This week at a Fayston Select Board meeting, town residents showed up for the second time in a month to seek town help with speeding on town roads. The speeding is endangering riders on horseback, cyclists, pedestrians and the dogs they are walking.
The first time they showed up, the board okayed a plan to install signs asking people to slow down and be aware of how easily horses are spooked. This week residents were back to report that the signs were run over and people’s behavior has not improved.
Those present asked if the town would invest in a solar-powered movable radar trailer to show people their speed as they passed. They asked if the town could provide game cameras to capture the license plates of speeders, those who spook horses and those who ran over the signs.
Several times during this week’s meeting town leaders noted that Fayston can’t afford law enforcement. These residents who are asking their elected leaders for help were told that the town can’t do anything.
Who says? Where is it written that Fayston can’t afford a $3,000 radar trailer? Surely the town has some capital fund from which those funds could be borrowed until the next budget year. And who says that the town can’t budget for such a trailer? Why can’t the town put some money into next year’s budget for law enforcement?
Warren and Waitsfield contract with the Washington County Sheriff’s Department for traffic control. Warren and Waitsfield are also in the middle of figuring out if the two towns can share the cost of one full-time, trained constable capable of traffic stops, but also responding to other incidents that require a trained law enforcement officer.
Some will recall, almost two decades ago when Fayston voters passed a Town Meeting article that called for a contract with the Washington County Sheriff’s Department for traffic control only for the town to receive a petition asking for that decision to be rescinded. It was rescinded.
There is nothing stopping the town from heeding the pleas of its road residents and proposing a solution and including that solution in its budget for next March.
