Thursday, December 29, 2016
Scott reappointed Louis Porter as commissioner of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, a post he has held since April 2014. Previously, the Adamant resident served as Shumlin’s legislative liaison, the Conservation Law Foundation’s “lakekeeper” and as a Statehouse reporter for the Vermont Press Bureau.
Longtime state official Bradley Ferland will serve as deputy secretary of the Agency of Administration under secretary-designate Susanne Young, Scott said. The agency has wide-ranging management and fiscal responsibilities and is generally seen as the nerve center of state government. Ferland, who has worked for the agency for more than two decades, currently serves as deputy commissioner of the Department of Finance and Management.
Scott also on Thursday appointed Ted Brady, a veteran of the Obama administration and Leahy’s office, as deputy secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. He’ll report to secretary-designate Mike Schirling, a former chief of the Burlington Police Department. Brady has served as U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development state director for Vermont and New Hampshire since September 2013. Prior to that, he spent a decade with Leahy — working on the senator’s 2004 reelection campaign, in his D.C. office and finally as a field representative in his Vermont office.
Tags: Phil Scott , Bradley Ferland , Louis Porter , Ted Brady , Susanne Young , Bill Sorrell , Michael Schirling , Patrick Leahy , Ken Schatz , Monica Hutt , Chris Cole , Martha Maksym , Al Gobeille , Peter Walke , Julie Moore , Ethan Latour , Tracy Delude , Associated General Contractors of Vermont , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Governor-elect Phil Scott on Wednesday named new leaders of the state’s transportation, agriculture and health care reform agencies.
At least one of them may be familiar to viewers at home: WCAX-TV news director Anson Tebbetts, a former deputy agriculture secretary and longtime reporter, will lead Scott’s Agency of Agriculture. He replaces outgoing Secretary Chuck Ross. Tebbetts’ deputy secretary will be Rep. Alyson Eastman (I-Orwell), who plans to resign her seat in the House to take the job.
The governor-elect named Joe Flynn to serve as his secretary of transportation. A former rail director at the Agency of Transportation and director of emergency management, Flynn is currently the deputy commissioner of the Department of Public Safety. He will replace Secretary of Transportation Chris Cole, who has led the agency for the past year.
Scott also appointed Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont lobbyist Cory Gustafson to serve as commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access. In that role, Gustafson will oversee the state’s health care reform efforts, including the Vermont Health Connect insurance exchange. He replaces Steve Costantino in the job.
Tags: Phil Scott , cabinet , Anson Tebbetts , Alyson Eastman , Joe Flynn , Cory Gustafson , Peter Martin , Roger Garrity , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Lifelong seaman Steve Lobb, who’d planned to spend an entire Vermont winter living aboard his experimental sailboat in Burlington Harbor, called it quits on Monday after enduring last week’s blast of Arctic-like temperatures, subzero wind chills, high waves and iced-over lines.
Lobb, 72, is a retired shipwright from Montpelier who hand-built the 26-foot sailboat, Sled — a hybrid sailboat/sled meant for the Arctic. The vessel can be winched out of the water and pulled across the ice by a dog team or snowmobile.
Tags: Steve Lobb , Sled , Burlington Harbor , U.S. Coast Guard , sailboat , Image , Web Only
Authorities ticketed seven commercial drivers who headed into the Notch after July 1 — the date the fines went into effect.
Tractor-trailers and buses have long been prohibited from the Notch, but the new law imposes a stiff financial penalty, said Col. William Elovirta, the enforcement and safety division director at the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
Six drivers were ticketed for “impeding the flow of traffic” by getting stuck in the Notch, a section of Route 108. That offense carries a fine of $2,347. Authorities issued another ticket, for $1,197, to a driver who violated the commercial vehicle ban for the windy, two-lane mountain pass that connects Stowe and Jeffersonville.
Four drivers were convicted, one case was dismissed and two other cases are pending, according to Joanne Charbonneau, the interim clerk at the Vermont Judicial Bureau.
Tags: Smugglers' Notch , Route 108 , William Elovirta , Image , Web Only
Monday, December 19, 2016
Well, he’s interested in his own elliptical way.
“Yeah, sure, we want to take a look at that,” he told Seven Days last week. “We’ll continue to have that conversation and debate the issue and make our case for why that might be good to consider for future hires. But we’ll take a look.”
Commitment, Phil Scott style: “Have that conversation,” “debate the issue,” “consider,” and, not once but twice, “take a look.” All in one paragraph.
As long as Scott plans to “take a look” at that, Democratic state Treasurer Beth Pearce plans to fight back.
Currently, members of the Vermont State Employees’ Association and Vermont-National Education Association — the state’s largest public-sector unions — enjoy defined benefit pensions: They are guaranteed certain retirement benefits. In a defined contribution system, employer and employee pay into a retirement account, but no specific benefits are promised.
Scott touts defined contribution as a way to cut the cost of public sector pensions. But Pearce argues that it will reduce pension security without saving money — not in the short term, not in the long term.
Tags: Phil Scott , Beth Pearce , Vermont State Employees Association , Vermont-NEA , defined benefit , defined contribution , annual required contribution , Vermont State Employees Retirement System , Vermont State Teachers Retirement System , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Currently, public school teachers and state workers receive “defined benefit” plans, which establish certain retirement benefits to be received by each worker. Scott favors a “defined contribution” plan, in which the state and the employee would contribute set amounts, which might or might not cover the cost of a retiree’s golden years.
Scott would allow current staffers to keep their defined benefits, while future workers would fall under a defined contribution system. But as far as Vermont’s two biggest public sector unions are concerned, the notion is a non-starter.
“We are steadfastly opposed to the idea and will continue to be,” says Doug Gibson, a spokesman for the Vermont State Employees’ Association.
Tags: Phil Scott , Neal Goswami , Vermont Press Bureau , Darren Allen , Vermont-NEA , Doug Gibson , VSEA , Beth Pearce , defined benefit pension plans , defined contribution pension plans , VPR , Image , Web Only
Craig Zumbrun has been off the job since sometime in October. He moved to Vermont from Pennsylvania to run the public housing agency beginning in April.
BHA board chair Mike Knauer told Seven Days that the board and Zumbrun “are working on a mutually agreeable separation agreement.” Knauer would not explain why Zumbrun is on leave.
Zumbrun did not immediately respond Tuesday to a message seeking comment.
Tags: Burlington Housing Authority , Craig Zumbrun , Allyson Laackman , Donald Laackman , Chris Barrett , Paul Dettman , Image , Web Only
Monday, December 12, 2016
The AP announced Friday that it was cutting 25 positions throughout its worldwide news division, but it did not immediately disclose which offices would suffer layoffs. CNN’s Brian Stelter first reported Friday in his “Reliable Sources” newsletter that Montpelier would join New Orleans, Albany, N.Y., and Charleston, S.C., on the list.
Lauren Easton, the AP’s media relations manager, told Seven Days Monday that in Montpelier, “One position is affected.” She declined to elaborate.
A decade ago, the AP’s Vermont staff included at least five reporters and a photographer. As of last week, only three employees remained: bureau chief Wilson Ring and veteran reporters Dave Gram and Lisa Rathke.
Reached Monday, Ring and Gram declined to comment, referring inquiries to New England editor Bill Kole, who also declined to speak. Rathke could not be reached for comment.
Tags: Associated Press , Montpelier , Wilson Ring , Dave Gram , Lisa Rathke , Bill Kole , Lauren Easton , Image , Web Only
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Sen. Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) hasn't formally been elected president pro tempore of the Vermont Senate, but he's already named a future chief of staff.
The role will go to Peter Sterling, a liberal activist who ran a labor-backed super PAC and lobbied in the Statehouse for single-payer health care reform.
"Peter's skill set is very well-rounded for the job," Ashe said, highlighting what he called a "comfort level with policymaking" and an ability to "draw a connection" between lawmakers and constituents. "I know he's an extremely high-energy person, very resilient."
Like Ashe, Sterling previously worked for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), managing his 2002 congressional campaign. Sterling got his start as an environmental advocate in New York, but he is best known in Vermont for his work fighting for health care reform. As director of the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security, Sterling lobbied for single-payer — and he later served as a paid Statehouse advocate for a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. Last legislative session, he worked to expand the state's Dr. Dynasaur health insurance subsidies to young adults.
Tags: Senator , Tim Ashe , Peter Sterling , Bernie Sanders , Image , Web Only
Puff, puff — poof.
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin wants to make your pot conviction go up in smoke.
The outgoing Democrat will consider pardoning people convicted of possessing up to one ounce of marijuana, given applicants don’t have violent convictions in Vermont or a felony record.
Applications can be submitted online beginning Thursday and will be accepted through December 25 — Christmas. Shumlin leaves office shortly after that; Republican Phil Scott will succeed him.
There’s no guarantee of a pardon, the governor’s office said in a statement announcing the policy.
Tags: Cannabeat , marijuana , pardons , Peter Shumlin , Image , Web Only