In an evening of minutiae, a few things popped out. One was the new lower cost of the proposed wastewater treatment plant — $32,000,000, down from $36,000,000. It did not get applause, but nevertheless, a resigned Selectboard started the process for calling a special town meeting to approve a bond for that amount.

Also notable was the Selectboard’s discussion of the bids for trash pickup in Brattleboro. Although Barb Sondag really wanted the board to vote on it immediately, the board decided to table the decision until after Representative Town Meeting on Saturday. Apparently the board is expecting some pushback on Pay As You Throw, and they want to wait to see what happens. Another sticking point was the possibility of going to weekly recycling. Dick DeGray wanted to get more public comment before committing to the additional costs that would entail.

Chair’s Remarks

Chair Jesse Corum wished everyone a happy St. Patrick’s day which Martha seconded, declaring it to be a national holiday. Sadly, the board’s St. Patrick’s day festivities were delayed another three and a half hours given the packed agenda. Corum also reminded folks that Representative Town Meeting is Saturday (televised live on BCTV).

Town Manager’s Remarks

Town Manager Barb Sondag led off with words of appreciation for the Police and Fire Department Chaplain, Father Rick O’Donnell, who she said was a great guy, loved by all.

Sondag also gave an update on the new West River Park field space project which she said was creeping along. The project went before the Development Review Board Monday night and will get its local Act 250 hearing at the next DRB meeting. She said that archaeological and environmental surveys are going on now and that the project is moving along.

Sondag congratulated local emergency personnel and Public Works staff for taking a pro-active approach to rescuing people during mud season.

And finally, Sondag announced that Senator Leahy and Governor Douglas will be in town to talk to local residents about the stimulus money, and what it means to our area. She said that over 500 people could be attending and it was an opportunity to “showcase our town.” The forum will take place March 30 at an undisclosed location (which is to say, I didn’t catch it).

At the conclusion of Barb’s remarks, Rich Garant said that he had attended a recent meeting of the Transportation Committee and that while the funding issues are incredibly confusing, that money would make it to Brattleboro, in round 2 of “the stimulus.”

Public Participation

A number of local landlords showed up to complain about the new Solid Waste ordinance. They weren’t upset about Pay As You Throw — most of them seemed to like that — but they did not like the letter they got from the town telling them that their 5-unit or greater apartment building was not eligible for town trash or recycling pickup.

Jim Simpson said he owned three 5-unit apartment buildings that have and continue to get town trash pickup. But according to the letter the town sent to landlords, pickup will end on May 1. Simpson said that the cutoff at four units was arbitrary and that he saw no fundamental difference between four units and three. “We all pay taxes,” he said. But he said, his main concern was recycling which he said would be prohibitive for landlords to deal with and should continue to be handled by the town. Simpson said that landlords of larger apartment buildings were unlikely to provide recycling service and their tenants unlikely to recycle on their own.

Martha O’Connor said that this was a larger issue that should be put on the agenda of a future Selectboard meeting for further discussion. Jesse Corum agreed. Nevertheless, three other landlords including Fric Spruyt, Jason Cooper, and Bob Remy-Powers all spoke against the 5-unit cutoff for town trash and recycling pickup. All cited the town’s stated goal of increasing recycling rates as a reason to continue to pickup recycling, at the least, from larger residential buildings.

Sondag said that recycling was mandatory town-wide and that citizens were required by ordinance to recycle. Cooper said that that may be true, but if the town elminates recycling pickup for certain residents, they won’t be able to recycle.

The board agreed to revisit the matter at a future meeting.

An Interlude

After Citizen Participation, Jesse Corum introduced high school student Caroline Hedinger of Vernon who is competing in a national public speaking tournament. Caroline, who was an appealing and dynamic speaker, gave a rousing oration on the American Constitution, noting that despite having been written by rich, educated, white men, managed to be “a champion of the common man.” Her efforts won her a standing ovation.

The Wastewater Treatment Plant

Gene Forbes of Hoyle Tanner engineering firm gave an update on the process for the new wastewater treatment plant. Since not a lot has happened since January, his update was mostly information we’ve already heard but he did impart that after much head scratching and soul searching, the Town and designers had managed to shave a little over $5 million from the final price tag bringing the project in at just under $32 million.

Forbes said that they were hard at work on funding but it appears that there may not be a lot of grant funding available for this project. So far, they’ve gotten one grant for $25,000 and have an application in for another worth $100,000. They said that a special “sludge and septage” fund would have several million available and that community development block grant funding would also be pursued. But he said, while outside funding is “key,” the Town can’t count on it.

So, for that reason, the Town is being asked to put the entire amount of $32,000,000 into a 2% bond to be paid back over twenty years by ratepayers. To that end, Forbes advised as he has in the past, that rates be increased in Brattleboro as soon as possible to reduce sticker shock. He said that his firm was doing analyses now to determine what rate increase would meet the loan repayment requirements without overly shocking water and sewer customers.

Forbes said that if everything goes as planned, construction contracts will be awarded in early 2010 and the project would be completed in 2012. The plant would stay operational during construction.

The Selectboard voted, after some discussion, to schedule a special town meeting on May 7 to discuss and approve the bond, with the vote to occur after 10 am in the Town Clerk’s Offices on May 8.

Liquor Commissioners

The annual approval of all the town’s liquor and tobacco license renewals took place, and a modification made to the town’s usual procedure. In the past, the Selectboard had to sign all of the renewals. Now, Town Clerk Annette Cappy will sign the forms, saving everyone a lot of time and hassle.

Rules Of Conduct

Jesse Corum drew the board’s attention to this year’s Rules of Conduct. Apparently, they made mention of Robert’s Rules of Order. Rich Garant asked if they had not been based on Robert’s Rules for Small Groups before. Corum said first that they were the same rules as last year and then that they might have been based on Robert’s Rules for Small Groups.

Sondag said she remembered the same thing Garant did and would check on last year’s rules, but that they should approve the ones before them so they would have rules in the meantime.

Town Service Officer

David Weaver, Town Service Officer for the last 13 years, was re-appointed.

Monthly Financial Report with John Leisenring

Finance Director John Leisenring gave his monthly financial report, saying that spendng was about where it should be but revenue “needed work.” Sondag backed up Leisenring’s remarks about revenue, saying that, for instance, “Septage Revenue” of $60,000 would not be realized because the town isn’t able to take septage (“high strength” waste).

Leisenring was then appointed Alternate Authorized Representative to the Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade project.

New Fuel Storage Tanks For Gibson-Aiken

Over 30 years ago, a 5,000 gallon oil tank was installed in the Gibson-Aikens Center. It has outlived its useful life and the town now plans to replace it with three 330 gallon tanks, which in deepest winter will hold enough fuel to last the center almost a month. The town accepted a low bid from local company Fleming Oil at $10,000 to remove the old tank and install new ones.

New Carpet For The Library

Jerry Carbone, Director of Brooks Memorial Library, presented the three bids he received to replace the carpet tiles on the third floor of the library. Carbone said that 20,000 books would have to be temporarily moved and the Children’s Room closed briefly. He recommended the low and local bid as well, of a little over $13,000, from Lawton Floor Design. The board approved the contract.

Trash Pickup Bids

Even Jesse Corum agreed that the waste hauling bids were complicated. Bids from three companies were submitted for Brattleboro’s trash and recycing pickup, covering 3 and 5 year terms with weekly and every other week recycling options. It wasn’t clear from the discussion what any of the actual numbers were but one — that Brattleboro disposes of 3600 tons of trash per year, on average.

Waste Management, a large international corporation, seemed to submit the low bid, but local hauler Triple T came close especially on the 5 year contract. Triple T also handled fuel charges and surcharges differently than Waste Management, which Barb said would save the town money and make the price differential negligible. She recommended going with Triple T for the 5 year contract. With the addition of compost collection, which Triple T is gearing up to offer in a few years, Triple T seemed poised to take the prize.

John Allen put a monkey wrench in the works when he suggested that the board go with weekly recycling rather than biweekly, even if it would cost extra. He said it was important for the town to put its money where its mouth is with regard to recycling, and that having weekly pickup would improve recycling rates. Others agreed that recycling is important, but DeGray asked if it was worth the additional cost. DeGray said he would like to get input from more residents before deciding.

Discussion continued but it was clear the board was not overly anxious to approve a contract before hearing what residents had to say at Representative Town Meeting. Allen moved to table the matter until April 7, and the board voted 5-0 in agreement.

There was some concern in the lead-up to the vote that the board would be going into Town Meeting with inadequate information about specifics such as price of bags. Jane Southworth, chair of the Solid Waste committee, implied that it would be okay to ballpark the bag price for purposes of discussion. She also said that the Solid Waste Committee preferred awarding the contract to a local vendor.

DeGray’s comment that Town Meeting should feature some “interesting” discussion met with giggles. He then said that he would be packing his overnight bag.

BHA Update - Affordable Housing at 1063 Western Ave

A representative from the Brattleboro Housing Authority gave a brief update on the progress with new affordable housing units at 1063 Western Avenue. The rep, Bill Bedard, said that they had their Act 250 permit, had applied for various grants, met with a design team multiple times, were closing in on a design and were talking to potential renters of the public space at the front of the property. He said that a local construction company from Keene had been selected and that the BHA would break ground on the new housing in June.

Chris Hart, who was subjected to harsh interrogation at a previous Selectboard, gave terse answers to a couple questions from the board before being excused with words of thanks from Rich Garant.

The new apartment building will be called the Anne Wilder Richards Building.

Main Street Sidewalk Right Of Ways

As it happens, the Town will be redoing downtown sidewalks, and in preparation for that, they have to secure right of ways for all the various properties. Town attorney Bob Fisher said the easiest way to do that, given all the various property owners, was to simply declare the sidewalks to be maintained by “dedication” which takes care of them all at once. He said that by doing this, the town would be obligated to maintain the sidewalks in the future, but since they’d been doing it for decades, it shouldn’t matter.

O’Connor took issue with the word maintenance, fearing that downtown business owners would think it meant that the town would clear snow from the sidewalks for them. She had the wording changed. The motion was then approved.

Annual Bridge Inspection

Public Works Director Steve Barrett said that all 16 of the towns bridges over 20 feet in length had been inspected by the state and a report returned to them itemizing necessary repairs. He said that he had reviewed the report. The Selectboard approved then it.

DeGray noted that the recently repaired bridge on Elliott Street was already “having problems” and Barrett said he knew and that they would be working on it soon.

Main Street Bus Stop

The oft-revisited bus stop ordinance for the space in front of Candle in the Night on Main St is being re-corrected. It appears that this is mostly a formality changing nothing about the location of the bus stop itself. But Sondag said, with sidewalk work in the offing, the bus stop would probably have to be moved again, at least temporarily. The first reading went without incident.

Our Newest Road

A private road off Ames Hill has been named Red Oak Ridge.

Parade Permits

Both the March of Dimes Walk-A-Thon and the Walk for Amber received their parade permits.

Ratification of Appeal

Town attorney said that he needed board approval to sign off on a case involving plans at Kentucky Fried Chicken to expand and add a Taco Bell. The DRB had approved the plans. Apparently an abutter had issues but was placated when the KFC paid for a right of way from them. Fisher said that this vote by the board would allow him to approve the mediated agreement between the KFC and abutter.

The board approved this motion 4-1 with Garant against, because he said, he knew nothing of this case prior to the meeting.

Windham Solid Waste Management Board Reps

The new reps will be Jane Southworth, with Dora Bouboulis as an alternate and Sondag as a second alternate.

Main Street Closed For May 1 Diversity Day

Organizers requested that Main Street be closed from 5-9 pm for the Diversity Day festivities on May 1. Diversity Day came out of the Future Search conference in February.

Corum said the organizers needed to have street events scheduled if they’re going to close the street.

Town Meeting Articles

Selectboard members divvied up various articles to be read at Town Meeting on Saturday. Sondag reminded everyone to remember their documentation. John Allen said he would forget his and Sondag said that Katrina would have extras at the meeting just in case.

Representative Town Meeting starts at 8:30 am at the high school.

The evening ended with John Allen thanking the chair “for having the longest meeting.”