Barre Select Board adopts pet policy, fills board seats, approves fiscal transfers

BARRE -- July 15, 2019, Barre Select Board cleared eight agenda items in roughly 30 minutes at its July 15 meeting. The board unanimously reappointed three police officers, Robert Lambert, Bobby Ruckus, and Trevor Allen, and authorized the department to trade in its .40-caliber handguns for .45-caliber weapons, with officers offered the chance to purchase their retiring sidearms at trade-in prices of $245 to $265. The board adopted a formal office pet policy barring household animals from town buildings while preserving access for service animals under federal definitions. Susan DeRose was appointed to the Planning Board to fill a vacancy, and Mary Anne Watson and D.D. Charlton were named to the Council on Aging board on the director's recommendation. The board also approved a slate of end-of-fiscal-year interdepartmental transfers, with the largest item tied to a Police Department salary overrun; a DPW road account showed an unexpended balance attributed to the more-than-year-long absence of the department's foreman due to injury.