Vermont
Former Orange County Sheriff faces scrutiny over shoddy accounting
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CHELSEA, Vt. (WCAX) – The former Orange County sheriff’s accounting practices are facing scrutiny. Vermont’s state auditor says former sheriff Bill Bohnyak left behind a financial mess including inaccurate book-keeping, questionable use of bank loans, and unsound management of assets.
Former Orange County Sheriff Bill Bohnyak’s books are under the microscope.
A transitional audit found that a loan of $225,000 which was intended to upgrade buildings, went to vehicles, bonuses, uniforms, and other non-building expenses.
Vermont Auditor Doug Hoffer says other financial problems were so bad that auditors couldn’t finish the job. However, he adds it’s unlikely it will rise to civil or criminal charges. “Nevertheless, it’s not in the interest of taxpayers and the citizens of Orange County. Yet how can we hold former Sheriff Bohnyak accountable?” Hoffer said.
Bohnyak declined an interview but said he contests some of the auditor’s findings and that he would be putting out a statement in the coming days.
Bohnyak lost his election this spring to current sheriff George Contois, who spent Tuesday in court providing security for a jury trial and was not available for an interview.
Back in March, Contois told WCAX he wanted to improve the department. “I saw a lot of deficiencies and I thought that perhaps I could change that, and of course, I’m not able to change much because we have no manpower,” he said.
The accounting discrepancies come as Vermont lawmakers passed a law this session aimed at holding sheriffs accountable.
“We needed to dive into this to understand how we could have better oversight of these elected positions that are also a quasi-financial enterprise at the same time,” said Rep. Matt Birong, D-Vergennes.
The Association of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs will now add a director of sheriff operations who will help the 14 sheriffs’ offices have better accounting practices.
Bohnyak’s accounting is just the latest incident in a string of allegations against sheriffs stemming from assault to misconduct. “They are only subject to an election, or in the most extreme example, an impeachment process,” Birong said.
The sheriffs are constitutionally elected officials that receive some state funds but have to be majority-funded through independent contracts.
“Who is in a position to insist that the sheriffs comply with a set of sensible policies? Because they are independent constitutional officers, we don’t have an answer to that just yet,” Hoffer said.
Lawmakers last session also made headway on a proposed constitutional amendment providing more oversight and accountability for county officials, but that measure after it is approved will require several years to make it into the books.
Related Stories:
Orange County Sheriff says staffing crisis jeopardizes department
Do Vermont sheriffs need more oversight? What a new bill would change
Ex-Vt. sheriff’s deputy sentenced for road rage shooting
Lawsuit targets Vt. sheriff’s dept., off-duty deputy convicted of road rage
Orange County town confronts police coverage concerns
Orange County sheriff blames budget cuts for end of overnight patrols
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Vermont
Gondolas Snack Bar Opens in Morristown
![Gondolas Snack Bar Opens in Morristown](https://media1.sevendaysvt.com/sevendaysvt/imager/u/facebook/41233730/sidedishes2-teaser-41d5d7cb830ae145.jpg)
Locals can now pull up, cool off and chow down at Morristown’s newest roadside destination, Gondolas Snack Bar. Owner Louis Ferris opened the creemee and burger spot on June 7 at 3107 Route 15.
A real estate professional with experience working in commercial kitchens, Ferris wants his new business to be ingrained in the community. After the former occupant of the spot, Mountain View Snack Bar, closed during the pandemic, he saw an opportunity to re-create his best memories of Vermont summers and give them back to people, he said.
“I’m just so excited to bring everyone together here,” Ferris said. “Our customers stay and hang out long after they’re finished with their creemees.”
Gondolas whips up triple-scoop cones in flavors such as maple, tutti-frutti and cotton candy, plus smash burgers, fries and onion rings. Ferris wants the snack bar to be authentic, which to him means locally sourced ingredients, such as creemee mix from Kingdom Creamery of Vermont, and live music on Saturday nights.
“We’d love to see anyone from Little League sports teams or friends having a reunion here,” Ferris said. “We just want to be that fun place for the community to get a treat.”
Gondolas operates daily from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. until October. Find out more at gondolassnackbar.com.
Vermont
Vermont National Guard facility set to reopen after major PFAS spill
Operators at a South Burlington wastewater treatment plant first noticed something strange Friday morning. A tank was filling with bubbles, like someone had filled it with laundry detergent.
“It looked like a white bubble bath,” said Bob Fischer, the water quality superintendent for South Burlington. “I could tell it was firefighting foam, but I didn’t know what kind.”
Fischer was right. The night before, 800 gallons of highly concentrated firefighting foam had spilled over the floor of the Vermont Army National Guard aircraft hanger in South Burlington.
It gathered in the landing gear of a Black Hawk military helicopter, before some 150 gallons flowed down a drain and entered the town’s wastewater system, according to National Guard estimates. The material reached a nearby pump station before entering the water treatment plant, which sits next to the Winooski River.
This type of firefighting foam is called aqueous film-forming foam or AFFF. It’s used for fires that involve flammable liquids, like burning jet fuel. The state of Vermont has banned its use because it contains relatively high concentrations of manufactured chemicals known as PFAS, which have been linked to cancer, liver problems and a myriad of other health issues and can be toxic even in tiny doses.
The Vermont National Guard hadn’t released the material for years — it wasn’t even supposed to be used in the case of a fire.
“If the fire suppression system discharged, all it would discharge is just water — we essentially bypassed the AFFF tank,” said Col. Jacob Roy, the construction and facility management officer at the National Guard. “We realized that the risk to the environment was pretty significant, and we did not want a chance having either a purposeful or accidental release.”
Vermont Army National Guard
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Courtesy
Roy suspects the spill Thursday night was a mechanical failure in their containment system. He said there’s been no evidence of a fire.
Since Friday morning, contractors have been out every day cleaning and testing the National Guard facility, the sewer lines, the pump station and the wastewater treatment plant. Roy expects the facility to be open to staff by Wednesday morning.
And test results from the Winooski River should come back within a week.
In the grand scheme of things, a release of around 150 gallons — about the size of a hot tub — is pretty small within the bigger river system, said Matt Chapman, who directs waste management and prevention at Vermont’s Department of Environmental Conservation.
“It’s good for perspective purposes to appreciate that on a normal day in the Winooski River, the river has a flow rate of about 5,000 gallons per second,” he said.
April McCullum
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Vermont Public
While he’s not overly concerned about contamination in the river, he said what’s less straightforward going forward is how to properly dispose of the 650 gallons of foam that’s been collected. The EPA released interim guidance this year that includes incineration, storage in landfills and underground injection, but none of the options are good.
“I think it’s fair to say there’s no guidance from EPA,” Chapman said.
“One of the reasons why we still have this product over the years onsite, [is] because it is not an easy product to get rid of,” echoed Roy.
He said the disposal method will ultimately depend on the concentration of PFAS found in testing and directed further questions about the disposal process to the National Guard’s waste disposal contractor, Republic Services.
A spokesperson for the company said they operate several hazardous waste landfills across North America, which are engineered to safely and responsibly manage this type of waste.
Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message.
Vermont
Gatorade names record-breaking North Country star VT’s top girls track and field athlete
North Country junior Sabine Brueck has been selected as Vermont’s top high school girls track and field athlete for the 2024 season, Gatorade announced Tuesday morning.
Brueck is the second athlete in program history to receive the award, which recognizes outstanding athletic excellence, high academic achievement and exemplary character.
The 5-foot-7 Brueck swept the 100- and 300-meter hurdles at the Division I state meet earlier this month, while also taking second in triple jump and third in long jump. Then at the New England championships, Brueck broke her own state record in the 300 hurdles (43.90 seconds) to nab third. Last week, she also reset the Vermont decathlon state record with a winning total of 5,755 points.
More: State records fall at 48th annual Vermont decathlon championships
Brueck has volunteered locally as a youth track, basketball and soccer coach and has also donated her time as a summer camp counselor, the Gatorade release said.
“Sabine has excelled in a variety of events this year,” Mount Mansfield coach Bill Eschholz said in a statement. “From the sprints to the hurdles to the jumps, she is, without a doubt, the best all-around athlete in track this year.”
Brueck has maintained an A average in the classroom. She will begin her senior year of high school this fall.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every player of the year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com.
Become a member of the Vermont Varsity Insider Facebook group at https://bit.ly/2MGSfvX.
Contact Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.
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