Dover Download

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Deanna Strand, Director of the Dover Adult Learning Center, about the organization's mission, programs, and recent developments. Strand shared how she came to DALC in 2009, stepping up from a coordinator role in Exeter to lead a much larger organization based at the McConnell Center. As the adult l...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with José Feliciano and Terry Ellen Carter from the Committee for Racial Equity and Inclusion (CREI). Carter opens with a land acknowledgment honoring the Abenaki, Penacook, and Wabanaki peoples, a practice the committee observes at every meeting. Feliciano, a mechanical engineer originally from Puerto Rico...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Dover Public Library Director Denise LaFrance about the library's upcoming move back to its renovated building after operating out of temporary space in the McConnell Center for most of 2025 and into 2026. LaFrance announces that the move begins April 20 and will take approximately six weeks, with a gr...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Media Services Director Mike Gillis about key actions taken by Dover's boards, committees, and commissions during March. The two discuss the City Council's decision to pursue diver-assisted mechanical removal of milfoil in Willand Pond, a state-owned waterbody shared with Somersworth, opting ag...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Community Services Director John Storer and Recreation Director Kevin Hebert to wrap up the podcast's look at the FY27 municipal operating budget. Storer opens by walking Parker through the complexity of building Community Services' proposed $38 million budget, the largest departmental budget o...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Police Chief David Terlemezian, Fire Chief Brendan Driscoll, Public Library Director Denise LaFrance, and Information Technology Director Annie Dove as part of an ongoing look at the City of Dover's FY 27 municipal operating budget. Chief Terlemezian, in his first budget as chief, explains that des...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Dover School District Superintendent Christine Boston about the district's proposed fiscal year 2027 budget. Boston outlines the budget development process, which begins each September with building-level administrators submitting their needs before she and CFO Michael Limanni compile and refine th...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Media Services Director Mike Gillis about the highlights of February 2026 in Dover city government. The conversation centers on the FY 2027 budget rollout, which dominated the City Council's February agenda across multiple meetings, including workshops, presentations, and a public hearing on the sc...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Finance Director Dan Lynch, Planning and Community Development Director Donna Benton, and Public Welfare Director Dave Balian about their respective fiscal year 2027 budget presentations. Parker begins with a brief overview of the Executive Department budget, noting it is largely personnel-driven with...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with City Manager J. Michael Joyal, Jr., about the City of Dover's proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, which was presented to the City Council on Feb. 11, 2026. Joyal, presenting his 21st budget to the council, provides an overview of the 900-page document, which reflects total spending of $227.4 million...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Amy Rich Crane, executive director of Reach for the Top Therapy, a nonprofit organization located in the McConnell Center that provides therapeutic services for children and young adults from birth to age 21. Crane, a dual board-certified pediatric occupational therapist with more than 15,000 hours of...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Mike Gillis, the city's Director of Media Services, to recap highlights from January's board, committee, and commission activities. The conversation begins with the Jan. 5 inauguration of the City Council, including four new city councilors and a new mayor, with Lindsey Williams unanimously sel...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Jackson Kaspari, Director of Member Services for the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire. Kaspari, who previously served as Dover's resilience manager and helped launch the city's Community Power program, reflects on the coalition's growth since Dover became a founding member in Octo...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Melanie Haney of East Coast Evolution Leadership and Strafford County Commission Chair George Maglaras about the Strafford County Warming Center's current operations and future expansion. Haney explains how her company evolved from Thrive Outdoors' leadership development work to operating emerg...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Chef Evan Hennessey, a Dover native who has become a prominent figure in the culinary scene. Hennessey, whose mother was a French teacher in Dover, left the area after graduating from Dover High School to work in Boston, New York and Chicago before returning to establish his career in his hometown. He...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Betsey Andrews Parker, Chief Executive Officer of Community Action Partnership of Strafford County. This episode kicks off Season 5's special focus on nonprofits serving the Dover and Seacoast area. Betsey explains that CAP, which traces its roots to President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, the second of two parts, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with outgoing Mayor Robert Carrier, then speaks with Brian Early and Erin Bassegio about what Dover's public bodies were up to in December. Carrier reflects on his tenure in city government, including his time on the City Council and serving as mayor. He discusses major accompli...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, the first of two parts, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with retiring Mayor Bob Carrier about his deep roots in Dover and lifelong commitment to community service. Carrier, who grew up on Hill Street in Dover, shares memories of his childhood in the 1950s and 60s, attending Horn Street School and Dover High School before earning a busines...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with City Manager J. Michael Joyal, Jr. about the upcoming orientation process for newly elected City Councilors and School Board members. Joyal explains that the orientation is required by the city charter and serves to prepare elected officials to serve as the board of directors for Dover's municipal corp...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with project managers Jamie Stevens and Matt Gibbons about two major infrastructure projects. Stevens discusses the Henry Law Avenue and Payne Street reconstruction project, which was originally designed in 2004 but paused for waterfront development. The project design is now complete and expected to go out...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker hosts conversations about energy efficiency projects and provides monthly updates on board and commission activities. Parker speaks with the City's Resilience Coordinator, Lexi Merchant, and Facilities Project Manager, Eric Sanderson, about the city's partnership with Energy Efficient Investments to condu...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Christine Sieks and Doug Glennon about holiday festivities and downtown Dover activities. Glennon discusses Communitively's initiatives, including First Friday Shop Local events, the Holiday Stroll featuring hot cocoa and s'mores stations in Waldron Court, Plaid Friday promotions encouraging sh...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Jamie Stevens, project manager for Dover's waterfront development, about the significant progress made on the project over recent months. Stevens describes the substantial visual improvements to Nebi Park, including green grass, tree and shrub plantings, sidewalk installations, lighting systems, an...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Doug Dodd, a longtime builder and developer who has written a memoir about growing up with a father who contracted polio. Dodd's father developed bulbar poliomyelitis during the 1955 polio epidemic in eastern Massachusetts and spent nearly a year at Massachusetts General Hospital before returning h...

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Police Chief David Terlemezian and Fire Chief Perry Plummer about plans for a Sept. 11 memorial, and with Brian Early of Media Services and City Planner Erin Bassegio about October Planning Board and City Council activities. Terlemezian and Plummer discuss the community initiative to create a permanent...