BARRE TOWN — Residents will vote on two charter changes during the annual vote in May, one asking whether the constable position should be appointed instead of elected and the other looking to clean up some language from a prior charter change.
And there will be an in-person town meeting this year.
During a meeting last month, the Select Board discussed changing the constable position from elected to appointed. The current constable, Dave Freeman, had planned to retire and wasn’t going to seek reelection. Members of the board expressed concern about a less-qualified person running for the position. Freeman had certification to serve as a law enforcement officer and had worked as a per diem police officer in town. He resigned from the police department last summer and let his certification expire in December.
The board had initially considered doing away with the constable entirely since the town has a full-time police department and does not need the position for law enforcement. But Freeman convinced board members to keep the position because he said it can still be an asset for the town when needed.
Freeman told the board he would run for the position one more time to alleviate any concerns about a less-qualified person becoming constable before the position could be altered, though he would not have the ability to do much without law enforcement certification.
The board asked the town’s attorney, Mike Monte, to write up the language necessary for a charter change to turn the position from elected to appointed. Board members discussed that language at Tuesday’s regular meeting.
If approved by voters in May, the constable would become a one-year appointed position. The language states the board may prohibit the constable from exercising any law enforcement authority. Board Chair Paul White asked how the town would go about doing that.
Town Manager Carl Rogers said the town could lay out what the constable is responsible for in the job description or in a signed agreement between the town and the appointed constable, whoever that may be. Since the position will be appointed annually, Rogers said the town could change the constable’s duties based on who would be holding the position and whether they have law enforcement certification.
In 2020, voters approved a charter change eliminating elected listers. The town has been using appointed assessors for years. A second charter change residents will be asked to vote on in May seeks to clean up the charter by removing listers from the record of elected officers and removing the lister section from the charter entirely. The change also adds a line to the assessor role stating an assessor “shall perform all of the duties and have all of the powers prescribed for listers under the laws of Vermont.”
The board voted unanimously to approve adding the two charter change questions to the ballot.
The conversation then turned to holding an in-person meeting. The town has traditionally held an in-person meeting on the Wednesday night prior to the annual vote by Australian ballot the second Tuesday in May. Those meetings didn’t take place for the past two years because of the pandemic.
There isn’t much business decided at the meetings, with residents voting on items such as the tax payment schedule and allowing the town to sell real estate, and the same small group of residents usually attends. Board members had floated the idea of doing away with the in-person meeting since it doesn’t appear to serve much of a purpose anymore. Rogers noted that meeting is typically when the town announces the winner of the Wendell F. Pelkey Citizenship & Service Award.
Board member Norma Malone also noted the town’s charter specifically states this meeting must be held unless the voters have decided otherwise.
White said without such a vote nor an emergency order allowing the town to conduct business differently, “guess we’re having a town meeting on Wednesday, May 4.”
The meeting will take place at the town office.
eric.blaisdell @timesargus.com
