Hartford
The unofficial counts showed that School Board incumbent Peter Merrill defeated a challenge from Jeff Arnold, 681-446. Merrill will be joined on the board by Michelle Boleski, who won 836 votes in an uncontested bid to replace outgoing member Paula Nulty.
Voters also approved a tax-neutral $1.9 million bond, 960-311, which will be used to extend Currier Street and undertake other infrastructure improvements in downtown White River Junction.
A slate of six town and school charter amendments that, among other changes, make the town clerk an appointed, rather than elected, position passed 960-269 on town ballots, and 959-266 on school district ballots.
The $15.1 million municipal budget, which would not measurably alter the tax rate, passed 988- 257, while the $37.4 million school budget, up $1.6 million from the current year, passed 784-447.
Under the new school budget, the education tax rate is projected to increase by 2.8 percent, which amounts to a $107 increase on the tax bill of a home valued at $250,000.
The unofficial vote tally showed White with 812 votes. There were a total of 353 write-in votes, the large majority of which were presumably cast for Collins, who declared his candidacy after the deadline to have his name placed on the ballot.
Some saw the contest between White and Collins as a pivotal moment in a cultural shift from the values of one generation of Hartford residents to the next.
White, 22, faced the write-in campaign in which Collins, 50, and others took issue with her decision to abstain from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. White says she doesn’t recite the Pledge because, as an atheist, she is uncomfortable saying the words “under God.” Collins had entered the race because White had called on fellow Selectboard member Mike Morris to resign after Morris, in January, had forwarded an email containing a racist depiction of the family of Barack Obama and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
As they came out of the polling booth Tuesday night, some voters had the conflict on their minds.
Daryl Hadlock, 64, who teaches outside the district and formerly served in the military, said he wrote in Collins’ name because, he said, White’s recent actions demonstrated a lack of maturity.
“She needs a little time to grow up,” he said.
Hadlock said he felt that voters in the polling booth should have been given a list of candidates that included Collins, so that people would be able to remember his name more easily.
Shortly after polls closed Tuesday night, White said she saw the write-in campaign as a broader referendum on the direction of the town.
“I think some of the end of the day controversy came down to, where do they see the direction of the town going?” said White. “The folks who voted for me are supportive of the direction we’re going, and the ones who voted against me were unhappy with the direction, in terms of the (creation of a Hartford Committee on Racial Inequality) and not saying the pledge.”
White also clarified that, in part because of the quality of an apology that Morris issued, she no longer feels Morris should resign.
“I’m happy he stayed on the board,” she said. “He’s regained a lot of trust.”
The bond to repave the badly deteriorated parking lot that surrounds the high school, middle school and career center passed with nearly 60 percent of the vote, 762-513, even after several prominent members of the community questioned the $1.47 million project estimates compiled by architect David Laurin.
Laurin has developed various project estimates for the district for free, but has been awarded project contracts for some of those same projects based on a competitive bidding process.
In 2013, Laurin’s cost estimate for the Wendell A. Barwood Arena renovation project turned out to be at least $405,000 short of its costs. A joint committee comprised of two Hartford School Board and two Selectboard members came up with estimates for other projects approved by voters that year as part of an $8.9 million bond, and one of the projects, a track and all-weather turf field, was cancelled because of the joint committee’s off-target estimates.
Critics said during multiple public meetings that the school should have commissioned an engineering study before presenting the parking bond to the public.
Keith Hanson, 56 and self-employed, said he understands why voters would be concerned about the parking lot bond cost estimates, but he feels the School Board and Superintendent Tom DeBalsi have learned from those mistakes.
“I think that might have been a wake-up call,” he said.
School Board member Kevin Christie, who was present as the vote tallies were announced Tuesday night, said he and other School Board members heard the concerns, and will be responsive to them.
“I see it as an opportunity for the district to show that the trust will be built, and the taxpayers will be listened to,” Christie said. “It’s an opportunity to really do some healing.”
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.
Clarification
Hartford resident Lannie Collins entered the Selectboard race as a write-in candidate last month because incumbent Rebecca White had called on a fellow Selectboard member to resign. He then took issue with her decision not to say the Pledge of Allegiance at meetings. An earlier version of this story was unclear on Collins’ motivation for running.
Correction
Hartford architect David Laurin provided the cost estimate for the Wendell A. Barwood Arena renovation project that turned out to be at least $405,000 short of its costs, but a joint committee comprised of two Hartford School Board and two Selectboard members came up with estimates for the other projects approved by voters as part of an $8.9 million bond in 2013. One of the projects covered by the bond, a track and all-weather turf field, was cancelled because of the joint committee’s off-target estimates. An earlier version of this story inaccurately linked Laurin’s estimate to the decision to forgo the track and field.