Selectboard Meeting Notes: Changes In Property Taxes, Budgets, Planning, Zoning, Parks…

The Selectboard has found a way, they think, to keep the municipal tax rate the same as last year. A new dog park is anticipated to join the skatepark at the top of Living Memorial Park. There’s a new financial and budget plan in the works for the town, and new zoning is also underway.

The press, however, abandoned this meeting when there were election results to chase, leaving the board to lament a total lack of reporting, other than BCTV, of important issues.

Read on for the full report of the over four hour meeting.

Preliminaries

Chair David Gartenstein mentioned a well-planned and well-executed response to a burglar that had entered a local school in recent weeks. The matter was handled such that kids, for the most part, had no idea a police action was underway in their school.

Gartenstein asked for a moment of silence, as John Allen had suffered losses in his family this week.

Town Manager Peter Elwell had some good news regarding a possible downtown improvement grant that might be able to pay for a significant amount of the Green Street retaining wall work. More information will be coming.

For selectboard comments and committee reports, David Schoales mentioned progress for a solar project at the landfill, and repeated the Carbon Harvest news of new operators taking an interest. He congratulated the new Town manager on closing on his new home, and becoming a taxpayer.

Public Participation was lacking members of the public with items not on the agenda.

Pay As You Throw – Public Education and Enforcement

One of the few remaining Pay As You Throw decisions was made at Tuesday’s meeting.

The Brattleboro Selectboard was given three options for possible PAYT education and enforcement contracts. The first was a $23,000 proposal from Waste Zero, the company supplying our bags and inventory system. The second was a $27,250 proposal from Moss Kahler. The third option was a $29,250 proposal to hire both Waste Zero and Kahler. Each includes about $6,000 for mailing and printing.

Kate O’Connor had a long list of concerns, saying that the new, third proposal added to her confusion. She worried about setting precedent with paying contractors retroactively, wondered if they had to take the low bid, had questions about budgets, and more.

Peter Elwell said it was all legal, and that the low bid rules didn’t apply here because the qualifications of the contractors come into consideration, and it isn’t a low-bid construction project.

John Allen said we wouldn’t need much education at all; Gartenstein and Macomber thought more was better.

The board voted 3-2 for the high, combo bid, with Kate O’Connor and John Allen voting against.

West River Park Snack Bar and Restroom Bid

At a recent meeting to approve a bid for building a snack bar and restroom for the West River Park, Kate O’Connor asked if the board could approve a Vermont bid rather than a low bid from a New Hampshire company. The difference was a few hundred dollars.

Town Attorney Bob Fisher and the town’s procurement manual advised that bids should always go to the lowest bidder.

The lowest bid, a $63,734 contract with Ingram Construction of Swanzey, NH, was then approved by the board.

Committee Appointment to BASIC

Two applications for the open BASIC (skatepark) committee vacancy were considered by the Brattleboro Selectboard. This was one more than at their previous meeting, where a single application was put on hold pending a discussion with the committee.

Elizabeth McLoughlin joined previous applicant Les Montgomery in a request to be considered for the single open seat. As of February 27, however, Mr. Montgomery had withdrawn his application.

There was no apparent need to consult with BASIC on this new application, and Ms. McLoughlin was approved to join the committee.

Skatepark and Dog Park Discussion

Upper Living Memorial Park will be the go-to location for both dogs and skateboarders.

Recreation & Parks Director Carol Lolatte said a dog park has been discussed for quite a while, and two citizens have suggested a site at upper Living Memorial Park,  adjacent to the area being considered for a skatepark.

One of them, Rachel Selsky gave an overview of the proposal, designed, she said, for minimal fiscal impact and maximum dog enjoyment.

The planned off-leash dog park site is near skatepark location at the top of Living memorial park, not far from the bend in the road leading to the picnic shelter and not far from the ski tow.

Gates and fences, covered waste cans, shade and water are all on the list of essential components. An estimated 1,402 dogs and owners are in Brattleboro, and could take advantage of the 8,000 square foot space. The park would cost an estimated $17,500, and money would be raised by donation, sponsors, and events.

As for the skatepark, Lolatte said a her research has shown that the skatepark could be built where planned with a few caveats. Being a year-round installation, there will need to be include a “double layer significant soft barrier” to help separate it from snow sports. In simple terms, a berm with some shrubs and an orange net fence in winter.

Conversations among dog parkers, skateboarders, and snow sporters have led to this plan, which all feel will work. Tops of fences will get yellow caps for snow sporters to see in winter.

“One of only few things that I care about more than skateboarding is skiing at Living Memorial Park,” said Spencer Crispe. “I’ve been going there since I was two, and would never negatively impact the ski area.”

Rod Francis said their was a small chance that the Act 250 permit would need amending for a change in use, but possibly not.  Most possible objections, such as being too close to water, are not at issue.

“Of all the sites, I feel better about this site and BASIC than I ever have,” added Crispe. “I think we have a winner.”

The Brattleboro Selectboard voted to contract with an engineer for preliminary plans for both parks, with the costs split between the two groups. 

FY16 Heating Oil Bid

The Brattleboro Selectboard locked in a purchase of 82,00 gallons of No. 2 heating oil for FY16 at the pre-pay price of $1.97 per gallon. Barrows and Fisher Oil will supply the fuel.

Gartenstein then announced preliminary election results, causing the press to abandon the fun of the Selectboard meeting in search of election stories.

“The room has just emptied,” said Gartenstein. “It’s just a Selectboard and staff meeting now.”

Police-Fire Bond Counsel Opinion

Bond counsel J. Paul Giuliani was asked for his opinion on using the previously- approved $14.3 million bond for the revised Police-Fire facilities project, given that the nature of the project has changed with a change in location for the police facility. Could Brattleboro proceed with two of the three projects?

Town Manager Elwell reported on his response.

The opinion was quite strong, he said. “No, we may not proceed while deciding on the police station.”

The original bond vote mentioned money being spent on the Police Station at the Municipal Center, and the Selectboard does not have the power to alter the location. To have permission, the board will need electoral approval. Furthermore, the board will need to get electoral approval to cancel the police station work at the Municipal Center, if it so chooses.

David Schoales was quick to suggest scheduling a special Representative Town meeting in April to get approval, but others on the board wanted to have a very clear and concrete plan to present before asking representatives to weigh in again.

Elwell said the board would be deciding in the next couple of months whether to have the police remain at the Municipal Center, or re-locate to Putney Road.

Representative Town Meeting Informational Meeting and Representative Town Meeting Preparation

Town Manager Elwell gave the Selectboard a chance to revise their budget recommendations or any other warned item, and, as it turns out, there were some rather big changes.

The net result is that Brattleboro property taxes will, if everything holds, neither rise nor fall this year.

To get to this, the board voted to take the $140,000 or so intended for bond payments out of the budget.

Next, due to some timely fuel purchasing, they voted to change the budget to reflect the actual cost, which reduced the total by almost $60,000 more.

Of some concern was a rise in the  county tax paid by the town, which John O’Connor says used to be level but has risen 20% in the last two years. This meant adding about $11,000 to cover the added expense.

Finally, they were able to take $200,000 from the unassigned fund balance, previously assumed to be assigned and unavailable, and devote it to capital improvements and $90,000 of tax relief.

Town Manager Elwell continued to be rather adamant about not using the unassigned fund balance to reduce taxes. “If operating costs are too high, we should reduce them,” he said. “Not use one time money, then catch up next year. “ He wanted to be clear that the heating oil savings was very temporary, too.

“We have a great town manager with experience,” said John Allen.  “I think we should give his recommendations on the unassigned unreserved funds a chance.”

 “I’m not fiscally good with money,” he added.

David Schoales thought it was a good one-time opportunity to temporarily lower taxes. He felt $200,000 should go to tax relief. A bit later, he saw the value of putting $200,000 toward capital projects, but that it could be used to reduce the tax rate. “Everything is important.”

Donna Macomber said it would be “a challenge to not offer the immediate relief, but that will get us to a place where we can do everything that needs to be done.”

The board ignored Elwell’s advice, though, and voted for some tax relief, but probably not quite as much as if the new town manager hadn’t been there. 

Comprehensive Review of Town Operations and Financial Planning Project

Chair David Gartenstein told us at the last meeting to expect this. He said that a comprehensive review of town operations and financial planning was underway, with details to be announced soon.

Soon, it turns out, was this Tuesday evening. Town Manager Peter Elwell was ready to outline his plan. 

But the room had just emptied. The board lamented the loss of the traditional media, out covering election results. 

“I’m concerned there is no press here except for BCTV,” said Gartenstein. He said the comprehensive review shows “way, way important steps we’re taking that people really need to know about,” and that “we want to review our operations and be as efficient as possible.”

He suggested that Elwell reach out to the press who had just left the room. “Explain to them what we’ve undertaken. Radio stations, too. Please do that.”

(Ed. – How will we learn how the rest of the meeting went? Is there any way?)

Elwell’s memo to the board included a schedule that would have him present an overview of his financial vision to Representative Town Meeting, then return to the Selectboard in April with a preliminary update based on meetings with department heads.

The update would come from a new approach to budgets being tried, where departments identify the functions they perform, identify the allocations of personnel and resources, and then the distribution of the entire budget is calculated, hopefully leading to a more clear snapshot of how we spend.

Elwell says this work won’t change the FY16 budget, but could lay the groundwork for a future switch to a program-based budget in future years.

The preliminary identification of programs would be followed by work among department heads and the town manager to firm up the numbers and be more specific, which would in turn lead to creation of a Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP). With all of this in hand, Elwell expects to be able to propose a FY17 budget based on the year’s work sometime in October.

VTrans Local Motion Grant

The Brattleboro Traffic Safety Committee has been working with Local Motion, a Burlington group, on issues of pedestrian, traffic, and bike safety. They’ve also helped the town find grants to support their proposals.

Tuesday, the board voted to endose working with the organization on issues of bike and pedestrian safety, and authorized the Town Manager to work up a memo of understanding for the group. Local Motion will then help strengthen portions of the Traffic Calming Plan, and helping come up with a good way to provide fair responses to public concerns.

Small Business Assistance Program Committee Appointment

Stephen Morse resigned. Adam Grinwold, the new Executive Director of BDCC, was appointed to fill the vacancy.

Business License Fines

Brattleboro businesses that have failed to pay for their annual business license should be taken to small claims court suggested the Listers. The Selectboard agreed.

Russell Rice explained that a $50 fee is due by the end of each December. By January 15th, added late fees brings it to $75. To that is added a $100 fine for those paying later than February.  The total cost to fill out a business license form for the town can top out at $180 for those paying late and online.

Rice said some on his list didn’t have licenses last year “and we found them.” 

Nearly $50,000 is generated from Brattleboro businesses by requiring the annual fee.

John Allen praised the program for being well-organized after being around just five years.

Rice declined to read the list of names. David Gartenstein volunteered. “We hope they will promptly come into compliance with this so we don’t have to take them to small claims court.”

Donna Macomber said that one listed business was no longer in business. “They have been renting space and operating in recent weeks,” said Rice.

The board voted to pursue collection in small claims court for license fees, fines and penalties of businesses who have not yet paid.

Proposed Zoning Code Amendments

Patient members of the Planning Commission and Planning Services Department came before the Brattleboro Selectboard late in the evening and provided a somewhat lethargic overview and update on new zoning code changes working their way through various public processes.

Sue Fillion and Rod Francis did most of the explaining. Fillion said the last overhaul of zoning came 30 years ago, and much has changed. “It’s been patched, but is difficult to work with and is contradictory in places.”

Brattleboro’s two guiding documents, Zoning ordinances and Subdivision Regulations, are expected to be combined into a single document of Land Use Regulations. (The cool people will call this the LUR.) It will have words and pictures.

Francis said the guiding principal had been to “zone for norms, not exceptions.” He said they were using a smart growth approach, with walkable neighborhoods near downtown and in West Brattleboro, environmental sustainability, and fiscal responsibility. He said he hoped the outcome would be that “reasonable community standards lead to cumulatively positive impacts.”

The LUR will be aligned with the Town Plan of 2013, so that the policies outlined in the Town Plan get turned into development requirements. A company called Place Sense is helping.

There have been a series of public informational meetings to present the plans and solicit feedback from attendees.  Attendance hasn’t been great, though. John Allen noted that the board was always struggling to find ways to get people more involved with their government.

There will be new zoning districts and adjustments to district boundaries. One new district will be for Water and Recreation. Putney Road’s nine current districts will be consolidated into three.

More uses will be allowed in many districts.

Design, engineering, and technical standards will be added, and new design standards will be created for non-residential buildings, frontage and parking lots. There will be a historic district overlay, said Fillion.

The requirement for an economic review before building a 65,000 square foot or up facility will be removed. 

Effort will be made to limit runoff in the western and upper parts of town to help mitigate the impact downstream in town. “The new reality is that the Whetstone is likely to flood, so we should prepare for it,” said Francis.

There is still time to weigh in before the changes are approved.

Gartenstein and Francis, both tired, both suggested the other come up with a way to roll this out in the final months. Ultimately, Francis took on the task. “You know the document and know the process so far, so you think about the most effective way to present it to us,” said Gartenstein.

John Allen asked that it be dumbed down.

Ordinance Amendments

Two ordinance amendments were given first readings. The first is the series of changes to update the document with information pertaining to Pay As You Throw. The other updates the list of on-street metered parking areas to make it current and more precise.

Public hearings on both, taking your thoughts and comments, will be held at the next regular Selectboard meeting, March 17.

Peter Elwell said to expect more ordinance changes soon regarding appeals to parking violations.

PACE Program

David Schoales asked for the Property Assessed Clean Energy Program (PACE) to return once again to the agenda. It being well after 10 o’clock, he kept it brief by explaining that there were new opportunities for low and no-interest loans for PACE participants. The board asked the town to re-examine PACE to see if the prior objections continue to exist.

So ended the four hours.