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Selectboard agrees to draft encampment policy after complaints about tent sites
Summary
After receiving complaints about tent encampments, the Selectboard asked staff to draft a local encampment policy modeled on Middlebury’s approach to standardize outreach, safety assessments and coordination with service providers; no vote was taken.
The Springfield Selectboard asked staff to draft a local encampment policy after Town Manager Scott Pickup outlined recent complaints about tent encampments on public property.
Pickup presented Middlebury’s policy as a model and said such policies typically provide standardized outreach, notice, safety assessment, cleanup procedures and coordination with social‑service providers and transportation agencies. “The goal of enacting a Town Policy would be to give guidance to Police, DPW and the Health Officer as we address these encampments on public property,” Pickup said. He noted encampments on state or private property would be outside the town proposal’s scope.
Board members signaled agreement in principle and asked staff to adapt a draft policy to Springfield’s circumstances, have the Town Attorney review it, and return with a proposal later in the summer. The Selectboard took no formal vote at this meeting.
Pickup said staff will engage relevant stakeholders, including social‑service providers such as Project Action, and incorporate fairness and public‑safety considerations into the draft policy.
