COMMUNITY:

• Start a digital platform to ask townspeople their opinions on various things; informal digital polling. Perhaps run by the Communications Specialist, with questions approved by (and sometimes generated by) the Selectboard; sometimes generated by the town manager, or department heads via the town manager.
• Start and maintain a series of recurring town potlucks. First get a population density map (“heat map,” or 3D map where bar heights correspond to density), then divide the town up into sections; then find suitable locations; then host the first potluck. Ensure a group spreadsheet for each location where folks can say what they’re bringing, if anything, and if someone can’t contribute, they can also register anonymously on the sheet as a person not bringing anything.
• Create a town “mutual aid bulletin board” where people can post 1. the excess things they have to share (however you interpret that: durable goods to loan/borrow, consumables to give, skills/teaching, or just time), and 2. The things they’re in need of or would be nice to have. Starting with “HAVE/TO GIVE:” or “NEED/WANT”. Only rule is, no money is exchanged. Everyone can read it like they do the listserv, and the community will grow stronger and more able to weather an oppressive federal government because of it.

FUNCTIONING OF THE BOARD AND TOWN:

• Long range planning, with full board input, of meeting agendas
• Moving forward many things from last year’s planning brainstorm, and having another one with this group
• Capital management hire and capital plan for maintenance and replacement schedule
• Get undercarriage water sprayers at all town fleet storage locations to rinse off salt when they return to storage in winter months
• Read the union contracts and see if there’s any wiggle room for a corporate managed but not funded healthcare scheme to remove us from the ever growing profit gouging. If there is wiggle room, ask the administrator for Bensonwood, and someone from the state who works on this being allowed, to come and give a talk about how it works. If there’s not wiggle room, ask if the union reps would be willing to hear a talk to consider.

SAFETY:

• Ensure Hartford builds no “cop city.” Only a limited renovation of existing building.
• Police limitation package as outlined elsewhere, including moving social workers/community responders out of the purview of the police department
• Ensure train safety being properly regulated in town: basically checks on the feds and corporations to avoid derailments
• Enforce the WHO and dispatch with the FIPP nonsense
• Ensure that we have a plan for if this executive order is put into place: what to do if the federal government attempts to place so-called national security staff in our PD, or direct our staff.

INFRASTRUCTURE:

• (This is also necessary for housing) Ensure there is complete mapping of water and sewer to show where we can build more densely
• Work toward 24 miles of rail linking 4 central upper valley towns
• Ensure Coolidge Block high touch public input
• Ensure Mark and Bugbee staff have maximal input on the designs for the next Bugbee Center
• Create a working group with the town and all library boards/staff to see where a makerspace could go, and what tools and gear could be featured there, and/or be check-out-able.

HOUSING:

• Evaluate whether the responses to the rental survey are sufficient. We’ve received roughly 55 responses, and given a 77% home ownership in Hartford, we have about 2500 renters. We might consider tying such a survey to payment of taxes, because it’s something everyone knows they have to do. If we ever want to regulate rents, we will need this data. Also, we may want the data to inform how we may or may not want to regulate rentals. (To what extent, basically.)
• Work toward “upper valley minimum wage” and rent increase restrictions (for landlords who own more than 2 rentals)
• Evaluate zoning for ADUs, duplexes, triplexes, small lot builds, parking minimums, and setbacks, based on Strong Towns recs
• Provide $15K or $20K local match to the state’s $50K grants for ADUs
• Once we determine the standard lot size, and interest, for infill builds, commission 2-3 low cost designs that fit that, that anyone can take and build, pre-approved.
• Special extra tax on second, third, fourth homes that are vacant. This tax can be avoided if they rent (not short term rentals) for 10 months out of the year. (Question: how to help folks temporarily relocate themselves and their things when the owners are there)
• Ban new sales of homes to big corporations. See what we could do to force divestment of those currently owned by big corporations: a special tax?
• A specific plan to help folks who can’t afford to downsize (say they’re 80 and living alone in a 4 bedroom farmhouse, and would rather live in a 1 bedroom condo) to help them do that and get the larger house on the market.

ENERGY/AFFORDABILITY:

• Local bond-funded 2% loans to accomplish the following for residents who would like one or more of the following efficiency upgrades: window dressers, energy audit and weatherization, ERVs, potentially solar if there’s good exposure, and heat pumps. Use the town’s great credit to help those who the wider rigged economy (and in this case specifically, the credit bureaus) have screwed over. And make the heat pump one available to renters. As in, renters can apply for it and the landlord can’t refuse; landlord might also offer to help pay and we would encourage them to do so. (Though we imagine these would end up being like single head units to lessen load of the primary heat source, since the renter might be paying.)
• Town volunteer thing, like window dressers, to turn Lunos ERVs into window units (mostly for renters, ‘cause installing them in walls as intended will be better for those who own, and that program should be accessible for all.)