Vermont DPS briefs Senate committee on rental‑housing complaints, flood recovery and staffing
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Summary
Department of Public Safety leaders told the Senate Government Operations Committee on Jan. 14 that rental‑housing safety and disaster recovery remain top priorities, noting nearly 900 rental‑housing complaints since Jan. 2024 and ongoing work to speed federal disaster funds to towns after recent floods.
The Department of Public Safety told the Senate Government Operations Committee on Jan. 14 that rental‑housing safety, emergency management and communications capacity are among its top priorities for 2026.
Commissioner Jennifer Morrison opened the briefing and introduced division leaders. "My name is Jennifer Morrison. I'm the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety," she said. Director Michael DeRocher (fire safety) told senators the division oversees licensing, the fire academy, hazardous‑materials response and an urban search and rescue team, and said rental housing safety is a major focus.
"Since 01/01/2024, we have received about close to 900 rental housing complaints," DeRocher said, adding the rental housing health and safety program is complaint‑driven and has generated roughly 1,500 inspections tied to those complaints. He said legislation authorizes five inspector positions, four of which are currently filled.
Committee members asked how many complaints had been addressed and whether the fifth inspector post was being filled. DeRocher said the division had kept up with complaints but is not currently recruiting to fill the fifth authorized position, and that enforcement authority differs across codes: the fire code includes commissioner orders and condemnation powers while the rental housing code (chapter 172) offers narrower remedies, with chapter 173 containing additional enforcement mechanisms.
On emergency management, VEM director Eric Foran described structures for mitigation, planning, recovery and an emergency operations center that coordinates state and local response. Foran said the regional coordinator program has grown to six coordinators to better support municipalities and that DPS and Agency of Administration strive for rapid internal handling of federal funds—an internal goal cited as a 30‑ to 100‑day turnaround from obligation to disbursement.
Foran told the committee the denied declaration for the July 10, 2025 localized flood affected five towns and represents roughly $1.8 million in infrastructure repair needs (Sutton accounted for about $1.2 million), a figure that excludes federal highway and individual assistance categories.
Other presenters described DPS information systems and labs: Jeffrey Wallen summarized the Vermont Crime Information Center’s fingerprint processing, record checks, criminal history database and sex‑offender registry; Corey Chase outlined Radio Technology Services’ private land mobile radio network (about 40 tower sites) used by state and local first responders; and Dr. Trish Conte summarized the forensic laboratory’s chemistry, biology, toxicology, physical comparison and evidence intake functions.
Morrison also highlighted the volume of grant management handled by DPS, noting that in state fiscal year 2024 the department disbursed about $114 million, of which $95 million was disaster grant funding.
Why it matters: senators pressed officials for details about enforcement gaps, staffing limits and how federal funding shortfalls or denied disaster declarations affect towns. The briefing flagged several follow‑up items for the committee, including potential statutory changes to align enforcement tools across codes and additional staff or funding needs to sustain inspection capacity.
Next steps: committee members requested additional technical follow‑up (including possible statutory clarifications of enforcement authority) and noted DPS will testify before other committees as legislation is drafted and evaluated.
