WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Following a six-month search that drew nearly 50 applicants, Virginian Brannon Godfrey was named Hartford’s next town manager in a unanimous Selectboard vote during a special meeting on Tuesday night.
Godfrey, 54, will become the town’s third town manager since 2016 when he is sworn in on Town Meeting Day on March 2, one week after arriving at Town Hall to overlap with outgoing Town Manager Leo Pullar.
Godfrey’s contract is for three years at an annual salary of $130,000, the same as Pullar’s.
Pullar, a popular leader who is credited with contributing to the revitalization of downtown White River Junction and flattening the town’s budget, is stepping down due to a battle with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer.
Pullar, 53, was originally slated to retire at the end of November, but agreed to two separate Selectboard requests for extensions as a search committee and municipal assistance company continued to vet and interview applicants.
The Selectboard feels they found the right choice in Godfrey, who began his administrative career nearly 30 years ago and whose first town manager job was in Brandon, Vt., from 1992-95.
Since then, Godfrey has managed Virginia towns and cities including Emporia, Culpeper, Winchester, Portsmouth and Warrenton, the latter about 45 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., whose population of just under 10,000 is roughly the same size as Hartford’s.
Godfrey helped govern Warrenton from 2015 until his second three-year contract was terminated without cause by Warrenton’s Town Council in a 5-2 vote Oct. 30.
Warrenton Mayor Carter Nevill told the Fauquier Times in a story published the day after Godfrey’s dismissal that it came due to “a difference of goals and objectives.”
Reached by phone Tuesday evening, Godfrey chalked up the scenario to “the nature of working for an elected body.”
“You put your best effort into a job, but there are times when you make decisions, recommendations or policy changes that don’t please all members of the council,” Godfrey said. “It’s always possible that the majority decides they’re ready for a change.”
During Tuesday’s special meeting, Selectboard Vice Chair Dick Grassi said 15 references all checked out positively for Godfrey.
“It was a very extensive process of reference checking, and everyone had glowing things to say about him,” Grassi told an audience of about a dozen at Town Hall, many of them members of the position’s search committee. “They all talked about things like his integrity, positive demeanor, calmness, honesty and vast experience.”
Godfrey said he continues to vacation most summers on Lake Dunmore in western Vermont, a few miles north of Brandon, where he oversaw 20 full-time employees and a $1.4 million general fund budget, according to his resume.
“When we left in 1995, my wife (Leslie) and I had a 1-year-old son, and we wanted him to be closer to his grandparents down south,” said Godfrey, a native of Forest City, N.C., about 65 miles west of Charlotte. “Now that our children are grown up, we thought it would be really nice to come back. The people there were so welcoming to us, and that’s one of the reasons we keep going back in the summer.”
Selectboard chairman Simon Dennis said he was impressed with Godfrey’s knowledge and thoroughness during the interview process.
“One thing I noticed about Brannon is that he always answered the question you asked. He would elaborate, but always come back to the question at the end,” said Dennis between Tuesday night’s special meeting and public bond meeting at Town Hall.
Godfrey’s courtesy also stood out, Dennis said.
“Whenever someone sneezed, he always stopped what he was saying to say ‘bless you,’ even under pressure,” he said.
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.