Devine and Herlihy contend for two-year selectboard seat

Krohn runs for three-year seat unopposed since Faulkner not running for reelection

As Town Meeting Day approaches on March 4 and voters are considering how they will mark their ballots, probably one of the most important decisions they need to make is how they will vote in one contested race for the selectboard.

There are two open positions for selectboard terms that end this spring — a three-year term that has been held by Jim Faulkner, who has also served as chair of the body, and a two-year term that has been held by Kelly Devine.

Faulkner has decided not to run for reelection. Lee Krohn, a Charlotte resident who retired two years ago as Shelburne town manager, is running for this seat. Unless someone else runs for the seat as a write-in candidate, Krohn will run unopposed.

If elected, this does not mean Krohn will necessarily serve as selectboard chair. Each year, in the selectboard’s first meeting after Town Meeting Day, the board votes on which of its five members they would like to serve as their chair for the following year.

J.D. Herlihy has qualified to be on the ballot, running against Devine, who is running for reelection.

Devine, executive director of the Burlington Business Association, won the two-year seat in 2023, coming onto the selectboard as it prepared for the retirement of town administrator Dean Bloch.

Besides Bloch’s retirement and the hiring of Nate Bareham as the new town administrator, Devine feels a lot has happened in her term, like the failure of the budget last year and the need to repair Spear Street from last summer’s damage, that has required the board’s immediate attention, keeping it from other goals.

“A big thing for me is to have a capital plan for the town,” Devine said. “With these other crises, we haven’t had time to do it.”

The town owns a lot of really important assets, such as town hall, the fire department building, the garage, the library, the town beach, the ice skating rink, conservation lands, the town beach, Thompson’s Point infrastructure and new sewer and water infrastructure. She believes it is important to have a capital plan for this infrastructure.

She was surprised to learn that the bathhouse at the town beach, which was built in the 1980s, is not accessible. “That’s not OK with me,” Devine said.

She has been working with town administrator Nate Bareham to develop a town capital plan by looking at what other towns are doing for capital planning.

“All of us in Charlotte, who own homes and have our own water and septic, know that you could be in crisis quickly if you’re not prepared, and then you end up spending more,” Devine said.

She said dozens of people have asked her to run for reelection.

Likewise, JD Herlihy said that 30-50 people had encouraged him to run for this two-year seat.

Herlihy recently stepped down from the development review board to seek appointment to the planning commission, but withdrew his name for consideration because he realized it was going to be difficult to attend meetings in the middle of the week.

The development review board’s regular meetings are on Wednesdays. The planning commission’s regular meetings are on Thursdays, and it recently changed its rules to discourage remote participation, Herlihy said.

The selectboard’s regular meetings are on Mondays, and members often participate remotely.

Then in January, he began to seriously consider running for the selectboard after he was approached by a number of people asking him to run.

His background as a molecular biologist gives him an analytical approach. Herlihy has worked in sales and business development for scientific companies, which has helped him develop skills to communicate with people from a variety of backgrounds, like academics, research, pharma and biotech companies.

“I spend a lot of time listening to customers and listening to their needs and trying to find solutions to those needs,” Herlihy said. He feels like listening to customers is very much like listening to the needs of residents and finding solutions for them.

Krohn said he was “nudged” to run by Charlotte residents who appreciated his expertise and experience in municipal government and some who even baked cookies to sweeten the deal.

He has worked in public service on municipal, regional and state levels for 35 years.

Some people run for office because they have one specific, single issue they hope to accomplish, Krohn said, but for him a really successful term would be one in which residents feel they have been heard and respected.

His hope is to help foster “a calmer, more cooperative, more collaborative working relationship on the board and with committees.”

“If voters will have me on the board, I’ll do my best to help steer things in a very positive, productive direction,” he said.

Assuming that things go as expected and he is elected to the three-year term, Krohn said he recognizes that, in Faulkner, he will be replacing a hard worker on the selectboard.

“He does his homework,” Krohn said. “My understanding is he meets with Nate before every meeting. That’s a really important thing to do.”

Candidates for other town positions are also running unopposed.