Selectboard Special Meeting Notes – Money, Sirens, & The Continued Question of Public Input

“Our 200th meeting in a row,” said John Allen, commenting on the more-than-weekly nature of recent board meetings.

Town Manager Elwell made note of an excellent audit result, in which the state’s Department of Public Safety looked at about $236,000 worth of grants given to the town and found Brattleboro to being looking good. All praise to Grants Manager Kim Ellison.

In response to public inquiry, Elwell said the engineer looking into downtown traffic flow for cars and pedestrians should have results for the town soon, and that favorable bids had been received for the Green Street retaining wall project, to be discussed at next week’s (201st) meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard.

Police Fire Facilities

The board reviewed what they had learned from the public at the three informational sessions recently held to discuss Police and Fire facility options, and questioned how much more public input for the project would be required, given the turnout of 145 or so attendees.

Kate O’Connor said they hadn’t asked for, and did not receive, any indications of preferences for any of the options presented. She said the “big piece” for her was “what does the public want?”

John Allen was disappointed with the turnout. “Do people just not care?” He felt the board should decide what was “best for the town.” He felt a need to act now. “It has to move forward at this point.”

Donna Macomber appreciated the issues raised by the turnout, adding that many people in town work multiple jobs and can’t always attend town informational meetings. Her view was that the board should provide options and let the taxpayers decide. 

David Schoales said that they had been elected to make decisions after gathering information. He thought they should make a decision, warn it, and have it go to Representative Town Meeting.

David Gartenstein discussed the balance between directing the municipality and staying within budgets. He expressed a concern that the projects could be approved, bonds taken out, then a taxpayer revolt might occur over the subsequent year’s budget when the impact is felt. “It’s a very, very difficult decision to make.”

Dora Bouboulis appreciated being given options, and noted that most of the people at the meeting she attended were town meeting representatives. “The public doesn’t expect to be involved,” she said, even though she felt that the public needed to vote on the final decision.

Bouboulis said that if the police moved to Black Mountain Road, accessibility would be an issue for many in town.

Judy Davidson agreed that the facility decision(s) should go to a town wide referendum. She asked that people give guidance and feedback to their district Town Meeting Representatives.

Dick DeGray arrived, he said, after watching the meeting at home to tell the board that they were elected to make decisions. He told them to pick an option and move forward with it.

Gartenstein said the discussion would continue next week, with a special topic to be determined.

Solid Waste Update

The board decided to defer any decisions relating to solid waste until next week, but a few issues were discussed anyway.

Town Manager Elwell said that there have been meetings and will be more meetings this week, and quite possibly a plan to work toward a fee for service payment option for participating in the WSWMD. Board members had rather extreme doubts, based on previous history, but agreed to give it another week to see if anything is worked out.

Bouboulis and Gartenstein debated the usefulness of paying for the recycling bins on Fairground Road, with Bouboulis arguing in favor of keeping them as a service to the public, and Gartenstein insisting that they were redundant and therefore unnecessary. 

The end result was a suggestion to perhaps enforce the ordinances regarding landlords providing trash and recycling for tenants. Bouboulis said that enforcement would cost money, perhaps more than the cost of the Fairground Road containers.

This too will be on the agenda for more discussion next week.

VY Sirens No More

This item will not be on the agenda next week. The Brattleboro Selectboard voted in favor of accepting VY’s offer to remove all sirens in town for free sometime next year (rather than pay to have them removed later).

Judy Davidson questioned the need to remove them before the fuel was removed and put into dry cask storage, especially if they cost little to maintain, and would cost little to take down on our own in the future.

Elwell said that sirens were old technology prior to modern communications. Emergency responders and departments, he said, stay in touch in other ways.

Dora Bouboulis said the town has tech issues, and not everyone had email, cell phones, or reverse 911. Some people turn off phones at night, she said, and that it was quick to flick a switch and turn the siren on, while technology can be slow. “It’s no big deal to leave them up.”  Her view did not prevail.

FY17 Budget – Departmental Review, Continued

A number of town department directors came before the Brattleboro Selectboard Tuesday night to present their proposed FY17 budgets and take questions. 

The presentations were varied, with some opting to give departmental overviews, histories, and handouts, and others choosing to keep it simple.

Jerry Carbone, for example, gave his final budget presentation prior to his retirement (party starts at 4 p.m. on Friday Dec 18) framed with a history of the library from its 1843 beginning through Mr. Brooks to the current digital age.

The biggest upcoming issue for the library, aside from a new director and renovations, is a planned installation of a copier/printer, available for all to use, which pleased Kate O’Connor greatly. “A great service to provide,” she said, noting that it had the potential to bring new people into the library.

When thanked for his years of service, Carbone said he had enjoyed 90% of his tenure.

There were no questions for the Assessors, but it was highlighted that the department receives income from the state to the tune of about $43,000 a year doing reappraisals.

Annette Cappy was questioned, not on her Town Clerk budget but on the boxes in front of her office. She explained they were part of a project to upgrade the storage of records.

John O’Connor explained that the Finance Department has a hand in just about everything.

Louise Zak hoped that the town would advertise that the tax rate here, given the services, isn’t the highest in the state. Gartenstein spoke again of the need for changes at the state level to increase the options for towns to raise revenue for necessary projects.

Chief Michael Bucossi gave an overview of the fire department and led an unanticipated but interesting discussion on the difference between retention rates for his department compared to the struggles faced by the police department.

He described a difference in work, with firefighters working as teams, together for 24 hours on then 48 hours off. Others noted that the community generally finds the arrival of the fire department to be a relief, whereas the police can often bring bad news. Police, they noted, often work alone in their cars for long shifts and don’t share the same team structure.

There were no questions for the Planning Department.

Overall almost all of the budgets presented were at or below the levels of the previous year, and Town Manager Elwell praised departments for doing this for yet another year in a series of similar years.

So endeth the FY17 departmental budget season. Other budget questions remain, and will be discussed at meetings in the next three weeks. At current projections, taxes are slated to go up a penny and a half over the previous year.

David Schoales hoped they could work harder and get it to a zero percent increase. He suggested  that the town revise fuel cost estimates downward, as well as reduce idling and increase walking patrols for police, as possibilities to save $300,000.

Until next week…