Hal Colston Reflects on Leadership in Winooski and Beyond

Photo courtesy of Rep. Hal Colston.

As a member of both the state legislature, and until recently Winooski city council, Representative Hal Colston is a well-known figure in Winooski, and Vermont. 

As his career in city and state politics comes to its end at the culmination of the legislative session, Colston reflects on his time as a community leader, and what his time in Vermont has meant to him.

“I've worked in the nonprofit sector as a social entrepreneur for most of my career here in Vermont,” said Colston, “I was always asked along the way like, hey, you know, you should consider running for office.”

Before running for office, Colston was perhaps best known for his nonprofit work with Good News Garage, an organization that he helped establish.

“I started July 1 1996, and we were at a church office and we had other support from churches and using their parking lot to store donated cars,” said Colston. “We had a cost benefit analysis done by UVM, and it showed that about 75% of the recipients are able to get off welfare, get to a job, become part of the community by having an affordable, reliable vehicle.”

While he has moved on to politics and no longer works for the organization, Colston is proud of what Good News Garage has accomplished since he helped found it.

“This past September, it celebrated its 25th year and its 5000th car being provided,” said Colston. 

Colston did not plan on getting into politics originally, as he was busy with his nonprofit work, but sort of stumbled his way in after friends and community members thought that it would be a good fit.

“People really encouraged me to consider running and it was after the filing deadline for the petition,” said Colston, “So I ended up running as a write-in … and that's how I got elected to City Council.”

Colston became a representative in a similar way, running as a write-in candidate against Rep. Bissonnette, who was the incumbent in 2016, but had announced that he was considering retirement.

“He beat me by maybe 300 votes, and he decided the next day that he wasn't going to retire, he was just going to continue serving,” said Colston.

“And then he finally retired again, I think it was Christmas Eve,” said Colston, “I got appointed by the governor to be seated, and then I ran again, two years later and got elected.”

Once a member of the City Council and State Legislature, Colston has embraced his role as a leader in his state and city communities, trying to make a difference for his fellow Vermonters.

“That's been a very rewarding experience,” said Colston, “because I've had a handle on introducing and getting certain bills passed into law that really have a direct impact on improving the lives of Vermonters.”

He is proud of his work on equity in local government. 

“Last session I introduced to the House Social Equity Caucus the need to create an equity lens for legislators,” said Colston. “This would be a process for legislators to learn what is inequity so equitable policy can be drafted. We are now working out a process with the House Speaker to implement the tool.”

Colston also had a hand in the decision to allow all residents, including non-citizens, to vote in Winooski elections, an accomplishment he is proud to be a part of.

“I think the all resident voting was an important bill that became law as we changed our charter to allow for some of our neighbors who are on a path to become citizens,” said Colston. “Here they are in our community, owning homes, paying taxes, kids in their school system and on and on, and they don't have any voice on local issues.”

This bill, the results of which were seen this past March on Town Meeting Day, took some convincing and determination to be realized.

“We had to override the governor's veto, because he had some issues with it,” said Colston. “He thought it needed to be a statewide policy versus having individual cities or towns just do that, but we prevailed.”

Near and dear to his heart is Colston’s work in Vermont’s BIPOC community. He has worked on a bill that has passed the House and is now in the Senate, to aid in bringing reparations to people of color in Vermont. 

“The other issue I pursued was to establish a Vermont Truth and Reconciliation Commission through the bill I introduced, H.96,” said Colston. “I believe that reparations for BIPOC is on the horizon for Vermont. Before we repair the damage experienced by oppressed people, we must be able to share our truths to understand how oppression wounds the oppressed and the oppressor.” 

Work in the BIPOC community, and promoting racial equity is some of Colston's most important work, said Sue McCormack, who has worked with him in some capacity for almost two decades in the nonprofit sector.

“I think Hal does have this really important way of showing up in those spaces, and pointing out to people the places where they were, you know, not being inclusive, not sharing power, not making sure that people who are impacted had a meaningful say,” said McCormack. “I think that that has been a really important contribution to this to the state really, and in terms of things that we've worked on together.”

McCormack also spoke about the work that she and Colston have done with the Snelling Center for Government, particularly in the Vermont Leadership Institute.

“I think we influenced the Snelling Center for Government’s incorporation of a session on equity and diversity in their leadership institute,” said McCormack. 

“A lot of people that went through that and are going through that program are now representatives and senators and secretaries of agencies and things like that, and I think that you know, Hal and I were able to make sure that people that went through that program really had an opportunity to, you know, develop their own awareness and capacity about racial equity and equity issues,” said McCormack.

Outside of politics, Representative Colston has a personal life that is no less busy than his professional life, as his wife Jean Cherouny can attest to. The couple married in 2021, and enjoy their lives outside of work together. 

“He's the type of person who always makes room for a personal life,” says Cherouny, “he really knows how to turn on life and turn off work in a way that is healthy.”

Cherouny, an artist, says that for both of their careers, a good work-life balance is essential for them to each spend time in their own areas of work, but also come together.

“His relationships are very healthy and strong and my relationships with my communities are also healthy and strong,” said Cherouny. “It's like, we propel each other in that way so that we're, we're happy and our relationships are strong.”

When the both of them are not working, Colston and Cherouny share some hobbies together.

“We just recently got electric bikes,” said Cherouny, “we will be exploring on those bikes this summer.”

“We also have a passion for going to Aruba, which we're going to be spending more time coming this fall,” said Cherouny. “Our favorite thing about Aruba is the people as well as the beaches and the beauty of snorkeling.”

“I would have to say that the outdoors is one of the things we enjoy a lot together,” said Cherouny. 

Colston’s pre-political career as a chef also plays a big part in his family’s free time, and influences the way they spend time together outside of their careers.

“He's a former chef, so we really love good food, making good food at home and meals are important,” said Cherouny.

In addition to all of their hobbies, Cherouny says that spirituality is very important to them.

“We're becoming members of the Middlebury Congregational Church,” said Cherouny, “being involved in a fellowship is really important to us.”