[note: I have to be out of my house tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. so I am just filing this without going over it for corrections. I apologize for any typos and errors, particularly if I got anyone's name wrong. Getting it on line quickly is the priority. These are the notes I took at the Feb. 6, 2007 Brattleboro Selectboard meeting.]
A Short Meeting -- Just over 5 hours
The meeting started early, at 5:15, for a worksession at which the Visiting Nurses Association and Hospice (VNA) made a presentation and appeal to continue the annual town of Bratteboro contribution of $48,000, which has been slated for a cut. (Hospice is part of the name, and the organization's function, it is not Brattleboro Hospice. They do work cooperatively with Brattleboro Hospice.)
A delegation headed by Gaye LaCasce attended to support VNA. LaCasce said that VNA provides home visits to people from newborns to those nearing the end of life. She said that they help the frail and helpless, and provide medical services, such as pain management and chemotherapy, which allow people to remain with their families who would otherwise have to be cared for in hospitals and nursing homes. Calling home health care, "an affordable option and a preferable option," she said that the goal of VNA is to, "help people from needing to call rescue and other services," which she said makes the town's contribution cost effective.
LaCasce said that on average, a home visit costs $127, which, even with the town's help, is only reimbursed by 85%, which leaves a shortfall of almost $200,000 a year. Last year, VNA had 12,000 visits to 557 Brattleboro residents.
George Savory, from the audience, questioned why VNA should be a budget line item when other human service organizations which do essential work are not.
Nurse Richard Davis said that he had heard from someone at Professional Nursing Services, which unlike VNA is a for-profit organization, that VNA "cherry picks" while Professional Nursing Services takes even the most difficult cases.
Audrey Garfield asked what the effect would be of cutting $8,000, and was told that it would represent the subsidy currently applied to about 800 home visits.
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Dick announced new meters downtown with increased rates. He said they would make the asthetics of downtown much nicer. Asked voters to attend the Feb 20th Selectboard meeting for the vote on the budget.
Dick: Ancient roads legislation is a priorty for Windham Regional.
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Citizen's participation.
Gordy Baldwin, WKVT Asked Barb to confirm
Rutherford James - not in the phone book, not a registered visit. Does Italia have a conflict of interest - currently an employee of the town? Asked Barb to confirm that she is not an employee, and she agreed. Cast doubt on identity of the letter writer. Barb agreed that she has not been an employee of the town for years.
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Tammy Stenn: intiative to make Brattleboro The second Fair Trade town in the United State. Five registered fair trade towns in Europe, and only one so far in U.S. There are 5 criteria, and they have been working at it. There will be a fair trade booth at the Strolling of the Heiffers.
They just need the Selectboard to pass a resolution supporting fair trade, they have met all the other requirements, which seem to involve educational initiatives. They left flyers, and gave the Selectboard members information to read.
Greg: He has read that in England the first town to adopt fair trade included local products. Asked if that is included. Stenn said, yes, and also talked about using ecologically sound cleaning products. They are doing a baseline study of all the merchants in town, trying to define what is fair trade and what is not. They want to include everyone in it.
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Fowler: "I am disappointed that your announced intent to discuss the budget tonight has been slipped into another 8 a.m. meeting tomorrow morning." A lot of people came here specifically to hear that, including himself. I can see little or no evidence that the HS staff has made any sincere attempt to reduce the budget other than by disguising as a reduction, an amount which came from a bond which has been paid off.
Richard Garant (audience): People asked for an independent audit and the Selectboard ordered Jerry to have one, then the Feds and State stepped in and said they were going to do a review of a specific project, but not a general audit, but Jerry and John Leisenring claimed it was going to cover the same issues, and to save money cancelled the independent audit.
Steve Steidle & John Leisenring said there is a yearly independent audit, which is being conducted right now.
Year after year the independent audits found nothing. Don't want the same thing.
John L: I disagree. There was a lot in there.
Richard Garant asked: What did you think people were asking for last summer when there was a meeting with 100 people at BS&L followed by an overflow audience at the next Selectboard meeting, and people were demanding an audit. Did you think they just meant that it was fine to continue with the routine, yearly audits? He said that there are still a lot of questions which have not been answered.
George Reed Savory rose to support Carl's complaint about the budget discussion being changed to an early morning meeting.
Audrey agreed and asked the Selectboard to schedule a meeting at which the budget would be discussed in an evening meeting which more people can attend.
Dick spoke for the Selectboard figuring out the budget before they present it to the public. Audrey disagreed saying it should be discussed at a regularly scheduled Selectboard meeting. Dora said she is going to be at the meeting Wednesday morning with a BCTV camera. Dick said, maybe we should have scheduled more meetings, it is our own fault that we didn't.
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Brattleboro Country Club's request for a tobacco license. Kevin Yager moved for acceptance. Passed 5 - 0.
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Putney Road reconstruction: Jim Mullen to talk about work of the Putney Rd. Scoping Committee.
Looked at three design alternatives, and recommended one of them.
Ken Upmal Agency of Transportation: We kind of stepped outside the box on this one and procured a lot more public response for this project than I have ever seen on any other project. Held design workshops, and then had public presentations of alternatives. He is here tonight to present the recommended alternative, and ask for agreement. They will then apply for agency approval.
Greg Bakos, consultant for Vermont Agency of Tranportation then spoke. Geographical area of the project is from West River bridge to roundabout. Purpose is to improve safety and mobility for motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists. Safety in this corridor is of particular concern. Currently bike lanes and pedestrian sidewalks are lacking. Aesthetics can also use improvement. Raised medians are an option to improve "the dreaded left turns" into the various parking lots along the way. A raised median forces the cars to make left turns only in places intended for them.
Alternatives:
A. No Build is always a possible alternative.
B. Build Alternatives
1 Conventional Reconstruction, meaning pretty much like it is now with minor improvements.
2 Two Roundabouts & Traffic Signals. He called this a hybrid alternative. In other words, keeping a lot of the way it is now, but making certain major improvements. They discarded this alternative because there would be two roundabouts close together, which would be confusing, and in other places there would be signals, which would not be very appealing.
3 Four roundabouts with raised medians connecting them. This is the recommended alternative. They would move the crosswalks further away from the roundabouts, because of concerns that cars coming out of a roundabout will be surprised by suddenly being confronted by a pedestrian in a crosswalk, immediately upon exiting the roundabout. There woud be a roundabout by Kipling Theater. One by Technology Drive. One by the Hannaford Plaza, which will be the most heavily used roundabout. One on Black Mountain Road. The distances between roundabuts would be about 1,200 feet.
Rough cost estimates show that all three alternatives are in about the same price range.
Advantage of alternative 3
Side streets and driveways would be the best advantage of the roundabouts and medians. This alternative would operate at a better level of efficiency that that other two, and eliminate the amount of exhaust and pollutions. All three alternatives would improve traffic flow and pedestrian safety compared to current configuration, but Alternative 3 would give the best improvement.
All 3 alternatives included expanded sidewalk system, driveway modifications, streetscape enhancements. New Drainage systems. 5 foot wide bike lanes on both both sides.
Would recommend reducing speed limit form 40 to 35.
He showed slides of computer simulated aerial views of what the alternatives would look like.
Upmal: Alternative 3 best satisfied the Purpose & Needs Statement of traffic flow and pedestrian safety, and it works most harmoniously of all three alternatives with the Putney Road Master Plan.
In reponse to a question by Richard G: Upmal said that stringing several roundabouts along a road has never been done in the state of Vermont, but roundabouts give the best safety and traffic flow. Past roundabout projects have worked out exactly as the analysis of data predicted, and he is confident that this plan will work out according to the model. He said that people come from other states just to look at the Exit 3 roundabout and see how it works.
Nick Sanders from DOT: Showed simulation of a walk along the proposed corroder, which was an aerial.
He then showed a 3D simulation of the Hannaford Plaza roundabout with traffic flowing through it. Upmal said that the other alternatives would result in traffic stacked where turns had to be made, but with Alternative 3 there would be a continual flow, with a maximum wait of 20 seconds at roundabouts.
Kevin: There will be an enormous need for striping, signs, and education in the proper use of roundabouts. He said that in the simulations, there was no truck traffic. Asked: What is your plan for the striping and education?
Sanders: The plans include new changes in signing and striping, which have come out of experience with other roundabouts. He said that Exit 3 does not have these features, and also that Exit three has a much larger amount of traffic, particularly trucks coming off of I-91. He said that trucks were not in the 3D simulation, but they were in the walk through simulation. He said the number of trucks in that simulation is based on the actual number of trucks found on Putney Road.
Bakos: As more roundabouts are being build, the public is increasingly becoming aware of the proper way to use them.
Peter Sears: Lives on Black Mountain Road off Kipling Road. Interested in the project because it promises to allow us to leave the car home and walk or bicycle on Putney Road. He questioned the simulation, which he said seemed to show much thinner traffic that what is realistic for Putney Road. Asked about how the project would be for pedestrians and bikes, particularly mentioning the Exit 3 roundabout as being very difficult.
Bakos: We didn't do anything about Exit 3, that is not part of the project. He said that roundabouts are more safe and easy to use than traffic lights. He said that in the next phase of the project they will be devoting attention to the details ,"the devil's in the details," of pedestrian and bicycle access and safety. The exact position of the crosswalks has yet to be finalized. He said that they are even considering crosswalks further away from the roundabouts with a traffic signal to help the pedestrian cross. Bakos said pedestrian has the right of way in an intersection, but that some states do not define roundabouts as crosswalks. Peter Cooper said that in Vermont a pedestrian does have the right of way in a roundabout after Bakos had just said that the issue is unsettled in Vermont. It was interesting that if the traffic experts did not know who has the right of way, then how can we expect a motorist to know? [OK, I admit it, that was unethical journalism...I just editorialized, didn't I?]
Kevin: Wouldn't the median, particularly with landscaping like shrubs on them, discourage impulse patronization of businesses on the opposite side?
Bob White, Member of Consultant Team -- Planning Landscape & Design (from the audience): Actually roundabouts encourage impulse patronization of businesses.
Audrey asked about the expectation that the town would maintain the landscaping. Bob White said that it is a collaborative project and it depends on alot of cooperation of goverment, businesses,and residents to succeed.
Bakos: The median might affect traffic to and from particular businesses, but the general impression that the public has about the attractiveness, safety, and convenience of the area will generally improve business.
Five Minute Recess
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Gary Goodemote gave a presentation explaining the Putney Road Reconstruction Project. Mixed residential, commercial, industrial, open fields included. These areas a defined on the map as districts. There is a West River Open Space District, which they are envisioning to be recreational or agricultural. The owner of that land expressed concern about the value of his land, and they are continuing to consider how it will be zoned.
There will be shoreline setbacks of 50 or 100 feet along the West River, depending on the location, and 100 feet along the Connecticut.
Yager moved to approve the recommendation regarding adopting the new zoning districts along Putney Road. Passed unanimously.
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Grant Anticipation notes for the Uniton Station project ($68,700) are coming due. John Leissenring said we can refinance the notes through a bank, but he recommends refinancing them from the general fund so that the interest will go back to the town instead of to a bank.
Audrey asked, won't be using general fund money for the notes force us into short-term borrowing to cover obligations which the general fund won't be able to pay in the short-run, and will it be a net gain or a net loss?
John said we have to borrow money anyway to cover the first three months because we don't have a reserve fund (Audrey finally gave up on trying to explain her question, which was obviously that the 68,700 would create an additional amount of shortfall from the general fund. Her question was never answered.)
Dick made a motion to borrow from the general fund with a 3% interest, with the term being until the town either gets the grant proceeds, or learns that it will not get the grant. It was passed 5 - 0.
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Barbara Sontag introduced a proposal to allow the parking committee to increase or decrease the number of permit spaces. It was not voted on. I am not sure what this was about.
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Proposal to establish 2 hour parking on the North side of Terrace Street. This was previously tabled. Town attorney said that it was not really tabled, but postponed. Bob: This is a continuation of the second reading (needed to pass a proposed ordinance).
Audrey explained that the reason is safety. It was passed.
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Rescind no parking ordinance on Cedar Street.
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Proposal regarding traffic and parking on Parkside Street, near Oak Grove School with the purpose of alleviating congestion during school hours. I didn't understand the details. Steve Rowell explained it, but I still didn't get it. Sorry, get a decent reporter! I think they were reversing a temporary one-way ordinance from 2:30 to 3:30, because there are seven parking spaces which are not used now and they hope that reversing the traffic flow would result in cars using those spaces. Rowell said the problem is only for about 10 minutes each schoolday afternoon.
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During discussion of all the parking matters, they showed nice slides of the streets that they were discussing to illustrate the points.
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Solid Waste Committee -- Steve Barrett said that people are recycling less, which ends up costing the town more in tipping fees.
Options
1 keep the current program with no change
2 keep the current program but encourage people to recycle more
3 provide more containers, maybe then they would recycle more.
4 pay as you throw program - charge per garbage bag.
5 eliminate trash service and let people pay private haulers.
Jane Southworth: Currently about 25% of people in Brattleboro recycle.
Dick asked if it is true that Brattleboro is one of only two towns in Vermont which stilll has roadside trash pickup. Jane didn't know but said she will find out.
Steve: We are currently in a 3 year contract with Waste Management. There were no other bidders. We can reduce tipping fees with increased recycling under the current contract, and we could also go to pay as you throw.
Dick mentioned having heard a news item about a town in Massachusetts which pays people per pound for recycling and an incentive.
Dick said there is a problem with illegal dumping, such as people putting trash bags into private dumpsters which are paid for by businesses.
Heather Freedman said that large apartments, such as Brooks House, or the Barber Building, which have dumpsters have absolutely no recycling from their residents because they just throw everything into the dumpster, and we have to figure out what to do about that, as it is adding to the town's tipping fees.
There was a lengthy discussion about how sensible recycling is, and how disappointing it is that people are not doing it more. Harold Dumpier said that each year fewer and fewer people have been recycling. Audrey said we have to find a way to give people an incentive to recycle.
Jane: Summed up saying that she understand that the board wants to committee to come back with more information about incentives, penalties, pay as you throw options.
Harold said, it has to be done with education.
Bob Fisher: Said that we cannot postpone the pay as you go option, because the contract with the hauler requires that we make the decision during the first year of the contract.
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Board is asked to grant the Assistant Town Manager the powers normally granted to the Town Manager, so that Barbara Sondag can sign papers, etc. and do what she needs to do to fulfill her responsibilities.
Dick said that the current town manager is still receiving documents and asked for a clarification of his status if Barbara is designated as acting town manager.
Barbara said the motion is to give her the powers of the town manager, but not the title of Acting Town Manager.
Bob Fisher, Town Attorney, confirmed that, and said it is no different than if someone is on vacation. He said the reason for the motion is so that we don't have to come back to ask the board to grant Barbara permission to sign this document or that, piecemeal.
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Honeywell Agreement
to install and monitor energy efficient devices, subject to review by the town attorney. Motion made by Audrey.
Audrey: On page 4 of the agreement, it allows "extra savings" realized by the town in a particular year to be applied to other years in which there may not be much savings. How typical is that?
Ron Beruta and Mike Daskalakis from Honeywell were present to answer questions.
Ron said that scenario is very rare.
Ed: Four alternative scenarios were looked at, impractical ones were ruled out. The alternative is a package which includes conversion to a hot water system, and complete revamping of the heat distribution system in the Municipal Building.
$81,761 = cost of the contract.
Steve Steidle: While the program will give us long-term savings, where we will find funds for the up-front costs is a real issue. Barbara said that a bond is one possibility which has been discussed.
Here was a discussion about bidding out the project vs. hiring Honeywell
Ron: This project includes ongoing management, engineering costs, and it is a guaranteed price.
Dick: One of the selling points is that this project is going to be paid for by the energy savings.
Dora from the audience said that the town does not have a good track record for project management, and she is in favor of the Honeywell project.
Richard Garant expressed doubts about the proposed contract, and said, what's the rush, why don't we take time to investigate it further.
Tad Montgomery: Kevin Dubie had a competing proposal which was financially more attractive. The person making this competing proposal has successfully done similar work for The Retreat.
Mike of Honeywell: The other proposal was not comparable and not as good and not guaranteed to last as long.
Audrey: What is the risk of postponing it to Feb. 20th?
Audrey makes a motion to table the matter until Feb 20th. It is voted down 4 - 1.
Mike: We will guarantee temperatures and savings. Work done by an ordinary contractor does not provide a similar guarantee.
The argument for waiting was to see if the town could get a better deal. The argument for going ahead is that we need the work done, if we can't present the contract to the upcoming town meeting and want to present it later, then a special meeting must be called. Greg Worden said, even if it might possibly end up costing more, there is less risk because of the guarantee and there is a value in moving forward.
Jim Mullen: I can tell you from personal experience that nothing in this building works. None of the thermostats have anything to do with the amount of heat in the room. The "local guy" route in regards to this building does not work.
The motion was passed 4 - 1.
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Motion by Yager to enter into executive session, personnell matter which could cause harm if disclosed prematurely. The town attorney and assistant town manager were invited to attend the executive session.
On the assurance of a couple of Selectboard members that there would be no further business of significance when they return from executive session, I left.