By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
The Windsor County high bailiff position does not officially have anyone on the ballot for the Nov. 5 election, but Deputy Sheriff Claude E. Weyant is asking voters to write in his name, noting that his more than four decades of law enforcement experience make him the right choice.
Weyant wrote a letter to the Eagle Times saying that when he discovered there were no candidates on the ballot, it was time for him to make a push for the position. He also unsuccessfully ran a write-in campaign in 2022 as an independent, where he lost to Elizabeth Kruska.
“I noticed that nobody was running for position of high bailiff in the county, and when I saw that I thought, there aren’t too many other people with this kind of experience,” he said. “It’s the experience really, the familiarization and kind of the ins and outs.”
The high bailiff position is unpaid, and the “high bailiff may serve writs which the sheriff is incompetent to serve,” according to the Vermont statutes. The position has the authority to arrest the sheriff, and while the sheriff is locked up, or if there is a vacancy in office, the high bailiff takes over the functions of the sheriff. The powers of the sheriff go to the high bailiff until the sheriff were to be released, or another is appointed.
“The main responsibility of the high bailiff is to take over the sheriff’s department if there is a time where the sheriff cannot continue,” Weyant said.
Weyant, 69, lives with his family in Windsor, and has 42 years of law enforcement in a number of capacities. He has been employed at the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department for 23 years, and is a retired captain, which is the second in command behind the sheriff himself.
According to a letter to the editor by Weyant in the Vermont Journal during his last campaign, Weyant joined the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department as a sergeant and worked his way up to the captain position. While there, he was involved in traffic details and patrols, and also has experience in working within the community in other facets such as the DARE program.
Weyant is well known in the community, as he was a staple in the Bellows Falls High School community for 18 years as the school’s wrestling coach. During his final season in 2014, he coached a successful co-op team with Bellows Falls and Hartford, where he was nominated as the State of Vermont Coach of the Year.
Currently Weyant serves as the deputy sheriff for the county, and his role involves him taking care of the department’s scheduling and working at the county courthouses.
“If something did happen and I had to step in, I think I’d be able to do a good job to hold things together,” he said. “I’m a retired captain, so I kind of ran a lot of the department with the last administration. I’m pretty familiar with everything and still very active.”
