Mountain Times - Vol. 50, Number 2, Jan. 13-19, 2021

The Mountain Times • Jan. 13-19, 2021 LOCAL NEWS • 3
Submitted
Chris Ettori announces candidacy for city mayor, Jan. 7.
Ettori officially
announces candidacy,
platform for mayor
On Thursday, Jan. 7 in Center Street Marketplace in
Downtown Rutland, Chris Ettori officially announced
his campaign and platform for mayor.
Ettori is focusing his campaign on providing active
and inclusive leadership, creating opportunities for
economic development, and building community
connections. As an active community member and
current three-term alderman, Ettori acutely understands
the current challenges and opportunities for
the community.
“Covid-19 has certainly changed the economic and
social landscape for all of us,” Ettori said. “We need to
continue to work together to keep each other safe and
healthy but we also need to be prepared to act as Covid
Ettori > 15
'Mama T' and crew cook up
meals for departing soldiers
By Brooke Geery
Rutland extends Covid-19 leave for city workers
By Brett Yates
Days after Congress allowed a
national paid sick leave mandate
for private- and public-sector
workers affected by Covid-19 to
expire, Rutland City’s Board of
Aldermen approved new rules
ensuring continued coverage
for local municipal employees
through at least March 31. Further
extensions may occur, depending
on “how everything is going”
with the pandemic, according to
City Attorney Matt Bloomer, who
presented the policy at a Jan. 4
meeting.
In March 2020, President
Trump signed the Families
First Coronavirus Response Act
(FFCRA), which forced mediumsized
companies and local
governments to supplement
employees’ preexisting sick leave
with two additional weeks of compensated
time off for coronavirusrelated
absences. After reviewing
public health guidance from the
CDC and the state of Vermont,
Rutland City officials used their
own discretion to administer the
federal policy with broadened
eligibility criteria that
allowed municipal
workers to quarantine
even after secondhand
exposures.
On Dec. 31, the FF-
CRA expired, following
an act of Congress that
renewed its associated
tax credits for businesses
that continue voluntarily to
offer paid Covid-19 leave for the
first three months of 2021. With
the disappearance of the federal
mandate, Bloomer worked to
codify Rutland’s self-imposed
extension of the emergency paid
leave program with the support
The Vermont National Guard
is in the midst of its largest
foreign deployment in 10 years.
On Sunday, Jan. 10, members
of the guard shipped out with
bellies full of Texas-style BBQ
lovingly crafted by Theresa
House and her crew at Mama
T’s Country Kitchen in Rutland.
House and the crew cooked
up 424 meals between Jan. 8
and 9, an effort which required
all hands on deck. Employees
came in on their day off to
ensure they were able to make
enough food.
“I love and respect the military
and want to be of service to
those who serve our country,”
House said, explaining her
motivation.
The meals were not provided
entirely for free, but were
sold at a large discount. Such a
venture is not surprising from
the crew, which got its start
cooking food for for the Incident
Command Center (ICC)
in Rutland as it worked to
repair the damage caused by
Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.
The popularity of their food
and joy of helping people led to
House's opening a permanent
location in Rutland, currently
at the Mobil station on Route 4
east, at the bottom of the Sherburne
Pass. “My husband was
in BBQ competitions down in
Texas, he taught me everything
he knows, and ‘God does the
rest,’” House said.
The program discourages
employees from showing up
to work with the virus, which,
if spread, might shut down
essential government operations.
Theresa "Mama T" House
of Mayor David Allaire.
Under the city’s rules, municipal
workers can stay home
without penalty for 10 business
days when experiencing flu-like
symptoms, caring for a child during
a school closure or for a loved
one stricken by coronavirus, or
waiting for test results after a (generously
defined) “close contact.”
The program does not grant a new
term of paid time off to workers
who already used their Covid-19
leave in 2020; those facing a second
bout of coronavirus-related
difficulties will have to use their
standard sick leave and vacation
time before entering a state of
“negative accrual,” if necessary.
The policy lays out self-reporting
guidelines for potentially
infected employees
and proposes “flexible
work arrangements”
where telecommuting is
viable. Last year, the city
reached an agreement
with Rutland Regional
Hospital to provide
testing for municipal
workers and advice on when they
might return safely to their jobs.
Even under the FFCRA,
municipal governments received
no federal reimbursement for
paying out Covid-19 leave. But in
Bloomer’s telling, Mayor Allaire
and Human Resources Director
Submitted
Jody Breault “thought it would be
wise” to preserve the program,
which discourages employees
from showing up to work with
the virus, which, if spread, might
shut down essential government
operations.
Stressing the value of prompt
implementation, Bloomer delivered
a draft of the leave extension
to the Board of Aldermen only
hours before its biweekly meeting,
without any prior negotiation
with the municipal workers’
unions. After some debate, the
legislators voted unanimously in
the policy’s favor, albeit with the
provision, suggested by Alderman
Sam Gorruso, that Bloomer
add a disclaimer “holding the city
harmless” in case a coronavirus
outbreak should occur among its
workforce in spite of the recommended
precautions.