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Public hearings on changes to Hancock charter postponed due to public notice timing

by Geoff Fox

A public hearing to determine if a piece of town owned property on the east end of town has been postponed until January due to the timing of Public Notice advertisements in The Hancock News. A second hearing on the town’s competitive bids was held prior to the November 23 town meeting.

The meeting and hearings had been postponed from their original meeting date of November 9. That meeting was cancelled due to the illnesses of Mayor Tim Smith and Councilman Josh McCusker.

Town Attorney Ed Kuczynski wanted to postpone the first public hearing for the property at 317 and 319 East Main Street hadn’t been advertised for the 15 days prior to it being held.

After reviewing the ad placed in the paper  along with the date it was published and comparing to the codes for holding public hearings, Kuczynski said town officials were fine on the original date, but because of the postponement and rescheduling of the meeting and the number of days required to advertise the public hearing, he thought it would be better follow that procedure so there is no question about giving sufficient notice of the hearing.

Kuczynski suggested the town reschedule the hearing for the January town meeting so there is time to advertise it.

While they’ll take testimony at that time, the town has already received testimony from former mayor Ralph Salvagno. The Hancock News has a copy of that testimony.

A second public hearing to determine the change the competitive bid process from $5,000 to $15,000 was held after the postponement of the other.

Again, Kuczynski suggested this hearing be moved to the January town meeting.

He noted he is still getting used to The Hancock News being a weekly newspaper.

Both hearings would take place January 11, 2022. The first would take place at 6:30 p.m. with the other being at 6:45 p.m.

Town officials unanimously approved the hearings being postponed for two months.

 

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