Boiler earmark averts special town meeting

Select Board · Meeting of April 13, 2026

HARDWICK — The Hardwick Select Board tabled a planned special town meeting after a $120,000 state earmark emerged to fund two school boilers instead of one. Capital Planning Committee member Mark Korczak reported the panel's unanimous recommendation to replace a failed boiler at the elementary school, while petitioner Michelle said her group was ready to "pump the brakes on the special meeting" now that Senator Peter Durant had secured the funding in the Senate's supplemental budget. The board separately approved a new building permit fee schedule raising the base rate from $7.50 to $8 per thousand dollars of construction, effective July 1, and voted to declare roughly 60 percent of 102,000 square yards of gravel at the town's solar field site surplus for auction, a sale officials estimated could bring in $200,000 to $300,000.

The board also approved water and sewer abatements totaling $958.23 and appointed Casey Midas to the Parks and Recreation Committee.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of April 13, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.