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Page 12 Page 2
Volume 51 Number 9
shelburnenews.com
March 3, 2022
Wormser wins open seat on selectboard School, town budgets, other items pass COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
Matt Wormser handily beat his two opponents — Susan Bowen and Sean Moran — for the open seat on the Shelburne Selectboard, besting the other candidates by more than 500 votes. After the polls closed on Tuesday night, Town Meeting Day in Vermont, Wormser tallied 1,205 votes — 502 in-person and 703 absentee. Moran received 584 votes — 208 in person, and 376 absentee — while Bowen Matt Wormser received a total of 165 votes. Wormser fills the vacated seat of Mary Kehoe, who did not seek reelection. He campaigned primarily on working toward engaging “more broadly with the community” while focusing on strengthening “the bonds that tie our town together.” He has been a resident of Shelburne for 20 years and has worked as a health care consultant. He also served on the local school board and the town’s natural resources committee and volunteered at the Shelburne Community School parent-teacher organization. “I’d like to thank all the voters of Shelburne for entrusting me to serve on the selectboard for the next two years, but especially Sean Moran and Susan Bowen, who likewise stood up to offer
their services for the town,” he said. “The easy part of any elected position is getting through election day, after which time the far more important work of governing begins. It will take active involvement from all of us who are passionate about our town to help build the future we hope for Shelburne, and I look forward to working with the community and my fellow board members in my new capacity to help deliver it.” Incumbent Mike Ashooh, chair of the town selectboard, was reelected to another threeyear term. He ran unopposed, but still garnered more than 1,600 votes. Other candidates who ran unopposed include Thomas Little for town moderator (one-year term) and Bob Lake for town constable (two-year term). Erika Lea, also unopposed, was elected to a seat on the Champlain Valley School District board. Hinesburg school director Keith Roberts was re-elected as was Angela Arsenault of Williston. The district’s budget was approved by a tally of 3,395 to 2,204. Voters, meanwhile, OK’d the town’s $9.8 million municipal budget. See TOWN MEETING DAY on page 10
PHOTO BY COREY MCDONALD
Sean Moran, a candidate for the Shelburne selectboard, campaigned outside of the town gymnasium on Town Meeting Day for the two-year term on the selectboard against Matt Wormser and Susan Bowen. Wormser won the seat vacated by outgoing board member Mary Kehoe.
Town manager issues apology Shelburne Selectboard hears Noble grievance in secret MIKE DONOGHUE CORRESPONDENT
Town Manager Lee Krohn offered a public apology for his conduct during a meeting of the Shelburne Selectboard as it was hearing two appeals for public records. Krohn had denied the release of public records requested in unrelated cases by former town planning director Dean Pierce and police chief Aaron Noble. Both appealed the denials to the selectboard. During the Pierce appeal, Krohn strayed from the records case and got somewhat personal, noting, among other things
that Pierce opposed both Krohn’s appointment by the selectboard as interim town manager in April 2018 and his permanent appointment. Under Vermont law and earlier Vermont Supreme Court decisions, the reason why somebody wants public records, who wants those records and what they do with them are irrelevant. “I would like to offer my apologies,” Krohn said as he finished general comments at the board meeting last week. “I have had an awful lot of time to reflect on my actions. Clearly there were better ways I could have handled that event.” “I apologize to the selectboard,
to the parties involved. I apologize to the town of Shelburne for my actions that night and commit to striving to do better in all that I do in my service to the community in the future,” he said. “Thank you, Lee, appreciate that,” board chairman Michael Ashooh said before moving on to other board business. Based on comments and actions by Shelburne officials, Krohn is believed to be the recipient of a letter of reprimand from the selectboard at a meeting at the end of February. The motion at that meeting by selectboard member Mary Kehoe See KROHN on page 4