WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The Hartford Selectboard has chosen a new member to fill a vacant spot: 26-year-old local sales and catering manager Emma Behrens.
The board made the decision at a meeting Tuesday after interviewing the candidates and holding an executive session. Behrens will serve on the board until the March election.
Behrens, who graduated from Hanover High School in 2012 and from Ithaca College in New York in 2016, has lived in Hartford for a year and works as a sales and catering manager for the Quechee Inn at Marshland Farms, according to her resume.
During her interview, Behrens said she was running to further her desire to see local businesses flourish in Hartford, which can help bring a younger demographic to the town.
“It’s sort of a circular issue,” Behrens said, adding that the Hartford population has continued to age over time. “I want to make sure we’re keeping young people in this community and that they stay here.”
Board members picked Behrens out of a group of three candidates that included business analyst Jeffrey McDonough, who’s lived in the town for two years, and Havah Armstrong Walther, a candidate for the Vermont House of Representatives. Armstrong Walther previously ran for Hartford Selectboard in 2016 but lost out to current board members Alan Johnson and Simon Dennis.
During the board’s announcement, member Kim Souza said Walther filed her application for the board a few hours after the deadline, which factored into their decision.
The news of Behrens’ appointment comes just a month after longtime board member Dennis Brown stepped down following disagreements with other board members over the Hartford Welcoming Ordinance and questions of transparency.
Correction
Emma Behrens was appointed to the Hartford Selectboard this week in her first bid for the position. Another candidate, Havah Armstrong Walther, previously ran for the board in 2016. An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified who ran in the 2016 election.