HARDWICK – At a quick special meeting of the Hardwick Electric Department (HED) commissioners last Thursday, Scott Johnstone was formally appointed as the HED general manager
The meeting began with an executive session that interim general manager Scott Johnstone and the department’s attorney Ed Adrian were invited to join.
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When that closed session ended, three motions in quick succession followed, with commissioners first unanimously accepting a separation agreement with General Manager Sarah Braese, who served in that position since January of this year.
A management services contract under which HED will share a general manager with Morrisville Water & Light (MWL), that had previously been approved outside a public meeting in violation of Vermont’s Open Meeting Law, was formally approved by all the commissioners.
Chair Michael Ambrosino acknowledged the commission’s inadvertent violation of the Vermont Open Meeting Law and apologized to the community for his error, saying a remedy for it had been one purpose of this meeting.
Accepting the resignation of Braese and signing the management agreement with MWL paved the way for Johnstone to be appointed as the department’s new general manager, thus handily curing the Open Meeting Law violation.
Previously Johnstone had been appointed to sign checks on behalf of HED..
In other business, minutes of the meeting report that Commissioner Roger Prevot acknowledged the sincere interest of the Greensboro Association “in addressing the ownership questions regarding who should own and operate both the public access and the dam that regulates water elevation on Caspian Lake.”
Johnstone will advise the association that, though the agenda for the regular 6 p.m. meeting, December 16, has been set, it will likely be added to the agenda at the meeting.
