Rebecca Olshan reported this story on assignment from the White River Valley Herald. The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.
Despite the rain, about 35 people turned up at Hancock’s town hall on Tuesday for the annual town meeting. At the top of the agenda: Successful amendments to budget items for public safety and flood mitigation — which knocked down the total budget ask by about $11,000.
Selectboard member Dan Perera proposed amendments to both the sheriff patrol budget and the budget for repairs to the Shampeny Hill culvert.
Following an apparent lack of police presence in town, selectboard members had pulled the town out of its contract with the Addison County Sheriff’s Department and proposed a $1 budget line for patrols. Residents on Tuesday cited issues including unchecked speeding by out-of-towners and limited patrol hours.
After debate, townspeople voted to bump the budget line up to $15,000 for public safety in support of a new contract with the sheriff’s department.
Another noteworthy topic was road upkeep. Residents voted to let the town take out a $1.2 million loan to replace the Texas Falls Road Bridge but decided to lower a proposed $35,224 to repair the Shampeny Hill Road culvert. New factors including lower interest rates meant the estimated loan amount was lower, so voters approved a repair cost of $8,300.
“The roads are of particular interest to me because it’s a chance to mitigate flooding, and we’ve done a lot of work in Hancock to do that,” said Monica Collins, member of the Board of Civil Authority and a former selectboard chair. “Sometimes people don’t realize until you start understanding what culverts do and appreciate how important they are. You drive over them every day and you never even think about it, but it affects water quality, and it affects flood hazards.”
The amendments brought the overall annual budget down from $483,915 to $472,401.
State Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, spoke at the meeting, her eighth of the Town Meeting Day season so far. She said she was aiming to attend as many meetings of the 26 towns in her district as she can.
“It trains people to disagree in a way that they can still be friends afterward,” said Hardy, remarking on the importance of what she calls “small-state democracy.”
Hancock residents seemed content with the results of the meeting. “It’s a beautiful expression of local democracy, and it’s great when we can come together to make decisions,” said Samantha Sheehan, 36, a member of the Granville-Hancock Unified District school board.
Also included in the meeting was a “Declaration of Inclusion.” Town residents unanimously passed the motion to condemn racism and discrimination related to religion, sexual identity, gender expression, age or socioeconomic status.