Gov. Peter Shumlin appointed two new Cabinet members on Thursday.
Justin Johnston, deputy secretary for the Agency of Natural Resources, will serve as secretary of the Agency of Administration and Hal Cohen, director of Capstone Community Action, will be the next secretary of the Agency of Human Services.
Johnston has worked for the state’s environmental agencies for more than a decade. Prior to working for the state, he has also served a top advisor to a member of the Australian Parliament. Natural Resources Secretary Deb Markowitz said she will start a job search for Johnson’s replacement immediately and expects an announcement in the next few weeks.
He will face an immediate challenge in reshaping the budget.
State agencies are expected to cut more than $17 million for the current budget year, on top of $30 million in cuts made this summer following a downgrade in revenue projections. The state is also facing a $100 million projected deficit for the next fiscal year.
“It’s pretty clear that the budget is a challenge,” he said during a news conference in the governor’s ceremonial office at the statehouse. “My view of the budget is always that it’s not just a set of numbers. It’s a financial plan to achieve your goals. The governor’s goal is affordability.”
Johnston replaces Jeb Spaulding, who will become chancellor of the state’s public college system. Spaulding, who recommended Johnston, said the new secretary has “the confidence and the skills to do an even better job than even the existing Secretary of Administration.”
Cohen has worked at Capstone (formerly Central Vermont Community Action Council), a low-income service agency based in Barre, for 18 years. He has never served in state government. He will take office in early January, replacing former secretary Doug Racine, who was fired in August. Interim Secretary Harry Chen will return to his former post as commissioner of the Department of Health.
Cohen said his goal is to move beyond mitigating poverty, toward helping people get out of poverty.
“We have a tremendous safety net in Vermont. And it’s really important that we continue to have a strong safety net,” he said. “But one of the things that we also have to do is to think about how we are going to move people out of poverty.”
Chen said Cohen has the ability to both manage and make tough decisions. He said his time as interim secretary was one of the most challenging jobs in his life. Nonetheless, he said it wasn’t an easy decision to leave the post.
“It’s been four months,” he said. “Seems like a few years.”
