Brattleboro Selectboard Special Meeting at Green Street School

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• Submitted by cgrotke on November 24, 2015 at 11:41 am

  The Minutes of said meeting

  1 BRATTLEBORO SELECTBOARD
  2 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2015
  3 SPECIAL MEETING – 9:00AM
  4 GREEN STREET SCHOOL GYMNASIUM
  5 MINUTES
  6
  7 Selectboard members present: David Gartenstein, David Schoales, Kate O’Connor, Donna Macomber,
  8 and John Allen.
  9
  10 Staff present: Town Manager Peter Elwell, Assistant Town Manager Patrick Moreland, Finance Director
  11 John O’Connor, Fire Chief Mike Bucossi, Assistant Fire Chief Peter Lynch, Police Chief Mike Fitzgerald,
  12 Police Captain Mark Carignan, Town Assessor Russell Rice, and Executive Secretary Jan Anderson.
  13
  14 Others present: See attached attendance sheets, Steve Horton (Project Manager), and others who did
  15 not sign the attendance sheet.
  16
  17 Chair Gartenstein called the meeting to order at 9:00am in the gymnasium at Green Street School. He
  18 confirmed that the meeting was officially warned.
  19
  20 POLICE-FIRE FACILITIES PROJECT – Public Information Session
  21 (i) Staff Presentation
  22 (ii) Public Participation – Questions and Comments
  23 Gartenstein said that the Selectboard was holding a series of special meetings to provide the public with
  24 information regarding potential upgrades to the Police Station, Central Fire Station, and West Brattleboro
  25 Fire Station. He reviewed the recent history of the Police-Fire Facilities Project, including approval by
  26 Representative Town Meeting in 2012, design approval in 2013, passage of the budget in 2014 by
  27 Representative Town Meeting, and the budget referendum in 2014 by the voters as a whole. Following
  28 defeat of the budget in 2014, Gartenstein said that the Selectboard removed expenditures for the project
  29 from the proposed budget, and the budget was subsequently approved. He said that improvements to
  30 the Police station and both Fire stations had been discussed since the 1990s but no significant
  31 improvements had been made and as a result all three stations were in need of absolute life safety
  32 improvements. He said that the Board and staff were advocating additional improvements to the facilities
  33 and the alternatives were being presented today. Town Manager Elwell provided and discussed a
  34 PowerPoint presentation demonstrating alternatives being considered, including the financial aspect of
  35 each of the alternatives. Fire Chief Bucossi discussed in detail the need for improvements to Central Fire
  36 Station and West Brattleboro Fire Station and the proposed improvements. Police Chief Fitzgerald
  37 discussed in detail the need for improvements to the Police Station. He discussed two options for
  38 improvements at the Municipal Center, as well as the possibility, advantages and disadvantages of
  39 purchasing the Brattleboro Reformer building on Putney Road and moving the Department to that
  40 location. After the presentation, Gartenstein opened the meeting for questions and public comment.
  41 Spoon Agave, Louise Zak, John Wilmerding, Tim Cuthbertson, Pal Borofsky, George Reed-Savory, Judy
  42 Davidson, Frankie Gibson, Erica Croft, Orion Barber, Gary Carrier, Ben Underhill, Michael Bosworth,
  43 Franz Reichsman, Tad Montgomery, Pierre Landry, Carol Barber, and others who did not identify
  44 themselves asked questions and provided their comments and opinions. There was very little discussion
  45 by the Board. Gartenstein said that two more public information sessions were scheduled on November
  46 30 and December 2, and he encouraged the public to attend and participate in the discussions.
  47 NO ACTION TAKEN.
  48 There was no further business.
  49 MOTION BY JOHN ALLEN TO ADJOURN AT 11:37AM. MOTION CARRIED 4-0 (SCHOALES WAS
  50 NOT PRESENT AT THE TIME OF THE VOTE).
  51 52
  53 54 55

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