New city manager Elaine Wang on what she brings to Winooski

Photo courtesy of Elaine Wang.

Elaine Wang, the newly appointed manager of Winooski, spoke about her vision for the city and what she’ll bring to the table.

Wang, who will start her new position on May 16, worked as assistant town manager for the Town of Barre before taking this position.

“There's going to be a learning curve, but what's the same is that actually, conveniently, the population size is almost exactly the same,” said Wang regarding the similarities between Barre and Winooski.

“It's a similar number of employees as well, which actually is something that I look for because I like to be able to know everybody that's in the organization,” said Wang.

Wang’s nomination to the position comes after a long search for a city manager candidate. An initial search last summer proved unsuccessful, prompting Winooski’s search team to work with recruiters to find suitable candidates. 

Wang said her previous position prepared her well, giving her a good skill set for public service and community leadership. Being ethical and knowing how to treat people when in a leadership position is important to Wang.

“Maintaining integrity and how you handle the public's money, the public’s resources, earning and preserving the public's trust,” said Wang.

Wang has made herself familiar with the needs of her new city, and has made a point to recognize the most pressing issues.

“Equity, inclusion and belonging, access to city government,” said Wang. “That type of access is something it's always a continual perennial theme, but something that and something that I feel really strongly about and the intersection with the equities, and then, of course, affordable housing.”

Steps to tackle these issues are already underway in Winooski, Wang said, and current leadership and residents have already made strides in some of these areas.

“Winooski’s got a strong foot forward, and it's up to us to commit to making virtual strides on those issues.”

These are some of the issues identified in Winooski’s equity audit. They were presented at a recent city council meeting at which Wang was present. 

These are some of the issues identified in Winooski’s equity audit. They were presented at a recent city council meeting in which Wang was present.

“It's unfortunate that we've got such a long way to go, but everybody does,” Wang said. 

“Winooski, in fact, is quite ahead of a lot of communities in that they did an equity audit,” said Wang, “we've got data, we have some really good suggestions.”

Wang identified her broad goals as Winooski city manager.

“The short and long-term goals that I have going into the position are really progress on the four issues I mentioned before,” said Wang, “equity, inclusion and belonging, affordable housing, and access to city government.” 

“My long-term goal is I'd love to see Winooski residents who currently feel left out to become the next leaders here,” said Wang. 

Environmental issues are also top of mind for Wang.

“My background is in environmental stewardship, environmental conservation, climate change mitigation, climate change resilience, that sort of thing,” said Wang, “so I'll be interested to see what opportunities there are that we can move the needle on in terms of making city operations more efficient.”

There’s one key thing Wang said she needs to do to be successful.

“Listening,” said Wang, “it's what any good leader should do when they're coming in fresh.”