[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 158 (Tuesday, September 14, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S6483]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

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                        TRIBUTE TO PAUL COSTELLO

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, few people have advocated for their home 
States as tirelessly and as effectively as Paul Costello has advocated 
for Vermont. After 21 years at the helm of the Vermont Council for 
Rural Development, Paul is retiring from his post, but I know he will 
never retire from his steadfast support for Vermont.
  Paul has dedicated his entire career to fostering dialogue and 
embracing civic engagement to move our communities forward by bringing 
people together to inspire constructive change. His decades of service 
deserve special recognition. As I was as well, Paul was born and raised 
in Vermont. He grew up in Burlington and spent his undergraduate years 
at the University of Vermont. He later crossed the border to earn a 
Ph.D. in intellectual history from Montreal's McGill University. After 
completing his education, Paul lectured at his alma maters and at Saint 
Michael's College, and he served as an adviser at Sterling College in 
Craftsbury. He served for 5 years at Central Vermont Basic Adult 
Education, bringing literacy instruction to teens and adults in rural 
Vermont counties, before stepping into his longtime role as executive 
director at the Vermont Council on Rural Development--VCRD--in 2000.
  The VCRD is truly a Vermont institution. The council does important 
work to help strengthen our rural communities. Known for their 
community visits, VCRD travels to towns throughout the State, where 
leaders from different sectors in Vermont listen to community members 
identify and acknowledge the challenges and opportunities they have 
before them. Sticking to Paul's dedication to a locally driven process, 
the visiting VCRD team reflects on the community discussion and offers 
guidance and potential resources to help the community meet their needs 
and goals. The VCRD has facilitated community visits in over 75 Vermont 
towns, and success from these events is seen in the form of new 
projects, grants, job creation, implementation of green energy, and so 
much more. These visits also have the effect of bringing our rural 
communities together and adding to the sense of unity that is already 
so strong in our small towns.
  Through Paul's leadership, the VCRD has followed through with 
initiatives that have a lasting positive influence on our State as a 
whole. The council's Working Lands Enterprise Initiative has created 
hundreds of new jobs and generated more than $35 million for Vermont's 
economy. Under Paul's steady hand, the VCRD has also helped to improve 
and expand Vermont's digital economy, something which our State 
continues to expand to make ours a competitive economy, locally, 
regionally, and internationally.
  Paul has lived by his mantra of ``listening, learning and helping,'' 
and the benefits can be seen across rural Vermont. He is a Vermonter 
through and through, and I am proud to call him a dear friend.
  In honor of Paul's retirement and 21 years of exceptional service to 
Vermont, I ask unanimous consent that the article ``Moved the Needle,'' 
by Steve Pappas, published in the Barre Montpelier Times Argus, be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

         [From the Barre Montpelier Times Argus, June 3, 2021]

                            Moved the Needle

                           (By Steve Pappas)

       Paul Costello is too humble to say it, so we will: As the 
     21-year director of the Vermont Council on Rural Development 
     he has probably done more for Vermont than most lawmakers or 
     governors.
       It's a bold statement, we understand. But consider that 
     Costello has worked for a nonpartisan nonprofit agency that 
     has influenced most of the major public policy initiatives in 
     this state during these two decades. Only our three members 
     in the congressional delegation--and they are definitely 
     partisan--have had that much sway for any similar length of 
     time. Less than a week after hosting the Summit for the 
     Future of Vermont, which brought together hundreds of 
     Vermonters to tackle head-on some of the most difficult 
     challenges facing our state, the announcement that Costello 
     is stepping down stunned the state.
       Costello says he will step down Sept. 30.
       Through his work, Costello has led efforts through VCRD's 
     talented staff to facilitate some of the hardest 
     conversations out there: economy, workforce, climate change, 
     education, community development, broadband, digital economy, 
     social equity . . . the list goes on.
       From these conversations, whether they happened in town 
     halls or large lecture halls or virtually, Costello, in his 
     even-keeled, thoughtful manner, has facilitated strategies 
     aimed at setting priorities, and charting paths toward 
     progress. Many of those decisions frame our quality of life 
     today.
       According to the news release issued by VCRD this week, 
     ``Over these years Paul has engaged communities throughout 
     the state to help them set priorities and connect to 
     resources, led a dozen policy council efforts to advance 
     local opportunities, developed a score of statewide summits 
     to build unity and common purpose to answer key rural needs, 
     and worked in myriad ways to bring people together for the 
     common good of their communities and for Vermont.''
       Being the person who coordinates, directs and often 
     moderates those methods of communication and openness is 
     powerful. In the same release, Costello noted, ``In so many 
     ways this is the best job in Vermont. At VCRD we have a 
     window into communities like no other. Our role of listening, 
     learning, and helping to move ideas toward action in 
     communities and in policy circles is endlessly interesting 
     and rewarding. I want to thank all the incredible people I've 
     been able to work with in this role, from board members to 
     state, federal and nonprofit leaders, experts in all aspects 
     of rural issues and especially the local leaders who do the 
     hard work of lifting up their communities and building 
     progress. Working with you all has been the greatest honor.''
       Julie Moore, chair of the VCRD board of directors noted, 
     ``Paul Costello is a Vermont treasure. Our state has 
     benefited beyond measure from his wise counsel to everyone 
     from governors to select board members to community leaders. 
     We look forward to celebrating all of his accomplishments.''
       But here's the thing about Paul Costello: He is committed 
     to Vermont because he loves it. To him, the work is not a 
     paycheck. It is about making our communities stronger. It is 
     about making our policies supportive of those communities. It 
     is about preservation and conversation when needed, but with 
     an eye toward answers. It is about being a part of this 
     magnificent state.
       He knows every corner of the state. He has been at the 
     select board meetings and talked to residents about what they 
     want, and he has been hiking and experiencing Vermont. His 
     love for the place is real. He grew up here, in a large 
     family, with a great appreciation that goes back decades. He 
     hears what others want for Vermont, and he knows what he 
     wants for Vermont. And he's so flipping nice about it all. 
     There have to be individuals out there who don't want Paul 
     Costello coming around and getting people thinking about how 
     to implement change. But even those people can't point to the 
     man and say, ``I didn't like that guy.'' They did.
       Costello listens. Even in the most serious conversation, he 
     can find humor and a laugh. He makes every person he speaks 
     to feel as if they are the most important person, because in 
     that moment, they are. He is mild-mannered and kind. He goes 
     out of his way to ask how people's days are going, even when 
     he knows they are strapped and swamped. He treats governors 
     and citizens with the same respect. Opinions and solutions do 
     not require titles and doctorates and years of service. They 
     need common ground on which to build, and that was what 
     Costello has practiced and mentored his staff to find for 
     more than 20 years now.
       Ted Brady, who used to work with Costello and now runs the 
     Vermont League of Cities and Towns, posted online yesterday, 
     ``I can count on one hand the number of people I have met as 
     selfless, thoughtful and kind as Paul Costello. He's given so 
     much to Vermont . . . and deserves a chance to play in his 
     favorite spots in the woods and mountains of the communities 
     he has helped to strengthen and empower. Buy him a beer if 
     you see him.''
       Costello may never have to buy his own beer again. Each one 
     of us owes him a great debt of gratitude for the Vermont he 
     has given everyone.

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