DUMMERSTON — In January, the Dummerston Selectboard met with the Windham County Sheriff's Department to address perceived deficits in the Department's patrolling of the town.
According to the reports the Sheriff's Department sent the town, they were only patrolling five hours per month, versus the 18 {1/2} the town requested, and paid for, in its contract with the Sheriff's Department.
Because the Department was “consistently under the contract hours,” said Goodband, and the town needed what they paid for, they considered using some of its law-enforcement budget to hire the Vermont State Police to supplement the Sheriff Department's patrols.
“We were upset,” he said, adding that the town pays a flat fee to the Sheriff's Department for their patrols.
What the Selectboard, and the Sheriff's Department learned was the department had a software problem.
Goodband said the two entities compared records and realized not only was the Sheriff's Department patrolling 18 {1/2} hours, as contracted, but sometimes they were spending more time than that in Dummerston, at no extra charge to the town.
“They fixed it, and we're happy campers,” said Goodband.
The Sheriff [Keith Clark] has been very responsive to our requests,” Goodband said, and added the town might want to increase patrols in the next fiscal year. “We're working on the new budget in November, and it's finalized in January,” he added.
“We're not going to shop around with the Vermont State Police,” said Goodband, because “we're getting all the hours we need, and maybe more.”
At the April 15 Dummerston Selectboard meeting, the Selectboard noted a letter they received from the Sheriff's Department acknowledging the problem, and confirming their repair of the software glitch.
“Things are rosy between the Selectboard and the Sheriff's Department right now,” agreed Goodband and Selectboard member Steve Glabach.