WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Hartford officials are seeking public feedback to inform an upcoming study of safety and wellness needs in the community, particularly among the town’s most vulnerable or marginalized populations.

The Hartford Selectboard is drafting a Request for Proposal, or RFP, to contract services for a “community safety review”. The study will examine effective ways to utilize community resources, including public services and nonprofit organizations, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all town residents.

The Selectboard will host a discussion at its May 16 meeting to gather community input about the proposal, which the board intends to put out to bid at the end of the month.

The proposed study is supported by Chief of Police Gregory Sheldon and Fire Chief Scott Cooney, who say their departments are not equipped with the training or resources to optimally handle many crises that they are asked to address.

“The role of the fire department is generally a reactive agency,” Cooney told Selectboard members at a meeting on Tuesday. “We respond to crises and mitigate different kinds of emergencies. That’s our design. I think you’ll find through a study all those other things we are doing that we might not be the best resource for.”

Sheldon told the Selectboard that police departments are primarily designed to address “violence and crime” yet as many as 85% of police calls are “not criminal in nature”, though about half of those non-criminal activities are situations where a reported conflict has a potential to become violent.

“We are here for violence and crime yet we go on a mental health call,” Sheldon said. “Why are we the ones going when we only have 40 to 60 hours of training in mental health while mental health professionals are sitting in their office not responding?”

The national over reliance on law enforcement as a “workaround” response to mental health crises has contributed to marginalized populations feeling distrustful of police officers, because their relationship with law enforcement has usually resulted in adverse or traumatic outcomes such as arrests, Sheldon said.

Sheldon spoke about Project Vision, a collaborative community program developed in Rutland, where Sheldon served as a police officer for 21 years before becoming Hartford’s police chief.

Spearheaded in 2012 by former Rutland Chief of Police Jim Baker, Project Vision created a coalition of organizations, government agencies, businesses and other stakeholders to address community issues ranging from addiction to poverty.

Now in its 11th year, Project Vision has demonstrated numerous successes in Rutland, including significant reductions in the city’s crime rates, stronger collaboration between community partners and improved feelings of safety and trust among many residents, according to a story in VTDigger.

“The best part of this whole process is that once you get it rolling, five years or so down the line, you start to realize that law enforcement is part of the community,” Sheldon said. “Right now when you have a divided community, law enforcement is not (seen by some) as part of the community.”

Asked about the request for contracted services, Sheldon said that ideally the study — and the programs developed from the information — should be driven by the community. Social services agencies and nonprofits that work closely with vulnerable populations are invaluable resources for interviewing residents and collecting data. But specialized services will be needed to analyze that data and present it to community members “so that it is understandable” and useful for informing strategic solutions.

“These have to be grassroots programs,” Sheldon said, crediting Baker for the guidance. “If someone comes in here from Virginia or Florida and says what you have to do, what kind of buy-in is there? It’s got to be grassroots, from people who care about the community, not from some company being paid when you buy their product.”

The community safety study was recommended last year to the Selectboard by the Hartford Committee on Racial Equity and Inclusion, or HCOREI, an advisory group on community diversity, equity and inclusion issues.

The town, which has budgeted $50,000 to complete the study, released an RFP last September for a contractor to oversee the study. But the only bid came from a Texas-based security company that provides large-scale surveillance and defense services, according to Selectboard Clerk Kim Souza.

The defense company, which did not address any of the town’s criteria, offered to study Hartford’s security needs for $600,000.

Acting Town Manager Gail Ostrout said the town wants to hear from residents, town staff and stakeholders what scope of work and services should be included in the RFP.

“We’ve heard from a lot of residents that they would like to have some sort of survey, so (a community discussion) goes hand in hand with that,” Ostrout said. “And by having staff here, everybody’s voices are being heard.”

The next Hartford Selectboard meeting will be on May 16 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall.

Patrick Adrian may be reached at padrian@vnews.com or at 603-727- 3216.

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