Role of the Commission  

Chaired by a private sector member, the Commission provides leadership to coordinate recovery and resilience strategies, advocate for the community, oversee future staff, and support the progress of initiatives throughout the community. 

The Commission is not a formal political or governing body. It derives its authority from the partnership established by the Montpelier Foundation, Montpelier Alive, and the City. It is accountable to the entire community of Montpelier. It has been tasked by the community with moving forward the priorities identified and prioritized through a series of recovery forums. As such, it engages and empowers forum participants (and all members of the wider community) to galvanize action for flood recovery and resilience.

Using its members’ knowledge, connections, and leadership, the Commission works to surface opportunities for public and private investment, policy initiatives, and action-oriented partnerships that will increase Montpelier’s resiliency. The Commission doesn’t create “to-do lists” for City staff or for others to accomplish.

Role of Commission Director

The Commission will be staffed by a Montpelier Recovery and Resilience Director, answerable to its members.  Under the oversight of the Commission and with support of staff of the City of Montpelier, the Director will:

• provide support and coordination to recovery and resilience working groups in the city and region given that flood resiliency depends on a watershed-wide approach

• Convene leadership around key aspect of flood recovery, from best practices for hardening buildings, to developing collective inventory space and other practical recovery projects  

• Convene public dialogues as needed

• Bring together engineers and architects to envision and realize projects that advance the downtown’s flood resilience 

• Convene regional governments, planners, business leaders, engineers, architects, hydrologists and environmental scientists to evaluate opportunities, then plan and implement mitigation strategies to slow and hold water to minimize the impact of future flooding events.  

The Commission Director will be supervised by the Commission and housed in a partner non-profit organization. The Commission Director’s salary (for two-years) will be raised by the founding partners (Montpelier Foundation, Montpelier Alive, City of Montpelier).