Oral history interview with Tim Arsenault

Oral history interview with Tim Arsenault

Tim Arsenault discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the town office and his job as town clerk in Vernon, Vermont. He reflects on adjustments made to allow for social distancing, including remote work, use of an overnight drop box outside of the office, providing services outdoors, and increasing and maintaining different communication channels between the town and community. He also describes changes made to key functions, such as an outdoor town meeting in 2021 and 2022 and drive-through voting in the 2020 state primary election. Other observations relate to how the pandemic altered the local property market or how he performed marriage ceremonies as a justice of the peace. He was also a backup DJ for radio station WTSA in Brattleboro and briefly mentions both changes to his broadcast journalism methods and his wife's work at a nursing home in Vernon. He touches on the personal struggles of celebrating holidays and gathering with family virtually, food shortages, and travel restrictions across state lines.

Tim Arsenault served as town clerk of Vernon, Vermont, during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was also town moderator, a justice of the peace, and the chair of the Board of Civil Authority. He began a career in radio when he was a senior at Brattleboro Union High School and was employed as a broadcaster and news reporter at radio stations in Brattleboro and Springfield, Vermont, starting in 1973. He became Vernon's town moderator in 1997 and was elected town clerk in 2016.

Sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-251676-OMS-22

2024-07-08

Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story Project

AudioFileCOVID-006

MP3

WAV

Audio file

Permission to publish material from the Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story Project may be obtained from the Vermont Historical Society.

Gustin, Amanda Kay

Arsenault, Timothy R.

43 min., 14 sec.

Vermont Historical Society Library, 60 Washington Street, Barre, VT 05641-4214