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Ready to go to every other week garbage collection? How about single stream recycling? The Brattleboro Selectboard will take up these and other waste-y issues at their regular Tuesday meeting on Dec. 1.

Tax stabilization, loans, and land transactions with BDCC and G.S. Precision will be discussed and approved, the DPW will buys some vehicles, Elliot Street bridge repairs will be discussed, and more. Watch on BCTV or attend in person, and read about it here after the meeting.

Brattleboro Selectboard Chair David Gartenstein wished everyone a happy, good,and safe Thanksgiving at the start of the board’s Tuesday night special meeting.

Police Fire Facilities

Gartenstein announced that they would be putting the Police and Fire Facilities Project on every agenda in the foreseeable future, to give time for updates, questions, and special topics of discussion. He named four issues for the board to consider at upcoming meetings: how funding the project relates to the general fund budget, how the project fits with our long-term capital needs, how moving the police to Putney Road would impact the use of the Municipal Center,  and the public impact and public good of moving police to Putney Road.

The Brattleboro Selectboard approved new land use and zoning regulations for the town after making some minor amendments to the much-discussed document. Not much has changed from last week, unless you had plans for an easy kennel empire in a rural district.

Brattleboro is entering into an option agreement to have a chance to purchase the property on Black Mountain Road currently in use by the Reformer. The agreement buys some time to fully consider a proposal to move the police to the north end of town.

Farms, finances, and energy consumption rounded out the evening. Read on for details.

The awaited Option Agreement to lock-in a chance to purchase a property at 62 Black Mountain Road has materialized and will be signed (if there is no objection) at the Brattleboro Selectboard’s next meeting. No property is bought, but some money is spent.

Brattleboro Land Use regulations may or may not be adopted, and may or may not be sent back to the Planning Commission for further work. It all depends on if the board is satisfied that any changes to the current draft are minor edits. One of the changes requested, though, isn’t minor. We’ll see how this gets resolved.

Also on the agenda, tax stabilization agreements for local farms, a report on town energy consumption, and more. Attend in person or watch on BCTV, and read about it here after the meeting.

One of the more spirited and specific discussions of the proposed Land Use Regulations occurred Tuesday evening, the result being a board unable to approve the regulations until further consideration.  Remaining issues include clarity of wording regarding signs and whether a new district boundary should be in the middle of the road or not.

The board also received an overview of the proposed budget for next year, where they learned that the starting point for discussions is a budget that increases 4.7%, which translates to an increase to property owners of $43.21 for each $100,000 of property value.  This, of course, before adding in any costs for funding Police and Fire facilities, if approved.

It’s early in the process and there are areas ripe for discussion before final rates are set, but there isn’t much proverbial wiggle room.

The Brattleboro Selectboard will be holding a big party Tuesday night. Just kidding. They will be holding a special meeting to begin discussion of the FY17 Budget, and to quite possibly adopt new Land Use Regulations for the Town of Brattleboro, an event that last occured in the 1980s. So perhaps there will be a party of some sort.

You are encouraged, invited, summoned, requested, asked, appealled for, solicited, incited, provoked and generally called forth into attending this meeting and expressing your views on these and other matters.

A few atypical work items were undertaken by the Brattleboro Selectboard at Tuesday’s meeting. These are things that boards do, but just not that often. 

The board bought and sold property, announced a new library director, held a close-out hearing on a Brooks House grant that got a bit heated, and contemplated long-term strategies for staffing and economic development. Plans for public meetings on the Police-Fire project’s latest form were also set, and more.

At their first Tuesday meeting in November, the Brattleboro Selectboard will consider overfilling the police department staff positions in an effort to help better retain and recruit new police officers.

The board will have some land transactions to undertake, will annouce committee vacancies, re-annouce meeting dates, and will have a discussion of economic development strategy. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation at the start of the meeting.

Watch on BCTV and read about it all here after the meeting.

Public input was a main theme of a long meeting of few agenda items Tuesday night. 

The public is called upon for input to the police and fire facilities question once again. The public is invited to weigh in on upcoming budget discussions. And the public had some feedback at the meeting regarding Brattleboro’s new land use regulations.

The board also heard a monthly finance report and approved of some EPA brownfield grant related matters. Read on for all the details.