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.)

Professional Elections - Service to Residents

• Ran 3 elections between March 2018 – March 2019: May Annual Town Election 2018, September 2018 State Primary, November 2018 State Election (gubernatorial/mid-term).
• State Election included 11 days of Early Voting. Tremendous progress made in terms of efficiencies; staff time saved, overall costs reduced.  Reimbursement received from state for $8,433 for 2018 unfunded mandated expenses.
• Applied for and received a $1,300 grant for Early Voting Saturday hours
• Training is mandatory for new hires to be able to serve as Inspectors or Tellers (entry level) as well as advanced positions such as Ballot Clerks, Precinct Clerks and Wardens

New Voting Tabulators

• Accuvote voting tabulators were 18 years old, well past their 10 year useful life expectancy, and parts are no longer manufactured
• 2 new voting tabulators are certified for use both federally and in Massachusetts: the Imagecast, and the DS200.
• A third (Clear Ballot) tabulator has federal certification only, and it appears as though state certification is at best several years away, if not impossible due to the current interpretation of public records law
• Town Meeting approved $32K in 2016.  The DS200, as sold by Elections Systems and Software, was the low bidder of the two certified machines in 2019
• Additionally, anecdotally, the Imagecast appears to be plagued by jamming problems
• The contract for the new DS200’s was signed in February 2019, Selectmen voted to discontinue use of Accuvotes and begin training on DS200’s in March 2019, and we will be ready for roll-out at the May 2019 Annual Town Election
• Because of my work with the Massachusetts Town Clerk’s Association, I was also aware and was able to time our purchase to allow us to also access Help America Vote Act grant funds from the state

Poll Pads

• Available for use at a Town Meeting or Early Voting for years, but not certified for elections in MA yet
• Municipal Modernization Act – August 2016 – use of poll pads at elections planned
• Demo’ed LHS’s KNOWiNK poll pads May 2017 ATM
• Demo’ed Electec’s Advocate laptop poll pads December 2017 STM; staff didn’t like platform
• Electec’s Advocate iPad version in May 2018 demo failed
• KNOWiNK and iPad platform preferred = $7,950
• Anticipate significant staff time reduction and related reduction in costs over long haul
• Request in FY’20 budget was cut, will try to buy one or two poll pads in FY’19 for use at ATM and EV

Dog and Kennel Licences

• Public health goal – increase dog licensing legal compliance to ensure dogs are vaccinated for rabies and residents are safe from disease
• Issued 806 total individual dog licenses in 2015, went on-line and jumped to 1065 in 2016, 1133 in 2017, 1060 in 2018
• 1/3 of dogs are licensed on-line; some residents have troubles with lack of intuitiveness of app.  Signed contract in late 2018 with “Go Petie” for new upgraded dog licensing app that we will transfer to this summer
• New for 2019 – “unregistered dog” letters sent
• Updated kennel license review process in December 2018, 5 new reviews include HPD, HFD, Planner, Health Agent and Finance Director

Document Preservation

• Long-term goal – to preserve the Town’s historic records for all to appreciate, research and enjoy
• Next step – create a climate controlled environment in the basement of Town Hall 
• CPC funds are available
• Exciting new progress – planned move of contents of Town Hall basement to Sylvester School on April 5, 2019

Vital Records Access

• Goal is to balance easy access to birth, marriage and death records with strong prevention of identity theft and privacy protection for residents
• Started tracking the number of vital records requests in 2017 – there were 399 individual requests (sometimes for multiple copies) in 2017
• Real ID requirements went into effect in late March 2018
• In 2018 there were 582 individual requests (sometimes for multiple copies)

Census Administration

• Worked with Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Office to create a method to legally submit “street list” (census) information on-line
• With IT Department and Registrars, developed on-line “web form” to allow for on-line submission of census information
• Soft-opening roll-out began in January 2019
• Residents with no changes to their census information can now submit their census on-line at https://www.hanover-ma.gov/census  

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 2018; Devens in 2019.  
• Attended New England Municipal Clerk’s Institute in July 2018 – second of three years toward Certified Municipal Clerk status
• Serve on State-wide Massachusetts Town Clerk’s Association Executive Board, 3rd of 3 year term – learned of grant program for voting tabulators as a result
• Appointed member of MTCA Legislative Committee as of January 2018; State Representative DeCoste co-sponsored 6 pieces of legislation in 2019 as a result

Goals: Projects with New Town Manager

• Improve public access to records with implementation of new “FOIA-Direct” software
• Manage business certificate renewal process (net reduction of 14 hours per week of administrative help in office since Summer 2018)
• Implement “board and commission” software that will allow tracking of appointments, conflict of interest training, oaths of office, receipt of open meeting law
• Document preservation project – move to Sylvester and climate controlled basement 
• Two and three year dog licenses

Town Clerk and Election Budgets' Discussion

• Salary lines - requested $15,600 in part-time administrative help; cut to $0
• Expense lines - requested approximately $2,000 in additional expenses for items like Assistant Town Clerk to a conference and copier/phone repair
• Both issues – pledged to work together
• Requested $30,000 in salary line due to anticipated Early Voting in March 2020; cut to $25,000; may have to come back if EV law passes
• Requested $31,102 in expense line, of which $9,000 was poll pads; cut to $17,867
• Will try to fund one or two poll pads this fiscal year if possible – would be VERY helpful and save staff time at Early Voting