Grace Benninghoff
NORTHFIELD/MONTPELIER — When Mary Smith took over as town manager of Northfield last winter, she inherited a community in crisis. The previous police chief had left in the fall. The previous town manager had departed in December. And the town’s relationship with its own law enforcement had become, in her words, “a black eye.”
Smith knew the terrain. She had worked in Montpelier years earlier as an executive assistant to longtime City Manager Bill Fraser, and she was familiar with the reputation of Montpelier Police Chief Eric Nordenson and Deputy Chief Kevin Moulton.
“I had working relationships with them and knew they had great work ethic and really were team players,” she said.
On May 19, Northfield made it official. Nordenson and Moulton — the top two officers at the Montpelier Police Department — were leaving Vermont’s capital city for the same roles in the smaller town 10 miles south. Moulton had already been serving as Northfield’s interim police chief since January while simultaneously working as deputy police chief in Montpelier. Neither Nordenson nor Moulton responded to requests for comment for this story.
For Northfield, the hires represented a turnaround.
“We are super excited to have them here in our community,” Smith said. “Northfield’s law enforcement reputation hasn’t been stellar.”
She said rebuilding trust between the community and police is a top priority and said the two officers’ track records in Montpelier made them the right fit.
“They are pretty amazing at what they do and that’s why they were hired,” she said.
For Montpelier, the departures landed differently.
The city has been in a prolonged period of institutional churn. Fraser, who had served as city manager for 30 years, was ousted by the city council in February 2025. A new city manager, Kelly McNicholas Kury, came on board in April this year. The city has also recently hired a new finance director, is searching for an assistant city manager, and will now need to fill both the police chief and deputy chief positions.
The departures were not entirely a surprise. In February 2025 — the same month the council voted Fraser out — Nordenson posted on LinkedIn that he was seeking a new role, looking for a police chief position or something similar in Boston, Florida, or Vermont. He told The Bridge at the time, “I am always looking. The best time to look for a job is when you have a job.”
McNicholas Kury, for her part, said the announcement of the departures of Nordenson and Moulton caught her off guard.
“The way it was announced was certainly a surprise because nothing had been formally communicated to me,” she wrote in an email. “But the police chief has been honest about the challenges he has been experiencing in the position and considering other options.”
Those challenges were documented in a 2023 Bridge interview with Nordenson, in which he described a department under mounting strain. He said he was budgeted for 16 officers but estimated the city needed 19 or 20. The department had at one point been down to 11. Homelessness, substance abuse, and mental health calls had grown steadily, and five of his newer officers had less than two years of experience.
“We are seeing an influx of people from different places now because our services are so robust,” he said at the time. “For a community as small as ours it becomes pretty daunting.”
According to the city’s 2026 annual report, Nordenson earned $136,894.80 in 2025 and Moulton earned $123,252.80.
Smith said the officers will receive the same salaries in their new roles in Northfield.
McNicholas Kury said she plans to hire a recruiting firm to manage the chief search, including an assessment of the department’s internal culture and community input sessions. She said she expects continuity through the summer.
“The police chief and deputy chief have committed to thoughtful, graceful transitions,” she said. “It is possible that there will be a gap between when they finish up and when a new chief starts. But the community should know that they have a very strong police department with a lot of breadth and depth.”
She was candid about the toll that sustained turnover has taken on the city.
“We have not at any point had a full staff across all departments,” she said. “So everyone is pulling their weight more and I worry about burnout.”
Mayor Marc Gwinn said he is grateful to both officers but confident in the city’s ability to move forward.
“In every challenge there is also opportunity,” he said. “This is an opportunity for our city manager to build the team that she needs to carry the city forward towards our shared vision of the future. It is also a reminder that it is crucial that city council and the community as a whole lend our continuing support to the essential work that the police department provides.”
As for what she’s looking for in a new chief, McNicholas Kury was specific. She wants someone committed to community policing, officer training, and leadership development, and the community partnerships Nordenson built. Given the city’s growing calls for service around homelessness and substance use, she said, crisis intervention and de-escalation training will also be essential.
“Montpelier is a small, wonderful, but complex little city,” she said. “And I will be looking for a new chief who can thrive well in the culture of our current police force and community.”
