Jeff York (Development Review Board)

Jeff York: Settling in Jericho after a lifetime of travel

by Phyl Newbeck

Jeff York comes from a military family. “Every year around July 1, we would move,” he said, “and then we’d land at a new base around August 1 before school started.” The bases were all different but one thing they had in common was a community library and York gravitated to those spaces. When he found himself approaching retirement at IBM, he remembered those sanctuaries of his youth and in 2018, he joined the board of the Jericho Town Library.

“Supporting a small library has always appealed to me,” York said. “One of the best things about Vermont is a sense of community and libraries are a big part of that.” York believes there are a number of ways to support community including getting involved in the schools when your kids are of age, joining houses of worship, or serving on boards and lately, he has chosen the latter. For several years he was a general member of the Jericho Town Library board, but he was soon asked to become Treasurer and he has held that position ever since.

The library board was not York’s first foray into municipal volunteering. Eight years ago, he found himself chatting with Barry King who was the chair of the Development Review Board. King recommended that York apply for a vacant position on the board, and he did so. This year, he has taken over as chair of that body. “It’s interesting to understand the patterns of development and see how things will plan out long-term for Jericho,” York said. “The decisions we make will affect the town for years to come.”

York sees the DRB as a sounding board, tasked with interpreting the town’s regulations. He notes that the rights of property owners have to be weighed against the rights of the greater community. York recognizes that many people are frustrated by what might seem to be a long and expensive process and his goal is to provide a sense of clarity for those who come before the board. He believes the process is generally a good one and can help the town plan for what it will look like 100 years from now.

York spent most of his career at IBM, first as an engineer and then as a financial analyst in their test area. “I became more interested in the decisions on why we made certain investments and made some products and not others, not just the mechanical wear and tear of a certain metal,” he said. “I wanted to help provide data so we could make the best possible decisions on hiring and letting people go.” York believes that during most of his years at IBM, the company cared about its employees. “IBM attracted a very interesting, intellectually alert group of people,” he said. “There was a lot of vitality, and it was very exciting.”

When he first moved to Vermont, York continued the frequent moving which had characterized his childhood. He lived in Burlington, Winooski, St. Albans, Fletcher, Enosburgh, and Richmond. “I kept moving from place to place but when I got to Jericho 20 years ago, I decided to stay,” he said. “It’s a place that’s rural enough that people still talk to their neighbors but not so rural that it takes an hour to go to the grocery store.”

When York first retired, he and a friend built a small sailboat that he takes out once a week in the summer. He also enjoys kayaking on Waterbury and Green River Reservoirs. In the spring he is part of a program that monitors the nests of peregrine falcons. York is in charge of a section of Smugglers’ Notch and his mission is to check where the falcons are nesting so rock climbers won’t disturb them. Although this year, very few falcon nests were successful – likely because of weather issues – the falcons that York monitored fledged one young. He said that during the ten years he has monitored them, they have almost always produced chicks.

With his military family background, York has seen a lot of the country. He had been living in Atlanta when he decided to move to Vermont because it seemed exotic. “I think it’s the best place in the world to be,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything that has the scale of Vermont in terms of the size of the towns and the lush beauty.” Both of York’s children have resettled in California and although he enjoys visiting them, Jericho remains home.