Barre task force members at odds over $600,000 offender re-entry program

Rep. Paul Poirier, D-Barre City

Barre’s Reentry Task Force, charged with exploring new solutions to problems related to the city’s corrections population, is having an identity crisis. Formed in the wake of an April report by former state Rep. Peter Mallary, the task force is split between near-exact execution of Mallary’s recommendations and a more fluid discussion about Barre’s community resources.

At Monday’s task force meeting, Barre Police Chief Tim Bombardier presented a comprehensive plan for the “Barre Offender Reentry Project.” The proposed project would bring Barre’s existing community justice center under the employ of the City of Barre and co-locate it with community partners. The partners, such as Good Samaritan Haven, Washington County Mental Health  and Vermont Employment & Training, would share an office with the community justice center in downtown Barre, but those employees would be paid by their own organizations.

The plan calls for additional services such as conflict resolution and “rapid intervention,” also known as rapid arraignment, a process by which non-violent repeat offenders can use community supports instead of going through the traditional court system.

The plan calls for a $591,000 budget, combining the community justice center’s current $241,000 budget with an additional $350,000. The source of the additional funding is still unclear, but Bombardier said the money will come from the state. He said he doesn’t know the exact source, but that he hopes the Department of Corrections will invest in the project, which is designed to save them money by reducing recidivism.

Rep. Mary Hooper, D-Montpelier, expressed concern that the proposed plan had betrayed the brainstorming process she thought the committee was formed for. Hooper is also the mayor of Montpelier and sits on the House Corrections and Institutions Committee.

“What is our purpose here?” Hooper asked. “If it’s to help the city of Barre write a grant application to the State of Vermont, that’s one thing. And if it is to develop a model [for offender transition] as I was describing, that’s a very different thing.”

In his April report, Mallary recommended the task force “to examine existing plans for reentry – plans with track records in other places – including local, regional and national examples” and “[t]he focus must be on how to apply these programs to [Barre City].”

Hooper said she hoped to see the task force develop a reentry model that could be implemented in Barre and then spread throughout the state.

Mallary’s recommendation to examine existing plans led Bombardier to Winooski, where he found a reentry plan that took a more “a la carte” approach to offender reentry. Instead of the intensive COSA process, Winooski’s strategy made programs available to newly released offenders and helped them where they needed help.

“I liked what I saw,” said Bombardier.

Winooski’s program became the foundation of Bombardier’s plan, which he presented Monday.

Mallary’s report also mentions Winooski’s programs as a suggested starting point.

“The police department in Winooski provides a model for serious consideration,” the report states.

Budget questions arose at the meeting, and Bombardier said he was working with the current justice center budget, plus $350,000 from the state, but Hooper says the state’s pockets only go so deep.

“I would be very surprised,” she said on Tuesday, “if the state gave the city of Barre a grant on the order of $500,000 to accomplish what we were hearing described last night.”

Since the meeting on Monday, Bombardier has made changes to his plan, and he said he expects people to come forward with their own ideas next Monday.

“First we have to decide what it is,” Hooper said of the plan, “and we haven’t done that yet.”

The next meeting is 4 p.m. at Alumni Hall in Barre.

The committee consists of:

• City Councilor and Rep. Paul Poirier
• Barre Mayor Thom Lauzon
• City Councilor Dominic Etli
• Rep. Mary Hooper, D-Montpelier (House Corrections and Institutions Committee)
• Sen. Ann Cummings, D-Washington County (Senate Finance Committee)
• Susan Bartlett, special assistant to the governor
• Lily Sojurner, field director at the Agency of Human Services
• Rev. Carl VanOsdall, First Presbyterian Church of Barre
• Tim Bombardier, city of Barre chief of police
• Laura Moore, chairwoman of the Barre Supervisory School Union Board
• John Bacon, city of Barre superintendent of schools
• Steve Mackenzie, Barre City manager
• Rep. Tess Taylor, D-Barre City
• Gwynn Zakov