BRATTLEBORO — Local leaders hired a former New Jersey administrator to succeed Town Manager Peter Elwell, who is set to retire at the end of the year.
Octavian “Yoshi” Manale, most recently a deputy mayor and chief of staff for the City of Trenton, will transition into his new post after Thanksgiving and officially start Jan. 1, the Brattleboro Selectboard announced Tuesday night.
“The Selectboard is unanimous in our enthusiasm and confidence in you,” Chair Elizabeth McLoughlin told Manale during an online meeting. “We’re just so happy with our choice.”
Manale, originally from Silver Spring, Maryland, earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and religious studies from New Jersey’s Seton Hall University in 2003 and a master’s degree in public administration from New York University in 2015.
Manale has worked the past two decades in several New Jersey state and local government posts, as director of operations and budget for that region’s Kean University and in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Contract Services.
He also has been a fellow in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.
“The chance to help Brattleboro in progressive cultural change and sustainable development drew me to this opportunity,” Manale said in a statement, “and I look forward to meeting and building positive relationships.”
Local leaders said they would publicize the details of Manale’s contract once he signs it.
Elwell, 59, who grew up in Brattleboro, surprised townspeople last spring by announcing his imminent departure after six years on the job.
“I will continue to contribute to the welfare of our community as a volunteer and supporter of various causes and projects,” Elwell, the former manager of Palm Beach, Florida, said at the time. “However, after 36 years in local government management, I must admit that I look forward to making my future contributions in a supporting role.”
Elwell is the second generation of his family to help lead his hometown. His father, Corwin, held the same position from 1960 to 1989.
Local leaders feared replacing the town manager would not be easy, and not simply because Elwell is a rare unifier in a community known for diversity and debate. The Selectboard invested $15,000 in Brattleboro’s previous search, only to have three candidates decline the job before Elwell applied.
Leaders hired a consultant for their latest nationwide search, which received 94 applications before the Selectboard chose 11 semifinalists and interviewed two finalists with the help of staff and selected community representatives.
In his tenure, Elwell has pushed for more government work on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. He hired Vermont’s first Black female police chief, for example, after a Community Safety Review Committee faulted how police and other crisis responders interact with marginalized populations.
“We acknowledge that people here in our community have experienced harm from the existing systems,” Elwell said in a municipal statement. “We acknowledge that as people in positions of authority today we have an obligation to develop a more complete understanding of the harm that is being experienced and to take action.”
Elwell, a 1980 graduate of Brattleboro Union High School, earned degrees in political science from Middlebury College and governmental administration from the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife will stay in town, where they live near their two grown children.
