Patrick Hynes: Boyd is the Right Choice for Merrimack Mar 1, 2021 Read more… WHEN then-Gov. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat, needed solutions to the public health fear created by PFAS exposure in Merrimack’s drinking water, she embraced an idea from Republican Town Council Member Bill Boyd. His idea was to have the Department of Health and Human Services perform a limited communitywide blood serum test to assess the scope of the problem.