The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 24 : Municipal and County Government

Chapter 005 : County Officers; Powers and Duties

Subchapter 007 : State's Attorney

• § 367. Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs

  (a) There is established a Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, which shall consist of the 14 State’s Attorneys and 14 sheriffs. The State’s Attorneys shall elect an Executive Committee of five State’s Attorneys from among their members. The members of the Executive Committee shall serve for terms of two years.

  (b) The Executive Committee and the Executive Committee of the Vermont Sheriff’s Association shall appoint an Executive Director who shall serve at the pleasure of the Committees. The Executive Director shall be an exempt employee.

  (c)(1) The Executive Director shall prepare and submit all budgetary and financial materials and forms that are required of the head of a department of State government with respect to all State funds appropriated for all of the Vermont State’s Attorneys and sheriffs. At the beginning of each fiscal year, the Executive Director, with the approval of the Executive Committee, shall establish allocations for each of the State’s Attorneys’ offices from the State’s Attorneys’ appropriation. Thereafter, the Executive Director shall exercise budgetary control over these allocations and the general appropriation for State’s Attorneys. The Executive Director shall monitor the sheriff’s transport budget and report to the sheriffs on a monthly basis the status of the budget. He or she shall provide centralized support services for the State’s Attorneys and sheriffs with respect to budgetary planning, training, and office management, and perform such other duties as the Executive Committee directs. The Executive Director may employ clerical staff as needed to carry out the functions of the Department.

  (2) The Executive Director shall prepare and submit a funding request to the Governor and the General Assembly for the purpose of securing General Fund appropriations for any increased costs related to a collective bargaining agreement and to the Department’s contract bargaining and administration.

  (d)(1) If an individual State’s Attorney is aggrieved by a decision of the Executive Director pertaining to an expenditure or proposed expenditure by the State’s Attorney, the question shall be decided by the Executive Committee. The decision of the Committee shall be final.

  (2) If an individual sheriff is aggrieved by a decision of the Executive Director pertaining to an expenditure or proposed expenditure by the sheriff, the question shall be decided by the Executive Committee of the Vermont Sheriff’s Association. The decision of the Executive Committee of the Vermont Sheriff’s Association shall be final.

  (e)(1) The Executive Director of the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs shall appoint a Director of Sheriffs’ Operations who shall serve at the pleasure of the Executive Director.

  (2) The Director of Sheriffs’ Operations shall provide centralized support services for the sheriffs with respect to budgetary planning, policy development and compliance, training, and office management, and perform such other duties as directed by the Executive Director.

  (3) The Director of Sheriffs’ Operations shall develop, maintain, and provide to each sheriff’s department model policies on operational topics, including service of civil process, relief from abuse orders, transportation of prisoners, ethics, and sheriffs’ responsibilities. (Added 1983, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1985, No. 225 (Adj. Sess.), § 14; 2009, No. 33, § 83(j); 2013, No. 49, § 6; 2013, No. 95 (Adj. Sess.), § 82, eff. Feb. 25, 2014; 2017, No. 81, § 13, eff. June 15, 2017; 2023, No. 30, § 5b, eff. May 31, 2023.)