[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
______
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.
____________________