The chief aide to Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger is moving to a job at Burlington Electric Department as part of a series of personnel changes at City Hall.
Effective July 6, Weinberger’s chief of staff and self-described “utility player” Mike Kanarick will step down to manage public relations for Burlington Electric. According to a news release, Kanarick will be replaced by projects coordinator Brian Lowe, who will in turn be replaced by Jen Kaulius, Weinberger’s administrative assistant.
“I am deeply grateful for the tremendous service to Burlington that Mike has provided as my chief of staff,” Weinberger said in the release. “I have known this day was coming for some time, but that does not make Mike’s departure any easier. For more than three years, Mike has served with dedication, loyalty, compassion, and good humor for the City and the Administration. His work was crucial to all the Mayor’s Office successes over the last three years, in particular our efforts to rebuild trust in City Hall by increasing the transparency and awareness of our local government’s operations. While I will miss experiencing daily Mike’s outstanding work ethic, team approach, wise counsel, passion for the City, and quick wit, BED will benefit from those qualities and is gaining a tremendous talent. I wish Mike well with all that lies ahead.”
Lowe, the incoming chief of staff, joined Weinberger’s team two years ago as projects coordinator – a liaison between department heads. Though he has worked fewer years for Burlington City Hall than either Kanarick or Kaulius, he has nearly a decade of experience working with NGOs, the United Nations and the U.S. government on security and economic development projects focused on the Middle East.
“During his dedicated service in the Mayor’s Office, Brian has earned the respect of many inside and outside the Administration by steadily and skillfully moving forward numerous mayoral initiatives,” said Weinberger. “Brian works hard, has an outstanding background and great integrity, and I have full confidence in Brian’s ability to step into the demanding chief of staff role.”
Kaulius graduated from the University of Vermont in 2012, and has been working with Weinberger ever since – managing interns during his first campaign and managing the mayor himself during his administration in her capacity as scheduler. “Jen is that rare person who combines great intelligence, organization and warmth,” said Weinberger. “She has proven her ability on many different and difficult assignments, and I feel fortunate to have her stepping into a larger Mayor’s Office role.”
Though he said he was excited about the move to BED, Kanarick struggled to name an aspect of his chief of staff position that he wouldn’t miss. Ultimately, he said in an interview, the decision to step down stemmed from a sense of closure.
“The goal that I had when I set out working with Mayor Weinberger was to come in, help him build his team over the first term, take care of some challenging issues he’s inherited as mayor, and to move forward on some new issues. In a humble way, we feel like we’ve accomplished those goals,” he said.
Kanarick reflected fondly on his interactions with his colleagues in various city departments, particularly Weinberger, whom he characterized as a close friend.
“We’ve spent many a waking hour together and I’m quite fond of Mayor Weinberger. He is an amazingly decent and thoughtful person … I feel like he has helped make me a better individual. It is definitely a bittersweet – that’s an overused term — but it’s definitely a bittersweet time for me,” he said.
“There will be a missing piece of my daily work life beginning next week when I’m not spending time with the mayor on a daily basis – and I say ‘the mayor,’ but it’s not the mayor – it’s Miro. It’s with this colleague of mine, this individual for whom I have tremendous respect. I will miss that,” Kanarick said.