Doing good
Good news
Shelburne resident is honored for her service to the community
Papers earn awards at New England press competition
Page 2
Page 3
Volume 54 Number 14
A new draft report from the Department of Public Safety suggests Vermont needs a massive overhaul in the way it handles emergency dispatch services, but the road to get there could be long and winding. The report, released last month, was the work of the Public Safety Communications Task Force, established by lawmakers in June 2023 to oversee and establish a reliable, secure and interoperable statewide public safety communications system. The report found that Vermont, a state of just over 600,000 people, could benefit from reducing the 37 dispatch centers counties down to just six — Hartford, Lamoille County, Shelburne, St. Albans, Westminster and Williston. Those ones already operate as public safety answering points, which handle 911 calls. In the most aggressive scenario, this could mean the closure of several dispatch centers across the state. “A consistent message heard across all stakeholder engagement activities was widespread dissatisfaction with numerous components of the existing public safety communications system and a strong desire for improvements,” reads the report. The report found several inefficiencies with Vermont’s current statewide dispatching system. For example, 33 of the 37 communica-
ECRWSSEDDM
shelburnenews.com
Report suggests merging first response call centers LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
POSTAL CUSTOMER
tions centers have operational and staffing deficiencies, falling below the standard of two telecommunicators on duty. And, according to the report, when multiple public safety answering point’s operate within close proximity, that poses a higher risk of call transfers occurring regularly due to misrouted 911 calls or the need to transfer the call to one or more dispatch centers for the appropriate law enforcement, fire, or emergency medical service response. The topic of regionalization has arguably been a perennial question in Vermont and a conversation that James Mack, the communications supervisor at the Shelburne Police Department, has been a part of for the last 35 years. He was also a member of the task force that compiled the report, although none of the information was new to him. Aside from technical inefficiencies, Vermont’s tradition of hyper-local control poses a unique conundrum when it comes to regionalization: who is paying and who is in control? “The challenge, therefore, is to encourage agencies to set aside political considerations and focus on the potential benefits,” reads the report. “By shifting the focus to the collective gains, agencies can work together to achieve regionalization that enhances the effectiveness and efficiency of emergency See DISPATCH on page 13
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #217 CONCORD, NH
April 3, 2025
Feline around
COURTESY PHOTO
Jan Leja recently saw “a kitten lounging on my deck,” at her home near Shelburne Community School. “It did not seem to be bothered for several minutes even though I sat only five feet away,” Leja wrote in an email.
Former CVU player sees green and golden future for Catamounts LAUREN READ CORRESPONDENT
When Catherine Gilwee stepped on the court in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on March 22, the
green and gold she was wearing didn’t just represent her school — it also represented her home state. “I just love that I’m from Vermont and I love that I get to stay close to home and play for a school that I love in a state that I love,”
Shelburne native Gilwee said. “It meant so much to me to be able to do that on the big stage and do it with my amazing teammates.” See GILWEE on page 10