Burlington finally has a social media policy for city employees, months after bad online behavior ended the careers of two Queen City police chiefs.

Such a policy has been discussed for years, but it wasn't until Monday night that the Burlington City Council came together and unanimously adopted regulations for its employees' internet interactions.

The four-page policy seeks to strike a balance between allowing free speech and protecting the city's image. While workers are permitted "incidental and occasional" social media use at work, they should "use common sense" when posting online, the policy says. Employees must also publish a disclaimer on their personal profiles stating that their posts don't represent the views of the city.

City Councilor Ali Dieng (I-Ward 7), who helped vet the draft while serving on the council's Human Resources Committee, opened the discussion by referencing the recent social media scandal that led former chief Brandon del Pozo and deputy chief Jan Wright to resign in quick succession.
"This is a well-written policy that many people have been waiting for," Dieng said. "This is a great opportunity ... for protecting the city employees and also making sure that the community has the trust of the people that do great work for them."

St. Michael's College is offering tuition discounts for new students from Vermont this fall in an appeal to those wary of leaving the state amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The new program, called the Home State Promise, guarantees that first-year and transfer students who are new to the Colchester college would receive at least $25,000 in annual financial aid. The offer comes as high school graduates and college students forced home early by the pandemic consider remaining in Vermont during this time of uncertainty, said Michael Stefanowicz, the college's director of admission.

"As students are deciding right now, this definitely gives them some opportunity to reflect on where they want to be," Stefanowicz said. "We’re hearing from many of them: The appeal of home is strong."

Residents of two nursing homes account for more than 60 percent of coronavirus cases in Vermont's largest city, an analysis of newly available state data shows.

The Vermont Department of Health on Monday released town-by-town COVID-19 case tallies, after previously providing only county-level data. The new figures, while incomplete, offer a more precise view of the virus' spread throughout the state.

Since the novel coronavirus arrived in Vermont last month, Gov. Phil Scott and legislative leaders have generally avoided public disagreement. But during a meeting of the legislature's Joint Fiscal Committee on Monday, that spirit of collaboration began to fray.

At issue was how to spend the $1.25 billion Vermont has received in federal coronavirus relief funding — and who has the authority to spend it.

Lawmakers also expressed alarm at how much money the administration has already doled out in response to the public health crisis. Finance Commissioner Adam Greshin told the committee that he had signed checks worth $86 million — and that state agencies expected to spend more than $165 million on immediate needs within weeks.

"I'm quite surprised at the $80 million figure you rolled out, because last I knew we were talking about $23 million that had been paid," Sen. Jane Kitchel (D-Caledonia), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Greshin.

"The purpose of all this is to try to create a partnership, and at least so far that's not — we don't really have the information that we could use [to] become partners in this endeavor," said Rep. Janet Ancel (D-Calais), who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee.

A Vermont businessman must stop selling surgical masks at "outrageously inflated" prices, according to a searing court order issued Monday.

Vermont Superior Court Judge Helen Toor granted the state's request for an injunction against Shelley Palmer and his company, Big Brother Security Programs.

Palmer, of Williston, is accused of violating the Vermont Consumer Protection Act by selling thousands of 10-cent surgical masks to Central Vermont Medical Center for $2.50 each, exploiting the pandemic-induced shortage of personal protective equipment to earn exorbitant profits. He's also accused of trying to market the masks as N95 respirators. Attorney General T.J. Donovan sued Palmer earlier this month.

Palmer runs a transportation service. In numerous media interviews, he has strenuously denied selling the masks as N95s and defended his pricing scheme as fair.

He repeated those defenses, along with what Toor called "skeleton" legal arguments during a hearing last week, but the judge was having none of it. In a 17-page order, Toor concluded that Palmer lacked any credibility.

"The court rejects much of Palmer's testimony," she wrote, "because some was just not believable, some was contradicted by other more credible witnesses, he changed his own testimony from moment to moment, he lied to his customers, and he blatantly lied under oath."

The dispute about Palmer's marketing tactics was apparently settled by surveillance video from a South Burlington urgent care clinic where Palmer tried to sell the masks. Palmer can be heard describing his products as N95s and arguing with a clerk who corrected him, Toor wrote.

Palmer also tried to sell them to the state's Department of Public Safety, again passing them off as N95s, according to testimony by Commissioner Michael Schirling described in the judge's order.

After the state sent him a cease-and-desist order in late March, Palmer sold another batch of masks to his office manager's husband. The employee, Richard Morrell, then sold them at the same $2.50 price to Central Vermont Medical Center, Toor found.

Toor determined that the prices Palmer charged were "grossly excessive and unconscionably high."

Donovan's office proposed that Palmer could continue to sell the masks at a "reasonable rate" of up to 10 percent over verified costs, with notice and documentation to the state.

Palmer has until April 30 to seek permission to sell the masks at restricted prices or file any other written objection to the injunction. The civil case against him will proceed.

Read Toor's order here:

The City of Burlington is pausing its search for a new police chief for a year as it waits out the coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Miro Weinberger announced during a press conference Friday.

Interim Chief Jennifer Morrison has agreed to stay on as Burlington's top cop until the search process reconvenes. She will, however, take an unpaid leave starting June 12 until late September or early October while she cares for her husband, who will undergo a stem cell transplant in Boston this summer.

Deputy Chief Jon Murad will serve as acting chief during that period, the mayor said.

"It really is not currently possible to conduct a robust search process that involves out-of-state candidates visiting Burlington and meeting with many stakeholders in the community," Weinberger said. "It's not clear when those conditions are going to change."

The city began a search in January to hire a replacement for former chief Brandon del Pozo, who resigned last December after admitting that he'd created an anonymous Twitter account to harass a police critic. Former deputy chief Jan Wright served in del Pozo's stead until she, too, revealed similar online behavior.

Morrison, who previously served the Burlington Police Department for 23 years, was brought on in December to steady the ship while the city investigated Wright's wrongdoings. Morrison suspended Wright for eight days after that internal probe revealed the deputy chief had made a handful of problematic posts, but Wright resigned shortly after local media turned up dozens more.
The city convened a search committee that was poised to review candidates' applications in early March when the coronavirus hit, Weinberger said.

"It's my strong sense that many candidates who would have been strong candidates for this position are now being called on to serve their own communities during this time of crisis," he said.

The city's search will resume in April 2021.

Weinberger said members of the city council and police commission welcomed the decision, only raising a concern that the city's work on police accountability continue in the absence of a permanent chief. This effort includes enacting recommendations from the city's Special Committee to Review Community Policing Practices to update the department's use-of-force policy, to improve officers' anti-bias training, and to bolster the police commission's oversight powers.

"We're going to keep working on that during this period," Weinberger said. "We're not just gonna tread water for the next year; we're gonna make progress."

Morrison reiterated on Friday that she doesn't intend to seek the permanent chief spot after her tenure ends.

"Big John" is free.

Ridin' High owner John Van Hazinga, jailed for dealing pot from his Burlington skate shop, was released this week over concerns about the coronavirus outbreak at the prison where he was confined.

Van Hazinga was awaiting sentencing on a federal drug charge at Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans when signs of outbreak emerged on April 1. He asked a federal judge to release him pending sentencing the following day.

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