The Committee to Elect Cathy Harder-Bernier

Bill Cass, Chairman,

Daniel Bernier, Treasurer

Joe DeFerrari, Website Adminstrator

143 Maplewood Drive
Hanover, MA  02339

Email: cathyhb@comcast.net

Or use our contact form.

As Town Clerk, I like to connect with my fellow Hanoverians as much as possible. Check out our News page to see the latest.

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(See Cathy's most recent accomplishments as Town Clerk for the Town of Hanover, MA.)

Elections - “Delivering democracy to residents”

• Ran 4 elections: May Annual Town Election, September State Primary, October Special Town Election and November State (Presidential) Election, 2016
• Each election completely consumes 4-6 weeks staff time
• Led history-making and overwhelmingly successful and popular Early Voting efforts at which 3,135 Hanover voters voted early –approximately 30% of registered voters
• Planning to purchase new voting machines; held three equipment demos. Currently certified technology (2 machines) is already 6-10 years old and is very slow; many towns had issues in November. May be worth waiting for new technology (1 machine) that will be federally certified this summer.

Elections - "Professionalization of the polls"

• Interviewed and increased election staff in order to meet state requirements and insure accuracy at the polls
• Received funding for mandatory training for new employees at May 2016 Town Meeting
• Have since led required Inspector training, required Early Voting training, and several informal trainings with individuals and small groups
• Developing Teller training to ensure perfect end-of-evening counting procedures; 3 out of 10 races in 2016 Town Election were decided by write-in winners

Census and Voter Registration

• Goals –improve accuracy of voter registration lists while making access to voter registration easier
• Worked as a member of the Board of Registrars to “clean up” voting list -1100 residents were inactive in 2015, 177as of 3/1/2017
• Oversaw voter registration data inter-state cross-check to eliminate duplicate voters. Advocated with state to improve these efforts by using Pew Trust’s Electronic Registration Information Center to reduce potential for voter fraud
• Thanks to on-line voter registration and interest in Presidential election, registered hundreds of new voters this year –now 10,398 registered in Hanover; up from 9,208 on 3/1/2016

Business Certificates

• Goals –consumer protection for residents; increased revenue for town
• In November 2015, began large effort to clean-up and solicit business registrations
• 126 new businesses in last two months of 2015 ($5,040 new revenue)
• 160 new businesses in 2016 ($6,400 new revenue)
• 22 new businesses in 2017 as of 3/23/2017; plan to do another mailing this summer if staffing allows

Dog and Kennel Licenses

• Public health goal –increase dog licensing legal compliance to ensure dogs are vaccinated for rabies and residents are safe from disease
• Reduced late fee, included registration form with census mailing in 2016, and accepted statute for no fee for senior citizens over age 70 at May 2016 Town Meeting
• Issued 806 total licenses in 2015, 1065 in 2016, and 790 in first three months of 2017
• Made good on a campaign promise -signed the contract for on-line dog licensing in July 2016, trained on new software in fall 2016; implemented on-line dog licensing as of January 2017 and have registered 62 dogs during “soft launch” to date
• Next step –improve fairness of kennel licensing (review warrant article and decide fee structure with AdComm)

Document Preservation

• Long-term goal –to preserve the Town’s historic records for all to enjoy
• If staffing allows, hope is to upload digitized records to town website this summer/fall
• Met with Sylvester School Re-Use Committee and briefly discussed storage needs
• Installed dataloggers, thanks to State Board of Library Commissioners, for long term assessment and future climate-control capital project; received report last week that noted serious concerns for all records, particularly those in the basement
• Project is now in the hands of the facilities department; hope to work with them on this soon

New Public Records Law

• Goal is to improve public access to records
• Attended several training sessions regarding new public records law that went into effect January 1, 2017
• Was designated a “Records Access Officer” in January 2017
• Working with IT Department and Town Manager’s Office to implement public records database software
• Goal is to put as much information on-line; latest emphasis has been on up-loading years of campaign finance reports at http://www.hanover-ma.gov/town-clerk/pages/campaign-finance-reports

Welcome to Hanover Packets

• Vision -Town Clerk’s Office as the “front porch” of the old-style General Store
• Worked with Finance Director who provided funds for internship for Hanover resident/Brandeis University student to develop “Welcome to Hanover”packetin Summer 2016
• Supervised intern who coordinated receipt of information from all departments and 15 businesses
• Worked with Assessors Office to receive notice of recent house sales
• Given elections; worked with Assistant Town Manager and his staff to produce professional final version this fall
• First packets were mailed November 2016

Professional Development

• Goal is to keep current and ensure Hanover is well-led and abreast of current laws
• Attended Tri-County Clerk’s Association training sessions
• Represented Hanover at three statewide Massachusetts Town Clerk’s Association conferences –Plymouth and Springfield in 2016; Devensin 2017.
• Represented Hanover for the first time at the New England Association of City and Town Clerks conference in Boston in November 2016
• Elected to State-wide Massachusetts Town Clerk’s Association Executive Board in July 2016