The smart cart sits on the side of a road and displays drivers' speeds compared to the actual speed limit. It also records the number of cars that pass it, and their average speed, to give law enforcement officials and towns important traffic survey information.
But when the computer inside doesn't work, this is one less service the sheriff can offer.
The first, logical step Clark took to get it fixed was to call up the manufacturer. "The company we bought it from was sold to another company that sold to another company and the third company said, 'We don't support that cart.' It was one of those bizarre things."
So the next step was to see if there is another company that makes these carts that would help.
"We started looking around for someone in the area to fix it, but we didn't find anything," Clark said.
A conversation with another sheriff presented a light at the end of the tunnel, though, when he suggested Advanced Animations of Stockbridge.
Advanced Animations makes animatronics for theme parks and entertainment all over the world. Clark said he got a tour of the company as well.
"It was really kind of neat. When I went through they were building a museum exhibit with this giant heart," he said. "Who would have thought in Stockbridge, Vt., that they had this kind of thing?"
Bob Crean, vice president of operations, said the company started helping out with smart carts, despite the fact that they don't make them, when a sheriff's deputy happened to ask him if she could leave a broken cart in his driveway overnight.
"I said, 'What's wrong with it?' She said, 'I don't know, we don't have any manuals for it.' I opened up and found that there was nothing else wrong with it than a fuse I took out of my Saab. I got a nice letter from her and a fuse to replace mine and that was that. We kind of just became the de facto speed cart repair company. Word spread."
While a smart cart is different from what they normally do, Crean said it wasn't beyond their abilities to figure out.
"We're a world-known company for stuff for theme parks. We have a lot of really smart people here, so those speed carts really just have a computer in them, batteries and a radar gun. None of that stuff is truly rocket science for us," he said.
He says they are glad to help, recognizing if they didn't nobody would. "If we didn't do it, quite honestly these things would sit in garages and rot," Crean said. "We kind of feel like this is a public service to do it and that makes us feel good."
The work also helped save the department money, Clark said, since the cost to fix it was less than what it would have cost to get a new one.
Clark said it was nice to be able to find help within Vermont.
"It's one of those things that you make enough phone calls, talk to enough people, you can find someone in the area who has the expertise," he said. "You don't have to send it somewhere else."
Nicole Orne can be reached at norne@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 277.