This blog is dedicated to discussion and debate of the issues regarding expansion of the village police district in Randolph, Vermont.
I am starting this blog to publish my research on the topic. I applied to be on the recently formed Randolph Police Services Committee, but I was not selected. I also submitted my research to the select board at that time, but they have not expressed any interest. Therefore, I will publish my views here for review, comment and debate by the greater Randolph community.
I believe this is a very serious issue which deserves the full attention of the voters - inside and outside of the village district. Expansion of the police district is a topic that has been debated numerous times over the years, especially since the town/village merger in 1984, and expansion has been rejected time and time again. I believe we need to learn from what other towns in Vermont have done over the years, and that is the focus of my research.
I encourage everyone in the community to become involved in the discussion, and feel free to comment and discuss the issue here. We all need to work together for a viable solution.
This is my story.
I moved to Randolph when I was 12 years old, in 1981. My father bought Lamson’s Hardware from the Lamson family, and our family lived in an apartment above the hardware store for two years. I remember how busy the village used to be, especially with pedestrians and shoppers on Main Street after the factory shifts ended. It was obviously busy enough for the hardware store to turn a profit. The village was the destination for the region, for employment, shopping and nightlife. There was very little commercial development outside of the village district.
My father was actually one of the first to move his business south of the village. He purchased Central Supplies in 1983 and built a new building on Route 12, the current location. This consolidated two former locations in the village, one by the railroad tracks on Main Street and the other on Hull Street near the old Ethan Allen (currently LED Dynamics).
My father continued to run the hardware store in the village but it became redundant and he eventually closed the hardware store to focus on Central Supplies. At that time, there was also an Aubuchon’s Hardware in the plaza where Shaw’s and Dollar General are now located. Central Supplies and Lamson's Hardware had been destinations for Randolph village shoppers for decades. Central Supplies remains and seems to be busy, but many other stores have disappeared.. Amazon has taken a toll everywhere, I am guilty.
I graduated from RUHS in 1987 and UVM in 1991 with a degree in business administration (of course, right?). I worked in commercial real estate in Boston for several years doing acquisition analysis and due diligence reports before moving back to Burlington, VT in 1995. I bought a self storage facility which I owned for several years. I also started a retail bedroom furniture store out of one of the storage units, which grew into a 10,000 sf store on Williston Road in South Burlington. We sold mattresses and Vermont made furniture from Vermont Precision Woodworks, Vermont Tubbs and Vermont Furniture Designs. The store did well. I managed for 12 years.
During that time, I struggled with the closure of Vermont Tubbs, which went bankrupt in 2005. Vermont Precision, my best seller and 80% of my furniture business, began importing from China. They eventually closed their factory in Morrisville, VT and began exclusively selling imports.
There used to be lots of furniture factories throughout Vermont, Randolph included. Salisbury Street is named for the old Salisbury Furniture Company. Ethan Allen used to have 2 factories in Randolph, employing over 400 people. Not anymore. It’s really sad, we made great furniture! They were good jobs, people were paid well.
I moved back to Randolph in 2016 to be closer to family. I started doing research last year, little by little, after the police contract with OCSD was canceled and the police budget was defeated in March, 2023. I’ve never been involved in government before, and this seemed like a good opportunity to do something helpful for the community.
I kept hearing the same argument - the village wanted to expand the district, but the town didn’t want it, mainly due to the cost, and the town felt the village just wanted a subsidy for “their” problem. I felt compelled to figure out what is the real issue here, what happened. The people that negotiated the merger between town and village 40 years ago are mostly all old and gone. People tend to forget the way things were. Memories are fuzzy. Self-deception is real.
It bothers me to see the community so divided over this issue, especially when other villages in the state have all resolved similar situations already. We are either the last, or next to last, town with a village police district (other than Woodstock, which still has a village district but they cover the entire town). Bellow Falls and Bristol may be the only other towns left with a village police district. I’ve asked Bristol for confirmation but they didn’t respond. There were well over 40 village districts in the state at one time.
I understand the reluctance of people to make changes, because the issue is so confusing. Last summer, I emailed every other town in the state with 2,000 to 5,000 people, including all towns that had a village police district at one time, to see how they managed to resolve the issue. You can see the list on the blog. I think it is important to learn from what others are doing, whether business or government. Learn from other’s mistakes (sometimes easier said than done).
The village police district is a relic of history that needs to be retired. If we were initiating a new police department for Randolph, we would not create a village district like we have now. Towns do not operate that way. Years ago, it made sense but it no longer works.
I think it is important for people to see police coverage as an investment in the community. Instead of the town residents accusing the village residents of wanting a subsidy for “their” problem, we need to be on the same page. We also need to remember that the crime rate in Randolph may be low because we have local police coverage. The crime rate could rise without coverage.
I started this blog in December 2023 after the police committee presentation at VTC. I was disappointed they didn’t present any data to show what the police are doing, how they are spending their time, and what are the actual demands for law enforcement, as opposed to what they feel based on their conversations with residents. The data exists on the town web site in pdf format, but I was told at the presentation that the data was “unreliable”. I decided to see for myself what the data revealed, and post my research on the blog for those who are interested.
I’ve spent the past two months thinking and analyzing the data to present a conclusion that is easy to understand. I had a sense of what I wanted to say, but I don’t like to make claims without evidence. That’s why I did the blog.
Please feel free to comment, criticize or make suggestions. I want to encourage a dialogue and everyone should feel welcome to express their opinion. Thank you.