ALSO: Essex, Essex Junction, Shelburne, South Burlington and Williston are banding together to form a new communications union district; An off-duty Rutland County sheriff’s deputy refused police officers’ commands to drop his weapon after a gunfight outside a bar in upstate New York early Sunday morning, prompting the officers to open fire; Organizations helping to keep Vermonters sheltered briefed lawmakers Friday on a bleak picture of conditions on the ground, as the state grapples with dwindling federal assistance amid a historic housing crisis.