Jerry Remillard announced last night that the town's poor accounting of the Multimodal Transportation Project funds has aroused the attention of state auditors, who will be conducting a review of its spending of state monies. This review will be conducted in tandem with an upcoming federal review of project spending, supplanting a previously requested independent audit. But that wasn't the big news. The big news is that young people have been perambulating nude in Harmony Parking Lot after hours.

It was during the citizen participation portion of the meeting that the sorry tale of the nude youths was brought to our attention. A concerned citizen related the facts as she knew them. On July 20, she said, a young girl "if she can be called that" was seen walking around topless in the parking lot. Close to the same date, she said, there were also ten naked boys in the lot although she didn't say what they were doing other than being naked. The incidents occurred between the hours of 6 and 11 PM. In the case of the topless girl, it was a repeat offense.

"The parking lot is not a strip club," the citizen said. It is in a commercial district and as such, the behavior of these young people is inappropriate as they might scare or offend shoppers and other downtown visitors. She said that the town police were well aware of the nude young people but said that there was nothing they could do as there is no ordinance or law against it. The citizen asked that the town enact an ordinance to deal with the problem and suggested that town ordinance 9-19-44 Article 2-1 might apply. She also made it clear that she was not in favor of prosecuting the offenders, but felt that counseling was in order to help them resolve whatever personal issues they might have that make them want to be naked in public.

Chair Steve Steidle punted the question over to town lawyer Bob Fisher, who said that he has been researching the issue for a couple weeks and that, in fact, Vermont has no law forbidding public nudity as long as the nude person is not acting in a lewd or lascivious way. He also hinted that prohibiting public nudity is hard to do in any comprehensive fashion, but that other municipalities have legislated against nudity in certain places, such as on a beach.

Selectman Dick DeGray took up the cause. "We should pursue this," he said, adding that while nudity in itself is not offensive to him, it's inappropriate in a downtown shopping district. The Selectboard agreed to look into other Vermont anti-nudity ordinances before deciding whether and how to implement a similar ordinance here.

One of the more contentious agenda items, the signing of an interim contract with New England Management for the Multimodal Project, was struck from the agenda, with no reason given. Also removed was the final public hearing for the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital PUD. Apparently, BMH has decided to go back to the drawing board and restart the process with the Planning Department.

The town is refinancing a couple of capital loans, one for the Central Fire Station repairs in the amount of $22,362 and a larger note in the amount of $147,466 which is the amount owed on a grader purchased in 2005. The smaller loan will be retired this year and was financed with a one-year Banknorth loan at a rate of 3.82%. For the larger grader loan, town treasurer Emilie Thomas presented two options — a one-year loan at 3.82% and a four-year loan at 4.40%. Finance director John Leisenring said that with the town's current fiscal constraints and despite the fact that rates are likely to go up, he recommended the lower-rate one-year loan. The Selectboard took his recommendation and voted unanimously to approve the two one-year loans.

The Tri-Park water and sewer project for Mountain Home Trailer Park is taking a bit of a detour in its efforts to fund the project. Grant manager Sarah Friedman said that the original plan had been to bring the matter before town meeting in September, but that they have opted to delay the town meeting vote until March 2007, in an effort to better acquaint the voters with the details of the project. The estimated cost of the project will be $6.8 million and is expected to be funded almost entirely with grant money.

The town is involved because as a municipality, it can borrow more money for better rates than Tri-Park can on its own. Thus the town has to be the grant applicant, which necessitates a general obligation bond to cover the borrowing. The issue of exceeding the debt ceiling was raised — Brattleboro is only allowed to take on $10 million in new debt in any fiscal year. But the finance director didn't think the borrowing for Tri-Park would cause a problem with the debt limit. In the end, the Selectboard voted 4-0 to authorize the town manager to apply for an increased amount in grant money, subject to approval of the bond at town meeting.

Also on the agenda was a citizen petition to open up a new town swimming hole at the end of Old Ferry Road on the Connecticut River. The town researched the location and according to Sarah Friedman who delivered the report, came up with a number of problems with the suggested location. According to the report, the road is difficult for emergency vehicles to travel and hard to close off at night. It is near a garbage dump, opening up the issue of pollutants leaching into the water nearby. And finally, the site itself is said to have steep banks, deep water, strong current, and a quick drop off, making it inappropriate for people who like to wade, rather than swim, and for people who don't know how to swim. On the basis of this report, the Selectboard was disinclined to further the swimming hole petition, and Jerry Remillard said he'd inform the petition organizer.

Then came Union Station. It should be noted that Selectman Audrey Garfield attempted to get this item moved up in the agenda after several early items were removed. However, the other board members resisted her efforts.

The Union Station discussion was confusing and seemed to extend beyond the stated topic, which was when the next state and federal money for the project would be received. Apparently, grant money is typically paid out in arrears, which means that the town has to front the money to pay for things and then submit to the government to be paid back. In the past, the town had dipped into the general fund to pay for reimbursable project expenses but this caused cash flow problems. The $190,000 general fund deficit of last year was a result of this sort of interfund borrowing.

Jerry Remillard said that money from one grant would be available in the next couple months and that another round of federal grant money from the Federal Transportation Adminstration (FTA) would be coming in four to eight months. But apparently there is no money available now. Remillard said that there were three options the Board could pursue: continue "as is," borrow to cover short-term expenses, or halt the project until all issues are resolved. He also said that the 2002 federal grant expires in September, and if their application for extension is not approved, they could lose the money, which totals $1.2 million.

Adding to the town's woes, the station platform had to be redesigned to accord with federal handicapped-accessibility regulations at a cost of $12,000. As for borrowing to cover these expenses, the interest incurred on such loans is not reimbursable and remains a town-funded expense.

Discussion swirled around issues of accountability, with Audrey Garfield querying Remillard with regard to unauthorized transactions such as a recent general fund transfer of $13,000 used to close the Woods property deal. Garfield also felt that Remillard had exceeded his authority in cancelling efforts to do an independent audit of the Multimodal project.

According to Remillard, an independent audit of the project would cost $40,000 and largely duplicate the upcoming federal review. As to whether or not the board was properly notified, Steidle said that Remillard had informed the board about this matter and that the board had tacitly acquiesced by opting not to do anything. Leisenring, in answer to questions from Garfield about the comprehensiveness of the federal review, said that the federal review would be at least as comprehensive as an independent audit. Garfield wanted to be sure that all funds, including local matching funds, would be included in the review. (In a story Wednesday, The Reformer reported that the federal review would only cover spending of federal funds.)

Members of the public remained unconvinced. Peter Cooper questioned the town's transparency. Rich Garant questioned whether the federal review would really be comprehensive. But it was the matter of process that really bothered them. "This board doesn't get it," Garant said. "When the Selectboard makes a decision and the town manager ignores it, that's wrong." But Remillard said he had not ignored the board's decision, that the board had been notified, and that they supported his decision to forego the independent audit.

Town lawyer Bob Fisher then suggested that the Selectboard officially rescind the original motion calling for the independent audit as a way of tidying up loose ends. Operating under the assumption that they could request an audit again in the future if the federal review proved insufficient, the board voted 4-0 to rescind.

The regular agenda concluded with -- you guessed it -- Powerpoint presentations. A long time ago last Spring, Audrey Garfield asked that the town try to present charts, graphs and other supporting materials in a way that everyone could see, including members of the public at the meeting and those watching on tv at home. Frederick Noyes of BCTV said such a system would be relatively simple to implement with costs under $500, and the town could try it out for free with borrowed equipment. So, after languishing at the end of the agenda for months, it was finally decided that a trial of Powerpoint presentations would be undertaken.

The meeting continued with a discussion of interfund transfers and policies attending thereto, but we can leave off here. Rest assured, interfund transfer policy will be on the agenda for the next Selectboard meeting, giving us all something to look forward to.