Should Rutland Drop the Mayor and Hire a Manager Instead?

The question of whether Rutland should continue with an elected mayor or hire a professional city manager is now officially on the table. At its Aug. 18 meeting, Mayor Michael Doenges told the Board of Aldermen that the city’s operations may have become too complex for a single elected official to manage.

“I do think it’s worth having the discussion to see if it’s time now with Rutland with its size and the way that it operates to look into adding a city manager or having a city manager for Rutland City,” Doenges said during the meeting.

The Board agreed to refer the matter to its General Committee for study. Alderwoman McClure, a member of Rutland Forward, made the motion. No opposition aldermen pushed for the referral — it was advanced from within the mayor’s own camp.

A City of 15,000 Asking if the Mayor’s Job Is Too Big

Doenges did not spell out what he meant by “the way [Rutland] operates,” but the city’s workload today includes complex arrangements such as the Johnson Controls (JCI) energy contract, the tax increment financing (TIF) district, background checks, and union negotiations. Those kinds of financial and contractual obligations arguably require professional expertise — the sort of skills a trained city manager is expected to bring — rather than relying on whichever candidate happens to win a popular vote.

But the mayor’s reference to “Rutland with its size” raised eyebrows. Rutland’s population today is about 15,000 — down from roughly 18,000-19,000 in the 1980s and 1990s. For decades, a larger and more complex city operated under the same mayor–council charter without a manager.

During the discussion, Doenges framed the idea as adding a manager to assist the mayor. Alderwoman Davis responded by noting that in many Vermont municipalities, a city manager is paired with only a ceremonial mayor, not a full executive. At no point did Doenges raise the option of eliminating the mayor’s office entirely and shifting fully to a manager system.

That contrast may become central to the debate. If prior mayors could manage more people and heavier industrial infrastructure without an assistant, why does a smaller Rutland suddenly need two top executives?

Government Models in Vermont

Across Vermont, cities operate under a mix of systems:

Mayor only: Burlington (pop.44,382) and Rutland (pop.15,526) rely solely on elected mayors.
Council + Manager only: South Burlington (pop.21,543), Bennington (pop.15,333), Essex Junction (pop.10,971), Brattleboro (pop.+/- 7,500), and Middlebury (pop.+/- 7,000) have no mayors at all; their councils hire managers to run the city.
Hybrid mayor + manager: Barre (pop.+/- 8,500), Montpelier (pop.+/- 8,000), Winooski (pop.+/- 8,000), St. Albans City (pop.+/- 7,000), Newport (pop.+/- 4,200), and Vergennes (pop.+/- 2,500) all retain elected mayors but rely on managers for daily administration.

This means Rutland is one of the last mid-sized cities in Vermont still trying to operate without professional management.

🍁 Make a One-Time Contribution — Stand Up for Accountability in Vermont 🍁

Options for Rutland

The discussion now opens up several possible futures:

Keep the current system: Mayor + Board of Aldermen, no manager.
Add a manager under the mayor: What Doenges’ wording suggested — the mayor keeps authority, but a manager is hired to shoulder the administrative load.
Manager replaces mayor as executive: The council hires a manager to run the city, and the Board president becomes the ceremonial “mayor.” This is the model South Burlington, Bennington, Essex Junction, Brattleboro, and Middlebury use.
Hybrid: Mayor remains, but with limited authority; manager handles operations. Common in other Vermont cities.

The financial side is straightforward:

Mayor salary now: About $90,000–$92,000.
Typical manager salary: $90,000–$100,000.
Both together: Roughly $180,000 annually, which would be a new cost to taxpayers.

The choice isn’t whether Rutland can afford one or the other — both are comparable in cost — but whether it wants to pay for both at once.

How a Manager-Run Rutland Would Look

If Rutland swapped out the mayor for a manager, the change would not eliminate local control:

The Board of Aldermen would remain the governing body.
A city manager, hired by the Board, would run departments, oversee contracts, and execute budgets.
The Board president would serve as the ceremonial face of the city, much like a mayor, but without executive power.

That model would mean residents no longer elect the city’s executive directly. Instead, they would elect aldermen, who in turn would hire or fire the manager.

Next Steps

To make the change, Rutland would need to pursue a charter amendment (17 V.S.A. § 2645):

The Board (or a citizen petition with 5% of voter signatures) drafts new charter language.
The city clerk files the proposal, and the Board holds at least two public hearings.
A citywide vote is held by Australian ballot.
If approved, the city clerk certifies the results and transmits them to the Secretary of State.
The Vermont Legislature and Governor must then enact the charter change into law.

In theory, if Rutland moved quickly, a proposal could be ready for the Legislature’s next session starting in January 2026.

A Debate Opened by City Hall Itself

This debate was not launched by Rutland’s political opposition. It was initiated by the mayor, and advanced by an alderwoman allied with him.

That leaves Rutland residents with a question Doenges himself set on the table:

Should a city that once governed 20,000 people without a manager now, at 15,000 people, pay for both a mayor and a manager? Or is it time to do away with the mayor’s office altogether and hire a professional manager to run City Hall?

That is the decision now headed to committee — and possibly, to the voters.

UPDATED: Corrected the population number from 30,000 to 18,000-20,000

If you found this information valuable and want to support independent journalism in Vermont, become a supporter for just $5/month today!

Dave Soulia | FYIVT

#fyivt #RutlandVT #VermontPolitics #CityGovernment

Support Us for as Little as $5 – Get In The Fight!!

Make a Big Impact with $25/month—Become a Premium Supporter!

Join the Top Tier of Supporters with $50/month—Become a SUPER Supporter!