Barre Select Board Approves Concert Police Detail, Lions Club Holiday Event

BARRE -- June 4, 2018, Barre Select Board unanimously authorizes police detail for summer concerts and reserves town common for Lions Club December event. The board voted June 4 to allow the police chief to close roads around the common at his discretion during the Quadling Community Band's summer concert series, after hearing that 50 to 70 attendees crossing Route 122 at peak and the absence of coverage last year drew resident complaints; detail costs run roughly $160 per concert, or close to $1,000 for the season. The board also reserved the full common for December 1 for a Lions Club civic celebration, including hay rides, a Santa appearance, and Christmas tree sales, to replace the discontinued Christmas in Barre event, pending a formal special permit. In other action, the board signed an updated intermunicipal agreement adding the town of Warren to the regional emergency communications center, accepted a year-one IT services contract projected to cut the town's IT budget line roughly in half, and heard a warning that the fire department's 20-year-old primary engine failed its annual rust inspection, a development the town administrator said may push apparatus-replacement bonding, estimated around $525,000, to a special town meeting as early as October.