Londonderry is seeking a town clerk and state legislator with the resignation of dual officeholder Kelly Pajala, who has taken a job with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“I am starting a new job with FEMA’s Community Assistance Team in Vermont,” Pajala wrote on her public Facebook page upon her July 31 career change and confirmed in an interview. “I am excited about this next chapter and am ready to jump into the work that is ahead.”
The Londonderry Selectboard is seeking a town clerk to fill out the rest of Pajala’s term, which runs until March. In the interim, municipal Treasurer Tina Labeau will serve in the post, although she told VTDigger she doesn’t want it permanently.
Pajala isn’t running again for the Windham-Windsor-Bennington district House seat for the towns of Andover, Londonderry, Weston and Winhall, to which she was appointed in 2017 and elected in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
“While this feels like a big decision and was not made lightly, it is also clearly the right thing to do at the right time for me and my family,” she wrote in a letter to constituents. “The next few years are the last my kids will be just that, kids. I want to be able to give them the best of myself as they make choices about growing into their own lives.”
Pajala has run in the past as an independent and had until Thursday, Aug. 8, to file a petition to seek reelection. Instead, Janet “Jan” Payne of Andover will appear on the Republican primary ballot Tuesday, Aug. 13, and Chris Morrow of Weston has announced his intent to seek write-in votes to clinch the Democratic nomination. (Morrow did not file signatures in advance of the deadline for appearing on the primary ballot.)
Gov. Phil Scott’s office said it had just learned of Pajala’s resignation and couldn’t yet comment on appointing an interim replacement.
Correction: Earlier versions of this article misidentified the status of Chris Morrow’s candidacy.
