Gov.-elect Peter Shumlin has named Brian Searles, the director of aviation at the Burlington International Airport, to head the Agency of Transportation. Sue Minter, a member of the Vermont House of Representatives and a planner with the Vermont Department of Economic Housing and Community Development, will serve as deputy secretary.
Searles was the Secretary of the Agency of Transportation before he went to work for the state’s largest airport in 2005. Over the course of 40 years in public service, Searles has served as the South Burlington police chief, the executive director of the Criminal Justice Training Council, which operated the Vermont Police Academy in Pittsford, commissioner of the Department of Personnel and deputy secretary of the Agency of Administration.
Minter, who has served in the Legislature since 2004, is now a member of the House Appropriations Committee. She previously served on the Transportation Committee where she drew attention to the state’s bridge and highway infrastructure problems. Minter has a master’s degree in planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.
Searles’ annual salary will be $115,000; Minter’s will be $85,000, according to a press release.
The governor-elect announced the appointments on Monday afternoon at the transition team offices at 128 State St., Montpelier.
Shumlin is meeting with President Barack Obama this week as part of a group of newly elected governors from around the country. Shumlin said he hopes to discuss a federal waiver program for a single-payer health care system in Vermont while he is in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday and Thursday.
Shumlin also told reporters that his former rival, Brian Dubie, has offered to introduce him to officials in the Province of Quebec. Dubie, in his capacity as lieutenant governor, has served as a Vermont liaison to the Canadian government. A date has not been set for a meeting in Quebec, Shumlin said.
Editor’s note: Photos, video and updated text were added to this post at about 9:30 p.m. Nov. 29, 2010.
