Frequently Asked Questions

Season passes will be available for purchase online, over the phone, or at the Recreation Office at the end of March.  Passes purchased before the official start date of the season can be picked up at Indian Brook Park at the front entrance during the season with proof of purchase (printed or electronic).  Gate staff will issue your purchased pass to you upon arrival.

Learn more on our Pass Information.

You still need to have your pass with you and show it at the gate.

The seasonal pass to the park is valid approximately late April through early October from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. If you wish to enter the park outside those hours, you must secure a separate permit in advance from the Parks and Recreation Department located at:
81 Main Street
Essex Junction, VT 05452
Phone: 802-878-1376

Dogs must be on a leash in the parking lots and driveways, picnic area adjacent to the dam and at the water in front of these areas. Dogs are only allowed to be off their leash beginning at the trail head past the parking lot on the east side of the reservoir and beyond the trail head at the lower parking lot on the south end of the reservoir. Dogs must respond to voice commands, cannot chase the wildlife in the park, and must be under the owner's complete supervision and control at all times. 

Dog Mitts & Trash Receptacles

At each trail head we have provided dog mitts and trash receptacles. Please be a responsible dog owner/caretaker; you must pick up after your dog and dispose of properly.

If you have more questions please call the Parks and Recreation Department at 802-878-1342 Monday through Friday, 8 am-4:30 pm.

Stormwater is surface flow water from precipitation that accumulates in and flows through natural and/or man-made conveyance systems during and immediately following a storm event.

As stormwater travels through a conveyance system, such as catch basins, culverts, pipes, and open ditches, it collects and carries significant sources of pollution to streams, rivers and lakes. Common pollutants carried in stormwater include:

• Bacteria
• Cleaning agents
• Excess nutrients
• Grease
• Herbicides
• Industrial chemicals
• Oil and heavy metals
• Pesticides
• Salt
• Sand
• Soil/silt
• Toxins
• Trash
• Yard waste

Potential Problems

Although pollution conveyed by stormwater has historically been overlooked due to the complications associated with identifying and treating the contaminants, it is one of the most significant sources of stream and lake water quality degradation. Lack of proper stormwater management can lead to:

• Impaired water bodies which limit swimming, fishing and other forms of recreation (Lake Champlain beach closings)
• Polluted drinking water supplies (the community's stormwater discharges ultimately go to Lake Champlain which is also the source of the Town's drinking water supply)
• Increased flooding due to clogging of streams
• Degraded wildlife habitat, as erosion washes silt into streams
• Increased algal blooms in the Lake due to high levels of phosphorous and fertilizers
• Loss of tourist revenue as streams become polluted and the Lake is no longer viewed as "clean" or "environmentally safe"

• Decreased flooding; increased safety and reduced property damage
• Improved drinking water quality
• Improved surface water quality -- potential increase in recreation/tourism
• Improved wetland and estuary habitats for waterfowl / other animal life
• Improved/preserved animal habitats
• Increased viability for fish -- preservation of the fishing industry
• Land preservation due to erosion control measures -- less property loss
• Preservation of natural resources for future generations

Crime Reports is a company that provides law enforcement agencies with a web-based service for managing and controlling the sharing of incident data with the public, in near real-time. Community members can then access their neighborhood police incident information for free, empowering them to make informed decisions to help improve the safety of their families, friends, property and the community at large.

No. No personal data such as names, date of birth, social security number, or other personal information are used in this product. The only data used to create these maps are reported incidents, dates, times and locations.

No, Crime Report shows only certain types of incidents that the Essex Police are dealing with. To see a list or display certain types of incidents, click on the "Crime Types" button on the top of the webpage just above the map. With this button you can see the "types" of incidents that are listed on our maps and can choose which incidents you choose to see or not see.

No. Although many of the incident listed on our map are in fact crimes, they are not "all" crimes. For example, you will see some flags with cars, these are traffic complaints which in many cases are not criminal. This may be where an officer issued someone a traffic ticket for speeding.

Incidents that are in the crime types that are listed must first be verified by the investigating officer to ensure the report is accurate. Once an officer has verified an incident that is a crime type listed, it typically takes about 72 hours to show up on the map.

Like searching for a type of incident, you can choose to search for incidents on specific dates by clicking on the date options on the top left of the map. You can quickly select 3, 7, 14 and 30 days or you can open up the calender and pick the dates you want.

If you have information about an incident that may help, please contact us. Write down the "incident number" you are referring to and contact us at 802-878-8331 - 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Incidents that are in the crime types that are listed must first be verified by the investigating officer to ensure the report is accurate. Once an officer has verified an incident that is a crime type listed, it typically takes about 72 hours to show up on the map.

Click on the "Crime Type" button on the top of the map and then select which crime types you want to see and then click the "Done" button. Note that you can choose to see "All" or "None" of the incidents by using the same method.

When you point at the map with your mouse you should see a "hand". Simply click your left mouse button and drag the map to the left, right, up or down to get the area you want.

To make the map smaller or larger simply click on the "+" or "-" signs on the top left of the map. You can also use the slide bar to make the map larger or smaller

Six months of incidents are available on these maps.

Crime Reports has the ability to show up to 9,999 incidents on the map at one time.

If you have a question that was not answered please email the Police Department. If you have a question or helpful hint that may help others using this site please let us know.

Office Hours

Monday through Friday
8:00 am to 4:30 pm
(Except for federal holidays and weather emergencies)

For a list of the current tax rates please see the current tax rate page for the Town.

The Town of Essex is on a fiscal year of July 1 to June 30. Taxes are due September 15 and March 15 of each year. Water bills are issued three times per year and are due in April, August, and December. Payments must be postmarked by the due date and a drop box is available at 81 Main Street.

Dog licenses are handled by the Town Clerk's office.

All home deliveries in the Town of Essex and City of Essex Junction have a mailing address with an 05452 zip code. If you have a P.O. Box in the Town of Essex Post Office (on Essex Way) your mailing address will have a 05451 zip code. If you have a P.O. Box in the City of Essex Junction Post Office (on Pearl Street) your mailing address will be Essex Junction and your zip code will be 05453. With a shared zip code, you may still list your address as, "Essex, VT 05452". 

Explore the Town of Essex interactive property map. Enter your address at the top and zoom in on your property. 

The street listing handout document (PDF) lists all of the streets in the Town and the City, showing which entity as well as if it is a private drive.

In Vermont you get your license in the community in which one of you resides, so you would get your license in the Town Clerk's Office. For more information visit our Marriage License Information page.

Fishing and Hunting licenses are no longer available for purchase at the town clerk’s office. Licenses can be purchased at the Department of Fish & Wildlife, 111 West Street, Bibens Ace Hardware, 15 Essex way, or - online (State of Vermont)

Recycling and solid waste disposal will vary depending on your provider. Solid waste disposal is not currently a service provided by the Town.

Community members may contact and hire an independent hauler or bring their own refuse to the Chittenden Solid Waste District located at 218 Colchester Road (across from Route 289’s Exit 7 ramp). For more information on the disposal of refuse, visit the Chittenden Solid Waste District website or call 802-878-3152.

Workstation & Email security policies for TOE accounts will lock your account...

after 3 invalid attempts - your account will be locked for 15 minutes. Wait 15 mintues and try again

after 6 invalid attempts - your account will be permanently locked and you must contact the IT department to unlock your account

Your computer password is also your email password. You can reset your password by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del on your keyboard at the same time and then select the "change password" option.  Note that this must be done from a municipal device on the Town network, you can not change your password off of the network.

You will have to type in your old password and then your new password twice to make sure you type if correctly.

Remember, TOE requires that you use "Complex Passwords" which means your password MUST be at least eight characters long, include at lease 1 capitol letter and one special character which could be a number or sign like, # or @. You also can not use your username or 7 of your most recent passwords again.

For remote users, passwords need to be reset while you are onsite on our network or on the VPN.

E-mails that do not pass the spam filter criteria will be held in "quarantine". You will receive an e-mail notification each morning when you have messages held there. Each e-mail in the list can be taken care of in one of three ways:
 - if you do not want the e-mail then - no action needed
 - if you know it is legitimate and want to receive it and future e-mails from that sender without being quarantined first, click the Report as Not Junk link and then the Release to Inbox link
 - if you want to receive the e-mail but are not sure you want to continue to receive from that sender, then only click the Release to Inbox

If you are expecting an e-mail and it occurs after the daily quarantine message has been sent, first check your junk mail folder, if it is not there, then specify the following URL in a web browser: https://protection.office.com/quarantine, log in as if normally logging into your e-mail and follow the steps in the document below:

If you continue to have issues with a sender that you have marked as safe/not junk then please put in a ticket for IT to manually add the sender to the allowed list - you need to tell them exactly how it is spelled out.

It is our preference that you leave your computer powered on, all of the time.  Our computer updates, such at Antivirus Updates, are pushed out and run at night.

So when you leave at night, "Log Off", do not "turn off or shut down"

Most of our computers at TOE have power saving features which will reduce power consumption after the computer is not in use for one hour.  If you have any questions about if the power saving features are enabled on your computer please contact the IT department.

1) Press the Voicemail button on your phone

2) Press the * button

3) Enter your voicemail box number

4) The system will ask for your password, then press #

5) Press 4 for personal options

6) Press 1 for personal greeting

7) Press 1 to select your primary greeting, listen to your message, press 3 to erase and re-record, 

8) Follow the recording instructions

On TOE Mitel phone systems, if you hit the "Outgoing" line your phone call is sent to a "digital circuit" line that you do not see on your phone. So.... if you then hit the red "Hold" button it looks like your call disappeared......

Not really.....when you place a call on hold from the digital circuit it simply "parks" the call on your ext. So, simply lift the handset, press #4 and then your ext. number you will connected to your holding call.

With this same method you could pick up a call from someone else phone that they put on hold by again dialing #4 and then their ext. number and you will be connected to the call that was put on hold on their extension.

All TOE phones have the ability to use DND (Do Not Disturb). Using this feature locks the phone so that calls do not come into the phone. In DND mode, some TOE phones can even send messages back to other TOE phones such as, "Busy", "Leave a Message", "On Vacation", etc.

Some phones have a DND button programmed into one of the buttons on the phone. If so, you can turn on or off the DND function by simply pressing this button and selecting the message you want others to see. (DND messages below).

If you do not have a DND button on your phone you can activate the DND feature by simply entering a feature code. #370 will turn on DND. #371 will turn off DND.

Here are the DND messages available to some phones. You will get prompted for a message if you phone has this option.....

These codes are available inside your phone manual.

01 - Do not Disturb
02 - Leave a Message
03 - In Meeting Until......
04 - In Meeting
05 - On Vacation until ....
06 - On Vacation
07 - Call me at ......
08 - At the Doctor
09 - On a trip
10 - On Break
11 - Out of Town until.....
12 - Out of Office
13 - Out until.....
14 - With a client
15 - With a guest
16 - Unavailable
17 - In Conference
18 - Away from Desk
19 - Gone Home
20 - Out to lunch

With your handset down, dial 355 then enter the extension of the phone you want to forward to.  If you are forwarding outside of the building, dial 355, then your outgoing button, then the number you want to forward to.  The display of your phone with say "FWD to xxxx"

To turn this off, dial 355, lift your handset and set it back down.  Display of your phone will say "Any Call Forward Canceled"

Press the blue button with the picture of the phone/paper or dial 333

Select the “Call History” button on the screen

Select the “Answered”, “Made” or “Missed” calls

You will now see a list that you can scroll through and select for the call you want to review date/time/ext. and phone or caller ID if it was provided

Hit close to close the screen and return to the normal phone screen

You have the ability to start recording any call using the "voicemail" feature which will start recording your conversation and dump it into the voicemail system as a message. To do this, while talking press the "infinity key - looks like a sideways #8" and then dial 385. The phone will beep and if you are on your personal extension will forward into your voicemail, if you are on a shared phone it will ask you which voicemail box you want the recording sent to…just punch in your voicemail box number.