in class. A world where someone whose had one too many drinks doesn’t debate driving because the bus will be near in just 10 minutes. She imagines a world where safety really is first, where we value people’s health as well as their lives.
These dreams are backed by experience. As Chair of BPPAC Sam Jackson has been writing letters, participating in studies, researching, investigating other cities, engaging with safe transit organizations, and collaborating with our existing city council to help develop actionable improvements to our city. She’s been helping our neediest citizens with the Keene Mutual Aid, hearing their struggles, and alleviating them where she can. Sam works her community like she works her garden. Some tasks need effort every day, like water, others maybe once a season, like fertilizer or compost. Some are incidental, building compost happens from smart use of waste, and a lot reform in the city can develop from using excess wisely. But others are once in a lifetime. As every gardener or homeowner knows, the best time to plant a fruit tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. We can’t fix the past, but we can start building a more ideal future now, and Public transit is at the heart of it. And vital to good public transit is integrating our sidewalks, bike paths, and ways to get from the transit to everywhere else we might want to go, and our paths have needed maintenance for a long time. It’s time to work on that today.
Steven W. Lindsey (no photo)
Councilor Ward 1 (2-year term, 2026-2027)
Jacob Favolise
603-338-8880 / jf1257@outlook.com / www.linkedin.com/in/jacobfavolise
I moved to Keene in 2021 to attend Keene State College, and graduated in May 2025 with a B.A. in politics. I was also recognized with the Leo F. Redfern Citizenship Award, the highest undergraduate non-academic honor a student at KSC can receive. I am currently enrolled in an online M.Ed., Higher Education Administration program, and work as a Graduate Assistant for Student Conduct and Community Standards at Landmark College in Putney, VT.
I have served as a Ward 1 City Councilor since June 2024. Additionally, I held numerous roles and broke numerous barriers at KSC, including being the first student ever elected to the College Senate Executive Committee. My educational, professional, and leadership history have given me a unique perspective that I intend to keep leveraging in service of a better, brighter future in Keene. My goal is to continue being an effective, attentive, and accessible respresentative who makes you proud to call our city home, and I believe my background and experience enable me to do just that. Please feel free to reach out using the contact information provided above.
Councilor Ward 1 (4-year term, 2026-2029)
Kris E. Roberts
Councilor Ward 2 (4-year term, 2026-2029)
Edward J. Haas
Ward 2 is Keene’s most dynamic neighborhood – home to downtown, the Co-op, extensive parks (both new and historic), cemeteries for peaceful walking, parts of the rail trail, and the scenic Beaver Brook trail. It’s a mix of rural and urban, industrial and conservation, and diversity that makes it special.
I have had two years now as Councilor-at-Large, and in that time have focused mainly on Ward 2 and the downtown. I now have the opportunity to continue that focus over the next four years, with even deeper dive into local issues.
We live in a place where we balance history, daily life, and future growth. As residents, we are stewards of our neighborhoods—not just for ourselves, but for the future. We want a high quality of life now and a community that maintains that high quality as it evolves.
I’ve lived in small one and two-family homes my whole life, in neighborhoods much like Ward 2. I am now blessed with a more rural environment, but I deeply value the character of Ward 2. That’s why I stay involved. Buildings matter, but great neighbors and neighborhoods matter more.
On City Council these past two years I’ve learned the value of the role — not just to grandstand and pontificate, but to listen and connect. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I do have strong commitment to helping residents be informed and be heard. I am dedicated to amplifying your voices.
We rely on a professional city staff and twenty citizen committees to work hard and manage our city, but communication isn’t perfect. Ideas can be overlooked, or misunderstood. I work to clarify those ideas and issues, and make sure they’re accurately heard.
My Priorities:
- Communication: Sharing updates and explaining the deeper issues behind them. (Email me if you’d like to join my list).
- Advocacy: Making sure your needs and ideas have a platform to shape our city’s direction.
- Accountability: Holding city staff and committees to their goals and metrics, as presented in the annual budget. Changing goals and metrics when needed.
I have pushed for more transparency from advisory committees, and now they are obliged to report annually on their work. This helps us understand how they are fulfilling their missions and receiving the necessary support. Our standing committees should be held to the same standard.
Some Issues:
The downtown project will revitalize Keene. Our many community organizations poised and ready to engage and energize. Consider how recovery from CoVid went with the return of the Pumpkin Festival, the Taste of Keene, as well as more. Our community involvement is what makes anything a success, and the sparkling new downtown is the springboard for all.
The downtown sidewalks will expand with the protected bike lanes. Think of them as more sidewalk, dedicated to bikes and relieving the sidewalks of such traffic. In addition, they create more open space and can always be used for events.
Development of vacant areas must balance planned use, impact on existing, cost to the city, motivation of the owner, and interest of a builder / developer. The City is not in the developer business. But the City is key to navigating those five conditions.
Pocket parks and green spaces are necessary everywhere: they aerate neighborhoods. Mis-use of a park is not a good reason for its removal. Sometimes there may be reasons to use a space for development, in conjunction with adjacent lots, but those should always be reviewed through Planning Board and citizen input. We should not give up our open space without good, known reason.
About me:
I work remotely as a property risk consultant for an insurtech flood insurance company. I’m a former licensed engineer with a background in construction and fire protection. I’m an avid environmentalist and cyclist, and active with the Keene Downtown Group and East Keene Neighborhood Group. Both these groups have been wonderful experiences thanks to their energy and enthusiasm. Check me out on LinkedIn at /edwardhaas.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve. I have the time, energy, and dedication to keep working for our Ward 2 neighborhood, and our community.
Councilor Ward 3 (4-year term, 2026-2029)
Molly Ellis
Molly Ellis grew up in the Atlanta, Georgia area and has been gradually moving northwards in adulthood. First New York City, then Nashville, then Syracuse to marry her husband, Russ. Together they moved to Keene, which was originally meant to be a five-year-long waypoint in their journey. Molly and Russ realized that Keene is quite possibly the greatest small city on earth and there’s no reason they would ever want to leave it. Molly quit her job as a flight attendant to take care of their little boy, Walter (now five and a half), and inadvertently became a “professional volunteer.” She is a CASA, a Ballot Inspector, Chair of the Keene Heritage Commission, member of the Keene Lions, and part of the group helping to plan the City’s Independence Day 250 festivities. She is a 2007 graduate of Oglethorpe University (in Atlanta) with a BA in International Studies and takes French classes for fun in her spare time. Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mollyellisforward3/
John Schmitt (no photo)
Councilor Ward 4 (4-year term, 2026-2029)
Catherine “Catt” Workman
Councilor Ward 5 (4-year term, 2026-2029)
Philip Jones
As a longtime Keene City Councilor, I proudly serve the needs of my constituents. As a fiscal conservative with a social conscience I truly believe we need to control the pocketbook issues while at the same time protecting our infrastructure, our safety, our quality of life, and our environment. I am proud to say the wants and needs of my constituents take precedence over the recommendations of any political party, any lobbying group, and any extremist views. A true city leader is one who listens to the opinions of all constituents and not one who voices their own opinions.
I am proud to do all I can to make our City a wonderful place to live, work, recreate, shop, and worship. I treasure the many people of Keene whom I have had the honor to work with on the many city committees I have served on, the many youth sports teams I have coached, my many years of teaching Sunday School, and serving on the boards of various nonprofit organizations, all with the goal of serving and improving our community. I believe my many years of community service help benefit my goal to be the best community leader possible. My many years of working as an Independent Manufacturers Sales and Marketing Representative have allowed to travel through many cities throughout the country. I always look forward to returning to Keene as it is the place I am proud to call my home. The City of Keene has been a wonderful place for my wife, June and I, to raise our three daughters. Keene has been very good to me and I am truly grateful to the citizens of Keene for allowing me to serve them as their City Councilor.
Shane Brown
Shane Brown grew up in Keene, spent many holidays, vacations, and weekends here throughout his life, and returned to live in Keene in 2016. His family’s local roots are deep: his grandmother lived on Hart Place, his mother graduated from Keene High School, and his family history in the region spans six generations, including an ancestor, Colonel Isaac Wyman, noted in New Hampshire’s early history.
Brown is married, the father of four adult children, a grandfather, and dog dad to Charlie (Yorkie/Bichon Frise Mix) and Daisy (St. Bernard). He is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Business Communication at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) and has built a career in e-commerce and business management, overseeing multi-million-dollar operations with a focus on fiscal planning, accountability, and long-term stewardship.
Focus Areas
● Infrastructure First: Replace aging water, sewer, and stormwater systems.
● Fiscal Responsibility: Use public funds wisely and prioritize essential services.
● Support for First Responders: Ensure police, fire, and EMS have appropriate staffing, training, and equipment.
● Small Business Resilience: Minimize disruption to local businesses during downtown construction.
● Preserve Keene’s Character: Safeguard historic charm while planning for responsible growth and accessibility.
Contact: shane@brown4keene.com • 603-892-3847 • www.brown4keene.com
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