KATHLEEN RAMSAY

MIDDLEBURY — The town of Middlebury is in the market for a new town manager, following Tuesday’s announcement that the shire town’s longtime top administrator, Kathleen Ramsay, will be leaving in early September to take a new job with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT).

Ramsay has served as Middlebury town manager since 2012, succeeding Bill Finger. She had previously served Middlebury, from 2000-2007, as assistant town manager.

The 59-year-old has helmed Middlebury’s municipal government during some major events, including the COVID pandemic, construction of new town offices and a new recreation center, and the completion of a major downtown rail tunnel project.

After leaving Middlebury in 2007, Ramsay served as the top administrator of Pittsford, and then Killington, before returning to the county’s shire town in 2011 as assistant manager and the heir apparent to Finger, who had given the selectboard word of his 2012 retirement plans.

“I feel right at home here,” Ramsay told the Independent back in 2012, following her promotion to town manager. “I look forward to a long tenure.”

That statement proved prophetic, as 12 years is a long run these days in the realm of Vermont town managers.

Ramsay has accepted a job as Municipal Operations Specialist for the VLCT’s newly created Finance, Operations and Management Assistance Program. She’ll be tasked with a position “working one-on-one with local officials of municipalities that were impacted by the 2023 floods to assess municipal operational capacity, determine targeted plans to address vulnerabilities, highlight opportunities and advance recovery and long-term resilience efforts,” Ramsay said through an email.

Her last day on the job here will be Friday, Sept. 6.

Meanwhile, the Middlebury selectboard on Tuesday turned its attention to the recruitment process for Ramsay’s replacement. Ramsay has suggested a timeline through which the position:

• Will be advertised from July 10-24, with applications reviewed as they come in.

• A first round of interviews Aug. 5-16.

• A second round of interviews from Aug. 19-23.

• Background and reference checks of the most promising candidates Aug. 26-30.

• A job offer by Sept. 10.

It’s a process that officials hope will lead to a finalist being able to start the job between Oct. 10 and Nov. 10.

In addition to this brief news summary, the Independent will offer a more expansive article soon noting Ramsay’s contributions to, and impressions of, Middlebury’s considerable transformation during her tenure. 

Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].