Talk of the town

On Monday night, board members (most of them anyway) interviewed the lone finalist for the newly created town administrator’s position and agreed to offer the job to a man to be named later because, well, the contract had yet to be signed.

It has now.

On Wednesday morning, Kari Bradley, who announced last week he won’t run for reelection to the Washington Central School Board in March, signed a contract that will make him the first-ever town administrator in the community where he was born and raised and now lives with his wife, Gabrielle Malina.

And here’s where things get interesting because Malina was elected to the select board in March, submitted her resignation even as her husband signed his new contract.

Seems Malina didn’t participate in Monday’s closed-door interview or any discussion involving the hiring of a town administrator after Bradley applied for the job.

His hiring prompted her resignation in order to avoid the conflict of interest that would have accompanied managing her husband.

Board Chair Anne Winchester said she is sad to lose Malina, but pretty pleased to land a high-caliber candidate like Bradley to assist with the day-to-day governance of the town.

It’s going to be an adjustment for Bradley, who is expected to start his new job on Monday. He was employed for more than 19 years as general manager of the Hunger Mountain Cooperative in Montpelier.

At Hunger Mountain, Bradley managed a $29 million operating budget and led a team of 20 managers and more than 180 employees.

The numbers are considerably smaller in Calais, where Winchester said she believes Bradley’s hiring will make a huge difference.

“We are so excited that this talented individual has stepped up to help us manage our budget, establish policies and systems that have long needed updating, and take on a share of the increasingly large and complicated day to-day workload that comes with running a small town in the 2020s,” she wrote when announcing Bradley’s hiring on Wednesday.

Nightmare on Elm Street?

MONTPELIER — Technically, the Capital City’s “Halloween Parade and Jamboree” isn’t “on” Elm Street, though the scary procession of costumed kiddos will begin at the intersection of State and Elm streets at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

The parade route isn’t super long, and would be even shorter if Elm Street were involved.

Parade participants will head down State Street, hang a left on Main Street and then left again to pumpkin-lined Langdon Street. They should arrive just in time for the first of several “Thriller” dances at 5:30 p.m.

Regular readers will recall we noted last week there is a committed cadre of dancers who are ready to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s iconic music video as part of Montpelier’s Halloween festivities.

Trick or treat?

BARRE — The Granite City is getting a jump on Halloween again this year, though Tuesday will be the day trick-or-treaters spend a productive hour downtown.

First, let’s deal with Saturday, when Barre will host its own costume parade. Participants — all are welcome — will be lining up on Depot Square at 2:30 p.m. and the procession starts that 3 p.m. sharp.

The parade will end at Currier Park, where an afternoon Halloween-themed games and a Trunk or Treat in Currier Park are planned and will be followed at 6 p.m. with an outdoor showing of “Hotel Transylvania” courtesy of OUR House and The Pub.

Sounds fun! Flash forward to 4 p.m. Tuesday when those people dressed as police officers on both ends of downtown Barre will really be police officers, and children trick or treating are reminded to go to one of them when crossing the street. The crosswalks will be closed between 4 and 5 p.m., and trick-or-treaters should only cross the street with the assistance of one of the officers. That’s why they’ll be there.

Frogman?

CALAIS — Local architect John McCullough was in the room this week when the select board celebrated the recent installation of the custom handrail he designed free of charge as part of a taxpayer-funded project aimed at making the swim area at Curtis Pond more accessible.

The sturdy safety rail was simple enough, but the two brass frogs — one on each of its posts — were a nice touch in the estimation of Chair Anne Winchester, who sang McCullough’s praises.

“John (McCullough) spent a lot of time helping design it (the railing) and designed the two little frogs sitting on the rail,” Winchester started, before stopping in the interest of accuracy and starting again.

“He (McCullough) didn’t design them,” she said of the frogs. “He donated them.”

Winchester could have stopped there, but, clearly curious, didn’t.

“Is this something you had lying around John?” she asked because, well, who doesn’t?

Apparently McCullough, who had to shop for just the right aquatic accent.

“No, no,” he replied. “I got them on eBay.”

Though McCullough designed the railing (not the frogs), and worked with the chosen contractor, Joshua Bertalot, of Northstar Ventures, on its installation, the idea was suggested this time around by Linda Schutz. It was Schutz who brought her accessibility concerns to the select board last year and was advised to bring it up on Town Meeting Day.

Schutz did, triggering a longer-than-you’d-expect discussion over a $4,000 amendment that was approved, 80-30, after an amendment to her amendment was turned down.

The $4,000 was supposed to pay for two railings — one we now know was installed on the stone steps leading down to the swim area — and another across a grassy area that can be tricky to traverse.

Turns out $4,000 didn’t quite cover the cost of the first railing, which we’re assured is a huge improvement, and the second will have to wait.

To be clear, McCullough’s brass frogs weren’t budget busters: They were donated along with his time, which, like Schutz’s advocacy and the help of other volunteers, was much-appreciated.

Open door

BARRE — If you’ve noticed that the front door of Barre Universalist Church (it’s the handsome white one with the city-owned clock in its steeple) has been open more frequently these days, we’re told there’s a reason.

Sometimes, when a door opens, it means there is someone inside.

This would be one of those times and these days that someone is Ken Langer, who recently joined the church as its “director of ministries.”

It’s a half-time gig for Langer, who has already led four worship services and is reacquainting himself with Barre.

Seems Langer, who until last month was an adjunct professor at Merrimack College in Andover, Massachusetts, lived in Vermont while teaching at Lyndon State College for nearly nine years. He was chair of the performing arts department when he left in 2001 and has just returned.

It sounds like Langer, who has an extensive music background, is settling right in. He’s enjoying meeting and talking with folks (the ones who enter that open door and those he meets around town), and has been helping out with the community breakfasts the church prepares on Tuesdays and Fridays.

If you spot the door open, or see the “OPEN” sign posted, feel free to enter and chat with Langer.

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