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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Professional Elections - Service to Residents

• Ran 5 elections between March 2019 – March 2021: May Annual Town Election 2019, March 2020 Presidential Primary, (the postponed to) June 2020 Annual Town Election, September 2020 State Primary, and November 2020 State Election
• The Presidential Primary required 5 days of Early Voting for the first time at a PP. We were lucky to get the Presidential Primary in before the pandemic began to shut things down!
• The Annual Town Election was postponed until June 27th, and it and the
  September and November elections were run with significant COVID-19
  protocols - such as social distancing and mask wearing. Great cooperation
  with Emergency Management team!

Elections in a Pandemic

• Vote by Mail was allowed for first time (April – June) for the 2020 Annual Town Election for people taking precautions due to COVID-19. It was also allowed in August (for the September primary) and in October (for the November election) 2020.
• 7 days of in-person Early Voting were held in August prior to the September 2020 election, and 18 days of in-person EV in October prior to the November 2020. Both of these sessions were longer than in previous years due to COVID-19. August was not popular among voters; October was.

New Voting Tabulators

• We used our new DS200 tabulators for the first time at the May 2019 Annual Town Election
• Great machines, excellent customer support; no issues whatsoever
• Handled unprecedented demand of tri-folded absentee and early ballots due to COVID-19 in 2020 without issue
• Handled overall demand of highest voter turnout ever in Hanover – 9,719 voters in the November 2020 State Election in the middle of the pandemic

Poll Pads

• Purchased 5 new KNOWink poll pads in June 2019
• Purchased a 6th in September 2020 due to anticipated volume of mail-in and early ballots in November
• Allowed us to successfully staff (with reduced staffing numbers) and run a “perfect” election mid-pandemic in September and November. Great decision and purchase.

Loss of Staff = Loss of Services

• 14 hours of administrative help removed from office at the end of the summer of 2018; various temporary attempts to replace since then (intern from SSVT, STWO’s hit by pandemic, current assistance from Fire Department admin. assistant)
  • Constant training and re-training of new employees takes time and effort away from work that needs to be done
• Full-time (35 hours) Assistant Town Clerk retired in late August 2020; 20 hour temporary ATC worked mid-September – mid-November, position left completely open since mid-November
• Negative impact on customer service, office and phone coverage, and revenue
• Increase in complaints from residents

Notary Service Discontinued

• Temporary Assistant Town Clerk from Fall of 2020 refused to bring her notary supplies in to assist
• Notary service subsequently reluctantly discontinued because of demands of early voting in October 2020

Business Certificates

• Same day turn-around has become 10 day turnaround due to lack of qualified staff – unacceptable reduction in customer service due to staff reductions
• Unable to send business certificate renewal letters due to reduction in staff time
• Loss of revenue = $4-7 thousand dollars per year

Dog and Kennel Licenses

• Issued 1,060 dog licenses in 2018, 1,250 in 2019 (sent “unregistered dog” letters that year), and 1,179 in 2020. Unable to send “unregistered dog” letters in February 2020 due to impact of elections on staff time, or in February 2021 due to reduction in staff
• 1/3 of dogs are licensed on-line; transferred to more intuitive “Go Petie” upgraded dog licensing app in late summer 2019
• Unable to do kennel inspections or follow-ups in 2020 due to COVID and election demands; grandfathered existing kennels from 2019; related loss of revenue (<$1K)
• Unable to issue same-day licenses in 2021; licenses were issued 4-6 weeks after application due to reduction in staff in 2021 – unacceptable customer service
• Unable to do e-mail reminders to owners in January – March 2021; related loss of revenue ($1-$3K)

Document Preservation

• Long-term goal – to preserve the Town’s historic records for all to appreciate, research and enjoy
• Moved contents of Town Hall basement to Sylvester School in April of 2019
• Study and inventory of records was completed in early March 2020 with CPC funds
• Unable to take next steps (i.e. apply for CPC funds for re-boxing sub-standard records as needed, indexing items that need to be retained according to retention guidelines, identifying records to be microfilmed) due to reduction in staff and election demands

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
• Same day service discontinued (rare exceptions for emergencies) due to reduction in staff
• 10 day turnaround now – even despite reduction in volume due to pandemic – unacceptable customer service
• What will happen as volume returns in 2021 and 2022?

Examples of the Long-Term Impact of Reduction in Staff

• New birth and death records are not being processed – unless there is a request from a resident; this is not sustainable in the long term
• Database regarding newly sworn in members of boards and committees is not being updated (paper records are merely filed); conflict of interest and open meeting law records not being updated
• Budget planning and revenue reconciliation discontinued
• Campaign finance records are only complete if candidate files; no follow-up from office
• Historic record preservation of Sylvester-based records stalled
• Same day turnaround of records requests are now 10 day turnarounds
• Dog licenses issued 4-6 weeks after receipt during height of winter
• “Slow leak” is unacceptable! I have worked too hard for 8 years to provide exceptional customer service – this slow decline in services is really hard to watch!

This is not Acceptable

• The reduction in staff hours in the Town Clerk’s Office is directly responsible for the reduction in services; the Town Clerk worked harder than ever in 2020
• Complaints from residents have increased
• Town Clerk has become the scapegoat
• This can be resolved by restoring the full-time Assistant Town Clerk’s hours to 35 (NOT just 20)and the use of temporary per diem staff and Senior Tax Work-off employees equaling 14 hours per week
• Backlog is significant; will take time

Professional Development

• Attended Tri-County Clerk’s Association and Massachusetts Town Clerk’s Association conferences in 2019 and February 2020; Zoom meetings since due to pandemic
• Graduated from New England Municipal Clerk’s Institute in July 2019
  • Chosen as class graduation speaker
  • Awarded the “Harry Paquin Memorial Scholarship” for distinguished contribution to the profession
• Earned the International Institute of Municipal Clerk’s “Certified Municipal Clerk” status
  • First Hanover Town Clerk to earn this prestigious distinction