Via Community News Service, a VTSU-Castleton internship, for Castleton Spartan
CASTLETON — On March 3, the city of Rutland held elections for five seats on the Board of Aldermen, and Vermont State University Castleton’s own professor Michael Talbott was elected to the board.
He’s served on board for the last six years, but this time around he earned 1,526 votes — the highest of all the candidates.
According to Talbott, the skills he uses when teaching students are the same skills that got him elected.
“We teach them to tell stories, figure out what the compelling story is about the product, the organization, the individual, and find a way to share that with people that’s going to connect and resonate with them,” he said. “I think that’s been important all four times that I’ve run for the board.”
Talbott said he was initially inspired to run when the Board of Alderman sent a letter to the federal government saying Rutland was not the right fit for Syrian refugees. Talbott disagreed with the stance from both a moral and economic perspective, saying that the U.S. has a responsibility to take in those that are fleeing for their lives.
“Both my parents were civil servants, worked with the homeless, worked with the public, and they always taught me you have to leave things better than you found them,” he said, “and that’s what I try to do every day.”
Talbott said something he is most proud of was helping set up a tax-increment financing district in Rutland, which led to the city’s ongoing Downtown Hotel, a project that will create 100 hotel rooms and 26 housing units.
A TIF district allows municipalities to borrow money to upgrade public infrastructure around a construction project, and then use the increase in property values to pay off the bond.
Talbott also explained his long-term vision for Rutland’s future, saying he’d like to address Rutland’s “reputation problem.”
“My vision for the future is that it’s a place that people are going to be really positive about, say ‘Oh hey Rutland is this great small community, it’s the gateway to the Green Mountains, you gotta stop there and check out all the cool things going on,’” he said.
Students who know Talbott also seem to have a positive impression of him.
“I have always thought that Talbott is a good guy, and he seems to want to make Rutland better for the people in it,” senior Colby Tucker said.
Talbott says he hopes being a professor at Castleton and serving on the Board of Alderman will inspire students to get involved in local politics, even if just showing up to vote.
“Because it matters, and they should vote and have a voice,” he said. “A lot of our local elections are decided sometimes by just one or two votes, so everybody’s vote matters.”