Stowe’s new clerk a native

“I’m so excited,” she said, anticipation blushing in her voice.

Collins, 58, is a Stowe native. She graduated from Stowe High School in 1976 and married fellow Stowe resident Omar Graddock. The pair lived on Stowe Hollow Road, “just over the Waterbury line. Even though we lived over the Waterbury line, we felt like we lived in Stowe,” Collins said.

Collins had twin sons, one of whom, Ian Graddock, died in November 2016.

After graduating from nursing school, Collins came back to Stowe to waitress and pay off some college debt. Then, she went back to school and got swept up in a career that started in South Burlington and took her to New Hampshire, Virginia and St. Johnsbury before her feet began to itch for home.

Collins has been Vermont’s commissioner of labor and industry, the state’s director of workers’ compensation, administrator of planning for the New Hampshire state government, and vice president of claims at an insurance company in Virginia.

Collins’ most recent job was as an attorney with the Adler and McCabe law firm in St. Johnsbury.

Collins never went to law school; instead, she took advantage of a Vermont rule allowing ambitious would-be lawyers to “read for the law” — to read the Vermont statutes over four years while being sponsored by a licensed attorney and making regular reports to the Vermont Supreme Court.

Collins’ dedication and ambition are enshrined in her decision to read for the law, as Stowe Town Manager Charles Safford sees it.

“I was very impressed that she read for the law,” Safford said. “Anyone who read for the law is capable of reading state statutes.”

Collins will be paid $74,552 a year.

Collins knows her experience as a lawyer will translate into success as a town clerk.

“It really is tremendously helpful to be familiar with law, because so much of what you do as a government, whether it’s a municipal, town, or statewide manager, is following statutes, rules and policy regulations,” Collins said. “I always liked that everything that you do, whatever issue is up, it comes down to policy and regulation. You always need to be fair and just, and the way to be fair and just is to follow the rules. …

“If you don’t interpret it properly, then you’re not following it properly. That’s why I think the law is so important. It’s the basis for how everything is run.”

Collins’ passion for the law stems from a summons to jury duty in Chittenden County, where she was inspired by watching “all the best attorneys in the state trying cases.” She’s looking forward to moving back into public sector employment, which she says is her niche.

“I actually prefer serving the public,” Collins said, and to get the chance to serve Stowe feels like a homecoming.

“I told Charles (Safford) it was my dream job, because I can actually work in a job that uses my skills to perform work for a town that I treasure. I’m thankful and thrilled,” Collins said.

The feeling is mutual, according to Safford. He received over 30 applications from hopeful would-be town clerks, but Collins stuck out.

“I thought she was the best person for the position,” Safford said. “I was impressed, to say the least.”

Safford and a search committee of five, including a paralegal and Dorset’s town clerk, made the call to offer the job to Collins.

Leighton Detora, a lawyer who was on the search committee, praised Collins’ qualifications.

“I think she will bring a lot of energy to the job,” Detora said. “She’s bright, she is observant, she is articulate, she is able to work with people, she is able to bring out the best in people, I think, and I think all the way around, she will be a benefit to the town.”

Collins’ sense of herself as a local made her an easy choice, both Safford and Detora said. “I think she’s glad to be home,” Safford said.

“It’s nice to have somebody that has a sense of the town,” Detora said. “She was born and raised here, but if you compare that to someone who, say, grew up in California, and all of a sudden decided to move to Vermont, no matter how capable they might be, they don’t really have a sense of the local culture, and that always is a benefit. When you don’t have it, it can present an awful lot of problems.”

Collins knows there will be a learning curve to the position.

“There’s a lot of different pieces to the job. … I think there’s a lot to learn. I have some strong skills, but I have a lot to learn about the job, and I’m going to need the help and support of the wonderful assistant town clerks that have been doing the tremendous work of keeping the office running,” Collins said.

Assistant town clerks Megan Gregory and Lisa Walker stepped in to manage the town clerk’s responsibilities after longtime town clerk Alison Kaiser was injured in a head-on car crash a year ago and was no longer able to work.

Gregory and Walker will remain assistant town clerks, Safford said.

“I’m very grateful for their service,” Safford said. “They did an admirable job stepping in for the town, but I felt (Collins) was the best candidate for the position.”

Collins moved back to Stowe three weeks ago and is very much looking forward to her first day on the job.

Said Collins, “I am really excited about this opportunity, and I’m just so thankful and thrilled to be able to perform work for a town that I care so deeply about.”