• The town’s housing and homelessness committee will soon present the board with a potential survey for Hartford property owners to describe rental housing they may manage. This survey could be voluntary or mandatory. Would you vote to make this survey mandatory for property owners? Do note that, unless it’s mandatory, it’s unlikely that Hartford could adopt any rental regulations beyond the current health and safety code.

I would want to know more about objectives and the potential long and short-term consequences from both rental property owners and those advocating for a mandatory survey, a potential rental registry, and potentially regulating rental properties.  My sense is that it would be valuable for the Town to have complete and accurate information about all rental units but I don’t know enough to provide a simple answer at this point.  I would look forward to learning from the committee, Town staff, and others including economists who focus on the housing market.

• Would you recommend Hartford alter the boilerplate police policy (the “FIPP”) to comport with the Welcoming Hartford Ordinance?

Yes.  The Town should take all possible measures to uphold the WHO, an ordinance that reflects the will of the voters.  Related to this question are others.  How a department had the authority to adopt the Hartford FIPP which is in conflict with the WHO is a matter I want to understand.  Also unclear to me is the VCJC’s interpretation of state statute concerning adoption and modification of the model FIPP.  I’m hearing that state statute, both in language and intent, was designed to allow municipalities the flexibility that the VCJC is now describing as “problematic”.  The formation of a working group between Town staff, VCJC and AG staff and a delegate of the Selectboard’s choice seems like a practical next step.

• If faced with a proposal, like I was, to cut the road paving budget by $300,000, would you have voted in support of my motion to cut the police budget by $100,000 in order to share the cuts more equally across departments? (The $100,000 for police was slated for a staffer that had not yet been hired; it wouldn’t have resulted in a layoff.)

I would want the Town Manager’s recommendation if it came down to an either-or decision of this nature.  For example, what are the potential consequences of not funding the PD staffer position for FYE26?  I wonder if there are process improvements that could be made to preempt, avoid, or ease decision making like this in the future?  For example, why doesn’t the Town bundle road rebuilding and resurfacing projects for one or more seasons into a capital improvement project and potentially use a bond to fund that work?  And could the board communicate criteria and parameters more effectively to allow staff to determine the more granular “how” and “when” questions related to funding?

• Would you have voted to accept the Gaza Ceasefire Resolution proposed to the board by a dedicated group of community members?

Subject to a more thorough review of the language, yes.  Yes, because by the time such a resolution reached a motion, there’s really little point in opposing it.  However, there’s a difference between expressing moral outrage and fighting to win.  I would have wanted to discuss the strategy with the community activists before the item was put before the Board, a move that I did not support.  

What can be achieved by the Town expressing its stance on the conflict using a non-binding resolution?  It carries no weight, conveys no real commitment.  To quote Aric McBay, “There’s a difference between dissidence and resistance.  A dissident believes that those in power are acting badly, that society is unjust, but a dissident doesn’t materially try to stop those things….Resisters put their beliefs into action…they work to disrupt or dismantle the social, economic, and political systems that cause injustice and exploitation.”  If, through local government, Hartford can resist injustices or bad actors (within the Town or elsewhere) I will support that resistance.  I am opposed to consuming Board and staff capacity with non-material expressions of dissidence, however.

• Do you support the efforts of the newly formed clerical workers union in town government?

If by “support”, you mean do I think the Town should negotiate in good faith with a clerical workers union, then yes.  If there are other means of support I look forward to understanding them.

• Would you support at least “Option C” of the Bugbee Center proposal? (This option is a thorough remodel, short of a full rebuild.) Here’s the board packet that contains the proposal: https://www.hartford-vt.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02182025-2914

I support the recommendation of the team leading the feasibility study to form an ad hoc committee to work with the architects, Senior Center staff, and others to evaluate options and make a recommendation to the Board.  Before forming a committee, however, I would encourage the Board to survey and prioritize current Town projects and initiatives.  A committee should be formed and charged in alignment with a timeline when the Town reasonably expects to accept recommendations.  In other words, if the Town thinks the committee’s work will take 6-8 month (for example) it should not be charged two or three years before the Town could expect to act on its recommendations.

• What would you like to see on the street level of the forthcoming Coolidge Block redevelopment?

To the extent that the Board has a voice in those decisions I would welcome the opportunity to participate in shaping that space.  That said, first I would want to learn more about the public private partnership agreement taking shape between the landowner, developer and Town and reasonable expectations for/from each party.

• Americans often take vacations to visit societies around the world that build almost exclusively walkable areas. (It turns out that all humans love these areas.) Scholars understand that what took the U.S. in the other direction in the 20th century—actively preventing walkability—was the influence of big money interests on governments, mixed with racism. Hartford was largely built at the densities of the rest of America, car nearly always required. Would you spend your political capital to help create a truly walkable center (or three)? Would you vote to spend town money to map our water and sewer lines, so we know where we can build more densely?

Regardless of the motivation, knowing the location (and condition) of Town infrastructure seems vital to providing the services fundamental to local government.  I recall hearing about efforts to map water and sewer lines years ago.  My default position would be to fund completion of this work if it is incomplete but I would want to understand the current status and reason for suspending the work. 

Many years ago when I read “A Pattern Language” I was sold on the need to design spaces – whether dwellings, institutions, or civic spaces – for humans.  The question, however, seems to take a giant leap from brainstorming to implementation.  If this idea was on “brown paper” at a development brainstorming session, yes, I would put one of my “star stickers” on it.  But before making further commitments I would obviously want to see some level of concept development.