BRISTOL — The Bristol selectboard last week hired Bruce Nason as a new part-time officer for the Bristol Police Department.
Nason, a Bristol resident, has been a police officer for 22 years, 20 of those on the police force in Saranac Lake, N.Y., where he was chief for six and a half years. He came to the Addison County Sheriff’s Department in April 2015, and will continue to work full-time there as patrol supervisor.
He and his wife and youngest son moved to Vermont from New York state.
“I enjoy doing police work,” Nason told the selectboard at its Nov. 7 meeting. He explained that his entire career has been focused on smaller, rural communities. Saranac Lake is just four square miles and has a population of a little over 5,000.
“So I’m used to the community policing concept, and I’m very interested in working here,” he said.
Nason joins Chief Kevin Gibbs and officers Randy Crowe, Josh Otey, Bob Worley and Jori Fairbanks on the Bristol force.
“The town of Bristol and the Bristol Police Department are excited to have an officer with the experience Bruce Nason has joining us,” said Town Administrator Therese Kirby. “He brings not only experience, but a new perspective and ideas.”
In other activity at the Nov. 7 selectboard meeting:
•  Road Foreman Pete Bouvier requested $160,847 out of the capital equipment fund for a new dump truck. He suggested a 2018 Freightliner equipped with snowplowing equipment and a warranty to replace the highway department’s 2009 GMC dump truck. The amount was approved. The highway department plans to sell the 2009 GMC truck in the spring and put the money back into the equipment fund, said Kirby.
•  The selectboard OK’d the police department’s participation in the Equipment Incentive program of the Governor’s Highway Safety Program. The program subsidizes equipment costs. Eligibility is in part tied to participating in national and statewide Click It or Ticket campaigns. Sgt. Randy Crowe appeared on behalf of the BPD.
Just before Monday’s meeting, the planning commission handed off its latest draft of the town zoning regulations. The zoning regulations are now in the hands of the selectboard. The planning commission held hearings in October and November and incorporated that public feedback into its current draft. The goal is for the zoning regs to be finalized in time to be on the 2017 Town Meeting Day ballot.
The selectboard will hold its own hearing on the zoning regs Nov. 21, 7 p.m., in the town office.
Reporter Gaen Murphree is reached at [email protected].