Barre City residents this Town Meeting Day will have the rare opportunity to vote in a contested mayoral race. Whoever prevails will helm central Vermont’s largest city through an era flush with cash and opportunity for generational change.
After four years in his seat, incumbent Mayor Lucas Herring is not seeking reelection, opening up the third contested race in 16 years. To replace him, Barre residents will choose between Jake Hemmerick and Rich Morey, both of whom have lived in Barre for years and have experience serving on the City Council.
Both also happen to be 40 years old and, as is custom for Barre’s nonpartisan mayoral elections, neither will be identified by party affiliation on the ballot.
“Especially in a small town, it almost gets to the point where it feels like a popularity contest,” Morey said. “And it’s not really fair to either one of us because it’s not a popularity contest. You know, you should really be considering people for the issues they stand for and the hot-button issues that are going on in the community.”
When asked by VTDigger what differentiates him from his opponent, Morey cited his temperament, saying that the political diversity of his backers “really speaks to how well I’m able to work with everybody.” Morey, who works in sales at an infrared technology company, was considered a swing vote during his three years on the council, according to the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus.
Asked the same question, Hemmerick, a community planning and policy manager for the state, suggested that Morey’s campaign messaging “seems to be that he’s not me.”
“I haven’t seen a lot of actual policy proposals, and that’s one thing I think that really differentiates me, is that I have concrete ideas and vision for the city and how to bring people together and build consensus to get things done,” Hemmerick said.
A microcosm of the state as a whole, Barre holds an unprecedented amount of federal dollars thanks to Covid-era aid and infrastructure initiatives to address a backlog of needs.
But the money is only one-time funding. And so Morey advocates the city take “a real measured approach.”
“You don’t want to rush in and spend all that money because it is tempting to say, ‘We’ve got this project, that project and let’s get all these things done, and we’ve got this money,’” he said. “And then before you know it, the money’s gone.”
Among Hemmerick’s criticisms of the City Council, on which he has served for two years, is that “we’ve been pretty reactive in some respects, instead of proactive.”
He laid out his own plan for Barre’s $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars: approximately $1 million for housing, $1 million for infrastructure and $500,000 for community innovation grants.
Asked about Barre’s most pressing issues, both candidates cited infrastructure needs and a desire to bring new life to the city’s downtown storefronts. Morey said his first priority would be building bridges between city employees, council members and the community. For Hemmerick, it would be developing a long-term strategic plan for the city.
For both candidates, housing is top of mind.
Morey has been renting — and house-hunting — in Barre for years. He said that he has put in five written offers on houses in the city, only to be outbid by cash buyers. In fact, he said, he decided against running for re-election for his council seat because he was not sure if he would buy a house in Ward 3. A year later, he’s still in his rental property.
Hemmerick and his partner bought their home several years ago after relocating from Colchester. With home prices sky-rocketing, though, Hemmerick said they “feel like we won the lottery.”
“Getting a home shouldn’t feel like a lottery,” he said. “It’s a basic need that everybody has.”
Barre residents can cast their ballots at the Barre Civic Center Auditorium on March 1 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters can also drop off absentee ballots at the same location in that window. Voters can request an absentee ballot through the clerk’s office in City Hall. Sample ballots can be found here.
