Town Clerk Carla Lawrence to retire this summer

May 21, 2022  |  By Lisa Scagliotti 

Waterbury Town Clerk Carla Lawrence at the polls for 2021 Town Meeting Day. Photo by Gordon Miller

Tuesday, August 9, is Vermont’s Primary Election Day and for Waterbury Town Clerk Carla Lawrence, it will be her final statewide election to oversee. 

At this week’s Waterbury Select Board meeting, Lawrence shared that she plans to retire at the end of August. 

Select Board Chair Mike Bard said the announcement surprised the board which is spending time now discussing the upcoming search for a successor to Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk who is retiring at the end of the year. 

“She’ll be missed,” Bard said. “She keeps us all on track. She’s a beacon of reason. I think the world of Carla.” 

Soft-spoken and unflappable, Lawrence’s familiarity with town business, meeting protocols, and elections make her someone public officials, town staff and townspeople can rely on to navigate every angle of municipal business. “The glue in the town offices” is a description Bard offered. “She’s the steady influence of things that have to happen,” he said. “Elections run seamlessly with her.” 

Waterbury Town Clerk Carla Lawrence and Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk at the 2015 town meeting. File photo by Gordon Miller

Lawrence’s position as clerk and also as town treasurer are elected offices. The select board would appoint a replacement to serve until the March Town Meeting Day election when the positions would be filled by the voters.

A fixture in the town offices for nearly two decades, Lawrence has been Waterbury’s elected town clerk since 2008. She previously served as assistant town clerk, a part-time position from 2003. She said the timing to step down this summer feels right both professionally and personally. 

The past two years have been particularly demanding with the COVID-19 pandemic and shifts that brought to daily business and elections in particular. In 2020, for example, Lawrence oversaw four elections: Town Meeting Day, a school budget re-vote, a statewide primary and general election. Changes allowing for easier voting by mail made the later elections especially busy for weeks. “It’s been a little rough,” she said. 

Lawrence said she’s looking forward to spending more time with her wife Polly Sabin, who retired in November from her job at the Waterbury Congregational Church, and their grandchildren. 

The select board likely will discuss the process it will use to fill Lawrence's job at an upcoming meeting, Bard said. The board meets next on Monday, June 6. 

Lawrence added that she could help get her successor settled. “I’ll be around for several weeks after the appointment has been made for the transition,” she said.