SHOREHAM — The town of Shoreham welcomes a new town clerk this week.
Incumbent Clerk Amy Douglas decided to step down, effective Nov. 29, after approximately five years of service. The selectboard has appointed resident Julie Ortuno to take Douglas’ place until the Town Meeting Day elections next March.
Douglas said she has simply decided to retire.
“I really enjoyed it,” she said of the job. “I just decided that now was the time (to retire).”
Ortuno and her husband, Jim, are former owners of the Shoreham Inn. Julie Ortuno most recently worked as assistant innkeeper at the Swift House Inn in Middlebury. Prior to that, she was employed as sales manager at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Middlebury.
Serving as town clerk will allow her to work in her hometown, around two miles from her home and just across the street from her husband’s shop, Shoreham Upholstery. Ortuno said she will definitely run for the position on Town Meeting Day.
“It’s really been fun to reconnect with people again,” she said.
Turns out that Shoreham residents will be voting for more than just a town clerk next March. Town treasurer Barbara Kivlin said she will retire and not run again.