Oakham Select Board Reorganizes, Votes to Auction Surplus Police Cruiser

OAKHAM — May 20, 2025 — Oakham Select Board reorganizes under new Chair Don Hapkoski and advances battery storage opposition. The three-member board unanimously elected Hapkoski as Chair, Michael Brunel as Vice Chair, and Dennis Bergen as Clerk at its May 20 special meeting, then voted to direct Police Chief Fred Gehring to list a surplus 2016 cruiser on MunicipalBid with no minimum reserve. The board approved a retroactive pay increase for a highway employee — from $24.46 to $25.46 per hour effective April 13 — after he obtained his commercial driver's license, and tabled a review of financial policies one through five to the May 27 meeting. The Treasurer-Collector search reset to zero after the sole finalist withdrew, citing conflicts with full-time employment; the board authorized exploration of an interim vendor arrangement to manage posting and year-end book-closing ahead of the June 30 fiscal deadline. A Planning Board member reported retaining a wetland scientist — at a cost within the Planning Board's revolving account — to compare a 2017 survey documenting water and wetland in the northeast corner of the proposed battery storage site against a recent filing by Rhineland-Mauraga that omits that area entirely.