Call to Order by President Roger and the Pledge of Allegiance was given.

 

Invocation:  President Roger Allbee focused on the Rotary theme of service above self as an ongoing mission for us all.

 

Twenty-five Rotary members attended, 0 Student Rotarians

 

Roger announced that the Guilford Country Store, under its new management, catered our lunch this week while the Legion chef is on vacation. The next couple of lunches will be similarly catered. Milt G. was acknowledged for putting up the Rotary flags and banners for the meeting. The flags and banners come from varied places including Alaska, St. Croix, and many others. They represent far off places that our Rotarians have visited and attended Rotary meetings.

 

George W. introduced Sheriff Mark Anderson. He is a BUHS graduate who has a business degree. He was appointed Sheriff by the governor in 2019 and was elected to another term in 2022. Sheriff Anderson stated that the Sheriff’s department recently moved from their long term Newfane headquarters to an office building on Old Ferry Road in Brattleboro. A question was posed about racial bias in policing. Mark said that his department tracks racial bias
data, for traffic stops. This data collection started in 2005. The goal of the Sheriff is to treat all people fairly and to utilize data that is helpful for training or education purposes. A State authority has put out a model policing policy for the various counties to follow. Windham County has come up with its own policy. This was started under former Sheriff Clark. It deviated slightly from the state policy. Some other Sheriff departments around the State have also deviated from the state model policy. The so-called Winooski policy addresses immigration issues, undocumented workers and migrant farmers. Under President Trump, so-called sanctuary cities were advised they would be losing certain federal funding or grants. Some sheriffs including Mark in Vermont have had discussions with the ACLU and tried to come up with the best policies. Under President Biden, the federal authorities have said they would not be going after some of the same agencies that President Trump had put on notice. Mark stated that the swing in federal policies causes some difficulty for local authorities trying to do their job. His department receives approximately $250,000 in federal funds, so the federal funding is important. Different federal circuit courts of appeal have taken different approaches on this issue. Mark’s feeling is that his department should be singularly focused on public safety issues and shouldn’t be focused on federal immigration law enforcement, which should be dealt with by federal immigration authorities. Some local select boards want the Sheriff to sign the so-called Winooski policy, but he is moving very carefully due to liability concerns and advice of counsel. Dart asked some questions about landlord tenant issues and the difficulty faced by landlords in slow evictions, sometimes taking four or five months to simply get into court. Another question was raised about drug houses in town, where it is clear multiple transactions are going on throughout the day, and why more action isn’t taken. Mark stated that there are various legal constraints including bail reform and evidentiary standards applied in court that make it difficult to detain individuals and curtail these activities. Mark explained that his office is the authority that carries out evictions. The police and State authorities do not do evictions. This highlights for him the great need for housing and State investment in housing. He believes that Act 250 is too tight and doesn’t allow for further housing initiatives that are needed. Dart mentioned that the public housing through the land trust is very expensive and there have been safety issues in those buildings. Mark responded by underscoring that many problems were made worse by COVID, unfortunately. When asked what he likes about his job, he stated that a primary thing is to work on better rural policing, and addressing big issues. He said that our current model for rural policing is not very good and needs to be improved. As to the Sheriff department’s duties, he said there are two primary duties, the first being service of civil process, meaning serving legal papers in civil cases, and the second being transporting of detainees and/or prisoners. A further area is contracts, where state law allows the sheriff to enter into contracts. His department has contracts with Putney, Dummerston, and other local municipalities. He also has contracts concerning road crews that by law must have law enforcement present during road work. The Vermont State Police is understaffed and the Sheriff and his people do have law enforcement authority, but they cannot really perform the duty that the State Police should be filling. In terms of the Sheriff’s budget, the town contracts amount to approximately $500,000. Other sources of funding are the State of Vermont, Windham County, the Federal Government, and other contract income. His hope is that a better regional policing system can be devised. He believes that the ability to contract with towns and other entities is the path to a better policing model. He believes
that some money for administrative support to get the system up and running is going to be essential. A possible county tax would be one way to do this, but State funding would assist also.