HARTFORD – A selectman and town clerk were sworn in Saturday morning at the annual town meeting, easing a strained and uncertain period for the town that began last month at town elections and included the resignations of two selectmen.
About 75 registered voters turned out Saturday in the town hall to consider the 61 warrant articles. With Teresa Haynes moderating, the meeting lasted from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Hope McCabe and Lianne Bedard were sworn in after being elected at a special election Friday. McCabe defeated Jason Rowe 138 to 77 for the two-year selectman’s seat. Bedard topped incumbent Zoe Cowett 179 to 88 in a runoff election for the one-year position as town clerk.
Hartford’s troubles surfaced during municipal elections on May 17. After several voters complained that town clerk candidate’s Monica Mailly’s name was not on the ballot, the ballot box was opened and 13 ballots were removed by an election warden in an attempt to remedy the problem. No court declared the elections invalid, and voting continued.
Bedard and Cowett tied with 71 votes in the May 17 election, while Rick Downing defeated Jason Rowe for a selectman’s seat 96 to 93. Downing would have been the board’s third member, since Scott Swain resigned on March 3, leaving Selectmen Lee Holman and Laura Marston.
But Marston and Downing each resigned shortly after May 17, citing the town’s election troubles.
Marston resigned during a meeting on May 27, explaining that the town’s problems would require more time from her than she was able to give.
Selectman-elect Downing tendered his resignation on June 2. He said he felt it was likely that Hartford would be taken to court and, as a selectman, he could be subpoenaed because of May 17 election problems. Downing said he was stepping down because he did not want to be involved in legal wrangling.
In accordance with state law, Holman was unable to conduct official town business as the sole selectman. A quorum of a majority of board members is required to do town business. Since Hartford has a three-person Board of Selectmen, two are required to legally handle town matters.
With McCabe’s swearing-in Saturday morning, the Board of Selectmen is a legitimate governing body again.
Holman said after the meeting that she and McCabe would start working right away to plan another special election for the board’s third member.
Also on Saturday, voters approved Hartford’s $1.4 million municipal budget.
Article 11, dealing with an appropriation for solid waste, recycling and curbside pickup, generated a good deal of discussion, more than 45 minutes.
Resident Judith Hamilton wanted to know if the $57,875 appropriation included trash pickup for Pine Shores, a gated community in town. When Selectman Holman said it did not, resident Jerry Marstaller motioned to amend the article to $60,575 to “accommodate garbage pickup in Pine Shores,” which now pays for its own trash pickup.
But resident and Recreation Committee member Arlene Nason argued that Marstaller’s amended amount should not be accepted unless the Pine Shores Homeowners Association gave the town a key to its gates, which would make it far easier for Recreation Committee members and for those who are handicapped to go to the town’s public beach. As it is, Nason said, the only way for non-Pine Shores residents to get to the beach is by a long dirt trail that is not accessible to the handicapped.
“We need to have those keys in the town office,” Nason said.
Marstaller suggested that residents vote for the amended amount and “take a leap of faith” by trusting that Pine Shores would make a key available to the town.
Resident Dan Maddox said Marstaller’s “leap of faith” was worth taking, noting that “relations between town officials and the Pine Shores Homeowners Association have improved vastly” in recent years.
In the end, voters approved the amended amount, and during a break in the meeting, a Pine Shores Association member handed Nason a key to the gates.
Eleven residents were elected to the school board, Budget Committee and Road Committee on Saturday. Colleen Bullecks was elected to a three-year position on the school board. Dan Maddox, Bob L’Heureux, Neil Hanley, Dave Kraske and Tom Hamilton were elected to one-year positions on the Budget Committee. Jeremy Johnson, Beverly Murphy, Joe Bedard, Bob Calawa and Mike Dawicki were elected to one-year positions on the Road Committee.
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