Office of the Town Manager

The Office of the Town Manager is responsible for overall day-to-day management of Town government. The Town Manager does not supervise independently elected officers, such as the Town Clerk, Treasurer, Moderator and Board of Listers or the School District.

• Location: Town Hall (6039 Main Street, Manchester Center, VT 05255)
• Hours of Operation: 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday
• Telephone: (802) 362-1313, option 2

• Fascmile: (802) 362-1314

For emergencies, please call 9-1-1 or the Police Department Dispatch Center at (802) 362-2022.  The Dispatch Center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Manchester operates under a Selectboard-Town Manager form of government, as authorized by Chapter 37 of Title 24 of Vermont State Law, whereby the elected Selectboard serves as the Town's chief elected legislative body; the Town Manager reports to the Selectboard and acts as the municipality's chief administrative officer. Under this system of government, the Selectboard sets policy and the Town Manager implements policy and oversees the day-to-day operations of town government.

According to “Manchester Vermont: A Pleasant Land Among the Mountains” (Bigelow and Otis, 1961), “A somewhat drastic change was made in Manchester’s government when the 1941 town meeting voted to hire a town manager as specified in the statutes.” 

Since 1941 the Town of Manchester has had twelve Town Managers. Former Town Managers include W. Robinson Martin (1941-1945), William A. Griffith (1945-1947), George A. Randall (1947-1954), Walter J. Leland (1954-1956), Oakley Porter (1956-1965 and 1971-1974), James Woodard (1965-1969), Walter R. Hazard (1969-1970), Hank Lambert (1975-1979), Harry Henderson (1980-1985), Jeff Wilson (1986 to 2003), Peter Webster (2003 to 2006). 

John P. O'Keefe currently serves as Town Manager, a position he has held since January 2007. During his tenure, the Selectboard implemented one of the largest reorganizations of Town government in recent memory. The reorganization, a product of the Selectboard’s overall policy goal of reducing property tax spending while providing similar levels of services to taxpayers, required new and creative ideas.

The Fiscal Year 2009 budget approved by the Selectboard and Town Meeting transferred numerous common functions to centralized departments, and consolidated and reduced many administrative budget accounts. It also refocused the Parks & Recreation Department on its core function – providing recreational opportunities to the citizens of Manchester – by shifting some of the administrative burdens to the Town Manager’s Office and Finance Office, and transferred the maintenance of the Town’s parks to the newly-created Department of Public Works.

As a result of the overall reorganization, as well as other cost containment initiatives, the Town’s growth in property tax revenue spending between Fiscal Year 2008 and Fiscal Year 2010 increased approximately 2 percent collectively in real dollars, despite significant increases in energy and health care costs and declines in local option tax revenues.  Manchester's municipal (non-school) tax rate is the twelfth lowest in the State of Vermont, making Manchester an appealing Town in which to live and work.

Before moving to Manchester, John served as a member of the senior staff of Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as Executive Director of Legislative Affairs. During his service in the Governor’s Office John managed the Governor's relationship with the Legislature. Prior to working in the Governor’s Office, John served as the Legislative Director of the Massachusetts Highway Department in Boston, Massachusetts, as an aide in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and as a budget examiner for the New York State Division of the Budget.

John earned a bachelor of arts degree in history and United States politics from (SUNY) Potsdam College in Potsdam, New York. John is a member of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society. While at Potsdam College John interned in the New York State Assembly (legislature) and studied abroad in Ireland at St. Patrick’s College in the Drumcondra section of Dublin. In 1997 he earned a masters degree in public administration from SUNY Brockport in Brockport, New York. He graduated from Ogdensburg Free Academy in Ogdensburg, New York.

John lives in Manchester with his wife Sarah, young daughters Daisy and Siobhān, and dogs Theodore (Teddy), a Goldendoodle, and Lily, an Australian Labradoodle. Among other things, John enjoys downhill skiing, hiking, soccer, yard work and gardening, cooking and spending time with his family.

John can be contacted via email at j.okeefe@manchester-vt.gov. Please be sure to include your full name, address and telephone number on any correspondence.  Anonymous emails will not be considered.

According to the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, there are 48 towns, cities and villages in Vermont that have adopted the municipal manager system.  In order to adopt the town manager form of government, a town must vote at town meeting on a specific article to do such.  The Selectboard appoints, directs, supervises, sets the salary for and, for cause, removes the town manager. Statutorily, a Town Manager’s duties include, among other things, the following:

• general supervision of town government;
• administrative head of all departments;
• all duties not committed to another office;
• general purchasing agent; 
• management of all town buildings including school buildings upon requisition of the board of school directors;
• acting as the road commissioner;
• town accounting;
• management of the police and fire departments (including appointments, removals and salaries);
• collector of taxes;
• managing Town licenses (other than those issued by the town clerk);
• overseeing the sewer system;
• overseeing street lighting; and
• managing the maintenance of parks

In Manchester, the Town Manager also serves as the tax collector and delinquent tax collector.

Ioana Drew has served as the Administrative Services Manager in the Office of the Town Manager and Planning and Zoning Office since June 2007. She earned a bachelors degree in marketing from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Ioana has over 16 years experience in office operations and project management. In addition to her duties assisting the Town Manager, Ioana administers accounts payable and Town-wide procurement. She also designs and coordinates the Town Report and Town website. Ioana can be contacted at i.drew@manchester-vt.gov or (802) 362-1313, ext. 100. 

Please be sure to include your full name, address and telephone number on any correspondence. Anonymous emails will not be considered.