Rutland City voters will elect a new mayor on Town Meeting Day in a rare write-in race that has left candidates only a month to campaign.
The election was set in motion on Jan. 29, after current Mayor Mike Doenges unexpectedly announced his resignation midway through his second term.
After a mayoral vacancy, the Board of Aldermen president would normally fill the role until the next annual meeting, according to the city charter. But Doenges’ resignation took effect Friday, mere days before the annual Town Meeting.
So Rutland City voters must choose their next mayor by a write-in election, according to a legal opinion by attorney Matt Bloomer and shared by Doenges. The next mayor will serve the remaining year left in Doenges’ two-year term.
On Town Meeting Day, the victor will be decided by plurality vote, meaning whoever gets the most votes wins. The city already has tabulators that count write-in votes on Tuesday night, City Clerk Tracy Kapusta said.
At the Feb. 17 Board of Aldermen meeting, Chris Louras, a former mayor who served in the role for 10 years until 2017, railed against the legal opinion, characterizing the write-in election as a “circus” and “bordering on a farce.”
Louras proposed a resolution to the board — which ultimately failed — to accept Doenges’ resignation after Town Meeting Day, meaning that the board president David Alliare would assume the mayoral post for the next year.
Doenges said early voting was already underway based on the legal opinion, and it would be inappropriate to change the resignation date after the fact. Over 400 residents have already cast their ballots as of Friday, according to Kapusta.
It may not be the best case scenario, but a write-in election is legally required under the city charter, Doenges said.
Doenges said Rutland is headed on the right track, and the city has seen improvement in housing stock and public safety in the past three years. A downtown hotel project is underway through voter approval of a Tax Increment Financing District bond for related infrastructure improvements.
In the past month, the state has also recognized the potential of the project to bring housing and economic revitalization to the downtown. Gov. Phil Scott’s office granted the project $1.5 million through the Brownfield Revitalization fund, and State Treasurer Mike Pieciak gave $8 million in a low-interest loan through the 10% in VT program to the downtown hotel project.
One-month campaign
It’s a crowded field in the write-in race. Tom Donahue, current Board of Aldermen member and chief executive officer of BROC Community Action, said his platform as a mayoral candidate is centered on improving public safety and building upon economic development and Tax Increment Financing district projects like the downtown hotel.
Donahue has gained endorsements from the municipal and school department worker union AFSCME Council 93 Local 1201 and by Gov. Scott, as reported by NBC 5. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 410 — composed of Rutland City police union workers and other law enforcement members — wrote a letter of support for Donahue’s candidacy as well.
“Having us all unified day one is the only way we’re going to meet with success in the next year, so their support is monumental in accomplishing that and not wasting the next year,” Donahue said.
Current Board President David Allaire, who served as Rutland’s mayor for six years before Doenges unseated him, entered the race after the Feb. 17 meeting. Allaire said a “one month campaign with basically no debates, no time to fundraise, just basically getting your word out on social media and name recognition” is not a good way to elect a mayor, but he thinks he can bring stability to the mayor’s office.
Alliare said he supports the downtown hotel project and related-infrastructure projects facilitated by the Tax Increment Financing District, but thinks municipal employee positions were added unsustainably and wants to tamp down on city spending to bring down taxes.
Henry Heck threw his hat in the ring at the Feb. 17 meeting, while questioning holding the write-in election, calling it a disservice to voters. Heck vied for the mayoral post last year, but lost against Doenges with 43% of the vote. Heck served as city clerk before Doenges did not reappoint Heck to the role in his first term as mayor.
During the previous election cycle, Heck was embroiled in controversy when he spoke about pay increase requests on a social media livestream during the confidential police union contract negotiation process before the negotiations reached an impasse. Soon after, the municipal city worker union went public with an unfair labor practice charge levied against Heck for alleged “anti-union bias.”
At the time, Heck said the impasse was due to lack of support from the Board of Aldermen and unrelated to his remarks. He also called the unfair labor practice charge a “smear campaign.”
Heck said he wants to bring relief to property taxpayers with a trim budget, and “guide the ship to where we need to be to get to 2027 and let the voters have a better opportunity to elect someone that they really would like.”
Long-time Rutland resident Luigi Illiano said he’s running for mayor because he wants to eliminate the mayor position altogether and instead create a city manager role as well as privatize the Department of Public Works and potentially other city services.
An IT professional originally from the state of Georgia, Harper Ennis said he wants to bring back the marble mining industry to build the city’s wealth and create subterranean infrastructure for unhoused people and shelter during disasters, among other ideas in his platform.
Local musician Rick Redington said his candidacy took off on social media after he jokingly posted a photo of himself “flipping the bird” to a piece of ice, to symbolize how he feels about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Given the grassroots support for his candidacy from the post, Redington said he would focus on the housing crisis, lowering property taxes, improving mental health services and creating trade programs for people transitioning out of the criminal justice system.
Robert Reynolds is running for mayor on a platform of anti-corruption and fiscal accountability. Candidate Lane Patorti did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
