Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Stuck In The Middle

Bill Fraser, City Manager Montpelier VT

In spite of pronouncing the h in Am_erst in his closing statement Town Manager finalist Bill Fraser, the 2nd of 3 candidates to be publicly interviewed by our Executive branch, put on a strong performance last night demonstrating an important understanding of how vital a vibrant downtown is to our little college town.

Plus he has experience with affordable housing, reusing a retired school building, and dealing with state government -- all of which would come in handy almost immediately.

Except his city manager contract with Montpelier, VT was renewed for a year and requires a three month notice to be released from it.

So the earliest he could start in Amherst would be August, still enough time to get a feel for the town before the floodgates reopen in September with the return of our #1 demographic, college aged youth.

With 30+ years experience in city government Mr. Fraser would be giving us the last -- and hopefully best -- years of his long career.  Whereas the previous candidate, Maria Capriola, is still in the ascending stage.

A tough choice.  And there's still one more candidate to go.

3 comments:

  1. Based on your photo, when they do the movie they can cast James Cromwell and Kathy Bates in those roles.

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  2. Ms. Capriola's youth doesn't necessarily mean she wouldn't be giving the last years of her career in municipal management to Amherst.

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  3. Fraser is far and away the most qualified candidate. Three months notice just means he's a professional who is assuring a smooth transition in his current town. He's the only one of the three sitting in a managers seat.

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