WEYBRIDGE — Weybridge Selectwoman Gale Hurd has announced that she plans to retire from the board, effective Oct. 10, after almost 14 years of service.
She joined the board in 1999 after having retired as victims’ advocate with the Addison County State’s Attorney’s Office. Her civic résumé also includes a 13-year stint on the Weybridge Elementary School board.
“I’m going to be 70 (later this year), and it’s time to make way for the young whippersnappers,” Hurd said.
Hurd had hoped to leave the board when her term expired this past March, but the recent $485,000 embezzlement case involving former Weybridge Town Clerk and Treasurer Karen Brisson (see related story) prompted her to re-up in March. One of Hurd’s last jobs will be helping to run a Sept. 10 meeting at which town residents will decide how to handle a $475,980 insurance reimbursement to the town from that case.
“It was important to me to see through to the end the unfortunate situation caused by Ms. Brisson’s embezzlement of town funds,” said Hurd.
It is with some reluctance that she steps down after a very fruitful tenure.
“I have enjoyed every single minute on the selectboard, even the difficult times,” she said.
And Hurd is proud of how the board has helped the town navigate through difficult times, whether it be road washouts or financial crises.
“I’ve gotten a sense over the years that the people of the town of Weybridge have a pretty good confidence level in its selectboard,” she said. “We research issues and try to keep townspeople well informed.”
While she will be retiring from the board, Hurd will have no shortage of activities to keep her busy.
She serves on the board of directors for the EastView at Middlebury retirement community and is active in the Weybridge Congregational Church. She volunteers for the Festival on-the-Green, the Back to School Shop, the Otter Creek Audubon Society and the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. She works on props for productions at Town Hall Theater and has served as a sounding board of sorts for various organizations looking for new ways of solving old problems.
Selectboard chairman Peter James said because Hurd is announcing her decision to step down so far in advance the board will have time to interview replacement candidates and appoint someone to serve in her place until the March elections. The appointee and other candidates will have the option of running for the remaining one year of Hurd’s term.
Anyone interested in being appointed should send a letter before July 31 to the Weybridge Selectboard, c/o the Town Offices at 1727 Quaker Village Road. Candidates will be invited for interviews at the regular selectboard meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 6.
Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].