WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — When asked this week about ideal traits in a next town manager, residents mentioned a name almost as frequently as qualities such as leadership, communication and transparency.

That name was Leo Pullar, a former town manager who retired in 2018 due to health concerns. In a series of community forums held this week to gather input for Hartford’s next top administrator, residents repeatedly mentioned Pullar when asked about the type of person to hire. Overall, most residents said they wanted the type of municipal leader that any community would appreciate: an effective manager who is accessible to residents and responsive to their concerns.

“One of the things that ingratiated Leo to people was that he was visible,” Wilder resident Marcy Bartlett said. “You saw him out and about. You didn’t see him cloistered in an office.”

Nearly all residents and community stakeholders agreed that the ideal candidate should be “a people person.”

“We want the next person to come to be a part of this community, to go out in the community, to talk to (community members) on a consistent basis,” said Joe Major, a member of the Town Manager Search Committee that organized the forums.

In the last several years, Hartford has seen frequent turnover at the top, having hired four permanent town managers and five interim managers. In December, the Selectboard parted ways with Town Manager Tracy Yarlott-Davis — who came to the job from California — six weeks after placing her on administrative leave. Finance Director Gail Ostrout is currently the acting town manager, and Human Resources Director Paula Nulty is the acting assistant town manager.

Most residents said the next town manager should have both municipal management experience and a familiarity in Vermont’s town-government model and rural New England culture.

“If nothing else, the town manager has to be a very seasoned manager who understands Vermont law and governance,” said Colin Butler, a member of the town Planning Commission. “There’s a lot to the way that Vermont governs that someone (from outside New England) is not going to be familiar with.”

Some forum participants suggested any candidate should understand the “complexity” of Hartford and its many villages, as well as the needs and challenges facing rural Vermont communities.

“We’re unique in the Upper Valley as one of the core towns, partly because of our transportation (system) and partly because of the concentration of services you can find here,” said Mark Bradley, executive director of the Bugbee Senior Center.

Hartford’s “complexity” also applies to the town’s diverse population and geography, participants indicated.

The town spans 45 square miles with a population of 10,300, mostly clustered in five villages: Hartford, Wilder, White River Junction, Queechee and West Hartford.

In recent years, the urban core of White River Junction has undergone a major economic revitalization, including the construction of new apartment buildings and commercial spaces. This growth has led to an influx of newcomers, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At a forum on Monday, Wilder resident Geri Williams said that longtime municipal residents have often felt ignored in recent years.

“The most important people (in Hartford) are the people who have lived here year after year and have paid taxes year after year and who have been the foundation of our town,” Williams said. “And those people have not been listened to and heard.”

She urged a focus on roads and infrastructure, which she said had been neglected because recent selectboards had tackled issues such as racial diversity and homelessness.

“And none of those things are unimportant, but we don’t have safe roads or water that’s working for (all of us) and we don’t have Gates Street fixed,” Williams said, referring to a roadway that’s long been in disrepair. “So I want somebody who is going to focus on the town government and the business of running Hartford.”

Search committee members acknowledged that finding a candidate who meets the preferences of all residents will be a challenge, particularly considering the difficulties other Upper Valley communities have had finding qualified town manager candidates.

For example, last year Claremont officials reached out personally to hire Octavian “Yoshi” Manale as its city manager after a formal search using contracted services failed to yield a candidate that satisfied the council.

Manale had recently become available after resigning as Brattleboro, Vt.’s town manager, a position he held for only five months.

“This is going to be a heavy lift hiring someone,” Major said. “We may have to pay a little bit more than we normally would for that person.”

Between Monday and Wednesday the search committee held five listening sessions, including four forums in person and one virtually. The committee held each in-person forum in a different village — Hartford, Wilder, Quechee and West Hartford.

Committee member Gabrielle Lucke said the forums were designed to ensure that everyone in the community could have the ability to participate and feel included.

“These sessions are an opportunity to do some ‘team building’ for our community, for lack of a better word,” Lucke said. “We need that to happen.”

Patrick Adrian may be reached at padrian@vnews.com or at 603-727-3216.

Correction: A previous version of this story misattributed a quote about former Hartford Town Manager Leo Pullar that began: “One of the things that ingratiated Leo to people was that he was visible.” It has been corrected to reflect that Wilder resident Marcy Bartlett gave the quote.

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