Hartford
Current drafts would have the town replace Columbus Day celebrations with Indigenous Peoples Day, and urge the state to ban natural gas pipelines while it pursues renewable energy targets. The Hartford Selectboard is scheduled to review the language of the resolutions on Tuesday and to approve the final warning language by Jan. 30.
“Now is the time for folks to help shape both of these items as to what they might look like on the ballot,” Town Manager Leo Pullar said on Wednesday. “I encourage them to contact the Selectboard and/or myself to voice their opinions and concerns.”
The resolution concerning Indigenous Peoples Day has been brewing since October 2016, when Selectman Simon Dennis first suggested the town change the manner in which it celebrates the second Monday of that month.
At that time, the Selectboard voted, 4-2, to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day on the official town holiday calendar.
Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer, has been honored for 80 years with a federal holiday for discovering North America on behalf of the Spanish mona rchy in 1492, a long-standing source of pride for Italian Americans. But that legacy has been tarnished by increasing consensus among historians concerning his campaign of slavery and genocide against Native Americans. Local campaigns by social justice activists have led more than 50 communities throughout the country to dump Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples Day.
Now, it might be Hartford’s turn.
In response to Selectboard directives from last year’s conversation, Town Manager Leo Pullar has drafted a proposed resolution for the March 2018 Town Meeting ballot.
Some Selectboard members considered a middle ground in which Columbus and Native Americans would be celebrated simultaneously, but the current draft, which Pullar unveiled for the Selectboard’s inspection during a meeting last week, takes the stronger stance of clearly rejecting the celebration of Columbus. The wording, which is based on a Brattleboro, Vt., resolution, reads, “Shall the Town of Hartford advise the Selectboard to proclaim the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, in place of Columbus Day?”
By placing the resolution on the ballot, the Selectboard is not endorsing the position — it is, rather, asking the public to weigh in, Selectwoman Rebecca White, who supports the resolution, said after last week’s meeting.
“When we send things to the voters and get a clear message back, it helps,” she said. “If the town doesn’t support those statements, it gives us some real feedback on how people feel. When you don’t have a referendum on these topics you just get a few vocal people on either sides coming out.”
White said the outcome of the March vote is an important way for the community to define itself to the broader world at a politically sensitive time.
By some measures, the 2016 presidential election drew the highest level of voter interest in 20 years, and a majority of voters nationwide say they’ve become more interested in politics since the election of Donald Trump, according to Pew Research Center polls. With politics playing a more central role in the public conversation than at any other time in recent history, the resolutions could contribute to an image of Hartford as a hotbed of progressive ideals — or not.
Selectboard members Mike Morris and Sandy Mariotti voted against the town’s holiday schedule switch last year, and Chairman Dick Grassi, who was absent during that vote, also has expressed opposition to the idea, while the public discussion has shown that a significant segment of the community opposes the eradication of Columbus Day.
A draft of the second politically charged question slated to come before Town Meeting voters asks whether the town shall “advise the Selectboard to forward the attached resolution on climate change to the State of Vermont?”
In the referenced resolution, the town urges Vermont’s government to “halt any new or expansion of significant fossil fuel infrastructure, including but not limited to pipelines; and firmly commit to 90 percent renewable energy for all people in Vermont; and ensure that the transition to renewable energy is fair and equitable for all residents.”
The resolution was drafted with input from Hartford Energy Coordinator Geoff Martin, who started with language submitted by activists with 350 Vermont, the state chapter of the global climate activism network 350.org. The environmental group is bringing similar resolutions to various communities throughout the state.
Some suggested the reference to fossil fuel infrastructure was problematic because it was too broad, and could apply to things like the town’s own fuel storage facilities and truck routes.
The draft maintained support of a ban, but slightly softened the original submitted language, which urged the state to ban all fossil fuel infrastructure, rather than “significant” infrastructure.
The Selectboard voted, 5-1, earlier this month to put some version of the question on the ballot, with Vice Chairman Dennis Brown opposed. He reiterated his opposition last week.
“The ‘halt the fossil fuel infrastructure’ (language): That may be good. That may not be. I’m not sure,” he said. “I’m really uncomfortable with that.”
Selectman Alan Johnson, who has been an active leader in the environmental community, said he had overcome his own reservations about some of the imprecise language in the resolution because it doesn’t carry the force of law.
“This is just us advising, urging the state. … This is just a way for us to say, ‘Hey, please think harder about this stuff,’ ” Johnson said.
On Tuesday, the Selectboard will review the language again, with some possible changes based on suggestions of members.
“I expect to show the Selectboard updated versions with the comments made shown in red so that they can see the changes from the last review,” Pullar said.
The Selectboard is scheduled to review the language again on Jan. 16, and will vote for finalized language on Jan. 30, one day before the Town Meeting warning must be posted.
The final versions of the resolutions will come before voters during Town Meeting on March 6.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.