RICHFORD — Michael Olio never imagined he would have a job in local government.
Growing up in Richford, Olio said he “didn’t really hear what was going on” at town hall. But after spending two years at home during the pandemic while finishing his college degree online, Olio found a new interest in the inner workings of his Franklin County town.
Just months after graduating from Champlain College, where he majored in business administration, the 22-year-old was hired as Richford’s first town administrator.
Richford officials have said they hope Olio’s position, which reports to the selectboard, will make their government more accessible to local residents.
“That’s huge to me: that everyone’s informed on what’s going on,” Olio said in an interview Tuesday.
Olio, who started in May, is one of the town’s three full-time employees, along with the town clerk and an assistant. His $52,000 salary is partially funded by grants.
During his final semester of college last fall, Olio worked part-time for the Richford town government, managing local economic development initiatives. He has also worked at Blue Seal Feeds in Richford and Franklin Foods in neighboring Enosburg Falls.
Levi Irish, who previously held that economic development role, said she thinks hiring Olio, even at a relatively young age, was “a no-brainer.”
“He has a family that’s incredibly involved in our community, and has been for a long time,” Irish said. “So he has some of those connections and an understanding of how things work.”
The town, which is along the border with Canada, has a population of about 2,600. Its high school drew national attention last summer as the alma mater of Elle Purrier St. Pierre, who competed in the women’s 1,500-meter race at the Tokyo Olympics.
Richford has long struggled with higher-than-average poverty rates, below-average incomes, lower home values and lower educational attainment, among other indicators. About 13% of residents live below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census, and median household income is about $48,000, roughly three-quarters of what it is statewide.
Olio said he thinks many Richford residents have big ideas for how to improve social outcomes in town. He wants to channel those ideas into clear, specific goals.
One of the first projects he’s been working on, together with the Northwest Regional Planning Commission, is creating a plan to improve the town’s streetscape.
Emily Klofft, a regional planner at the St. Albans-based organization, said Richford has sidewalks connecting much of its state-designated village center, but many of them are in poor condition and don’t meet modern accessibility standards.
Creating more of a buffer between the roadway and the sidewalk, especially on Main Street, could make the village center feel “like more of a destination where you want to walk,” Klofft said, and would also improve pedestrian safety.
Olio also is working with the Winooski-based nonprofit Efficiency Vermont on plans for making some buildings in Richford — such as the town hall, fire station and library — more environmentally friendly. At the town hall, he said, officials have switched out existing lights for LEDs and want to get the building insulated to lower heating costs.
Another issue is that much of the town’s housing stock, and in particular its rental housing, is old and in poor condition, according to Olio and Irish.
Forty-nine percent of housing units in town are renter-occupied, according to Irish — more than 1.5 times the statewide rate.
Olio plans to send information regularly to landlords about grant and loan programs they could utilize to improve their units. The town didn’t have someone to conduct that type of outreach prior to his arrival as town administrator, he said.
Overall, Olio hopes improvements to Richford’s streets and buildings will make the town more attractive to new development. Several local residents told VTDigger last fall that they’d like to see more businesses in town — a hardware store, for instance — and more things to do.
Olio pointed to Vermont Natural Forest Products, a business that began operating in January in a building that had been vacant for almost a year, as a recent success.
The company was started by local residents and produces mulches, wood chips and wood pellets. It’s focused on using locally harvested timber and selling its products to local customers, said Josh Gervais, one of the company’s founders.
“A big thing right now we’re experiencing is these fuel prices, so trucking material further than necessary just doesn’t work anymore.” Gervais said. added the company is also working with Efficiency Vermont to look for ways to reduce its environmental impact.
Gervais and his co-founder, Matt Gregoire, are graduates of Cold Hollow Career Center in Enosburg Falls. Irish, who coordinates co-ops at Cold Hollow, said she wants to use the forest products company’s facility to help teach current and future students.
While Richford has a rich history of manufacturing, Olio said, one of his goals is for the town to bolster its outdoor recreation economy. Richford is the northern terminus of the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail, a multi-use outdoor path that spans Franklin County.
Irish has also said that the town is well-positioned, at about a half-hour drive from Jay Peak Resort, to offer outdoor winter activities such as sledding and snow tubing.
Asked about managing government at age 22, Olio said he thinks he brings new energy to town hall that will help him see projects through to their completion.
And is he the youngest town administrator in Vermont today?
“I would bet on that,” Olio said with a laugh.
This story was updated with Olio’s complete salary information.