Cassandra Hemenway
The Bridge reached out to six former mayors of Montpelier to get their take on today’s issues facing the Capital City. We wanted to know what they viewed as their biggest achievements, but also what they see as the current challenges facing Montpelier and how the city might move forward to overcome them.
A lot of accomplishments happened over the years; the development of Stone Cutters Way, a bike path, housing, the transit center, flood resilience, and more. Some themes came up as well, including a need for improved infrastructure, housing, affordability, and climate resilience. Answers were edited for clarity and brevity.
Because Montpelier’s newest mayor, Marc Gwinn, has only been in office about a month, we did not ask him about his achievements. However, he had something to say about the city’s challenges:
“Montpelier‘s biggest challenges at the moment are in the narratives that we tell ourselves about our neighbors and the partners that we need to get big projects done,” Gwinn wrote in an email to The Bridge.
“In order to move forward, we need to tell our stories better, we need to inform ourselves more thoroughly, and we need to assume positive intent in the actions of others. None of us is perfect, but in all of my conversations and listening, I have not uncovered nefarious intent or corrupt motives. We need to meet our neighbors as neighbors, not as adversaries.”
Jack McCullough, 2023–2025
Accomplishments
JM: Everything that I was able to accomplish has been a team effort; I never would have been able to do anything without the collaboration of the council, the city manager, and all the city employees who keep our city going.
One of our biggest accomplishments was to respond quickly to the 2023 flood. With the work of all our city departments and thousands of community members we were able to mobilize efforts to respond to the immediate crisis, get flood-damaged properties cleared and cleaned up, all while adapting to maintain vital city services. Beyond that, we were able to work with committed volunteers to mobilize financial relief and develop long-term plans for flood resilience and future planning.
What started out as the Montpelier Commission for Recovery and Resilience has now created the Foundation for a Resilient Montpelier, which will continue to be a grassroots vehicle to help bring about a resilient future for our city.
… The Country Club Road purchase was a great opportunity for the city to advance the cause of housing development. … We involved hundreds of community members in planning for housing and other uses. We have raised money for infrastructure, worked with consultants, and we are now evaluating proposals from developers to make our vision a reality. I believe that future generations will thank us for our foresight in making this investment in our community.
Current Challenges
JM: We need housing of all types, and for all socioeconomic levels. We want to attract public employees, service workers, the refugees who have made such an important contribution to our cultural life. Until we develop a significant amount of new housing, we will not be the welcoming community that many of us want.
The impact of this shortage on our unhoused population must not be overlooked. The city does not have the resources to meet the needs of these vulnerable people, yet the state has failed to appropriate sufficient funds to meet their needs. As we work with community partners to develop affordable housing, we must continue to expand the capacity of our own city departments to work compassionately with them and maintain public safety.
Third, the future of our downtown remains uncertain. In part we are dependent on decisions at the state level on the use of still vacant or underused state office buildings. We can’t force the state to do anything, but we need to continue to try to work with them to meet our economic and housing challenges.
Moving Forward
JM: The challenges we are facing as a city require resources beyond Montpelier’s budget capacity. While we must, and can, continue to engage with the public on planning and decision making, to complete some of these solutions we will have no choice but to advocate for resources from state and federal funds to complete them.
Anne Watson, 2018–2024
Accomplishments
AW: Some highlights for me included finishing the transit center and the bike path through the center of town, though that project started well before I was mayor. It also includes getting the city through some tough times, like COVID, January 6, etc. I was very proud of the work we did to make Montpelier more sustainable. This will sound small, but I was very proud that by the time I left being mayor we had met our reserve fund policy. We were, fiscally, in a good place.
Current Challenges
AW: Sticking the landing when it comes to building housing on the Country Club Road project. See it through and navigate the inevitable obstacles. But be patient, it might be a while. That’s to be expected.
I am so appreciative of the work of the Montpelier Commission for Recovery and Resilience. Montpelier is going to need to continue to adapt to a changing climate. And that’s hard when the city has inherited decisions like armoring (walling off) the river.
Relatively speaking, the council, mayor, and the city manager are collectively very new. So it will be important that city leadership communicate a lot with each other to work through any hiccups that come up along the way.
There are so many other challenges to list: affordability, wealth disparity, aging population, but these are also not new issues.
Moving Forward
AW: I would hope that the council, new as they are, continues to build trust between each other and the city manager, and mayor. It’s important that everyone comes prepared to city council meetings and that they are responsive to their constituents. Councilors really need to be in touch with their constituents in order to represent them well on the council. I would add that my hope is that the council would have a spirit of collaboration and positive problem-solving, because problems are going to be inevitable, and they will need to tackle those problems together as a team.
John Hollar, 2012–2018
Accomplishments
JH: I focused on three goals when I became mayor: (1) complete several major projects that had stalled over the years; (2) improve our roads and sidewalks; and (3) keep tax growth at or near the rate of inflation. With the help of a supportive council and city staff, we accomplished each of these goals during my tenure.
The bike path, the transit center, and the biomass plant were underway or completed by 2018. And we also recruited Caledonia Spirits to build its new distillery in Montpelier.
By 2018, our paving budget had increased substantially and was funded at the level needed to keep our roads and sidewalks in reasonable condition.
The municipal tax rate during my term was kept at or near the rate of inflation.
Current Challenges
JH: Subsequent city councils have not placed the same priority on our tax rate or infrastructure. Our average tax bills are now the second highest in Vermont, and that was before the 7.98% municipal tax increase that was just approved for FY27 — even as we are expecting to receive an additional $1 million from the local option tax. This is clearly not sustainable, and it is worsening virtually all of the major problems facing Montpelier.
Fortunately, the city council funded our paving budget this year close to the level recommended by DPW, after many years of significant underfunding. It is going to take many years of sustained investments to ensure that our roads are safe and in good condition.
Moving Forward
JH: Our mayor and city council should prioritize making Montpelier affordable, while also ensuring the city meets its core obligations. The council should establish a budget target next year that does not exceed the rate of inflation and prioritizes funding for infrastructure maintenance and investment, along with public safety and other basic municipal functions.
Mary Hooper, 2004–2012
Accomplishments
MH: We saw housing developed. Thanks to the housing task force we started the initiative to set aside funding for housing, we called it “a penny for housing.” This became a vehicle for working with Downstreet to show funders the commitment the city had to supporting housing development. During my time as mayor we saw more than 90 apartments and 18 owner-occupied townhomes and condos built on Barre Street, with the Senior Center its crown jewel. Barre Street is no longer a blighted area, but a desirable neighborhood.
Current Challenges
MH: Stay focused on a vision for the city and show how initiatives move us there. There is a clear understanding of the challenge of climate change, affordability issues, and need for infrastructure improvements. At the same time, Montpelier shouldn’t lose sight of the complexity that makes our community work well. Our once diverse economy is eroding. Our community needs to be nimble in supporting all of the elements that make us work well. We need to be anticipating the next challenge, not focused on the past.
Moving Forward
MH: Kindergarten rules! Be kind, listen to others, don’t play with scissors. Being a public servant, either as a volunteer on the council or our committees and commissions or as an employee, is hard. It is even harder with the animus and assumption of ill-intent or lack of competence that is directed at public servants. Re-litigating decisions, fighting battles that were settled, making issues personal only hurts the community. The only agenda any of us should have is what is best for the city and how to keep moving forward to serve the community.
Charles “Chuck” Karparis,1996–2004
Achievements
CK: I was in the group that hired former City Manager Bill Fraser. Over those eight years as mayor, we built a new police station. (It had been in the basement of city hall); renovated the Fire Department when the floor was collapsing; built the water filtration plant in Berlin, renovated the water treatment facility; started the capital improvement budget with a goal to increase to $1 million annually and started paving roads and taking care of the infrastructure.
We developed Stone Cutters Way; that was an old railroad yard and we got people to invest in that. The old Armory building on College Street was owned by the federal government. We got that into private hands.
Challenges
CK: The city’s challenges were pretty much the same as they are now. Montpelier really hasn’t changed that much. The population has been about the same for 50 years. … Our population does not grow, but the budgets do keep growing.
We have a large number of tax-exempt properties; most of them do not pay payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) payments. Those properties should be contributing to the property tax payments.
There are very few housing starts in Montpelier. (The city is) still grappling with that and trying to create housing. Infrastructure around town is also a challenge. COVID and the floods did not help — those were major setbacks. The town’s been pretty resilient, though. You almost wouldn’t know those floods happened if you didn’t know they did.
Ann Cummings, 1990–1996
Accomplishments
AC: The event that stands out most vividly in my mind is the flood of 1992. For years we’d wondered if it was worth the cost to send city staff members to Maryland for emergency management training. When the flood hit, it was worth every penny. According to FEMA, Montpelier was a case for the text books. I think [the trainer] was most impressed that there weren’t a bunch of politicians telling him how to do his job. While the performance of the city and state officials was impressive, it was the resilience of the people of Montpelier that made a lasting impression. As they did in the most recent flood, everyone came together and did what was needed.
We also reconstructed Berlin Street, sited a new water filtration plant, developed Stone Cutters Way and managed to pass city budgets in pre-Act-60 Vermont.
Moving Forward
AC: Today the city is still struggling to recover from the financial loss caused by COVID, recent floods, and the decreased presence of state workers downtown. The rise in remote work and online shopping add to the challenge.
… It’s time to get back to basics. We need housing and infrastructure. We need drivable roads, and we need new businesses. We need lodging and events to attract tourists. We face huge challenges, but I have every faith that the people of Montpelier can rise to meet them.
All photos are courtesy of the former mayors.
