TOWN & SCHOOL DISTRICT OF HARTFORD, VT
MINUTES OF THE SECOND PUBLIC HEARING FOR
PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENTS
Tuesday, October 25, 2016 at 7:00 pm
Hartford Town Hall
171 Bridge Street
White River Junction, Vermont 05001
Present: Richard Grassi, Selectboard Chair; Rebecca White, Selectboard Vice-Chair; Simon Dennis, Selectboard Member; Dennis Brown, Selectboard Member; Alan Johnson, Selectboard Member; Mike Morris, Selectboard Member; Lori Dickerson, School Board of Directors Chair; Paula Nulty, School Board of Directors Clerk; Kevin Christie, School Board of Directors Member; Nancy Russell, School Board of Directors Member; Tom Debalsi, School Superintendent; Leo Pullar, Town Manager; Eliza LeBrun, Executive Assistant; Dawn Pullar, Lannie Collins, Erik Krauss, Peggy Allen, Martha McDaniels, Damon Lane, Stephanie Morse.
Absent: Sandra Mariotti, Selectboard Clerk
Lori Dickerson, School Board of Directors Chair; called the School board meeting for the Second Public Hearing for the proposed charter amendments to order at 7:03pm.
Richard Grassi, Selectboard Chair; called the Selectboard meeting for the Second Public Hearing for the proposed charter amendments to order at 7:04pm.
There was no change to the order of agenda.
Selectboard Chair, Richard Grassi read the above proposed charter amendments. There were no public questions or comments. Mr. Grassi reiterated that the although these changes were passed by Australian ballot last March, they were not passed by legislature due to the procedural issue of not posting the language of the charter and amendments within the voting booths.
In an effort to educate voters, Selectboard Vice-Chair, Rebecca White drafted the following letter to the editor;
Dear Hartford Residents,
When you enter the voting booth on November 8th you will notice a familiar item up for vote- changes to the town Charter. You may recall last March the Hartford residents voted in Charter changes to add a 1% Local Option Tax and a change to a full Australian Ballot form of voting on the budgets. Although those changes were passed by the residents, the Vermont State Legislature, who must vote to approve town charter changes, deemed, that procedurally, they were not properly done. You will have a copy of the charter itself and the specific language being changed so that you as a voter may be fully informed when casting your decision.
Both the School Board of Directors as well as the Selectboard agreed that the Charter with Amendments noted (as recorded and posted by statute) be placed in each voting booth and a larger print copy be placed in the lobby of the gymnasium. A discussion was held regarding highlighting additions and deletions, it was decided that as adding color would be different from the recorded version of the Amendments in the voting booths, it may confuse the voters.
There were no citizen comments.
IV. Adjournment (Mot. Req.)
Paula Nulty, School Board of Directors Clerk; made a motion to close the School Board meeting for the second public hearing for proposed charter amendments at 7:29pm. Nancy Russell, School Board Member seconded the motion. All 4 School Board Members voted in favor, 0 members voted nay, 0 abstained. The motion passed.
Simon Dennis, Selectboard Member; made a motion to close the Selectboard meeting for the seond public hearing for proposed charter amendments at 7:30pm. Alan Johnson, Selectboard Member seconded the motion. All 6 Selectboard Members voted in favor, 0 members voted nay, Sandra Mariotti, Selectboard Clerk; was not present to vote. The motion passed.
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Richard Grassi, Selectboard Chair
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Lori Dickerson, School Board of Directors Chair