Major amendments to Hancock’s 2021 warrant are unlikely after little discourse at a virtual informational session on Saturday. This year’s virtual Town Meeting format precluded residents proposing amendments themselves, instead, participants were asked to submit questions and concerns to the Select Board by Monday, and the Select Board would make any changes to the warrant if there was clear community support. The Select Board is scheduled to finalize the warrant during a second informational session Wednesday evening, and residents will submit ballots via a drive-up process on March 9 at the elementary school.
Saturday’s session lasted an hour and a half, with 55 people attending. Many articles went by without comment. The Select Board elaborated that the proposed budget is just $7,700 higher than last year’s, in part because the town’s debt service rates went down after they paid off one truck lease and renegotiated interest rates.
The $14,000 increase in the police budget this year is mostly due to the choice to hire a prosecutor so that local police can spend more time in town, rather than averaging 25 hours a week doing prosecutor duties, Select Board Chair Laurie Bryan said. Article 5, which asks the town to purchase and outfit a new police SUV, is critical in drawing the town’s fleet down to an SUV and a pickup truck, Police Chief Thomas Horne said, two reliable vehicles that together meet all the department’s needs. Police vehicles should be retired after 150,000 miles, or six or seven years, he said.
An article authorizing the Select Board to dedicate private streets as town roads drew the most conversation. Article 13 would allow the Select Board to accept any road that meets town standards and went through subdivision approval as a town road. Moose Brook Lane is in the Board’s sights, Board member Kurt Grassett said, uniquely poised because the town had so much oversight in its construction. “It’s probably the best-built road in town,” he said.
The town would assume responsibility for any roads they accept under this provision, along with the associated costs for plowing, sealing, paving, and mowing, DPW director Tyler Howe said. Tax revenue would go up for Moose Brook Lane residences, since they’re currently receiving a reduction for being on a private road, the Select Board said. The article is not intended for converting Class 6 roads into Class 5 roads, and other private roads, like Clark Farm Road, would have to go before the Planning Board and be brought up to town standards before they could be eligible for the article’s provisions, Select Board members said.
The town’s second informational meeting runs Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m., and ballot voting is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on March 9 at the Hancock Elementary School.