HARDWICK – February 21 saw select board candidates meet for an open forum. Only standing room remained at the start of the proceedings, moderated by community organizer Audrey Grant, with all eight candidates in attendance. For the full recording, visit hctv.us.
photo by Raymonda Parchment
Running unopposed for a three-year seat, current select board member Ceilidh Galloway Kane was present. Vying for two available one-year terms are Larry Fliegleman, Tyler Lebeau, Bruce Larrow, Joe Nudell, Derek Richardson, Miranda (Davidson) Brown and Andy Gilbert.
The forum began with candidates providing introducing themselves, before answering a few questions. Common themes of the evening were affordability and infrastructure.
Andy Gilbert has been a Hardwick resident since 2021, formerly a Cabot resident for fifteen years. His wife, Andrea Gilbert, owns Hardwick Veterinary Clinic. He said he felt the need to run because the town is going through a lot of transitions. “We faced some challenges around infrastructure, education, housing and affordability, and just thought it would be my time to contribute.”
Miranda (Davidson) Brown is an area business owner and parent. She kept her introduction short, saying she’s running because she loves this community. Brown grew up in Hardwick from the time she was eight, and has since raised her three children there. A project manager and business owner, Brown spends her days managing problems, solutions, budgets and resources, as well collaborating with other people.
Derek Richardson of DP Property Lawncare and Maintenance was born and raised in Hardwick, recently celebrating the ten-year anniversary of his lawn care business, established in February of 2016. Richardson, a husband and father, stated he’s running mainly because he thinks the younger generation needs to get involved. With this background as a business owner, he believes more can be done to keep people in the area.
Joe Nudell grew up in Hardwick, graduating from Hazen in 2007. Nudell says that like many residents, he moved away for college for some time before returning to Hardwick to start a family. For the past eight years, he has been working in public policy research. Like Richardson, Nudell is concerned younger people are being priced out of the area. He wants more to be done in the way of affordable housing and keeping young people in the community.
Ceilidh Galloway-Kane is running for her third term on the select board. Galloway-Kane first joined the board six years ago, saying she felt the need to get involved, ask questions, and to do what she could for Hardwick. She has a young child, as well as being a business owner. She says she’s running again to continue asking questions and doing the best she can for the community.
Bruce Larrow moved to Hardwick in July of last year. As he gets to know the community, he wants to be more involved. Larrow says having lived around the state, getting involved in local politics is the best way to start.
Tyler LeBeau has been a Hardwick resident for ten years. A husband and father first and foremost, he is a volunteer for the Hardwick Fire Department (HFD) and a nationally registered EMT for Hardwick Rescue. LeBeau prides himself on being an out-of-the-box thinker, regardless of the issue.
Larry Fliegleman began by remarking on how amazing it is to have seven candidates for two seats. Fliegleman volunteers for Neighbor to Neighbor, is a member of the planning commission, as well as a participant in productions at the Civic Standard. Fliegleman said as the community makes big choices about infrastructure, resilience and affordable growth, he sees a real opportunity to help the town move forward, while holding onto what it loves. He believes his administrative experience, combined with his current roles in the town, make him an ideal fit for the select board.
The question-and-answer portion of the evening saw candidates expand on some of their main ideas and motivations. Affordability and growth were a matter of great interest, appearing in some form or another in most responses. Candidates were first asked what they feel is the town’s most important issue.
In line with Brown and Richardson’s points on affordability, “I think we need to be creating more economic opportunities for younger people who are trying to live here,” Nudell expanded saying, “We’ve got a lot of vacant storefronts downtown, almost a dozen of them. The select board’s role in this could be more active. The select board has small business loans that I think a lot of people in town don’t know about, that they could connect people with.” Nudell said looking at new housing programs, financing more builds is also important.
LeBeau answered similarly, saying part of this is lowering taxes, as well as expanding the tax base by attracting new residents.
As for the town’s greatest unmet need, road conditions as well as parking downtown came up more than once, as well as the lack of a pharmacy. Flood resiliency was another answer.
LeBeau said we should be exploring ways to bring new businesses and foot traffic to the town.
Fliegleman said resilience, period. “I think that the safety nets we’ve relied on are vanishing. statewide and nationally. I think we’ve done a lot of work over the last few years since the floods to build up Hardwick’s resiliency.
e’ve written a local emergency management plan, an addendum that really details out some of what we can do on a number of different fronts, from the supply center to communications and all these different things that need to happen.”
He says the planning commission has written zoning changes that should help us be more resilient around the rivers. Finally, he believes the essential services complex proposal is a very important step.
For the town’s largest infrastructure need, many identified the wastewater treatment plant as well as the essential services complex as top priorities.
“We can’t have the emergency services flooded during a flood, they have to be available,” said Nudell. Galloway-Kane agreed, saying the essential services complex is a brilliant idea, noting all three properties are in need of upgrades and improvements.
LeBeau reiterated Galloway-Kane’s sentiment, “In 2026, on both the rescue and fire side, we’re seeing more calls than we ever have, in record numbers. By a lot. The facilities that we have right now, they’re extremely limited. They’re outdated, and portions of them are unsafe … In order for us to maintain that level of response that everybody has come to love from what the folks do, we really need a building to grow into . . . As the needs change, as the population grows, Hardwick changes, it’s very important that we’re still able to have the ability to respond in the best way we can.”
LeBeau said the essential services complex will be big not just for the town, but for mutual aid responses in our surrounding communities.
Flieglemen too advocated strongly for the essential services complex, as well as the wastewater issue, “It doesn’t feel like the most important thing today, but getting the wastewater treatment plant to higher ground is going to feel like the most important thing, when it does,” he said.
Richardson was in agreement with the above points on wastewater and the essential services complex, adding that a maintenance plan will be a necessity. “When you don’t take care of a property, it’s going to run itself into the ground, and we’re going back to this conversation in twenty years from now. Six million, that’s a lot of money, so there needs to be a plan to sustain that forever.”
He also highlighted the state of sidewalks in the downtown area. “The sidewalks in the village … there’s holes, there’s cracks. The town is one person away from being sued from a broken leg or something like that. I think that should be addressed before anything else,” he concluded.
Candidates were asked to consider if the current amount of town employees match the needs of the community.
Most candidates felt the town was either at or nearing capacity, with potential need for growth in the near future. Galloway-Kane noted the past two floods have added an enormous amount of administrative work, which will continue for the foreseeable future. Some emphasized the aging demographic of town employees, pointing to a need to incentivize younger employees to stay in the area. All commended the town staff for their unending efforts.
LeBeau said he thinks the current staff is stretched pretty thin, however, “I think it depends on what you want out of the town employees, more or less. And, what does future growth look like? In a perfect world, we hire a lot more town employees because we have so many people in Hardwick and we don’t know what to do with them.”
Fliegleman was in agreement, “The trick is, the needs are going to continue to change, all the time. There’s always going to be more. What can we make easier so that the town staff doesn’t get pushed too far . . . We can’t let them get pushed beyond capacity so that they leave. We need them.”
Richardson emphasized the police department above others, “Our police station, they need help bad. They’re very, very understaffed and that goes back onto the budgets and all. They can’t afford to pay these people.
hey train them and they go to Morrisville and get paid 30, 40 grand more a year. So, some [departments], I think some are good, some aren’t. I think the police department’s the biggest one that needs attention.”
The fifth and final question had candidates state their vision of the future, the next five, ten and fifteen years, for Hardwick. Many cited infrastructure, housing development and business growth. Affordability, specifically to draw young people and families was reiterated several times.
Gilbert set a goal for eighty more houses, as asked for by the state, but emphasizing the need for affordability, “We don’t want to gentrify, per se. We want to be Hardwick.”
“We really don’t have a choice, that we have to be more affordable, so that way, families and people can continue to live here and also come here,” said Galloway Kane. It’s all connected, she says, and she would love to see businesses thriving as well as the town becoming more self-sufficient and resilient in the wake of state or national changes.
Before opening up to audience questions, candidates were asked where their favorite Hardwick food spot is. Many cited local staples like the Village Diner, the House of Pizza, and Cork and Fork, as well as the many options available at the farmers market like Nepali cuisine. Galloway-Kane struck out from the rest, saying “I am excited to have a meal at a future restaurant that has yet to exist,” saying there’s a few vacant spots around town which drew a large laugh.
For closing statements and audience questions, see the recording via the Hardwick Community Television website at hctv.us.
Raymonda Parchment is a Hardwick Gazette reporter. She recently graduated from Vermont State University - Castleton with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. She is a strong supporter of freedom of speech, and the right to publish information, opinions, and ideas without censorship or restraint. She is a lifelong lover of the written word, and is excited to join the team as a staff member.
