State facility closing
Toolbox
By Brent Curtis Herald Staff - Published: January 10, 2009
A plan to close the state Probation and Parole office in Middlebury has the Addison County State's Attorney and some legislators in that region worried about future offender oversight.
But state Corrections officials, backed by the governor's office, say supervision won't suffer — and could even be improved once caseloads from Addison County are handed over to probation and parole officers in Rutland and Burlington.
The Middlebury Probation and Parole office, located just around the block from the county's District Court, is due to close on Jan. 31 as part of a budget rescission that will trim $20 million worth of state spending. The Middlebury office's closing, announced late last month, will save the state $40,000 in rent and payroll due to a position that will be eliminated through attrition, according to Corrections officials.
"These are tough economic times and we, along with everyone else, are trying to do things more efficiently," Corrections Commissioner Andrew Pallito said Friday.
But a number of officials in Addison County said the money saved by closing the office won't be worth the problems and additional costs to the court system if offenders living in the county lack supervision or are held in violation because of difficulties getting to Rutland or Burlington to report.
Addison County State's Attorney John Quinn predicted the money the state saved by eliminating the office would be paid out by the court system when offenders came to court for probation violations.
"Many drunk drivers can't drive and don't have transportation," he said. "At the moment, they can walk from the courthouse to probation and parole, but soon those services will be a long ways away.
"If they have to report to Rutland or Burlington, I suspect there will be more violations which will mean more time and more of a burden for the courts," he added.
In addition, Quinn said the probation staff's ability to respond quickly when offender issues arise would be compromised.
"We'll be calling to Rutland or Burlington. At the moment, they can immediately respond," he said.
Quinn has put his complaints in writing and mailed them to Gov. James Douglas' office in hopes of reversing the closure.
"I strongly urge you to direct the commissioner to look into other ways to save the state this $30,000," he wrote.
But Douglas spokesman Stephen Wark said Friday that due to the fiscal realities confronting the state, the governor agrees with the decision to close the office.
"This is one of many changes in state government that is taking place," Wark said. "It's no secret that we're faced with tough financial times right now and that means we need to change the way we do business."
Wark also echoed a conviction held by Corrections officials interviewed during the week — that the office's closure wouldn't represent a loss in supervision and may even result in an "enhancement" of oversight and services.
"The worst case is a net zero situation," he said. "What we're hoping though is that through consolidating one small office into two bigger offices we end up with more."
Jacqueline Kotkin, director of Probation and Parole for the Department of Corrections, said the "less is more" concept had merit in more ways than one.
For example, presently corrections officers in Rutland travel all over Addison County to offer programming to inmates and to augment the activities of probation and parole officers.
But once the county is split in half, with probation officials in Rutland inheriting about one-third of the 300 offenders living in Addison County while Burlington absorbs the remainder living north of Middlebury, the two counties will pool their responsibilities more evenly.
Corrections officers from Rutland will serve offenders living south of Middlebury while corrections officers in Burlington will handle those living north of the county seat.
"We believe the division in fact may enhance supervision of the more serious offenders," Kotkin said. "We really do think we can serve Addison County competently."
Bolstering that belief is the state's intent to maintain a probation and parole "presence" in Middlebury by arranging to have staff at the courthouse and, perhaps, in another state office complex in the town for at least a few days a week.
And while offenders in Middlebury won't be able to walk to the Probation and Parole office anymore, she said many offenders in the county have jobs in Rutland and Burlington, making reporting requirements no more of a burden. For those who don't work in the adjoining counties, she said the roughly 30-mile trip from Middlebury is no worse than what offenders on the fringes of Addison County must deal with to report presently to the Probation and Parole office at the county's seat.
Those assurances weren't convincing to Addison County officials interviewed Friday.
"I find that laughable," Quinn said. "They're taking our offices further away from our people and they expect that to be better? I don't see (any enhancement) happening."
He wasn't alone.
Rep. Willem Jewett, D-Ripton, and Sen. Claire Ayer, D-Addison, both said they were having a hard time finding any positives in the Probation and Parole offices pending departure.
"I guess they have to say that don't they?" Jewett said of the state's outlook. "But if we carry their logic through, it means the more closures the better and I just don't believe it."
Jewett said he found the manner in which the state went about cutting the office almost as disturbing as the cuts themselves. The state representative said that unbeknownst to him and other state officials in the county, the decision was made to close the office long before it was announced.
"We're going to have to deal with a lot of cuts here and for them to make those cuts in the dark is just unacceptable," he said.
Reached at home Friday evening, Ayer said she hadn't had a chance to research the effects of the closure, but she said she worried about how offenders would manage to report if they couldn't find the time or means to get to Rutland or Burlington.
"How are they going to hold a job if they have to drive for several hours both ways several times a week to meet their reporting requirements?" she said. "I don't know how they can keep those obligations, I really don't."
Contact Brent Curtis at brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com.
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