November 16, 2017 • The Essex Reporter • 1
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LaRose to retire in January By COLIN FLANDERS Chief Brad LaRose, a 37-year veteran of the Essex Police Department, has confirmed he will retire in January. LaRose, 60, will formally retire from the force January 12. “I certainly am very fond of the community and all the members at the department,” he said in a phone interview last Thursday morning. “But I’m looking to do something else, and it’s a very good timing.” Joint municipal manager Pat Scheidel informed the selectboard and trustees last Thursday morning of LaRose’s retirement plans. Scheidel said he’ll consider an internal appointment to serve in an interim “or permanent basis.” He plans to announce his final decision “in the very near future,” he said. Scheidel, who has worked with LaRose since he became Essex’s manager, called the chief a “pillar of integrity” whose love of the job is unquestioned. “He will be definitely missed,” Scheidel said. LaRose began with EPD in 1981 following two years with the Burlington Police Department and was named chief in 2012 after a yearlong stint as interim chief. Since 2015, LaRose has led the department with the help of two captains, whom he promoted to shore up EPD’s succession planning. One of those officers, George Murtie, retired earlier this month, while Cpt. Rick Garey remains with the department. LaRose made his announcement three months after The Reporter confirmed he had applied to become the district of Vermont’s U.S. Marshal, a presidentially-appointed position that carries a four-year term. LaRose said that application is “still pending,” noting his decision to retire is independent from his pursuit of the federal position. David Carle, a spokesman for Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said the senior legislator and Gov.
Salt of the Earth Chittenden County's first salt cave debuts in Essex Outlets. PHOTOS BY MICHAELA HALNON
Chittenden County's premier salt cave opened in Essex's Purple Sage salon earlier this month, filled with 20,000 pounds of Himalayan salt. The pink-hued dome offers therapy for everything from respiratory to skin conditions, according to owner Kim Scofield, in a relaxing environment.
See LAROSE, page 3
Fatal DUI suspect pleads not guilty
By MICHAELA HALNON The entrance into Chittenden County’s inaugural salt cave is not exactly modest. A small waiting room sitting behind the first set of glass double doors in the Purple Sage salon suggests an intense experience awaits, water station and basket of clean white socks at the ready off to the side. Ahead is a second set of double doors — these made of dark, hand-carved wood. Salon employees open them with a mischievous smirk, eyes glued to the faces of the customer seeing the impressive installation for the first time. Inside, a dimly lit, pinkhued dome awaits, filled with 20,000 pounds of Himalayan
See CRASH, page 2
See SALT, page 2
Towns report storm damage
By COLIN FLANDERS A 25-year-old man pleaded not guilty to a pair of felonies stemming from a drunken driving crash that killed his girlfriend last week. Riley H. Watkins was arraigned via video at the Chittenden Superior Court on Monday afternoon. He didn’t speak during the brief hearing, and his public defender entered his plea to charges of grossly negligent driving with death resulting and DUI with death resulting. If convicted, Watkins could face a minimum penalty of two years and a maximum of 30 years in prison. The hearing came four days after Emma Press, a 24-year-old South Burlington woman who recently moved to Essex with Watkins, died from injuries sustained in last Thursday night’s crash on Susie Wilson Road.
salt. The mineral is carved into bricks lining a “fireplace,” ground up into beads on the floor and puffed into the chamber as a vapor. Lounge chairs are situated in a semicircle, mimicking a day at the world’s strangest beach. “Our tagline is 45 minutes in the cave is equivalent to two days at the ocean,” salon owner Kim Scofield said, rattling off the list of benefits people usually notice after a coastal vacation. “It is the healing power of salt.” Termed “halotherapy,” salt-based treatments can treat everything from respiratory to skin problems in a relaxing atmosphere, Scofield said. The way she tells it, the negative ions in the salt cave counter-
Essex officials identify over $60k By NEEL TANDAN
PHOTO BY NEEL TANDAN
Essex was hit hardest in the northern part of town, according to town engineer Aaron Martin. Above, a worker in Essex cleans up downed trees and debris on Sleepy Hollow Rd. on Monday.
Towns have been reporting incurred costs to the Chittenden Regional Planning Commission following the windstorm late last month, and state and federal teams have been moving from county to county to assess damage. This joint preliminary damage assessment conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state partners will help determine if Vermont qualifies for federal disaster aid. See FEMA, page 3
After failure to launch, admin. suggests bringing transportation in-house By COLIN FLANDERS Essex Westford School District may dip its toes into the transportation business after administrators recommended creating a hybrid model that couples contracted services with a new in-house operation. In doing so, the district could capitalize on its scale while shrinking its route tree to combat the extreme driver shortage that forced the district to can its 2017 busing expansion in Essex Jct., chief operating officer Brian Donahue said in a presentation to the school board last week.
New model could bring notable changes as district plans to study school day times and alternative pick up methods Donahue said more operational control can increase the effectiveness of the district’s transportation model and allow for the village expansion to occur by next school year. Getting there may be a challenge, though two tweaks are key to the admin’s recommendations: shifting schools’ start
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and end times so they’re aligned for more efficiency and finding an alternative to the door-to-door pick up method. In the village, Hiawatha, Summit Street and Thomas Fleming all start within five minutes of one another and end at 3 p.m. This makes it impossible to efficiently transport children on the same bus, Dona-
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hue said, because the drivers must be at the same place at the same time. Aligned start and end times could allow the same bus to transport students to different schools, simplifying the route tree and cutting back on drivers. The administration also recommended exploring a designated ridership where families can opt in if their students plan to ride the bus. That would paint a clearer picture of the total ridership instead of estimates that sometimes force Essex Town See BUS, page 13