sarah
By Peter Gould
Whenever I walk down State Street, I’m curious about the life going on in the capitol building and the people who work there all year long. I think I am even more curious now, as I contemplate the chaos coming out of our nation’s capital.
Today I stopped by to ask Agatha Kessler to reflect upon her first year in her Statehouse job.
Her job?
As Sergeant-at-Arms, she patrols all levels under the Golden Dome.
“There have been Sergeants-at-Arms for a thousand years,” says Kessler, fresh from being newly reelected to the role on Feb. 20. “I looked that history up. Kings of England took a troop of SaA’s along on the Crusades, to root out traitors, hunt down absentees, or to manage discipline wherever the court traveled.” Agatha Kessler’s job is equally complicated.
Maybe you didn’t know that the Sergeant-at-Arms manages every aspect of Statehouse life, from doorkeeping to maintenance to behavior. “It’s like I’m the mayor,” she says. “This building is a little city. The hallways are the roads. The rooms are the buildings. There are big public spaces and little private places. We have rules and norms. We even have a postal system — the eighth-grade pages who carry messages around. As the mayor, I walk all the neighborhoods.”
Maybe you didn’t know that the building’s police answer to the Sergeant-at-Arms. “Our officers are special,” Kessler says. “They understand the culture of democracy. They offer security subtly, allowing the public to meaningfully access this building. It’s the people’s house.”
Maybe you didn’t know that the Statehouse’s famous public welcome is not automatic; it comes from a delicate balancing act — reviewed every day — of legislators, lawyers, aides, officers, doorkeepers, and pages; custodians, kitchen staff, and curators, all working together, under Agatha Kessler’s supervision. They help the legislators to accomplish their work while maintaining that welcome for everyone — from Vermonters who want to get close to their government; to visitors from away; to runners who enter one door, stop for a water break, and leave through the other; to bundled-up children who use the long hall to get warm for a moment on their way to school.
“I was elected a year ago. Before that I worked here in various roles. I saw how hard the legislators work. It’s not really a part-time job; I wanted to make their lives easier. They are true public servants, and I want to do all I can to make them safe and secure.”
Kessler was mentored in her work by Janet Miller, her predecessor, and in fact by everyone — she’s happy to point out — who shared their institutional knowledge with her.
To succeed at her job, Kessler needs integrity and authority, two qualities she radiates. She is a wife, a mother to three girls, a soccer coach, and a second-degree black belt in karate. Her martial arts practice gives her confidence, she says — in self-defense, for sure, but even more in a heightened awareness and control of the space around her.
This kind of attention is also in her blood. “My grandmother fought in the Polish resistance to the Nazis in World War Two,” she says.
Sergeant Agatha Kessler quietly commands a room, but not for her own advantage. “My job is to help everyone around me to have their best day possible,” she says. “Whether you work here or are just stopping by, I want to make you feel valued.”
One person who feels especially valued is Vermont State Curator David Schutz: “She’s fabulous,” he says, “In my forty years as curator I’ve never had a colleague who is so open. You know, Vermont’s democracy plays out here in the winter and the spring. But all the rest of the year this place is a museum, and a beehive of activity, too: year-round staff, tourists, outside groups, big meetings, sometimes all at the same time — it can get crazy! And Agatha keeps it all running smoothly. I feel — everyone feels — totally supported by our amazing Sergeant-at-Arms.”
Agatha Kessler’s job is not a stepping-stone to someplace higher. For her it’s the pinnacle, an end in itself, an outlet for her compassion, a job to hold on to for a long time.
Peter Gould is an author and youth theater director. He is currently Shakespearean-in-Residence at U-32 High School.
