[F]air Haven will swear in its newest local leader this week: a 3-year-old Nubian goat.
Voters narrowly elected Lincoln to be the town’s first pet mayor on Town Meeting Day.
Lincoln faced off against 15 other candidates for the new position. Most of the other nominees were cats and dogs, as well as one gerbil.
Ultimately, Lincoln clinched the town’s top nonhuman job with 13 votes, besting her closest competitor — a Samoyed named Sammy Viger — by a narrow margin of just three votes.
On Tuesday, Lincoln will be sworn in as Fair Haven pet mayor — and indeed the town’s only mayor: Fair Haven is governed by a selectboard.
Town Manager Joe Gunter got the idea for a pet mayor from a town in Michigan as a way to raise money for a new playground and involve kids in Vermont’s annual exercise in local civic engagement.
The town recruited candidates by sending flyers home with elementary school children, and asked for a $5 donation for registration.
There wasn’t much campaigning for the new position, Gunter said, though one candidate did put in an effort, posing in front of the town hall.
“We did have one dog, she took some pretty good pictures,” he said.
As pet mayor, Lincoln’s responsibilities will include a busy schedule of public appearances, including marching in the Memorial Day parade and greeting residents at weekly Friday events in the town. She’ll fit those in around her usual day job: keeping down brush around the home of her owner, local teacher Chris Stanton.
As a fundraiser, the exercise raised about $100 — only a modest step towards the $80,000 needed for equipment for redoing the playground.
But Gunter hopes the contest will be carried on in years ahead. It’s a way for Fair Haven residents too young for the voter rolls to weigh in on Town Meeting Day. More than 50 ballots were cast in the contest.
Gunter sees it as an opportunity to “break the ice and get the kids used to coming out and voting and taking part in what’s going on.”
News of Lincoln’s election elicited reactions across the state and country, including a message of congratulations from Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt.
Congraaaats to Lincoln, the new pet mayor of Fair Haven! It’s a big job, no kidding, but you goat this. #vtpoli ? https://t.co/45tlzPuOyB
— Rep. Peter Welch (@PeterWelch) March 7, 2019
The pundits’ punning on the state’s newest municipal leader caught the attention of one other unorthodox Vermont politico — Ethan Sonneborn who last year sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination at the young age of 14.
Unintentionally subtweeting me. https://t.co/bTZjBgYcyF
— Ethan Sonneborn (@RealESonneborn) March 8, 2019
