Thomas Franco, 25, will bring diversity, new perspectives
By Katy Savage
After a rare tie vote in a sixth seat on the Board of Aldermen, a winner haws been declared.
John Atwood stepped down on March 3 to give Thomas Franco the victory after they both got 1,222 votes on Town Meeting Day.
“Thomas is gung-ho and he’s ready to serve and I had other things I was involved in where I could make a difference,” said Atwood, who also serves on the MINT board.
The two made the decision the morning of March 3 in consultation with each other and their supporters.
“We were pretty sure on Tuesday neither of us wanted a recount,” Atwood said. “We certainly didn’t want the city to have a runoff election.”
The runoff would have cost taxpayers around $5,000.
“It would have been a ton of work for what I can only imagine would have been extremely low turnout,” Town Clerk Henry Heck said.
Atwood and Franco were among a crowded field of 17 candidates. Devon Neary got the most votes with 1,583, incumbent Thomas DePoy got 1,429 votes; incumbent William Gillam got 1,340 votes, Carrie Savage got 1,315 votes, and Mike Doenges got 1,156 votes. Incumbent Rebecca Mattis was not reelected after she finished 10th with 965 votes.
The new faces could bring a change to Rutland. Atwood and Franco campaigned together as part of a progressive group called Rutland Forward, hoping to see Rutland be more inclusive. Atwood was confident Franco would see the group’s mission through.
“My mission of being on the board will be accomplished with Thomas being in the seat,” Atwood said.
This was Atwood’s fourth year in a row unsuccessfully running for an Aldermen seat. He’s unsure if he’ll run a fifth time.
“I feel a little bit bittersweet about it,” Atwood said. “I had put a lot of effort into running. I’m grateful I tied with someone like Thomas. If I had tied with anybody else, it would have been a different situation.”
Franco said he was grateful for Atwood’s move. The former math teacher, who now works for Rural Innovation Strategies in Hartland, expected the race to be close.
“I certainly didn’t expect it to be a tie,” he said.
Franco, 25, moved to Rutland with his partner, who grew up in the area, when the pandemic hit. He will be the youngest Alderman and the only openly gay board member. He will also be the only person of color on the board.
“We knew this was a place that was looking for more diversity,” he said. “I’ve met a lot of community members who have really encouraged me and have given us a great welcoming experience.”
Among Franco’s priorities is establishing an equity committee and having implicit bias training for Aldermen members and city staff.
“We need to hold ourselves accountable,” Franco said. “It’s clear our city leadership had a lot of major issues that have come up where we have poorly reflected our values. That really hurts how we are portrayed to the surrounding areas — to really the rest of the county.”
Franco also wants to see the city make technological advances and take a more data-driven approach to policy making.
“These types of things should really be a given in 2021 and we just don’t have it,” he said.
Voters also approved the $22.2 million municipal budget 1892 to 1614.
