Tim Fariel
Selectboard Candidate
2-year Term
Bio
I have lived in Hartford for 23 years and prior to that Hartland for 14 years. I grew up in Brownsville, Vermont, graduating from Windsor High in 1981. My two daughters were proud graduates of Hartford High School. My working life has varied from running a large farm with sheep and maple sugaring, to the food business, education, real estate, construction, and property management. I have served on the Hartford School Board, and numerous other boards and committees in the Upper Valley. I enjoy being part of the community and try to make decisions that hopefully maximize our potential to nurture a vibrant and sustainable community for people to live in. I hope you will vote for the candidates running for office and our town and school budgets on March 3 but also plea that you find other ways to participate in the community in a meaningful and productive way.
Q & A
​1. Why do you want to be on the Selectboard and what skills would you bring to the role?
I enjoy being part of the community and being engaged in some meaningful way to improve and hopefully enhance the work of the Town. There are lots of demands and challenges Towns face in running a large complex array of services and obligations in a cost effective way. My work life has given me a diverse perspective on how communities try and serve the needs of citizens. Everyone who serves on a governing board brings their experiences which I think hopefully enriches the discussions as challenges are faced to produce positive outcomes while considering alternative views. I like to think I bring a commitment to civility and a scrutiny to our organization that results in better government for the people.
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2. What do you see as the main purpose of the Selectboard?
Our key function is to work with the town manager to support the functions of town operations effectively. We are also charged with listening to any/all concerns and attempting to resolve or improve these issues to support operational objectives.
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3. What do you think are the top three issue areas in Hartford and what ideas do you have to make progress in those areas?
1. Economic stress caused by flat wages and relentless increases in costs. 2. Maintaining our existing public resources properly. 3. Establishing a new improved vision for what our community should strive for and work towards. All of these issues are exceedingly difficult to resolve. I am intrigued by creating a more fair and balanced fiscal model that alleviates some of the challenges some in our town face year to year. I think we should ask tougher questions on what we need versus what we want. We as leaders need to develop a clearer roadmap for what a vibrant community needs to look like and what can we work on to get closer to these goals.
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4. What strategies would you propose to limit increases to the Town tax rate and increase affordability for all residents of Hartford?
Our year to year fiscal planning needs to improve in a way we we can get closer to accurate expense/revenue models. There are looming challenges around capital planning and infrastructure that we will face. I think we are missing collaboration opportunities with the school and should be having some deep discussion retreats to identify what this should look like to use our dollars more effectively.
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5. What strategies would you propose to address affordable housing challenges in Hartford?
We have embraced this theory that if we build more then we will meet demand and the prices will stabilize or drop. I believe this is a myth. In each new opportunity we need a better evaluation matrix that determines the long term value and contribution to the community. Currently our school funding mess (19 million in taxes-we keep 47K is absurd) is not rewarding towns for their economic growth. It is extremely expensive to create housing in New England for a myriad of reasons. I frankly think we have and income and economic opportunity problem which needs to follow any housing problem or it will never get cured.
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6. How would you approach balancing local concerns and broader state or national issues that come before the Selectboard?
Our core work needs to take precedent. We are responsible for guiding the town operations in the best ways possible. I think a review of how Federal and State regulation impacts our costs and reducing some of that burden or suggesting that if your making rules you need to write checks at that level. Over time local community budgets are required to spend local money due to a state or federal requirement. This is not sustainable. We need to improve our dialogue with State and Federal representatives to align our community concerns with what they are advocating for on our behalf.
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7. What are some Town initiatives or services that you would like to improve or change?
We may benefit by taking some of the general services we provide and change them into a more enterprise or pay for service models. I think we have some examples of this that could reduce the general tax rate and shift the cost to the specific user. I want us to perform some evaluation and comparison with other similar peer towns and see if our staffing scale and duties are serving us efficiently and comprehensively enough to produce optimal results. Over time the needs and demands of running our town have changed. What are we doing now that could end and what new needs or challenges do we need to meet?