[{"_1":2,"_87":-5,"_88":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":56,"_74":56},"mediaId",6117025,"mediaKeyId","2731075-5cba67d95b492c3ce0d12cfc4b18f2d7","parentId",2731075,"title","Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison outlines staffing, flood response and tech responsibilities during reconfirmation hearing","audioSeconds",918,"startMs",2269695,"endMs",3187846,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2731075-5cba67d95b492c3ce0d12cfc4b18f2d7&start=2269&end=3187","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2731075-5cba67d95b492c3ce0d12cfc4b18f2d7/thumbnail_2269695.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6117025/Vermont/Public-Safety-Commissioner-Jennifer-Morrison-outlines-staffing-flood-response-and-tech-responsibilities-during-reconfirmation-hearing","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6117025-0f03f0f0563235ed40d579e44ae9a5cd/orig.mp4?Expires=1771148330&Signature=HCHQJxIRr628-n1E3kWKrfEP7kpzB6OG08kDQYJr~oCneX8yyywY5p~S4KOKcwW8wlZDt4yWMsH77Xxmlpuv1jGct3t6dE7Oo9nS3sDYRz8xSTzKhA5zFnR3gv2apt9HxLw5YVDSgeHgvqwpDWivfzdqfJ3iWtZ48fKMxpDodSDe0-FCfBPYFDO4unfDnAO9wj4QSau52jVtGPcWBAyjyFo~FWpWy8n2oi5hZO01VjaZNM4mQ8B4j0EdPPKJ6b--iTd5Awi6xgq6skO90DA3DXM0v~mGp23flJsSEFHdN0oGwQJ7o7zZQKL8dyudQpGTF4MqfwZy5XBDP-lUTBNeXA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","","date","2025-03-22T00:43:04.323Z","article","Jennifer Morrison, commissioner of public safety, appeared before the Senate Transportation Committee and said she was present to seek reconfirmation and to summarize the department’s functions and recent challenges.

“My name is Jennifer Morrison. I'm your commissioner of public safety, and I believe I'm here to seek a reconfirmation,” Morrison said at the start of her remarks.

Morrison described her law‑enforcement background, her return to state-level public safety work and the department’s scale and responsibilities. She said the department employs roughly 605 full‑time staff and about 200 part‑time personnel across a range of functions, including the Vermont State Police, fire-safety, the Vermont Crime Information Center, the Vermont Forensic Lab and the state radio technology shop.

“We are 605, full time employees and 200 part time employees, across a whole range of roles,” Morrison said. She told senators that much of her tenure has been consumed by response and recovery from major flooding events in 2023 and 2024 and by ongoing efforts to stabilize staffing in the Vermont State Police. Morrison said the emergency-management team and other units have been heavily engaged in repeated disaster work.

Morrison described administrative actions taken to address workforce strain, including civilianizing 12 positions previously performed by sworn personnel. She also described the department’s role as the pass‑through for federal disaster funding (FEMA) and other grant streams that support state and local recovery operations.

Organizational request: Morrison said she supports a change that would flip the department to an agency within state government—what she described as an executive-order‑level change that would recognize the size and mission of public safety. “We would like to be flipped to an agency because it is appropriate,” she told senators, and she asked legislators to consider a bill that would mirror the executive order.

Technology and communications: Morrison told senators the department manages statewide land mobile radio infrastructure through its radio technology shop, participates in emergency communications with public safety answering points (PSAPs) and supports technology‑dependent criminal investigations. She described partnerships with other state IT entities and noted the department’s statewide dispatch and PSAP roles.

Why it matters: Morrison’s testimony covered operational capacity and disaster recovery responsibilities that affect state readiness, grant administration and local emergency services. Senators pressed for clarifications on organizational structure and on the breadth of the department’s responsibilities; Morrison said she had recently been reelected to the executive committee of a national homeland-security body and argued that the department’s mission warranted agency status.

No formal confirmation vote was recorded during the session; the committee indicated it planned additional consideration of certain appointments at upcoming meetings.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Senate Transportation - 2025-03-20 9:00AM","oneSentenceSummary","Jennifer Morrison, Vermont's commissioner of public safety, appeared before the Senate Transportation Committee to discuss her background, department responsibilities, pandemic- and flood-era operational strains, staffing and a preferred organizational change to designate public safety as an agency.","taxTitle","Senate Transportation, SENATE, Committees, Legislative , Vermont","taxId",51841,"location","Vermont","headline","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":56,"_74":56},6117030,"Senate Transportation reviews AOT FY26 paving, roadway and traffic-safety budgets; paving allocation $102.91 million",1996,53765,2050000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2731075-5cba67d95b492c3ce0d12cfc4b18f2d7&start=53&end=2050","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2731075-5cba67d95b492c3ce0d12cfc4b18f2d7/thumbnail_53765.jpg","/articles/6117030/Vermont/Senate-Transportation-reviews-AOT-FY26-paving-roadway-and-traffic-safety-budgets-paving-allocation-10291-million","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6117030-d0533835061aabb7d58ca96f3590b744/orig.mp4?Expires=1771148330&Signature=hkyqqTJCVK9Ti9PNFaBCyUZotsr59SA1hRVxW5bfVbncOTR-1kHA1HiVNvhIQ7l8em9ygyj7isp79~VPZodUKQayq8in7Qg7-CqcBDKe-fqdFlcycYGPIqFilF0Gpa6CJ9wh2gIm8T~fAiUf9q9AIiBtrJ1yacdnaUpmlTtTOxHFLlWd2NNhtRRLubu~tpHFe9SMq3MquP0eFa5sbfkrxqq0WUWG7-kPA~DQ01AGPSMMsXnC7~v7tsWQSvA0SjBy4ve2iHr8eIdncnWUev3A0S0avxMNIDPIzicRJQA1SXLGgeOk38~4Q7YmyoVNWyq5V9H86HfubNbQje1T3liynw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Patrick Gotrick, a program manager in the Agency of Transportation's highway safety and design section, told the Senate Transportation Committee on March 20 that the administration's FY26 paving appropriation is $102,910,000, a drop of roughly $27 million from fiscal 2025.

The paving program budget “has construction funding shown for 46 different paving projects in fiscal 26” and is also intended to advance about 34 additional projects, Gotrick said. He said roughly 71 miles on the interstate and class 1 system are planned for 2-inch mill-and-fill or reclaim-style treatments, with another 31 miles slated for lower‑cost federal leveling work, for about 102 miles of surface treatments in the programs covered.

Why it matters: Committee members pressed AOT staff on how those projects are selected, how grant-funded projects appear on other lists, and how safety concerns factor into resurfacing decisions. Senators asked whether municipal or grant projects (for example, RAISE awards and other externally funded work) are shown in the same materials as formula-funded paving; AOT staff said they are usually managed separately and that the FY26 appropriation discussed at the hearing is formula and discretionary funds, not the special grants list.

“We have an appropriation of $102,910,000 which is a decrease from fiscal 25 of about $27,000,000,” Gotrick said during the presentation. Rob White, project delivery bureau director at the Agency of Transportation, told the committee that the list some members were reviewing earlier contained primarily grant-funded projects and therefore is distinct from the formula funds in the FY26 book: “That list is specifically just what you said. Most of what's on there is separate money from our appropriation. So it's grant money that came through special situations.”

Selection and scheduling: AOT staff described the paving program as asset-condition driven. Pavement-management data, regional planning input and surface-condition surveys feed the selection process; the department runs scenarios in a pavement management system to determine appropriate treatments and timing. Gotrick and other staff said right-of-way acquisitions are generally avoided in paving work because they introduce schedule risk and cost uncertainty; larger reconstruction or work that reaches right-of-way lines is moved to the roadway or traffic-and-safety programs.

Contracting approach: The agency said it can use composite contracts to package multiple nearby municipal paving projects to seek economies of scale, but staff emphasized they do not routinely shift a road’s scheduled treatment solely to match another project’s timing.

Safety and ancillary improvements: Staff said paving projects sometimes include low‑cost safety or multimodal improvements—markings, upgraded signage, shoulder conversions for bike lanes or new pedestrian crossings—when those elements fit the project scope and schedule. More complex safety enhancements typically move to the traffic-and-safety or roadway programs.

Program context and comparatives: Committee members asked about FY25 and FY26 productivity. Staff said FY25 paving funding was about $130 million and that program activity in FY25 produced roughly 181 miles of pavement work. Program staff cautioned that miles-per-dollar comparisons vary based on the mix of low-cost preventive maintenance versus higher-cost reclaim or reconstruction projects.

10(g) and out-of-cycle projects: AOT staff walked the committee through three 10(g) report groupings: projects added after the FY25 book; projects with escalated cost estimates (for example, projects that increased by $5 million or more or by large percentages); and projects removed from FY26 because they were completed in FY25. Staff described the 10(g) reporting requirement as the legislature’s statutory way to see projects added to or removed from the program after a prior budget was set.

Information access and follow-up: Staff directed senators to vTransparency for project-level contact information and said legislators could contact program managers for town‑level questions. Committee members requested clearer flowcharts or one‑page process diagrams showing how projects move from regional requests into the pavement-management queue and onto the construction schedule; AOT staff agreed to follow up with asset management on that request.

Discussion v. decisions: The hearing recorded technical briefing and Q&A; no formal motions or votes were taken on the paving, roadway or traffic-and-safety appropriations during the session.

What’s next: AOT staff said elements of the roadway and traffic-and-safety programs would be discussed further in subsequent hearings. Several senators asked staff to return with additional detail on project lists, miles per project and how grant-funded projects interact with the formula-funded program.","Agency of Transportation staff told the Senate Transportation Committee on March 20 that the FY26 paving appropriation is $102.91 million, funding construction on 46 paving projects and advancing 34 more; staff described how formula funds differ from grant-funded projects and said about 102 miles of roadway work are included in the programs.","actionData","errors"]

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Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison outlines staffing, flood response and tech responsibilities during reconfirmation hearing

Senate Transportation reviews AOT FY26 paving, roadway and traffic-safety budgets; paving allocation $102.91 million