Residents of Hancock heard from candidates for various town offices, including the contested Select Board race, during a forum Sunday at the Hancock Library.

Current Selectwoman Ginger Smith, who is completing her first term on the board and served as chair the last year, is running for re-election. Smith has lived in Hancock for 23 years, and is a retired FedEx driver. She said after her retirement, she was looking for a way to be more involved with the town, and was convinced to run for the board. She jokingly noted that she was promised that it was only one meeting a week and “mostly common sense.”

“It’s a lot more than that, of course,” Smith said, adding it took nearly her entire first year to learn the background necessary for the role, and that she still has much to learn. She said in her first term, she was proud of completing the Fidium Fiber expansion for high-speed internet and adding AEDs to all town buildings.

Charles “Chuck” Willard is also running for the Select Board seat. He said his main experience is in highway work, and that was what originally inspired him to run for the position. He said there are places that the highway construction is “falling apart under my feet.”

The candidate for Hancock representative to the ConVal Regional School Board is Dan Harper, who is running for re-election unopposed. Harper had previously served on the board from 2000 to 2009, and said he returned because he saw public schools under attack. He said he believed in spending money wisely but also preserving programming for children.

Harper said he was concerned by bills he saw before the House of Representatives that he said were “unacceptable,” such as open enrollment rules that would allow students to enroll into public schools outside of their district for free if there was room available. Harper said such policies would “do nothing but hurt rural districts like ConVal.”

Harper spoke against a petition article to cap the ConVal budget, saying if passed, “ConVal will be unrecognizable,” and it would lead to cuts of staff and activities. He also encouraged residents to vote against the prospect of Dublin and Francestown withdrawing from the district, noting that it would cause Hancock’s costs to rise by about 7% using current data.

Aside from Select Board, all other seats are undisputed this year.

David Drasba is seeking reelection to the Common Commission. A retired architect, Drasba has served on the town’s historic district, Village Planning Committee and the Meetinghouse Committee.

Neal Cass is running for library trustee. His experience includes serving on the Select Board for two terms, and as a town administrator in Lyndeborough, Antrim and Hopkinton. He served in Hopkinton during a major renovation to its library, as well as on the Meetinghouse Committee and serving as moderator for the school district. When asked about his opinion on restricting reading materials, Cass said it’s the library's duty to carry a wide breadth of materials, and for people to decide what they want to read.

Stephen Pope is running for reelection to the Water Commission. He is a graduate of Dartmouth University and spent 22 years in the Navy.

Paul Faber is running for reelection to the Trustees of the Trust Funds. He has been on the board for 12 years, and has a background in community banking that he said serves him well in the role.

Timothy Lord is running for cemetery trustee, and said that the role of the trustees were to support the bylaws, assist in the operations of the trustees and the monitoring and maintenance of the town’s three cemeteries.

Hancock elections will be held on March 11 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the lower meeting room at the Meetinghouse on Main Street.