The Brattleboro Selectboard heard comments from a large number of Brattleboro renters alarmed by the Selectboard’s decision to stop picking up trash from residents in apartment buildings with five or more rental units. According to the tenants, they’ve received letters from landlords telling them that they can no longer put their trash and recycling out on the street for town trash pickup. Some tenants were upset because without access to a car, they can no longer recycle, despite the fact that Brattleboro requires recycling of all of its residents. Others said that when their rents are inevitably raised to cover the landlord’s new trash costs, they will be out on the street because they can’t afford to pay more rent. Over a dozen residents spoke against the ordinance.

The Selectboard, Dora excepted, paid lip service to the citizen’s complaints but voted against them, opting to keep the ordinance as it is presently written. To a man (Dora excepted) they said that the ordinance was necessary, that they couldn’t just continue to pickup the renters’ trash despite the fact that the town did not enforce the ordinance for decades, and that renters in larger apartment buildings would have to pay whatever it costs to get rid of their trash whether they are required to pay out of pocket or as part of their rent.

Only toward the end of the discussion did Selectboard members make it clearer that they expect landlords to pick up the tab, and that tenants are not their concern but the concern of the landlords.

Among other topics of discussion were issues related to the wastewater treatment plant, including the special Representative Town Meeting to be held Thursday, May 7 at 6:15 pm at Academy school.

Chair’s Remarks

Chair Jesse Corum announced that Barb Sondag was out of town, looking after her mother who is in the hospital. He and other board members wished her and her family well.

Corum also congratulated Ben Harwood on becoming an Eagle Scout.

Water And Sewer Issues

There were a number of water and sewer matters on the agenda. The second reading of the new water and sewer ordinance which addresses the new rate increases was held and the rates read again.

As read previously, the new wastewater rates for residential units will be going up, with the quarterly base rate rising to $26.56 in year one and the usage rates rising from $3.61 per 100 cubic feet of wastewater (poop, et al) in the current year to $4.63 per 100 cubic feet by 2013. These rates will continue to rise each year for the next 20 years although the current ordinance only addresses the first five years. Water rates are rising less, with the residential base rate going to roughly $27 and the user fee for 100 cubic feet of water rising from $1.89 to $2.21 by 2013.

Dick DeGray said that the Selectboard had tried hard to keep rates as low as possible and that sewer rates would pay for the new plant.

The board approved the new rates by a unanimous vote.

The Selectboard also accepted a $25,000 grant toward the $32.8 million dollar wastewater treatment plant upgrade which will require a town match of another $25,000. This money, which comes from the Clean Energy Development Fund, will be used to pay the Hoyle & Tanner engineering firm for evaluation work already completed. John Leisenring said that although the cap on the grants was $250,000, the town only qualified for the $25,000 applied for and received.

Shawn Donovan of SVE Associates was on hand to talk about Mountain Home (TriPark) water and sewer system which is entering its second year of construction. Donovan said that the residents are “delighted” with the work being done and that the project should be completed by the end of construction season this year. He also said that there were a total of $50,000 in increases from the two contractors doing the work. He said that for a project this size, an extra $50k was quite good although there might be more “change orders” as the construction season wears on. The Selectboard approved the additional $50,000 which is covered by the project’s contingency fund.

The reasons for the increases included big tree removal, culvert and drainage work, and work for which “a higher price had been negotiated between the contractor and SVE Associates.”

Finally, the town utilities will be getting a new utility truck. The truck will be purchased from the low bidder Colonial Chevy of Acton, Massachusetts for $38,000. The only other bidder was Auto Mall which bid $42,000 for the same truck.

New Solid Waste Ordinance

An overflow audience was on hand to comment on the Town’s intention to enforce the solid waste ordinance with regard to pickup of trash and recycling from apartment buildings with five or more units.

The first resident to speak asked if the Town couldn’t just keep things the way they are, and continue to pick up trash from her building. Dick DeGray said that there had been no change to the ordinance, that the ordinance had been in place for years, and that landlords had and should continue to provide dumpsters for their residents. He said there had been no change. The citizen said there had been a change — she could no longer get curbside pickup. DeGray said that nevertheless, he would not support any change to the ordinance at this time.

Dora Bouboulis asked that Selectboard members not go “tit for tat” with residents but let them speak first and then address concerns. She felt that correcting each citizen as they spoke would prolong the discussion and create a combative atmosphere. DeGray said that he felt obligated to correct citizens when they said things that weren’t true.

A number of longtime residents said that they had always lived in rental housing and always had curbside pickup from the Town. Almost all cited financial hardship as a concern, with one resident saying that another rent increase, and she would be “back at Morningside” as a homeless person. Residents felt that the new ordinance was unfair and discriminated against low income people who can least afford to pay. They also thought it unfair that residents in apartment buildings with 2, 3, and 4 units are not affected by the new enforcement policy.

There was a sense among residents that the ordinance was “suddenly” being enforced. Martha O’Connor said that this wasn’t true and that landlords had known about the change in enforcement policy for at least two months.

It should be noted that after every citizen spoke, there was a round of applause.

Other citizen concerns were sanitation issues that could result from hoarding of trash, illegal dumping, and creative trash disposal by either placing trash on the curb next to someone else’s legal trash or by taking it to work to throw away on their employer’s dime. At the root of all of the concerns was cost — that residents who couldn’t afford to dispose of trash properly would be forced to dispose of it in ways the Selectboard would find unsavory. Said one resident, “I pay 60 to 70% of my annual income in rent.”

Another resident, who said she was a social worker in town and “familiar with these kinds of stresses,” was concerned that while landlords might have been informed, many residents had not and that the ordinance affects over 1000 town residents. She hoped the Selectboard would grant the citizens more time to talk this through and make sure the solution found to Brattleboro’s trash costs could be more equitable.

Resident Doug France, who owns his home, spoke against the ordinance as well, saying that in his view, it was arbitrary and discriminatory against low income people. He said that citizens rejected Pay As You Throw because it was a cost shift, and that by the same reasoning, the Town should reject this plan since it unfairly targets low income people. Others mentioned the cost shift as well, saying that they already pay property taxes in their rent and that now they will pay both property taxes and trash removal, something that is not asked of other residents of Brattleboro.

Recycling also came up as an issue. The same Solid Waste Ordinance that eliminated pickup for apartments with five or more units also requires “mandatory recycling.” The problem according to those residents who spoke was that many low income people don’t own cars and can’t transport their recycling to the Windham Solid Waste facility on Old Ferry Road. They will be in violation of the law unless their landlord agrees to pick up recycling for them. However, if their landlords pick up their recycling, their rents will go up which is also a problem.

Several landlords including Fric Spruyt and a representative from Jason Cooper spoke against the ordinance, albeit a bit less forcefully than residents. The Jason Cooper rep said that he didn’t want to raise rent on his tenants but that he would have to if the ordinance is enforced.

Jane Southworth of the Town Solid Waste Committee said that if the Town agreed to keep picking up the trash from the apartment buildings in question, they would have to revisit the contract with the trash hauler. That said, she felt that this issue was worth further discussion, now that she’d heard from residents, and that a task force might be a good idea. Such a task force, she said, could take everyone’s concerns into consideration and that a solution could be found by a “date certain.”

And then the Selectboard had their say. Jesse Corum said that the 2007 board had, as is customary for boards, kept no record of discussion — only of motions and votes. As such, he said, he had no idea what their reasoning had been in deciding on where to cut off town trash pickup. But regardless of the reasoning, he said, many larger apartment buildings do provide private trash pickup for residents and that only 40% of the residents were still using town pickup. To not enforce the ordinance, he said, would be “a step backwards.”

DeGray agreed with Corum that the majority of rentals use private trash pickup and only a few were not complying with the ordinance. He also said that to not enforce the ordinance would have “huge budget implications.” If there was to be any change in the ordinance, he said, it wouldn’t be for at least another year. Meanwhile, he felt the ordinance should absolutely be enforced. To allow some renters to use Town pickup would be unfair to those who have been paying extra for trash removal all along because their landlords comply with the ordinance.

This issue is “much bigger than you people here,” DeGray said.

John Allen, who characterized solid waste as “a can of worms” for Brattleboro, said that they had given the matter a lot of thought and that while they meant no one any harm, they would have to enforce the ordinance. He also felt that it would be unfair to renters who are paying for private pickup not to make all residents of larger apartment buildings pay as well.

Dora said that she had always opposed this part of the ordinance, and that she didn’t support it now. She felt that a more equitable and enforceable solution could be found and liked Jane Southworth’s idea for a task force. She also said that a class action suit could come of this and that it could prove costly to the town. She hoped the board would reconsider rather than trying to hold “a hard line.”

Martha O’Connor said that it was never a good idea to second guess a judge, with the implication that the town could just as easily win a case brought by residents. Although a landlord herself, she did not favor changing the ordinance to accommodate low income renters. “I’m not in a mood,” she said, “to change the ordinance” at this time.

She also said that she had “faith in landlords” that they would not allow their rentals to become rundown and trashy, and that they would (naming Fric Spruyt and Bob Remy-Powers specifically) do what was needed to keep their apartment buildings sanitary.

John Leisenring outed the elephant in the meeting room, saying it was the responsibility of landlords to provide for trash removal and that if citizens have a beef, it’s with them and not the Selectboard. Apartment buildings are businesses, he said, just like stores and restaurants.

Citizens continued to raise concerns. One said she lived in a “lovely Victorian” house on a nice residential street. Where would they put the dumpster, she asked. Another wondered how the town could allow an ordinance to go unenforced for so long, and then suddenly slap it back to residents in such an arbitrary fashion. All wanted more time to come up with a better solution.

Alas, it was not to be. Unsurprisingly, the Selectboard voted 4 to 1 to keep the ordinance as is. Only Dora voted against it.

BeeLine Bus Grant

The Selectboard voted unanimously to approve a grant of $203,000 for the Beeline Bus. There was some concern that the BeeLine budget had not been warned but the board agreed to approve the grant now and look at the budget later.

Fire Inspection Ordinance Amendment

Fire Chief Mike Bucossi asked the Selectboard to approve an amendment to the Fire Inspection Ordinance to authorize the Fire Department to conduct fire safety inspections on residential schools and sales of multi-unit apartment buildings. DeGray and Corum were concerned that the town would be liable if there was a fire in a building that the Town had inspected. Bucossi said the Fire Department had been doing these inspections for years and that authorizing these inspections would allow them to charge for them, and recoup some of the costs of conducting the inspections. Enforcement is done by the State.

The amendment was approved.

Dora’s Rubbish Challenge

Dora Bouboulis brought up a resolution which she’s calling the Rubbish Challenge to help get citizens more involved in waste reduction. She asked the board to approve a resolution calling on residents, businesses, non-profits and the Town itself to “reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost” to reduce the amount of trash going into the waste stream. She plans to do outreach to encourage more residents and businesses to sign on to the challenge. The board was concerned that this would cost the Town money and staff time, but she was clear that she expected this to be a board initiative with no costs to the town.

Corum said that since there were minor language changes needed in the resolution, that the board should wait until the next meeting to approve it.

Myrtle Street Block Party

Myrtle Street in the Forest Square neighborhood will be holding a block party on June 13 from 6 to 9 pm, and wanted permission to close the block to vehicle traffic (except for emergency vehicles). The request was approved. Corum said he hoped more neighborhoods would do this.

VY Relicensing Update

Town Attorney Bob Fisher gave his occasional update to the Selectboard on the VY Relicensing process. He reported that on May 18th the technical hearing will begin. He said all testimony has been submitted.

One of the issues, he said, is the adequacy of the decommissioning fund. There have been many arguments made to the effect that it needs to be better funded. Fisher cited the precedent of the Public Service Board’s recent decision regarding wind power facilities at Searsburg and Reedsboro in which they decided that the decommissioning fund must be be funded in full before towers could be built. This is a departure from past practice, he said.

He said there was also great deal of testimony regarding the power purchase agreement between the state and Entergy, and that the Public Service Board does not oppose relicensing but wants the power purchase agreement in place to prevent harm to Vermont ratepayers.

There was testimony on the economic value of the plant and revenue sharing with the state. Revenue sharing, Fisher said, could benefit Vermont. The range of revenue coming back to Vermont could be anywhere from $40 million to $1.15 billion.

There was also the issue of how to shift the cost of cleanup from Entergy to the government, he said.

Committee Appointments

Corum announced that many board and committee positions will be coming open in June. Corum read from a list, but when he got to positions such as fence viewers and coal weighers, he questioned whether they were needed anymore. John Leisenring and others insisted fence viewers were indeed needed. More information on available openings will be forthcoming.