Hall of fame
No hitter
Journalists, designers collect awards at press association event
CVU pitchers rack up two scoreless games in a row
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Volume 51 Number 18
POSTAL CUSTOMER
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #217 CONCORD, NH ECRWSSEDDM
shelburnenews.com
May 5, 2022
Town inks new police contract
Opening day
COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
Shelburne’s police and dispatch workers now have a fully ratified contract, cementing pay increases through 2026 and ending a two-year stalemate without a contract. The town selectboard last week unanimously approved the new contract. It establishes a new 20-step wage scale from Jan. 21 of this year through June 30, 2026, while providing a retroactive pay increase from July 1, 2021 — when the last contract officially expired while negotiations were well underway. Town manager Lee Krohn called the negotiations a “a hardfought battle” to balance the needs of the department with the fiscal responsibility for the board
and the taxpayers. The contract raises base wages “to be much more in line with our competition in Chittenden County,” Krohn said. “That was a key issue.” The contract has 20 steps in a new wage schedule, adding wage increases each year. A new hire with the department would be assessed based on years of experience as well as the type of work they did previously and would then be assigned to a step based on that experience. They would then receive a raise for each year they work with the department. Patrol officers at step 6, for example, will earn $30.55 an hour. The maximum earnings for a patrol officer would be $43.16 an hour at step 20. New patrol See CONTRACT on page 11
Shelburne adopts policy to protect undocumented COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
PHOTOS BY LEE KROHN
Shelburne Little League helds its first opening day celebration since 2019 on April 30 with a parade through town and a visit from Champ, the Vermont Lake Monsters mascot. “This is a great tradition and a wonderful way to kick off the season,” said Mike Niebur, president of Shelburne Little League. A record 382 kids registered to play this year from three towns: Charlotte, Hinesburg and Shelburne.
The Shelburne selectboard last week approved a new policy bolstering protections for undocumented individuals while limiting the amount of cooperation local police can have with federal immigration enforcement authorities. The town’s new fair and impartial policing policy, which broadly prohibits officers from engaging in biased policing based on personal characteristics such as gender, age or sexual orientation, now adds strong limits to when local police can cooperate with federal authorities like the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The town’s original policy had “weaknesses specifically in regard to migrant workers and immigration status,” said Zoe Hart, a Shelburne resident and member of the town’s fair and impartial policing team. “So that’s the intent of our changes is to tighten up those weaknesses, and not to prevent local police from ever working with federal authorities but simply to clearly define the conditions under which that should be permitted.” Language struck from the town’s previous policy include allowing communication between local agencies and the ImmigraSee POLICY on page 5