Selectboard Meeting Notes: Onward To Black Mountain Road

The Brattleboro Selectboard made the decision to recommend the Black Mountain Road police station option to Representative Town Meeting, and the Town Attorney said Town Meeting Representatives could only vote on the police station portion of the facilities projects, as it was the only project with a change of location.

Several items were placed on the warning for Representative Town Meeting, the PAYT committee was dissolved, a Special Represntative Town Meeting has been scheduled, SeVEDS and child care centers both were warned not to burden Brattleboro’s taxpayers, and the FY17 budget has been approved for Representative Town meeting debate.

All this and more, in a meeting that stretched past ten o’clock.

Preliminaries

Chair David Gartenstein said the board would return to regular, every other week meetings soon, after a rather epic series of weekly meetings held since early November. He reminded the public that candidate petitions for upcoming elections are due January 25th.

Town Manager Peter Elwell said the agenda was long and passed on opening remarks.

For selectboard comments and committee reports, John Allen reported that the Windham Solid Waste Management District budget was passed. He noted that there may be issues with the solar array project, but didn’t elaborate.

During Public Participation, Tim Johnson announced that Project Feed the Thousands was successful and had gone over its goal for the year.

Liquor Commissioners

The Brattleboro Selectboard, acting as Liquor Commissioners, approved a series of special event permits for nine local establishments. They plan a Brattleboro Luv Crawl on February 11, pairing Vermont brewers and distillers with area merchants.

Stephanie Bonin, of Duo Restaurant, developed this event with the Downtown Alliance and merchants.

Water & Sewer Commissioners – Shaftless Screw and Conveyor Liner

The Brattleboro Selectboard approved replacement of a shaftless screw and conveyor liner for the Wastewater Treatment Plant. It was installed in October of 2012, and has operated 24-7 to treat over 400 million gallons of wastewater and septic each year.

Public Works Director Steve Barrett explained that as part of water treatment, abrasive materials, grit, and rags are removed from the wastewater. This material is transported away by the now-failing shaftless screw and conveyer system. He said they were looking at other, more industrial alternatives, but until one is identified, this seems to be the amount of wear and tear we’ll see from these parts.

He pointed out that the cost of replacement is outweighed by the income brought in from septic disposal.

Total cost for replacement by Custom Conveyor Corporation: $22,574.

Water & Sewer Commissioners – Black Mountain Sewer Line

The board also approved an additional expense for the Black Mountain Sewer System in the form of additional engineering services for the project.

As David Gartenstein explained, the gravity sewer line being installed at Black Mountain Road has failed to meet the town’s required specifications, and at a recent meeting the board approved sending a letter to those involved that the Town was considering cancelling the contract if terms could not be met. This triggered a meeting of all patries involved and some proposed solutions.

He said that as part of negotiating an acceptable outcome additional engineering costs are required.

The Town, engineers (Hoyle Tanner), construction company (Kingsbury) and the surety claims council met and came up with a new plan to divide the remaining work into two smaller projects. The first would deal with an open cut section connecting the system to the town mains, requiring new engineering, The second portion of the project would evaluate use of the drilled section under I-91 to see if it is acceptable as-is.

The new engineering services are expected not to exceed $200,000, with $100,000 of that already spent to date. These costs will be paid from the Utilities Fund.

The town is having a “larger discussion” with Kingsbury to determine responsibility for all costs associated with this project, and David Gartenstein said that the issue had been subject of executive sessions.  

The sewer line failed in October, flooding the stores at Black Mountain Plaza and causing businesses there to be closed for nearly a month.

Once the Black Mountain Sewer Gravity Sewer is operational, the Wastewater Treatment Facility project will be complete.

FY17 Budget

The board approved the $16,111,352 municipal FY17 budget for presentation to Representative Town Meeting. This is a 3.71% increase over FY16.

The municipal property tax rate is suggested at $1.179, an increase of $.0182, not including any Police Fire debt that may or may not be approved.

For $100,000 homes, the municipal tax will be $1,178.90, an increase of $18.18. 

For $200,000 homes, the municipal tax will be $2,357.80, an increase of $36.37.

Town Manager Elwell noted that there was an increased commitment to capital projects, with the first step being to stop borrowing.

Police and Fire Facility Projects

Town Manager Elwell informed the board of the final survey results, which were much the same as the preliminary results, though more people had weighed in and paper survey results were included.

Overall, survey responders appeared to say they preferred to move the Police Station to Black Mountain Road, though Kate O’Connor pointed out that when the results for other options of not moving the station were combined, they pretty much equalled out.

“Fifty percent say do something other than move it to Black Mountain Road,” she said.

David Schoales said it was a consequence of not asking a yes or no question, and giving four options.

The selectboard then faced their decision on which of the alternatives to put forth for Representative Town Meeting. (Previous consideration of placing an item on the ballot for the voting public to weigh in is seemingly abandoned.) Before making the decision, though, they heard some advice from the Town Attorney.

Town Attorney Bob Fisher told the board that the two fire station projects, being located in the same place as when first approved, need no further approval or discussion by Representative Town Meeting members. The police station, if moved from the Municipal Center, would require a new vote of Representative Town meeting to allocate funds from “authorized but unissued bonds.”

Franz Reichsman, a town meeting representative, said that he felt this would cause problems for the board, as town meeting representatives have expected to be able to say something meaningful. He warned that the survey had selection bias, that is, people who wanted to respond were the ones who responded. He cautioned that there were “bigger numbers of people you don’t know anything about. There may be surprises in store when others come into the process.”

Orion Barber, another representative, said he’d like to be able to consider a 30 year bond as well as a 20 year bond. Short term tax increases, not long term costs, concerned him most.

David Gartenstein suggested a second article, beyond the question of police station bonds, allowing for representatives to weigh in with advice on how best to complete the fire stations, particularly Central Fire and the issue of an additional floor. This didn’t go over well with fellow board members and was shot down.

Citizen David Manning said he hoped the town would keep the police downtown, within walking distance. He said he had been in Keene when the police moved from downtown, and said that the culture and interaction changed once they moved.  “You seem set on doing it, but you don’t have a majority wanting it. But this goes to voters. I won’t support this. I feel like it is bad culturally for the town.”

When it came time to decide, all but O’Connor voted to recommend moving the police out of downtown. Macomber and Schoales both made mention of the town being bigger than just Main street.

A special Representative Town Meeting to take up this issue has been scheduled for March 12 at 8:30 a.m.

Two Hour Warning

The board took a five minute break at about 8 p.m., with David Gartenstein warning that the meeting would last another two hours.

Representative Town Meeting Articles

Reconvened, the board added various articles to the warning for the regular Representative Town Meeting in March:

– Downtown Brattleboro Alliance’s request for $78,000 from the property owners in the Downtown Improvement District

– Tax exemption requests for Brattleboro American Legion Post No. 5 Little League field, Bradley House, Holton Home, Family Garden, Rescue Inc., and Camp Waubonong

– Charter amendments adopted last year call for public meetings this year – changing the deadline for incumbent Town Meeting representatives to submit a notice of intent to run, and to allow mechanical tabulation of early voting ballots

The only item to note is that the board cut the requests for School Tax Exemption from Family Garden and Bradley House to 2 year exemptions, rather than five, with a nudge to stop the education exemption requests in the future, if possible.

Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS)

The Brattleboro Selectboard was asked to give an FY16 contribution to the operation of SeVEDS in the amount of $18,069 authorized from Program Income funds. The board voted to give them $12,500.

For an FY17 contribution, the board was asked to place a $36,138 ($3 per person) request on the warning for the regular Representative Town Meeting in March. The board opted for a $25,000 request to be sent along.

Adam Grinold, Executive Director of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation and Bob Stevens gave the board a good overview of the difference between BDCC and SeVEDS. BDCC concentrates on helping businesses, and SeVEDS is a program to help the underlying economy, said Grinold. He noted increases in personal wealth, per capita income, and growing employment figures as indicators of early success.

Stevens focused on the work of SeVEDS since its inception, saying that it was a long-term economic development effort that is beginning to show results, such as businesses looking to expand, a successful intern placement program, and new jobs and businesses adding to the grand list.

The board wasn’t so sure. While they appreciated the work being done, the amounts being requested seemed high to some. David Gartenstein and Kate O’Connor noted the contributions Brattleboro already makes in tax relief, services, and time of town employees, and said the return on investment so far seemed to be rising taxes for Brattleboro.

Stevens countered that investing in these programs would pay off in the long-term with more tax burden being carried by commercial rather than residential taxes. He admitted it was just his hunch, and in the end, their requests were both trimmed by the selectboard.

PAYT Committee Final Report

Three recommendations from the Pay As You Throw committee were acted upon Tuesday night, one being the disbanding of the committee. 

The other two were recommendations regarding the programs the committee helped implement.

One was to maintain the practice of supplying recycling and compost buckets, but raise the costs to market prices. Kate O’Connor wanted everyone to know that town receptacles are not required, and any tight-fitting labelled container is allowed.

The  other was to extend the contract with Waste Zero for bags and bag inventory assistance. Part of the bag contract allows for 4% increases to the cost of bags every other year, or an average of 1.6% per year.

The committee recommended that the committee be dissolved and thanked for their service, and the board obliged them.

Of minor interest: illegal dumping is up merely 330%. This may sound large but is, in fact, just 16 cases, of which the police say they have under control.

Financial Report with John O’Connor

Finance Director John O’Connor presented the board with the financial report ending December 2015, showing the numbers for the first 50 percent of the fiscal year.

General Fund expenses are at 52.8% of the annual budget. Utilities Fund is at 53.1%, the Parking Fund is at 42.5%, and the Solid Waste Fund revenues and expenses are at 51.3% and 46.1%, respectively.

Just over $4.1 million has been loaned out, and $382,134 remains to be used as loans or grants.

The town has 42 active grants and 4 in the proverbial pipeline.

Annual Status Report of Town Plan Implementation

Planning Services Director Rod Francis presented the board with a draft “Selectboard’s Progress Report of Town Plan Implementation,” at Tuesday’s meeting, and the board approved the report for inclusion in the annual town report.

The Town Plan contains a matrix of 58 policies and 160 actions, all identified by priority and responsibility.

The progress report indicates work has steadily moved forward on many aspects of the town plan, including implementation of new Land Use Regulations, the Our Town arts projects, pedestrian safety, farm tax stabilization, and more.

David Gartenstein asked if the Town Plan would be good for the selectboard to review before setting board goals, and Francis agreed. “It could be useful as a planning tool,” he said, and offered to help them when the time came to look at goals.

Stormwater Permit for Living Memorial Park

The ACT 250 amendment process for Living Memorial Park to allow the addition of the skate and dog parks has triggered a need for a stormwater permit. 

The permit was to be for the entire park, and would be required before an Act250 amendment will be granted. A permit for the entire park, however, would be cost prohibitive. 

Luckily, town staff worked hard and got approval to get permission to allow a permit for the two new areas alone, an affordable option, and all will move forward.

Transportation Center Stairs

Wright Construction of Mount Holly, VT was given $188,103 and the contract to replace the eastern stairwell at the parking garage.  The Brattleboro Selectboard also approved $6,600 in project management fees and a $10,000 contingency for the project.

The stairs were built in 2004, have been open to the elements, and are significantly rusted.

The original plan for the stairwell was to have them enclosed, so steel was used rather than a galvanized material. As the design went forward, the stair enclosure was dropped from the plans to allow easier monitoring of activity in the stairwell. Unfortunately, the materials didn’t change accordingly, and steel was left out to rust.

“The lesson learned,” said Gartenstein, “is when cutting costs and making changes to a project, take the long term view. Built right, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Costs will be covered by the Parking Fund.

Town Attorney Contract

The Town Attorney is getting a raise. The Brattleboro Selectboard voted to approve a 1% increase and a 1 year extension to the contract with Bob Fisher of Fisher & Fisher. This will give the town attorney compensation totalling $102,010.

Annual Appointments of Town Attorney, Treasurer and Town Clerk.

The board makes the appointments, the Representative Town meeting members vote to approve the appointments. All three incumbents (Fisher & Fisher, Annette Cappy, John O’Connor, respectively) are re-appointed.

Design Review Committee Appointments

Barbara George and Robin Renzoni-Sweetapple are the first two members appointed to the new Design Review Committee, tasked with looking at historical standards in Brattleboro’s newly-defined historical districts.

March Selectboard Meeting Schedule

The regular meeting of March 1 has been rescheduled to March 8 to avoid conflicts with the day Brattleboro does voting and the other towns in the state hold their Town Meetings.

An organizational meeting of the “new” Selectboard will take place March 30.

“It depends on who is elected,” observed Gartenstein. “Incumbents could be swept out of office.”