Welcome to the fifth installment of Hanover Happenings!
This is your Town Manager here with your November recap. Just a note: Going forward, I'm going to post the episodes somewhat differently. Instead of posting the updates and spotlight interviews together, I'm going to post them separately so you can tune into what you're most interested in. So each month, we'll have 2-3 shorter episodes posted, rather than one long one.
The topics we covered in this update are:
- Topics from Selectboard meetings in November:
- Some routine business
- Friends of Oak Hill update
- Tax rate discussion
- Election day
- Several appointments
- Several donations
- And the Town Manager's monthly report which includes more information on:
- A number of hiring and HR issues
- Finance Director and budget process
- Traffic safety issues working group
- Downtown Hanover working group
- Sustainability update
- NHMA conference
And we have two great spotlights this month:
The first is with Abe Healy, a Hanover High School student who belongs to Scout Troop 45. For his eagle project, Abe designed and placed some American Flag retirement/dropoff points at three locations around town, where you can properly dispose of a damaged or old flag. I sit down with Abe to talk about why he was inspired for that project, and of course, we end up talking about science-fiction. Thanks Abe and the Scouts!
Our next spotlight is the first of a multi-part series recapping and discussing our elections. This first is a conversation with:
- Town Clerk Bobbie Hitchcock
- Town Moderator Jeremy Eggleton
- Supervisor of the Checklist Allison Gorman
- Ballot Clerk Bill Brown
- Ballot Clerk Sandy Joslin
We talk about what it takes to make a safe, accurate election actually happen in Hanover, how you accurately count and record thousands of ballots (not the way you might think), the importance of accurate record keeping and building trust in our elections, and some memorable moments they had.
This spotlight is in part to thank the over 80 individuals, almost all of whom are volunteer, who directly work on the election, plus the dozens more who support it. Thank you all for doing what you do, ensuring one of the most important and sacred components to our society can happen in a trusted fashion.
Head over to Hanover Happenings or search for "Hanover Happenings" in your favorite podcast player, such as Spotify, Apple, Google, Amazon, etc. Subscribe to stay updated and please share with one friend who you want to help get more informed in town. You can find all the agendas, minutes, videos, and more on the Hanover website.