Burlington City Councilor Brian Pine, P-Ward 3, is set to become the next director of the city’s influential Community and Economic Development Office.
The Progressive city councilor would be returning to the office where he spent 18 years working on housing policy, beginning in the 1990s. The City Council still needs to approve Pine’s appointment; a vote is scheduled for Monday.
Pine will have to resign from the City Council if formally approved for the new job, in accordance with the city charter’s rules, Weinberger said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon announcing Pine’s appointment. That means Ward 3 would be without a city councilor for the next couple of months until the city can organize a special election, likely to be held Aug. 17, Weinberger said.
“My love for Burlington made this decision pretty easy,” Pine said
“There’s really no higher calling than public service in my life,” he said, “in terms of making a positive difference in the community and in the lives of people who live in our community.”
CEDO’s most recent director, Luke McGowen, left the post in early February to take an adviser position in the Biden White House’s Intergovernmental Affairs Team.
Pine’s joining a team that has seen considerable turnover during Weinberger’s administration. Pine will be the sixth director of CEDO in Weinberger’s nine years in office.
Pine said he did not know if the excessive turnover in the past decade has hurt CEDO, but he said he plans to remain in the role for as long as he has Weinberger’s support.
“The performance of CEDO has been excellent through the recovery, or through the pandemic,” Pine said. “And so the results do not support the supposition that staff has suffered. I would say that staff have shared with me that they’re looking forward to having stable leadership that is experienced, and I hope to be able to bring that.”
Weinberger said Pine is uniquely qualified to lead the CEDO office because of his extensive connections and experience in Burlington. Pine served on the City Council from 1991 to 1995 and ran again in 2018 to represent Ward 3, where he’s been serving since.
He got his start at CEDO as the assistant director for housing and neighborhood revitalization. There, he oversaw initiatives such as the Lead and Healthy Homes Program to remove lead from aging homes and launched the Vermont Community Loan Fund to help nonprofits secure funding that aids low-income Vermonters.
Since then, he’s worked as a consultant for the Vermont Energy Investment Corp. and created his own consulting firm to aid nonprofits with project planning and development.
Pine challenged Weinberger in the city’s most recent mayoral race this past March, but lost the Progressive nomination to City Council President Max Tracy. During the race, Pine said Weinberger wasn’t a collaborative leader and had “surrounded himself with people who largely support him and agree with him.”
Despite the jab, Weinberger said he thinks they’ll work well together moving forward.
“People who have been competitors or on other sides of a campaign roll up their sleeves, get down to work and make the community better for Burlingtonians,” Weinberger said. “I’ve seen that happen many times in my nine years, and I’m totally confident that Brian and I are going to be able to work together in that way.”
Pine agreed and said there will be room for respectful disagreement between the two leaders.
When he formally enters the new role, Pine said he wants to prioritize internal organization for CEDO.
He said there have been concerns for years that the funding CEDO receives doesn’t always support the expectations the community has for the office, and he wants to shore up the office’s finances. He said he also wants to build up staff morale and implement CEDO’s 2019 strategic plan for development in the city.
He also wants to help the mayor execute this summer’s housing summit, which will focus specifically on increasing Black homeownership in the city. He also said people experiencing homelessness in Burlington will need support and affordable housing as Covid-19 state funding for motel shelters begins to dissipate.
