City temporarily converts City Hall Park parking to permit-only, installs cameras after vandalism

The Barre City Council heard a status report on City Hall Park parking changes and public-safety cameras at its Sept. 30 meeting.

City staff said they bagged meters on one side of City Hall Park after repeated vandalism and littering and then extended a temporary permit program to the other side at the churches’ request. The churches and a neighborhood clinic were given temporary permits to use those spaces; staff said police will not enforce permits during Sunday services or during Opera House events to avoid unintended impacts. City Manager Nicholas said the measure is a short-term solution while staff work with stakeholders on a longer-term plan.

On public safety cameras, the city has activated three of five cameras that were planned. Staff said the City Hall Park-facing pilot camera was active earlier; additional cameras facing Merchants Row and another building-mounted camera were recently installed with property-owner cooperation. Two cameras remain to be mounted on traffic signals and require contractor work. The police chief presented a camera-use policy to the council, and staff said the policy was approved.

Jeff (who identified himself as a resident of Courier Street) asked about motion-sensor lights and camera monitoring. Staff said active cameras will be monitored according to the approved policy and that electrical and contractor scheduling were the main tasks left to complete installations.

Ending: City staff said the parking change is temporary and that they are working with churches, the clinic and the opera house to minimize disruptions. Staff also said they will continue installing cameras and refine the enforcement and monitoring approaches as the system comes online.