RIPTON — Selectmen here have picked Ripton General Store co-owner Richard Collitt to fill a vacancy on the selectboard until municipal elections take place next March.
Ripton Town Clerk Sally Hoyler confirmed the board recently picked Collitt from a list of four local residents who had declared interest in serving the balance of a term being vacated by longtime incumbent Selectman William Ford.
Collitt, who was unavailable for comment as the Addison Independent went to press on Friday, officially joined the board on Sept. 1 and will attend his first meeting on Monday, Sept. 14.
“He said he felt it was a privilege,” Hoyler said of Collitt’s attitude toward service on the board.
Collitt has been a longtime member of the Ripton Planning Commission, but is resigning from that post to join the selectboard, according to Hoyler.
Collitt and his wife, Sue, have owned and operated the Ripton store for more than two decades, Hoyler said.
Residents Kevin Jackson, Ed Sullivan and Robert Wagner had also asked to be considered for the selectboard vacancy. The board, after conducting interviews, ultimately decided to Collitt. They and other candidates will be eligible to run for the post when it comes up for grabs on Town Meeting Day next March.
Ripton is seeing turnover on its selectboard for the first time in almost a quarter-century. Ford, Laurie Cox and Ron Wimett all joined the Ripton selectboard at the same time in 1986. Cox and Wimett will continue to serve with Collitt. Ford resigned in order to have more time to devote to his many other interests and duties, including as current facilities manager and commission member of the Middlebury’s Memorial Sports Center.