| Understaffing has gotten so bad at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department that Chelsea, the county seat, is contracting its police services to the sheriff from Windsor County, the county to the south. Also, county official refuse to pay the salaries of some Sheriff’s Department administrative staff working in the county courthouse, meaning their pay comes out of the beleaguered departmental budget, or not at all. After Sheriff George Contois, a longtime deputy, was elected in November, most of the deputies quit. Contois has been laboring ever since to cover shifts with a handful of deputies. Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer, however, is among the few county sheriffs with a full roster of deputies. A meeting on the Sheriff’s Department final budget for fiscal year 2024 will be held at the Orange County courthouse in Chelsea at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon. The meeting is in person with no remote option. “The proposed 2024 Orange County budget does not appear to be a good thing for an already beleaguered Orange County Sheriff’s Department,” wrote Journal Opinion reporter Linda Buermeyer in the Jan. 24 edition. “The new budget removes $172,000 from the OCSD and has Orange County Sheriff George Contois concerned.” Representatives from several area towns and selectboards held a virtual meeting last week to discuss how best to support OCSD, although no formal actions were taken. Chelsea, the Orange County seat, has opted to contract with the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department for patrol services, according to The Herald of Randolph. The town selectmen made the extraordinary move January 23 after a crime spree left residents feeling unprotected. Contois rejected an offer to split the services among the two departments. Palmer was asked in November at a Barnard selectboard meeting how the Windsor County department has been able to afford the expansion. The Vermont Standard and VDC reported his answer. “We’re just taking on more contracted work,” Palmer explained, saying the new efforts extend beyond the contracted services, predominantly for traffic enforcement, that the department provides to eight Windsor County communities: Rochester, Sharon, Barnard, Pomfret, Plymouth, Reading, Cavendish, and Hartland.” Palmer added that his team is also providing additional services to the communities with which it holds contracts, beyond the customary traffic enforcement and issuance of speeding citations. “We’re trying to be more responsive to community issues such as drug houses, that type of thing,” the sheriff noted. “We’ve done a couple of search warrants; we’ve recovered stolen guns. We’re really branching out and doing more full-service law enforcement types of things.” – much of the above news sourced from Journal-Opinion |
| Rescue on icy Connecticut River – A man walking his dog across the bridge between McIndoe Falls and Monroe was in the right place at the right time on Sunday when he heard an ice fisherman call for help, Monroe Fire Chief Russell Brown tells the Caledonian-Record in an amazing story. The fisherman had broken through the ice and floated in the water for 20-30 minutes while calling for help until the pedestrian heard him and called 9-1-1. Weakened by the cold temperatures, the fisherman was pulled to shore by rescuers and community members using a kayak, a rope, and some elbow grease. He was taken to Cottage Hospital for treatment. – Journal-Opinion |
Discover more from Vermont Daily Chronicle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categories: Local government
how is that impeachment of the franklin county sheriff moving forward/// unless i can see more proof of bad operations/// the sheriff should be back on the job/// his first job will be to arrest those idiots in the state house///
I would like to know why: “After Sheriff George Contois, a longtime deputy, was elected in November, most of the deputies quit.”
Ayatollah Abbott hasn’t shipped any migrants to Vermont yet.
The vermont milk factories (AKA “farms”) would love to see some more slave laborers headed their way.
With enough help, maybe they could pump their manure directly into the lakes and streams.
Spreading it on fields is such a bother.
Orange County – Mark McDonald’s territory. Orange County is a big territory to cover and it appears there is no coverage – good for the drug dealers and other riffraff to know. The State Police going to respond out of St. Johnsbury or Berlin to help? Likely not – considering their public posts of late, they are seriously stretched. To those residing in Orange County – dial 911 or take care of business yourself – the latter is likely your best bet. This message courtesy of your worthless representatives and curmudgeon senator – all in the name of public safety. The Law Enforcement Task Force is a cruel joke and this is just one example of many.
looks like the franklin county sheriff will not be impeached/// now he can arrest those crooks in the state house/// need to bring a big bus for this load of crap///