CALEDONIA COUNTY – The Caledonia-2 Vermont House District of Hardwick, Walden and Stannard is currently represented by Chip Troiano of Walden who is not running for reelection.
Candidates running for the seat this year are Sabrina Morrison, a Democrat from Hardwick and Michael “Mike” Southworth, a Republican from Walden.
Question: Tell us a bit about your background, why you want to fill the position and why you are a good candidate for it.
Morrison: I grew up in Hardwick and went to Hazen. I moved away and was a creative director in an art department. I moved back and have children who go to school at Hazen and Hardwick Elementary. My commitment is that I love my community and want to give back to it; advocating for other children as well as my own.
Southworth: I grew up in the Northeast Kingdom, in the Albany Irasburg areas. Twenty years ago I married my wife and moved to Walden. We’ve been here ever since. I’ve been on the Walden school board. I worked for the state for 30 years, in the department of corrections, fish and wildlife, the agency of transportation and I retired from the department of motor vehicles. It’s important that I run, for the simple reason I feel the state is becoming unaffordable for everyone. The taxes and fees being passed and put onto us are unsustainable, I’d like to be part of the discussion to change that. I don’t consider myself a politician, but I do consider myself level headed. I listen to people, and I believe we need a voice from this area in Montpelier.
Question: Taxes keep rising as we address the needs of an increasingly complex society. What’s the right balance between meeting the needs of the population and keeping taxes manageable? How does funding schools fit into that?
Morrison: Taxes really are rising and are unsustainable for our communities. It’s important to find that delicate balance between giving our children and excellent education that makes them able to moved forward in the future, while figuring out how to make out taxes more equitable. Part of it is looking at whether we continue to do property taxes, or look at an income tax to make that balance out.
Southworth: After being on the school board, I’ve seen the challenges that come from trying to meet the balance of what the town can afford and what’s right for the children. We need to have a good education system, but we can’t go broke doing that. Depending on how we fund it, it affects children and their families who may need to get additional jobs to support their families, which takes away time from their children. Taking inflated real estate prices from Covid-19 and using that as a base for what we pay is incorrect and we need to find a new avenue to do that.
Question: What do you see as the solution to creating affordable home ownership and rental options for Vermonters? How does that work to make Vermont attractive for young people?
Morrison: It’s important to look at long-term rental vs short-term rental and how that works and how that works. Making it so that Vermonters who want to raise their children or work on farms and possibly owning a home can get some kind of assistance in doing that. And, being aware that a lot of our housing is being bought up by people out of state and how we can balance that.
Southworth: First we need to decrease the regulations needed to renovate and build. We still need checks and balances, but we need to make it so people can actually look at and have the ability to build, to renovate and make use of what we already have.
Question: Gov. Scott seems to be having difficulty striking the right balance between funding housing for homeless people and reducing spending on programs to house the homeless. What do you see as possible solutions to help Vermont’s homeless population?
Morrison: It’s a really complex issue. We need to look at health care, mental health services and the long-term and short-term housing problem that we already know we have. It’s finding a way to weave those things together and come up with creative solutions.
Southworth: The state needs to work with the homeless population and encourage them. If we can get them employed they can start to work for a place of their own. Even if they were starting out in a community setting, if we are going to encourage these people they are going to have better expectations of what they can do for themselves. Encouraging them and providing more opportunities would really help curb the homelessness problem in the state.
Question: How can the state meet the challenges of maintaining the state and town infrastructure of roads, bridges, water and sewer systems as weather events are increasingly destructive? As more vehicles become electric and the gas tax becomes less effective at funding those needs, how can that funding gap be filled?
Morrison: We’re getting better at resiliency, but local communities need to be able to prepare with help from the state. We now tax for EVs. I imagine, as that expands, it will continue.
Southworth: Vermont is resilient as a whole. We have to look at ways to protect ourselves from flooding. We have to look at what is actually the problem. Are buildings too close to the river, did we restrict the river flow? There’s talk of climate change, and if that’s the case we need to rethink how we do things. I don’t know if the answer is electric vehicles. Going electric isn’t going to solve everything. We need to take a step back and balance the way to do this. We still have to have the right to drive whatever we want, that just won’t work in this area.
Question: Please share your perspective on how the issue of abortion should be addressed in our state and country. What specific policies do you support to ensure women’s health and reproductive rights are adequately considered?
Morrison: It’s a constitutional right in Vermont and I support a person’s right to choose. For individuals to choose to have children, we need to make the state friendly to families so that our children can continue to thrive. At the federal level it should be addressed as a constitutional right.
Southworth: I don’t believe I have a right to make a determination on that. I believe the doctor and person dealing with that situation have the right to make a decision.
Question: Is there anything we haven’t asked you about that you’d like to share and might be important to your constituents?
Morrison: I’m really passionate about health care and having equitable health care access for children and adults. Your health care being tied to your job is very limiting. A mother shouldn’t have to choose between working and having her children have quality health care.
Southworth: I’ll be voting on issues, not on party lines. I look at what’s best for the state, what’s best for these three communities that haven’t been represented enough in the past years. I’m level headed, I listen to people and talk to people. I will seek out the people that have the knowledge about subjects in Montpelier, and I’ll ask their opinion. I am just a normal person like everyone else, and I’m just trying to make a change.
