HANCOCK — Hancock voters returned an incumbent selectman at their annual town meeting on Tuesday morning and OK’d their town budget with only a minor modification.
Jack Ross stood for re-election to the selectboard in the gathering at the Route 100 town hall. Someone suggested that Jim Leno throw his hat in the ring, but he declined, and Ross was returned to office by a voice vote.
Leno had been filling in as Hancock’s road commissioner after the man elected at last year’s meeting moved out of town; but Leno didn’t wish to run for a whole year in the position. No one stood for the post, so Hancock is now without a road commissioner. The White River Valley town is also lacking a constable, lister and auditor since residents couldn’t find a taker for any of them.
The roads were the topic of some discussion at the meeting. The selectboard said the town is in the talking stages of giving up responsibility for Texas Falls Road past the last residence. That would mean that Hancock would no longer maintain that stretch and the U.S. Forest Service could take over. There will be hearings on the issue before any decision is made on it.
When talking about the budget, it was pointed out that there was an error in one of the appropriations warned for the meeting. Residents voted to raise the $323 appropriation to the Granville Volunteer Fire Department to $1,834, because the lower figure was in error. GVFD provides first responder services in Hancock, though Hancock, of course, has its own fire department. With that change, Hancock OK’d a total budget of $407,618.
“We really had a pretty dull meeting,” Eva Jessup said.
In Presidential Primary voting, Hancock Democrats backed Bernie Sanders with 48 votes, followed by Elizabeth Warren, 6; Joe Biden, 4; and Michael Bloomberg, 3. In the Republican Primary the results were, Donald Trump, 10; Bernie Sanders, 2; and William Weld, 2.