A light agenda awaits the Brattleboro Selectboard at their first meeting in September – accept grant money for bike lanes, assist Windham & Windsor Trust, and help out DV Fiber.
You can add weight by bringing up other matters not on the agenda during public participation.
Newfane voters can weigh in on whether to allow retail cannabis sales at a Special Town Meeting to be held on September 20 at 6 pm at the Newbrook Fire Station. There will be in-person voting only.
An informational meeting is scheduled for Tuesday August 23 at 6 pm: www.zoom.us/joinameeting ID: 972 2791 1757 Passcode 352680
The Brattleboro Selectboard doesn’t want to review what led to an abrupt change in EMS services in town last spring.
As much as some citizens would like to know, the board resists. No lookin’ back. No way. Don’t want to even think about it.
The next animal control officer will serve 40 hours a week, a fancy new B&B got a liquor license, the Town will work on plans for permanent downtown public restrooms, and the board expressed gratitude for the monthly EMS update and all the fine work being done.
The next August meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard will bring discussions of public restrooms, an EMS update, a request to have the Animal Control Officer work 40 hours a week, and more. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
Brattleboro Election Unofficial Results: Welch, Abbot, Malloy, Balint, Nolfi, Madden, Siegel, Davis, Scott, Zuckerman…
The Brattleboro Selectboard continued their careful consideration of abortion rights. They heard testimony about the possible town resolution from the Town Lawyer and a State Representative in addition to members of the public. In the end it was decided to do nothing, the safest option for now.
Brattleboro will be getting energy saving incentives and rebates as part of a special program with Efficiency Vermont. They especially want to hear from renters!
It is time for the August 2022 dashboard summary. We continue semi-regular COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro, as long as they continue providing them. Scroll down the new comments for the latest.
It will certainly be a fairly wild meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard as August kicks off. They’ll name a new street “Fairly Wild Way.”
The board will continue their discussion of a resolution protecting a person’s right to access to abortion (and whether or not to throw any money at it,) they’ll adjust the code of ordinances regarding wastewater allocations and fees, authorize and RFP for a town-wide re-appraisal, and apply for a grant on behalf of Commonwealth Dairy. They’ll also hear an Efficiency Vermont presentation on community energy savings. YOu can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
The Brattleboro Selectboard discussed their own powers of resolution and whether they could do anything at all on the issue of abortion rights. They decided their lawyer-approved resolution needed more teeth, but also no chance of disruption to the State, and maybe funding, but not any special funding, and maybe something else as yet undetermined. They’ll take up the urgent issue again at their next meeting.
There were grave concerns about data collection and not sharing any data with bounty hunters. A bit later, board members were impressed by the ambulance data being collected locally and asked for even more EMS data from the Fire Department.
It was a gloomy and restless mood amongst many members of the public. Many expressed feelings of impending doom. Two asked for a special session of Representative Town Meeting.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will meet Tuesday, for the most part, to finish what wasn’t completed at their previous meeting. The consent agenda has been updated, but just about everything else is the same.
Of note this week is the change to the item “Resolution on a Woman’s Right to Choose” which is now presented as “Resolution on a Pregnant Persons Access to Abortion,” and that an EMS Update by the Assistant Fire Chief has been added. You can choose to bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
Brattleboro has had two recent minute-related incidents that were slightly out of the ordinary. In one case, a school board member requested that something not discussed at a previous meeting be added to the official minutes to clarify something. In the other, a selectboard member held back approval of minutes until they could be edited for stylistic changes. The selectboard has also struggled to meet required deadlines for posting of minutes.
Let’s look at the school board. According to the minutes for the June 21 WSESD board:
Ballots have been mailed… tell me who you think we should be voting for in Vermont races. Have any favorites?
It was a really long Brattleboro Selectboard meeting with not much getting done! They heard about downtown safety issues, but took no action. They approved a mural design they couldn’t see. There will be more places to buy liquor. The preferred bridge design was selected. And then it was 10:30 pm with discussions of a woman right to choose and EMT issues, among other things, still awaiting ample discussion. They ended up postponing much of the agenda to a future meeting.
It is time for the July 2022 dashboard summary. We continue, despite almost no one paying attention or wearing masks despite new variants that vaccines don’t protect against, regular COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro, as long as they continue providing them. Scroll down the new comments for the latest.
A packed agenda of important items awaits the Brattleboro Selectboard for their first regular meeting of July. It’s going to be a long meeting.
There will be new liquor licenses, Commonwealtth Dairy wants to nearly double its water and sewer use, rental housing fines will be set, and the board will choose a bridge design for Melrose. There will be a discussion of downtown safety and a new mural for High Street. The board will discuss a woman’s right to choose. There are emergency repairs to authorize.
The firefighters get a “recently concluded additional collective bargaining agreement,” and the Fire Chief would like the board to approve additional funds to meet requirements of becoming a paramedic-level service.
But wait, there’s more! There will be a first reading of a new ordinance regarding wastewater allocation approvals, there will be a new contract for the Interim Town manager, a new street name will be approved, and the FY23 tax rate will be set.
Chief Hazelton & Members of the Rescue Inc. Board,
On behalf of the Town of Brattleboro, I am writing to follow up from the meeting on June 6, 2022, regarding EMS Mutual Aid. The Town appreciates the many years of excellent service Rescue Inc. has provided to Brattleboro and wishes continued award-winning success for Rescue Inc.’s service to other communities in our region. We look forward to rebuilding a healthy working relationship between the two entities towards our shared goal of maintaining the health and safety of the people we serve.
Below our FY23 service plan is outlined, in hopes that this information will clarify the capacity at which we are asking Rescue Inc. to engage in Mutual Aid.
I did a quick read through of the dissent in today’s decision and they don’t mince words. Here are a few highlights to get you going…
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The first problem with the majority’s account comes from JUSTICE THOMAS’s concurrence—which makes clear he is not with the program. In saying that nothing in today’s opinion casts doubt on non-abortion precedents, JUSTICE THOMAS explains, he means only that they are not at issue in this very case. See ante, at 7 (“[T]his case does not pre- sent the opportunity to reject” those precedents). But he lets us know what he wants to do when they are. “[I]n future cases,” he says, “we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.” Ante, at 3; see also supra, at 25, and n. 6. And when we reconsider them? Then “we have a duty” to “overrul[e] these demonstrably erroneous deci- sions.” Ante, at 3. So at least one Justice is planning to use the ticket of today’s decision again and again and again.
I was listening to VPR, Vermont Public radio, today when they announced that their new name was …. Vermont Public.
Vermont Public what? Well, they’ve merged TV and radio. “Vermont Public probably strikes you as both familiar, and different – and that’s the idea. Our name has evolved to reflect who we are, and where we’re going. We’re still everything you count on – and we can do more together, and welcome more people into the fold,” says their announcement.
It strikes me as kinda stupid sounding. No mention of the main thing they do… media broadcasts and streams over radio, TV, cable and internet. No mention of news or information. It doesn’t say anything about who they are or where they are going. It seems more like the forgot to finish the naming process.
The Brattleboro Selectboard agreed to the Golden Cross contract addendum of a free 90-day extra staff and ambulance offer, which the Fire Chief explained came at his suggestion.
They also held a first reading about fines and penalties for rental housing violations, heard public comments about cameras, announced a possibility of a downtown police substation, learned about Tri-Park’s current situation, and more.
What have you noticed around Brattleboro recently? The little things that aren’t worthy of a full story, but caught your eye?
NECCA circus tent is back up. It’s been up for a couple of weeks now, and again I say that this really marks the location well. Nothing like a circus tent to say “circus!”
Brooks Memorial Library has their new tool-sharing shed and sign up, located between the library and the municipal center.
