Letter to the Citizens of Swanton from Swanton Selectboard

Town of Swanton

OFFICE of the SELECTBOARD

P.O. Box 711, 1 Academy Street

Swanton, VT 05488

        January 15, 2024

To:  Citizens of the Town of Swanton

From:  Swanton Selectboard

Subject:  Follow-up to the Public Hearing on Policing

1. This letter is a follow-up to the 10 January Public Hearing on Town policing. Over 50 people attended in person and another 20 participated via Zoom.  It was great to have that level of participation from the citizens of Swanton.  As a board, we needed to hear from you about your thoughts on the current level of policing and what the future of police coverage should be.
2. We heard some common themes regarding policing and we will work closely with the Village Police Department and the Vermont State Police to address those concerns. Common concerns we heard about were:
   1. Speeding             
   2. What department responds when
   3. Lack of a police presence on my road
   4. Costs of services / Affordability
   5. Illegal substance use
3. One thing we want to be sure everyone understands is that at this time the Selectboard is not bringing the issue of 24/7 police coverage before the voters. It may be something we look at in the future.   
4. The Town has been contracting with the Village Police Department for years providing eight-hour coverage seven days a week. The Village has changed how they provide police coverage which changes how the services for the Town would be provided.  The eight-hour coverage would now be ten hours.  The extra shift coverage, the increased personnel costs, increased dispatching costs and other department changes resulted in a substantial increase in contract costs.  While we don’t like to see substantial increases in the cost of services for our taxpayers, we felt the change in the contract was fair and justified.
5. In summary, the selectboard wants to thank all who participated and provided input at the public hearing. We also want you to know the Selectboard unanimously supports the ten-hour shift coverage being proposed to the voters in March.  We hope you will too.    
6. Please contact the Town Administrator at 802-868-7418 or anyone of us with any questions.
    

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Earl Fournier                                      Nicole Draper                         Cody Hemenway             

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Steve Bourgeois                                  Joel Clark