Vermont House recognizes Bill Shepeluk for years of service
March 4, 2023 | By Lisa ScagliottiFormer Waterbury Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk and his wife Ingrid (center) with state Reps. Theresa Wood and Tom Stevens at the Vermont State House on Feb. 28. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Tucked into business at the Vermont State House this week were several minutes of tribute for a Waterbury leader who thrived for decades in a role largely behind the scenes.
On Tuesday morning, shortly after the House of Representatives convened, the resolution H.C.R. 39 was read aloud, the final step after it had been previously adopted by both the House and the Senate.
Sponsored by Waterbury Reps. Tom Stevens and Theresa Wood, the concurrent resolution is a tribute to former Waterbury Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk “in recognition of his extraordinary public service career.”
Shepeluk retired at the end of 2022 after serving for more than 34 years as Waterbury’s manager. That’s the official word. In actuality, Shepeluk continued to work through January alongside his successor Tom Leitz helping to prepare the 2023 town budget for Town Meeting Day as the final step in a transition the town hasn’t seen since the late 1980s.
Both Stevens and Wood offered remarks as they introduced Shepeluk who, alongside his wife Ingrid, sat in the balcony overlooking the House chamber. They reflected on his long career and the place he held in the community.
“Luckily for Waterbury we had a town manager who stayed for us for that long. He became an institution for us,” said Stevens, who previously served on the town selectboard during Shepeluk’s tenure. Because the former manager was never one to seek the spotlight, Stevens said, recognizing him with a legislative resolution was a fitting honor. He praised Shepeluk’s steady hand in town government over the years, recalling specifically the months following Tropical Storm Irene. “Without his leadership we would have been swimming in that muck a lot longer,” Stevens said.
Wood remarked on the changes Waterbury has seen in the years Shepeluk has been at the helm of town government. “Waterbury is a very different place today than it was 35 years ago when Bill and his family decided to land in Waterbury,” she said.
Shelpeluk appreciates the essential role local government can have in transforming a community both in its good times and in tough times, Wood noted. “Town government can lead the way towards … transformation. Bill really has been at the center of that,” she said.
She also recalled the months post-Irene when Shepeluk understood early the need for private-sector help for homeowners to rebuild and how that role was filled by the ReBuild Waterbury effort Wood led. “There really [are] no words to describe the immense amount of respect that I have for Bill,” Wood said as she asked her colleagues to welcome Shepeluk and his spouse to “the people’s house.”
As is the custom with such a formal legislative honor, the resolution lists highlights in Shepeluk’s career starting with his college and graduate school studies at the University of Massachusetts and Syracuse University, his first position as a town manager in Brighton, Vermont, in 1982 until he was hired in Waterbury in 1988.
It offers examples of the non-glamorous but vital tasks Vermont town managers take on noting that “although always shunning the limelight, his many supervisory accomplishments included improving the town’s financial structure, major water-associated infrastructure improvements, and the complex merger of the town and village.” It includes mention of Shepeluk twice receiving the prestigious Keith A. Wallace Memorial Community Service Award and that he was named the town’s first honorary firefighter.
It includes Shepeluk’s long tenure with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, serving on its board and on its health trust where for years he helped shape guidelines and policies that municipalities around the state rely on today.
After the resolution was read aloud and Stevens and Wood made their remarks, Shepeluk was asked to stand to be recognized by the representatives who gave him and Ingrid a round of applause.
Shepeluk smiled and waved. Outside the chamber, Stevens and Wood presented him with a formal copy of the printed resolution which they said they will read at Town Meeting on Tuesday.
Shepeluk plans to be in attendance for the first time as a community member. Those reading the Waterbury Annual Town Report closely, however, will find a final Town Manager Report penned by Shepeluk (p.10-15).
It’s the 35th such report he’s written and in it Shepeluk recaps the past year in both broad strokes and specific details. He also salutes a number of elected and hired town officials he worked with over the years including recently retired Town Clerk Carla Lawrence and P. Howard “Skip” Flanders who has held public office quite literally the entire time Shepeluk served as manager.
H.C.R. 39. Click to enlarge
Shepeluk offers his customary thanks to his wife and family and opines on looking forward to the time retirement will afford him to share with them. But from the details of unbudgeted mud season road repairs and the challenge of hiring and keeping staff during the upheaval caused by COVID-19 pandemic to his accounting for the various road and sidewalk projects over the past year, Shepeluk’s final report is also his love letter to the town he’s served and called home for more than half his life.
“Local government has been my life and a significant passion of mine for over 40 years and I am so grateful for the chance Waterbury took on me all those years ago,” he writes. “I appreciate the encouragement and kindness most have shown me during my time here and I hope you all know how much I enjoyed my job and how much I love this town.”