For the first time ever, the Woodstock Village Trustees and Town Selectboard have inked a police services contract between the two governing bodies that will move forward on a month-to-month basis for the next year, rather than functioning on an annual basis, as has always been the past practice.
“After much discussion, the selectboard decided to go with a month-to-month contract with the village for police coverage in the town,” Woodstock Town Selectboard chair Ray Bourgeois wrote in an emailed statement to the Standard on behalf of the five-member governing body on Tuesday afternoon. “This decision was not taken lightly and was decided on until the current situation with the Village Police Chief is concluded,” Bourgeois added. “We felt it was necessary to protect the town because of the possibility of dramatic fluctuation of police personnel and the ability to cover the town. Making sure the town has police coverage is the selectboard’s priority.”
Apart from the new, month-to-month nature of the police services contract, the remainder of the village and town agreement is essentially unchanged from past years. The fiscal year 2025-26 agreement, which took effect this past Tuesday, July 1, calls for the town to compensate the village $38,290.51 per month for police coverage from now through June 30, 2026.
For more on this, please see our July 3 edition of the Vermont Standard.
