Town manager search chooses a favorite among three finalists

June 26, 2026  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

With interviews completed this week, Waterbury town officials have chosen their top candidate for the municipal manager position and hope to announce a hire in early July. 

Waterbury Select Board Chair Martha Staskus said the board is in conversations with a candidate regarding a job offer. 

“If the offer is accepted, reference work and background checks will be conducted,” Staskus said in an email to the Waterbury Roundabout. “It is the selectboard’s hope to be in a position to announce and appoint a new municipal manager in early July.”

The board, along with two committees – one comprised of municipal staff members and one with community members, has interviewed three applicants for the position. The final interviews took place on Wednesday. 

The board has been assisted in the search and interview process by Bill Fraser, former city manager in Montpelier, who now works as a municipal consultant with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. 

The opening attracted 16 applicants recently, and the board chose to interview five candidates initially. That group was narrowed down to three finalists who then met with all three interview committees – two last week and one this week. 

No names or specific details about the applicants have been shared publicly in this process, other than to note that the group included men and women, both currently in Vermont and outside of the state. Fraser explained that he advised Waterbury leaders to keep candidate details confidential so as not to discourage applicants who may be employed elsewhere and may not want their interest in the Waterbury position made public. 

Select Board Vice Chair Don Schneider has led the manager recruitment and interview process. He said it’s possible for the details to be worked out for an employment contract with the chosen candidate in time for the board’s next meeting on July 7, when it could officially fill the position. 

Schneider said he could not share any further details about the selection yet. “I feel good about it,” he said, noting multiple steps still in progress. 

Staskus and Schneider shared a statement thanking the members of the community and the town employee interview teams that assisted with the finalist candidate screenings. “Their contributions were extremely important in providing valuable opinions and comments to help the selectboard choose our next municipal manager,” they said. “Thanks again for your time in making Waterbury a great place to live!”

Waterbury’s town manager job became open after former manager Tom Leitz announced his resignation in December. He stepped down at the start of February, and Public Works Director Bill Woodruff was appointed to serve as interim manager until a permanent replacement is hired. Woodruff has said he was not an applicant for the job. 

Woodruff is also serving as interim manager for Waterbury’s Edward Farrar Utility District, which runs the water and wastewater departments, a role Leitz also had during the just over three years that he worked for the municipality. The current manager position’s recruitment did not include the utility district manager responsibilities. 

Leitz was the first manager hired in over three decades following the retirement of Bill Shepeluk, who served in the role for 34 years through 2022. The third year of Leitz’s tenure was marked by multiple staff resignations, including the town clerk and treasurer, zoning administrator, recreation staff, bookkeeper, and library director. Workers for both the town and the water/wastewater utility district also organized to form a labor union and have since successfully negotiated contracts. 

After multiple new hires in the past several months, the municipality now is nearly at full staff, with the municipal manager job the main outstanding spot to fill. The town is also looking to hire a full-time staffer for assistant town clerk and treasurer duties, and utility district administrative support.