Courtemanche resigns from Selectboard
VERNON — VERNON - “With deep, deep regret,” the Vernon Selectboard unanimously accepted Mike Courtemanche's resignation, submitted in writing at the Nov. 2 regular board meeting.
Board Chair Christiane Howe read Courtemanche's letter, in which he attributed his departure to “personal issues.”
In the letter, he said he was resigning “with a heavy heart,” and wrote, “I am truly sorry for having to let everyone down” by not serving the remainder of his term.
Courtemanche's departure left a vacancy on the five-member Selectboard and six additional committees.
In a prepared statement Howe read at the meeting, she said the board and the committees have “lost a good man."
“His capabilities are beyond measure, his intelligence and his knowledge of the town will be greatly missed,” she said, noting the love Courtemanche exhibited for Vernon.
Howe said, “We could always count on Mike to know what the board should do in any circumstance,” and offered hope that “whatever battle lies ahead for him and his family they fight and fight hard and win,” and, “we hope he comes back to serve the town once again."
Courtemanche could not be reached for comment.
Selectboard fills vacancies
VERNON - With Mike Courtemanche's resignation from all of his positions, effective Nov. 2, the Selectboard was faced with filling seven vacancies, including his seat on the board.
After Chair Christiane Howe read Courtemanche's letter of resignation, she and her colleagues suggested townspeople who might like to join the board until Town Meeting Day elections.
As they went through the names - none of whom could or would serve - a deep voice was heard from the audience.
“I'll do it,” said former Selectboard member Jeff Dunklee.
“Come on in,” Howe said to Dunklee, as he took Courtemanche's seat at the table.
“We're going to put you to work,” she told him, then swore him in.
Dunklee, who previously served on the board, resigned in April.
Board member Emily Vergobbe nominated Sandra Harris to fill the role of Selectboard vice-chair; the motion carried with Harris abstaining.
To take Courtemanche's place as representative to the Windham Solid Waste Management District, the board appointed Tim Franklin. Bronna Zlochiver was appointed as Vernon's representative to the Windham County Economic Development Advisory Committee. Board member Josh Unruh was appointed to the Town Administrator Search Committee. Howe was appointed to the Tax Stabilization Committee.
Vergobbe requested the nomination to the Fiber Optic Committee because, as she said, “I'm interested and I don't know what it's about."
The board appointed Cheryl Franklin to the Recycling Committee, but tabled the nomination until Harris could ask her if she wanted the position.
Courtemanche was also the liaison to a variety of committees - the Selectboard tabled those appointments until members could research which ones needed to be refilled.
Death and taxes
VERNON - The Selectboard unanimously voted to open an estate on a town property in an attempt to collect unpaid taxes.
Marylynn Scherlin, Vernon's collector of delinquent taxes, and Ari Rockland-Miller, of Fitts, Olson & Giddings PLC of Brattleboro, addressed the board at its Nov. 2 meeting about property taxes owed by the estate of Jean Casey.
By opening the estate, the town can proceed with tax collection from her heirs, or through a tax sale on the property at 124 Oxcart Rd. If the estate is not opened, “there's no entity against which to proceed with the tax sale,” explained Rockland-Miller.
Delinquent taxes on the property, with a grand list value of $118,700, are $4,109.25.
Rockland-Miller told the board the estimated cost to the town to open the estate would be $4,000 to $5,000.
Board member Jeff Dunklee questioned the wisdom of spending $5,000 to recover $4,000. Rockland-Miller and Board Chair Christiane Howe assured Dunklee the move was warranted because it will put the property back on the tax rolls, and hold the property owners accountable.
Scherlin told the board an adjacent property to 124 Oxcart Rd. is also in delinquency for property taxes. That property has numerous owners listed on the title; some are known to be deceased, and it is questionable if all are still living.
The board tabled moving forward with opening the estate while Scherlin researches the status of the owners.
Sheriff explains cost increase, details crimes
VERNON - “We're still far less than what your police department was three years ago, even with our increases in the last couple of years,” Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark told the Selectboard at its Nov. 2 regular meeting.
The Sheriff's Department assumed round-the-clock law-enforcement duties on July 1, 2014, when Vernon voted to disband its town police department.
Clark visited the meeting to explain the year's rate increases, and discuss patrol options with the board members.
The current contract - $240,000 per year for constant coverage - is 2.6 percent more expensive than last year's contract, Clark told the board.
The increases are from “adding overtime that we didn't anticipate,” Clark said.
Clark told board members they could decrease their coverage from 24 hours per day to 20 or 17, or opt for approximately 100 hours per week, but under the reduced coverage, his department would charge the town for “call-outs."
Board member Josh Unruh asked Clark for a rate comparison with other area towns that contract on an hourly basis. Clark told him those towns pay the sheriff's department about $44 per hour; Vernon's contract amounts to $27.47 per hour.
Chair Christiane Howe asked Clark to speak at Town Meeting so “the townspeople can decide.”
When the Sheriff analyzed average activity from the last five years, he said he found that previously, most calls involved unlawful trespass at Vermont Yankee - 48 cases in the year before Clark's department took over patrolling Vernon.
Since then, the Sherif''s department sees “more types of arrest,” including domestic assaults, which account for approximately 10 percent of arrests in Vernon.
“What's interesting is, we've had one unlawful trespass,” since the nuclear power plant shut down, Clark said, noting, “because it's felony-level, it must be entry into a residence or an occupied dwelling."
He told board members his officers, in addition to patrolling the town and responding to calls, performed 210 agency assists, and most of those are accompanying the fire department and rescue squads.
Clark said driving under the influence (DUI) charges account for a large percentage of arrests. In the first year his department began covering Vernon, his officers made 71 arrests - 28 percent of them were first-offense DUIs, and 14 percent were second-offense DUIs.
He said that since then, DUI arrests are “consistent” with those figures.
“No matter how active we are, or proactive we are... we're still seeing very high numbers in this community,” Clark said, noting the department offers DUI-prevention programs, such as offering free rides to anyone, no questions asked, on New Year's Eve.
“We're not just trying to arrest people,” Clark said.
Clark characterized the relationship between his department and the town as “smooth” since the contract was renegotiated part-way through the year.
“We've been pleased with how it's worked with both my office and the town,” he said.
Seniors want their furniture and their room
VERNON - The Vernon Seniors recently asked the Selectboard to return their furniture.
The furniture, estimated by Chairperson Christiane Howe to have been donated to the group “between 1983 and 1987,” has been in the foyer of the Town Offices, and the Seniors want it back.
Howe said she will make those arrangements.
Nancy Durborow, treasurer of the Vernon Seniors, appeared at the Nov. 2 board meeting to ask the board the fate of the Senior Room. They would like exclusive use of the room, including changing the locks.
Howe told Durborow that was unlikely, as other groups need to use the room.
Because Durborow appeared at the board meeting during the “Correspondence” portion of the agenda, Howe explained the board could not make a decision that night because the topic had not been properly warned in accordance with Vermont's Open Meeting Law.
The fate of the Senior Room was tabled.