SHARON — At a public forum this week, the three Democrats running to be Windsor County’s next sheriff all addressed financial concerns looming over the department under the leadership of current Sheriff Ryan Palmer, a Democrat elected in 2022 who did not file to run by this year’s deadline.
Joshua Lake, patrolman with the Bellows Falls Police Department; Christopher Norton, sergeant with the Windham County Sheriff’s Department; and Claude Weyant, chief deputy of the Windsor Sheriff’s Department, spoke at the Sharon Congregational Church Wednesday evening during a forum hosted by the Windsor County Democratic Committee ahead of the Aug. 11 primary election.
The candidates took questions from moderators Windsor County State’s Attorney Ward Goodenough and Sharon Selectboard member Kevin Gish before an audience of around 30, sharing their visions for the future of the department if elected.
Lake and Norton both promised stability and transparency, while Weyant, chief deputy of the department who took over in late January following Palmer’s arrest on sexual misconduct charges, ensured that under his leadership so far, he’s already made progress in alleviating financial woes.
Since taking over the sheriff’s department in 2023, Palmer had expanded the number of towns with which the department had policing contracts from nine to 15 by 2025, including four in Orange County.
Today, the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department provides patrols to 13 towns across Windsor and Orange counties.
“A big critique of (Sheriff Palmer) was that he got too big too fast and that led to quality control issues,” said Joshua Lake, a 30-year-old Chester resident.
“It’s the same if you’re running a business,” he said. “You need to be able to maintain what you have before you grow.”
Paramount to Lake’s platform is establishing the sheriff’s department as “a nexus point for people who are struggling to get the resources they need.”
Substance abuse is a “public health epidemic,” he said.
“I became a police officer because my brother died of a fentanyl overdose,” Lake said. “I struggled to think about how he could’ve had so many connections with cops and never been put on the right path.”
If elected Windsor County sheriff, he said he plans on taking “the human approach to law enforcement.”
“When we come in contact with people who are struggling with mental health, with addiction, we give them the resources they need, and we remove the boundaries in place preventing them from getting help,” he said.
Christopher Norton, a 50-year-old Springfield resident who has around 30 years of law enforcement experience, said he would focus on strengthening regionalized policing in Windsor County if elected sheriff.
He championed the strides made by the Windham County Sheriff’s Department, where he’s worked the last 12 years, in establishing the Windham County Law Enforcement Governance Council, a regional governance model intended to help participating towns without police departments plan, fund and deliver law enforcement and public safety services.
On contracting with towns outside of Windsor County, Norton stated that he would be willing to assist where needed but was opposed to “going out and stealing towns from other counties just because I can do it.”
“I don’t believe that’s fair to other counties,” he said.
Norton added that he is well-equipped for the role of sheriff, noting his experience at the Windham Sheriff’s Department of serving in supervisory positions, including budget and grant management, internal affairs, policy reviews and paperwork approvals.
Raised in Windsor County, he said “I know a lot of people all throughout the county and I want to (build) the sheriff’s department back up.”
Weyant, 70, who has worked at the department since 2001, spoke to the challenges of becoming the department’s leader after Palmer’s arrest.
“When I was put in charge on Jan. 27, (it was) probably one of the scariest days of my life,” Weyant said. “I walk in there and I think, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re not even going to barely make payroll.’ ”
Weyant added that under Palmer’s leadership the last three years, deputies haven’t received “one cent of a pay increase.”
Since taking over in late January amid Palmer’s pending criminal case, Weyant said he’s already been able to raise deputy wages once, and plans to do so again next month.
“We’ve restructured our financial situation,” Weyant said. “We’ve set different programs so that we … have the money to pay our retirement and pay our insurance (on time).”
Weyant has more than 40 years of law enforcement experience, he said. Before Vermont, he worked down in Beaumont, Texas, where he said he was hired in the ’80s because they needed Spanish-speaking officers and he lived in Mexico for two years, and up in Wood County, Wisconsin, where he lived on a dairy farm and ran for sheriff as a Democrat in the 90s.
Before the Windsor Sheriff’s Department, he said he worked for over a decade at the Windham County Sheriff’s Department.
When asked by Goodenough if Windsor sheriff’s deputies would cooperate with ICE agents, all three were in agreement.
“It hasn’t happened yet as long as I’ve been in the sheriff’s office and I don’t foresee it ever happening,” Weyant said.
He went on to cite the Vermont Criminal Justice Council’s Fair and Impartial Policing policy, which states, “personal characteristics or citizenship or immigration status should have no adverse bearing on an agency’s interactions with an individual.”
The policy goes on to say that “enforcement of civil immigration law is a federal responsibility, and agencies should not engage in such enforcement except as otherwise outlined in this policy.”
“We can’t (cooperate with ICE) unless it’s a criminal issue,” Norton said. “If I were to do so, I would be decertified. If I directed one of my deputies to do so, they would be decertified. It’s not going to happen. Not under my watch.”
Lake echoed the state’s Fair and Impartial policing policy.
“We have a fair and impartial policing standard that we must uphold that prevents us from interacting or helping ICE, but it needs to go beyond that,” he said. “We should not even be showing up to assist when asked.”
Three Democrats and one Republican have filed to run for Windsor County sheriff, the Valley News previously reported.
The winner of the Democratic primary in August will face the sole Republican candidate in November’s general election: Richard King, a 63-year-old lieutenant in the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department who lives in Springfield.
The Windsor County Democratic Committee is hosting a Windsor District senate forum Saturday featuring Ben Brickner, Elizabeth Burrows, Heather Chase, Chris Dube, Joe Major and Becca White at the North Star Health Center, 100 River Street, in Springfield from 2 to 3:30 p.m.
A governor forum will follow on Tuesday with Democrats Aly Richards and Amanda Janoo at Woodstock Town Hall, 31 The Green, in Woodstock from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
For more information, visit the Windsor County Democratic Committee’s website.
On Monday, the Democratic primary candidates for the Windsor County Senate District will also take part in a forum at Hartford Town Hall, 171 Bridge Street, in White River Junction from 6 to 8 p.m.
More information can be found at the Vermont Conservation Voters’ website.
