PRESS RELEASE
To: All
From: Town Manager’s Office
Date: 11/29/22
John Potter Selected as Brattleboro Town Manager
Brattleboro, VT—The Brattleboro Selectboard has chosen John R. Potter as the new Town Manager. Mr. Potter will assume his new responsibilities on December 30, 2022.
“On behalf of the Brattleboro Selectboard, I congratulate John Potter on being selected as our new Town Manager” said Ian Goodnow, Selectboard Chair. “We considered many well qualified candidates during our nationwide search. The Selectboard conducted this process with care and diligence, and we are very pleased with the result. We are confident that John Potter has an enthusiasm for good governance and for Brattleboro that he will bring to his new role. We look forward to working with John for the benefit of the people of Brattleboro.”
“I really appreciate the Selectboard offering me an opportunity to serve as Brattleboro’s next Town Manager and look forward to earning the trust of the town. My wife Marie Elena and I are excited to move back to New England and become active members of the Brattleboro community. Brattleboro’s reputation as a thoughtful and progressive community drew us to this special place, and it will be great to work together with the many active community leaders and partners in town.”
The Brattleboro Town Manager is appointed by and works under the direction of the five–member Selectboard, elected on a nonpartisan basis. He is responsible for a General Fund budget of $20 million, plus enterprise funds for water and sewer, and downtown parking; and 140 full–time employees. The Town Manager also works with the 140–member Representative Town Meeting on final approval of the Town budget, borrowing for large–scale capital projects, and other major policy decisions.
John Potter currently serves as Deputy Director of the Open Space and Mountain Parks Department in Boulder, Colorado where he has been since 2016. In this position Mr. Potter oversees a division of 50 staff and manages a budget of between $4M and $7M, annually. Previously, he worked for the State of Oregon as Senior Policy Advisor in the Department of State Lands and as the Assistant Director responsible for managing Oregon’s State Park system. During his tenure with the State of Oregon, Mr. Potter led a team of 725 staff and oversaw an annual budget of $60M. Earlier in his career, Mr. Potter was the Director of Land Management for New York City’s Bureau of Water Supply; the Land Superintendent for the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission; and a manager for Land’s Sake, Inc. in the Town of Weston, Massachusetts. He has extensive administrative experience in the management of public lands, facilities, and services, and has collaborated on numerous, complex, cross–disciplinary and intergovernmental projects throughout his career. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Williams College and a master’s degree in forest management from Yale University and is a native of eastern Massachusetts.
Mercer Group Associates, a national public sector executive search and consulting firm, assisted the Selectboard with its search. The Selectboard received many applications from Vermont and several other states and considered a number of candidates with extensive public management experience. The Selectboard conducted initial interviews with several semifinalists, and second interviews with a small number of finalists. “We thank Patrick Moreland, our Assistant Town Manager, for his valuable service as Interim Town Manager. We also appreciate his assistance and that of Human Resources Director Sally Nix for their contributions throughout the search process. Our new Town Manager will find that our Town is well prepared to address the opportunities and challenges ahead, with active community involvement and the assistance of our very capable Town staff.” said Chair Goodnow.
Brattleboro, the economic and cultural hub of southeastern Vermont, is a town of about 12,000 people, with a diversity of businesses and a great quality of life.
