Public restrooms were a major topic of discussion for the board at the regular Tuesday meeting. Nothing, of course, was decided. The board also allowed the Assessors ask Representative Town Meeting Representatives to agree to a town-wide re-appraisal of taxable properties.
There were financial and EMS updates, and a discussion of further revising meeting agenda formats to reflect anticipated times of agenda items. (Good luck with that… says this reporter.)
Preliminaries
The board gets started late again.
Ian Goodnow – It is a regularly scheduled selectboard meeting! I have a couple comments – petitions are available at Town Clerk’s office for town and school positions and town representatives. Due Monday the 30th. Get a petition. The agenda setting committee – Daniel and I – are trying to use the consent agenda more and find items that don’t require discussion, we’ll have room for more discussion on other items that need it. You’ll see that tonight and in the future. Items can always be pulled to be discussed. Finally, for future agendas, we’ll try putting a proposed time period for each agenda item. It is a work in progress. People can better guess when to come to meetings. Trying to make things effective and efficient, and easy to access.
John Potter – One item tonight. The Town manager’s office will be sending a poll to all town meeting members serving regarding child care at RTM. It will come from stickler@brattleboro.org Get back to her asap, please.
Jessica Gelter – went to the charter review commission meeting. It was organizational, to look at the guiding town document. They have another meeting Thursday and charging ahead like a train. If you are interested in how the town operates at a high level, check it out.
Ian – the next meeting will be a reading of the Charter.
Liz McLoughlin – I wish to pull item 7E to have a discussion.
Ian – I’ll note it now… emergency demotion. You got it.
Tim – I’ll second that. No I won’t. I like trying out the times. Another advantage is that our Chair can help us keep on task when we are over or under a time estimate. It will help set the pace better.
Public Participation
Dick Degray – whatever district I’m in. Used to be 2. The item you pulled, how did you think that was a consent agenda item? If it wasn’t pulled it would have been passed over. I think it deserves consideration and questions from the public.
Ian – We were moving through items that were warning articles which will require lots of discussion. Seeing the backup material with this, I agree with you. But what we were thinking – they are other articles and item 8C is also for RTM but would warrant some discussion now. I agree on 7e and happy to pull it. The final point is we will cpometimes make mistakes as we try to move it along.
Dick – we had several break-ins downtown last night – I have asked you for cameras to be installed. It is a critical tool. It wasn’t the person who was just arrested. Maybe his brother. Businesses have $500 deductibles with insurance. Cameras are essential for safety and for the merchants who contribute to the financial gain. Also, thank to Hotel Pharmacy for all your years… losing Frank first… they are all going to be missed downtown and I thank Mary for all she has done for Brattleboro and the surrounding communities.
Eli KCG – I’d like the board to reconsider an unperson meeting this year for RTM. Board members were asking the opinion of RTM members, but last year we passed a motion to recommend a hybrid format with a zoom option and a zoom cohost. This motion passed 80-8, so if your decision was based on RTM wishes, take this into account. Also, selection bias… people in person asked for unperson meetings… by definition they are the people without a problem with in person meetings. I know a candidate who doesn’t want to be a part because I can’t swing an all-day meeting. A day long indoor meeting with 250 is more COVID risk than I want to take home with me this year. There were problems with zoom. I hope we can learn from it and improve remote options – it is the safest and best option, flawed as it is.
Laura – I moved up in 2015. I want to bring up part of the housing crisis in Brattleboro. I’m on disability and can’t earn more than a certain amount to live comfortably. My issue is my landlord. Remy-Powers – you will hear from me a lot more – I have lived in that building for 4 years. He made one repair. And he has excuses for not making other repairs. The building is infested with bedbugs in the walls. He has said bedbugs don’t travel between walls. So, I tend to ramble and apologize. I have been asking for my stove to be replaced. he said he couldn’t;t replace it. I offered to purchase one and deduct from rent and he told me he couldn’t afford that. After more arguing he got me to agree to fiddle with the knob so it doesn’t run on by itself. He claimed I said the stove was fine. Still hasn’t taken care of the bedbugs. He said he’d send an electrician to look at the stove…
Ian – can.
Laura – an electrician showed up and left – they said they couldn’t gain access. Long story short. Didn’t allow the electrical to come in . And many other issues of disrepair and may be condemned soon. I’m trying to get out of there as soon as possible. Anyone who has been affected contact me. This is the beginning of my crusade against Bob Remy Powers.
Consent Agenda
A. Annual Certification of Highway Mileage – Department of Public Works
B. Annual Contract Renewal with Town Attorney – Fisher & Fisher
C. Annual Appointments for Ratification at Representative Town Meeting
(i) Town Clerk
(ii) Town Attorney
(iii) Town Treasurer
D. Phase 1 Water System Improvements – Authorize Article for RTM Warning
so consented.
Item E. (Emergency Demolition at 90 Elliot Street (McNeil’s Brewery) – Authorize Article for RTM Warning) will be at end of meeting for discussion
Monthly Financial Report – Update
Monthly Financial Report – Update
Kimberly Frost – you have the 6 month report as of Dec 2022. All town funds – general and two enterprise funds. Each fund has a report. With 50% complete – General Fund is at 56%, Utilities – 50.6% and parking is at 48%. The loan report shows $4 million in outstanding loans. We have $182k in available funds for grants and loans. 5 grants in application process.
Liz – Parking Funds revenues? Selectboard needs to address this sooner rather than later.
Daniel – new parking budget is in June…
Liz – but renting of Transportation Center and viability need to be discussed before any June decisions. Should be before June but can be after Town Meeting. Substation, public restroom at transportation center… should be discussed.
Jess – On Parking budget, we discussed maintenance fund – paying full time but getting 40% of work hours. Does this report reflect the reality of how that person is being used?
Liz – item E…
Jess – how is current situation represented ?
Kimberly – it is brought through in transfers?
Patrick Moreland – in the general fund there are 3 maintenance and in parking fund there is 1. It is more accurate. We know more this week than last week. The accounting reflects actual division of labor.
Jess – opined settlement revenue…??
Attorney Fisher – Brattleboro is part of a class action going after many, but this is a settlement we opted in to, so we can’t double dip.
Ian – we made that decision a year ago or so.
Fisher – the first payment came in august or September and we’ve gotten 2 payments.
Jess – the total amount?
Fisher – we’ll get back to it…
Liz – but we are in other suits, still (yes)
Jess – HR department – we are at 78% of the budget – curious how that is going and why it is so high. Page 4.
Kimberly – two things off the top of my head with HR – payroll has been moved to HR a couple of months ago. Expenses moved, too. Employee recognition. The Town manager search.
Jess – About Fire Department revenue – rental housing fees??
AC Kier – those are each unit is charged $75 for first inspection.
Jess – budget is 16% of the year – are we behind on inspections?
Kier – we did have a lull, but we’re finishing the year on point.
Tim Wessel – Parking Fund revenue – a future discussion. I’m trying to remember the percentage here is based on parking meter revenue? has that already reached previous levels? $356k… we had a period when it was lower. What was “normal” before pandemic.
Patrick – my recollection is this is equal to the pre pandemic year.
Tim – does parking sticker apply to garage only or all lots? Broken out?
Kim – All lots, broken out.
Tim – is it uncharacteristically low?
Patrick – permit revenue occurs irregularly. Some are sold by the month, but some are quarterly. Should be higher, I would think. Yeah, we’re behind. People are buying less permits. Could be transportation center.
Tim – vital for that next discussion.
Daniel – not only could we find out where lot permits are bought or not, I’m sure we could see from the new meters what revenue is per pole. If that’s not too hard I’d like to see that data in advance of discussion parking funds. We should see what’s doing well and what isn’t, and that should inform us. That’s my request. Now, fire – page 9 or 16 in the general fund. The fire overtime line… we budget 102k and we have expended $220k 50% of the year. being the lay financial novice I am, I did math and doubled the expenditures from the fire dept to see where we’d be at the end of the year – we could be over budget by $330k by my calculations. In the event of that happening, is there enough slack in the general fund to accommodate it. I believe there is…
Kimberly – there will be room within other parts of the budget to withstand this part going over. I don’t think overtime will continue on this trajectory. Some was COVID related, some was short shift related. So, hopefully not 50% until the end of the year. The police budget doesn’t have as many staff as we budget for…
Daniel – we are at 47.6% of expenditures, so there’s already room.
Jess – on the second to last page – something called housing stabilization. Mortgage and rental assistance? Expires and of fiscal year? It was a $700+ grant?
Patrick – that a grant for windham and windsor housing trust. I can’t recall for what.
Liz – it might be for a pass through to provide this assistance to many people in the two county region.
Jess – why is it money with us?
Kimberly – I’ll look into it.
Jess – we have a rental housing development fund. Town of Brattleboro provides grants to create apartments… is that this? (No…) It says development fund – 71k. available in grants for helping create apartments in homes?
Tim – it has been underutilized.
Patrick – the town has a revolving loan fund with a series of programs that can feed – business, homes, and disaster relief – the bottom line could be for any of them. You have more than one animal feeding from the same trough.
Ian – would you like one set of page numbers on the whole document?
Kimberly – no problem.
Tim – Daniel will request pie charts.
Dick Degray – Byron Stookey got that started and I know money is available. Back to the Parking budget, I was here or last June or May I had concerns about the enterprise fund… it isn’t a loss leader fund. When there is a loss, taxpayers have to pick it up. We did that through the pandemic. When you look at Transportation center income – $525 for the year? How much rent is being paid by the contractor using that space? This fund needs to be reexamined sooner rather than later. Why are hood rentals so low downtown? Your approval of shutting down Harmony Lot and Elliot for Gallery Walk every month, that has a huge financial impact. Really concerned about this. I think we are giving our parking away and it is sad that you have to pay for the services you are providing. Tim mentioned possibly selling the transportation center. I’d love to be a part of that discussion.
Ian – I echo those are all things we need to discuss about the enterprise funds prior to June.
report accepted as presented….
Monthly EMS – Update
Chief Howard and Assistant Fire Chief Charles Keir
Keir – thanks. The BFD had 395 calls. 289 for ambulance. Shows it was business month. Previous update discussed complaints – we had two complaints. Speaking with our advisors, they support increased transparency but medically private info should be kept as such. Staffing and use of red lights could be shared. December brings the year to an end, so there are new protocols to advise us. BFD have been training at Vermont EMS Academy for protocol updates. Paramedic are half way through program in Chicopee MA and two new EMT folks.We need to better adjust our data, according to AP Triton advise. We have new percentile for response times, and previously we rounded to the nearest number. We are now adding the second in there for better data. Also notable, look at 80th and 90th percentile report times – they did that study on emergency responses only. The numbers we’ve collected include the other calls – stubbed tow, falling, and calls that don’t require red lights and sirens. Don’t freak out, but we need to look to goals for response times – do we want to account for all responses or just emergency responses? Collected $316k of just over $500k.
Daniel – use of red lights?
Kier – red lights on top of fire trucks. Did we go through stop signs… all that would be in there.
Chief – not all emergencies require the lights.
Daniel – staff numbers and.. response time data… a bit surprised to see the discrepancy between report and our data. They didn’t say they were analyzing certain types of calls. They’ll come to a meeting in February. It wasn’t super clear. We maintain an internal log of all these calls and have been feeling pretty good about it. If you talk with AP Triton – why the discrepancy?
Chief Howard – that’s when we learned their 90th percentile was for emergency calls only.
Daniel – 90th percentile means 90% of the time we get to the scene in 8′ 45″ or less. And max time is 30 minutes… what’s the extreme in the last month? I appreciate the report. Been digesting the AP Triton Study and looking forward to them here on the 7th.
Liz – This repot speaks to me about the number of avenues your department has oversight – us, Triton, and the doctor who are advising. Dr. Storn is most important to me. His view is that the work is very good and he provided feedback to you.
Jess – Curious about eh chart of the second page- wondering – there’s a section where it shows calls clearing – is that EMS calls? (yes.) What sort of calls might take over an hour or two to address?
Chief – could be police are on scene and will have us standing by on scene, so that makes it look like we were there for a long time. Half hour ones – staff just get there and do a bit of help and they stay and help, make a sandwich, help with quality of life. Those are the longer ones.
Ian – thanks again. My appreciation to the new data presentation with 80 and 90th percentile information. Shows me the theme from FD is always trying to work to present data to the public and be as transparent as possible. Could we turn the other earlier reports to this new format?
Kier – the problem lies with the date. We weren’t accounting for the seconds. We’d have to go through 1500 reports. We’ll do what we are asked but it is not easy.
Ian – this is a better way to help us understand trends, moving forward.
Tim – we have a statement from Dr Strong here. Even if complaints can be extremely public, we won’t discuss any details here. HIPA rules and such. Would that apply to someone voluntarily trying to give a compliment. They wanted to be public with them, but I think HIPA would apply.
Atty Fisher – folks can waive their privacy rights, but you can’t do it for someone else. We tend to stay on the cautious side.
Ian skips over Bob Oeser….
Patrick Moreland – there is a hand up from Mr. Oeser.
Ian – it was our mistake…
Bob Oeser – I can direct it to you. Daniel already touched on it, but the AP Triton report says that substantial overtime could lead to employee burnout, and our overtime is now at 216% of budget. The Triton report doesn’t give us a tipping point, so the question is should we start to be concerned?
Ian – Chief Howard?
Chief Howard – It is due to staffing and is minimal. We had 7 retirements and changed careers. We have to fill this epositions until we have the staff, so that’s why overtime has been high. One captain took a job changed, and we moved someone to help, and one employee got 16 hours of overtime for a few months.
Ian – and the concern about burnout? Should be be concerned?
Chief – we are working on that. Working on certain concerns and will address it soon.
Ian – we’ll get additional information from you. Thanks Chief.
Townwide Reappraisal – Authorize Article for RTM Warning
John Potter – Town Assessor wilbljoin us and ask to approve a warning to approve a town wide reappraisal.
Jenepher – thanks for postponing my presentation from last week to this week. I’m hear to ask for an article on RTM warning to ask members to approve a town-wide reappraisal. 2024-2027. The language in our charter on page 12 says it can be reappraised if RTM says so. Had the state mandated us, we wouldn’t need to ask, but our numbers were just above an order so the state will not mandate us to do a reappraisal but we assessors recommend it. The state is order 165 towns this years to do them, and we have been already chosen a contractor. Ready to sign a contract, so I would like the board to approve this warning for Representative Town meeting.
Ian – a bit more framing – we’re not deciding this, other than trying to move forward, so putting this as an article for RTM is what we are being asked to do.
Liz – I want to commend Jenepher – she has been requesting this since last year and it is prudent and responsible. There is a scarcity of firms so judos for lining someone up to do the work.
Ian – me, too. Brattleboro is in a better position due to our assessor’s office. It’s a really important issue for the town to have properties properly assessed.
Daniel – in theory – the board could say thanks, but no, the state needs to make us do it – this is a policy decision that we are giving to RTM.
Tim – I would;dn’t say no. In worst case, if RTM says no, I would assume a town like Brattleboro is in a better position with bids anyway since we are bugger.
Jen – Brattleboro is attractive but we received two bids this time around and we put out the rap in September o 2022. That’s telling right there. Not sure if there were reasons… we emailed the rep to all approved state vendors for appraisals. This contractor is excited to work for Brattleboro. If RTM says no, he can’t say if he can commit to a 2028 completion or about an amount that far out. He has made the proposal with his amount for looking ahead to 2027. Very risky for us, with so many other town up for reappraisal. I’ll push that point at RTM.
Ian – we should make sure we explain how important this is so people understand the repercussions if they vote against this article.
Dick Degray – explain the importance of the CLA and how it affects our tax rate, and the importance of getting it done. When the CLA goes down, it has a significant impact on our yearly taxes.
Jenepher – The CLA is used when the governor sets the education tax rate each town is equalized through a CLA. Every town has 3 years of sales reviewed by property valuators. Brattleboro’s current CLA is at 85.6% and that is used to set a base rate for education tax rate for residential and non residential rates. CLA is used to equalize. The farther from 100%, we are showing our sales to assessment ratio is growing. The COD is the coefficient of dispersion and that shows – that’s not a bad number right now. The CLA helps calculate the tax rate.
Atty Fisher – the state mandates a reappraisal if you hit 85% or below… it is a rolling 3 year average they look at. The assessors tracks the number and they projected exactly what the state came back as, and calculations for next year show we will be mandated.
Daniel – if RTM says no, next year the state mandates us, then we’d need to find a company, and Jenepher says the company we selected can’t commit to the following year… and so, that’s something for RTM to consider and we’ll let RTM consider it.
Ian – below 85% the state mandates it, and we’re at 86%.
Jenepher – the state has been nudging me and recommend all towns be proactive. If you think you can afford it then go ahead and do it. Do not have to wait for state mandates. They’ve been telling me this for three years. It’s the right time to do it.
Tim – a natural thing for anyone watching – people think their taxes will go up due to reappraisals… it isn’t actually the case. It’s more about how property values rise in relation to the town? yes? The other point is that projections for education tax rates could go up by 8%. Something to keep in mind.
Liz – some people think that from a political perspective boards are reticent to do this, but I applaud Jenepher and the selectboard. And RTM. It is the prudent thing to do.
approved!
Public Bathrooms – Discussion
Ian – we’ll break at 8:15.
John Potter – staff has some info on downtown public restrooms. Patrick will step you through that.
Patrick Moreland – go straight to questions, or read the memo? The memo… a couple of months ago the board asked for public restroom info. Staff looked into it – me Carol, Sue, and DPW and we examined all of downtown for locations. We didn’t look at private property – just public property. We walked away from some – bulbous on Main Street… on sidewalk? So we moved on. Not unsurprisingly, we came to three basic locations used before – Preston Lot, High Grove Lot, and the Common. The group agree, somewhat. We think near term action – at High Grove and Common could be immediate. There could be other restrooms later on with more planning. This is two locations. One at Brattleboro Common – a precast concrete restroom! – we’d have a double unit, two room facility. They can be installed licit split. The town would need to make a foundation and supply water, were and electric. DPW can do site prep for $50k per location to install. Common would be precast – there are lots of events there. But it isn’t plowed. It would be seasonal in warmer months. Rich Earth Institue could be involved to provide for waterless toilets and urine reclamation. Could be an interesting partnership for sustainability. At High-Grove – something like the Portland Loo – open 365 days a year. Not enclosed. It is meant to be outside. Ready for cold environments. Examples in your packets… about bringing water and sewer. This would be in the center of the lot, and could provide some landscaping – maybe some flowers. There is an estimate included – 425k for the two – 175k at common and 150k at High Grove plus installation costs, as above.
Ian – thanks.
Patrick –
Daniel – it looks nice…
Patrick – looks to me to be very modern. Open to outside elements – no enclosed heated space.
Ian – Common one would be seasonal?
Patrick – as I said a minute ago, our thinking was that it is a seasonal park and not plowed. So we wouldn’t use a heating source. We’d close it down.
Liz – my first impression is let’s pick one and save the money for a police substation restroom at the transportation center.
Daniel – I appreciate the work that’s been done. The Portland Loo seemed to be the most expensive, but precast is more expensive not… I’d prefer that anything we build should be open year round. The Portland Loo is designed to be functional year round. We could save money and install one on the Common. If we are going to invest, let’s not be seasonal. there’s no snow on the Common today, but the restroom would be closed today. How will we pay for it? Hard to see it in the FY24 budget. I suggest 365 (days a year) toilets.
Ian – alternatives?
Patrick – we were concerned about a total enclosure and drug activity and other illicit activity that can occur. The Common is prominent and it would be minimized, especially if it was season. Portland Loo might be a solution for that. Our thinking is put the year round facility in High Grove lot.
Tim – was site work and plumbing a concern at Common?
Patrick – same estimate for both locations.
Tim – I thought we’d get savings from seasonal…
Patrick – no propane tank, for example. The water fountain shuts down in the park so it doesn’t freeze.
Jess – does the mean we get two stalls, but Portland Loo would be just one?
Patrick – The United Concrete estimate is different for 1 and 2 room precasts. Failry equivalent.
Daniel – is it better to have 2 rooms open part of the year, or one open all year. This is a substantial investment. Every person and visitor actually needs this. Everyone here went at least once today. They’ll get used as bathrooms. WE cn talk to Burlington about the ones they have.
Patrick – Sue Fillion was in touch. They like it.
Ian – they are… airy. It was pleasant. can’t see in.
Liz – maybe Arthur Davis could speak to rich earth… can they adapt to the portland loo?
Arthur Davis – I got involved a couple weeks ago. We don’t have a lot of experience with Portland Loo but it would be tougher to do so. The issue of water freezing. It would be much easier… more complicated to do so with the Portland Loo. Rich Earth is interested in a collaboration with the town. We have a big grant fund to help do these things. And right now we could fit a lot of the bill. Adds little cost for the town. Great opportunity to show participation in cool work being down in Brattleboro for over 10 years now.
Tim – I appreciate the conversation. Didn’t expect this in an 11th hour budget discussion.
Ian – not budget – we asked them to do the work…
Tim – too many questions to support for FY24 budget. need to look at extra staffing. We had issues with the porta potties. Some issues might continue until we figure it out. Not a good time to add things we need to police right now. And, curios if there is one location, was Pliny park looked at at all?
Patrick – some thing that park is small and a bathroom would be tight. It is possible. The estimate for the Loo would be the same and installation would be similar, I guess.
Tim – there are some advantages… but we do need to consider partnerships with businesses downtown and how they could support development. Not ready for prime time, even scaled back to one.
Ian – I wonder about the High Grove Lot. When someone asks me about a public restroom downtown.. will I say go up His street into the parking lot to the public restroom. It’s a bit of a hike. Maybe the transportation Center? But there are hurdles to that question.
patrick -High Grove was good for staff because Sue sees visitors going to High Grove lot, and a courteous way to greet people coming to town, and it is somewhat centrally located.
Ian – does the town own the land on the other side of the whetstone near latches parking lot? near pathway?
Patrick – depends where we talk about… town owns the pathway
Ian – that seems centrally located.
Liz – I’ve explored some public restrooms in other places – Woodstock and Concord – both are associated with the Chamber of Commerce. I understand the though of the High Grove been a natural entry point, but also the Chamber has a booth at the Common. It’s a cute wooden structure, and we are proposing a cinder block building. Portland Loo in High Grove lot is utilitarian.
Daniel – I would be interested to hear from Sue about locations considered that are town owned land in the downtown footprint. High Grove is a little out of the way. The more they are in the public sight, the less likely illicit activities. The Common is the edge of town. I’d like to hear aboutHarmony Lot, and main Street near Marketplace… see some maps and distances…
Patrick – Harmony Lot would be easy with a similar budget. We can bring back additional info about why the sidewalk is crowded.
Tim – like Pliny and in public view.
Ian – take a break and we’ll hear from public…
Public bathrooms - Public Discussion
Jessica- In favor of Portland Loo idea. This has some safety mechanisms in place. If people overdose or have a health issue, you can see if someone collapses in the space. There will be call buttons on the inside on the facilities, too. To keep an eye on safety.
Dick Degray – Great and I are merchants downtown and putting a facility in High Grove is not something any merchants would support. Cold weather.. I’m supposed to tell them to go up there in winter, and in summer when hot? The revenue from the high Grove Lot vs Harmony Lot you can see what gets the most revenue. Great and i are reaching out to a private owners of a couple buildings downtown and was to speak with hm about possibly using his properties for rental. One already has bathrooms. Great and I will talk with him. The Harmony Lot wit the Brattleboro mural would be an ideal spot – accessible, so walking up hills. Pliny Park… if you look where the benches are. If we took out the benches and stuck it there, there is enough room under the bus stop facility. I could hide the thing with flowers. I asked Mr. Potter to look at it when he walks home. We prefer Harmony Lot. Scratch High Grove lot.
Arthur Davis – there are reasonable considerations about proposed precast items. At Rich Earth, whether you use it or not, we’d like to partner with the town and show you are thinking outside the box about sanitation and what’s going downstream.
Kate O’Connor – I’m on Brooks Library Board – before you think about Transportation center, talk to Starr about the Library bathrooms. need to have Narcan – if the Library has a problem, a freestanding bathroom will have a problem. talk to Starr. Remember what people are asking you for. They are asking for help with the transportation center and cameras and they have nothing. No one has asked for public bathrooms. I hope the priority is figuring out the cameras and transportations center… they have been waiting and waiting..
Daniel – it is off track but…
Ian – I’ll speak to it. We are clear that we want votes on cameras. I’d disagree restrooms didn’t come up… one complaint was urine and feces at Transportation center. 1.5 years ago in Community Safety discussion we talked about basic human needs for people in town. The issues are related but not the same. I hear the need to keep prioritizing… it isn’t one or the other. I appreciate the criticism. Other public?
Greg Worden – I’m District 3 now. Thanks for considering public restrooms. We get hundreds of requests a week for restrooms. Not for shopping, but for a restroom. It is a big concern. Concord and Woodstock – we did have public restrooms at the River garden and it was a hard issue. You still have to remember there needs to be monitoring of public restrooms.
Ian – I’d like us to wrap this up.
Liz – last summer Rep Kornheiser asked two of us to bring it to the board and we did.
Ian – I’d like the town to consider Harmony Lot. We should do one. A Portland Loo. Works for Burlington. Can town staff talk to Burlington about drug use and overdoses in loos and how often do they check them, and finally, I agree with Tim it isn’t fully baked for FY24. Two town funds – ARPA and community Safety Funds could pay for it. Finally, are there any outside funds for this initiative. State or I don’t know… so we could look at it sooner rather than later.
Tim – aslo, the offer the Dick and Greg were working on…
Ian – yes, and couple that with hearing about rental space downtown. Agreeable?
Jess – never mind.
Ian – okay…
John Potter – deadline?
Ian – as soon as you can give us an update. I know you are busy.
Daniel – how about by June?
Tim – I won’t be a part of that…
Daniel – you can be in the public.
…
On to budget items, and I’m hungry, so… off to eat!
Transcript Heavily Edited, Here's My Full Speech.
Hello, I’m Laura Janisieski. I spoke at this meeting, however, the transcript cuts out portions of what I said, and makes it look like I rudely interrupted Mr. Goodnow. That’s not what happened. Here is a link to the excerpt of the meeting containing my full ad-libbed speech-
https://youtu.be/xl_mXMVIsLQ
I will be better prepared for the February 7th meeting. See you all there!
Thanks!
Hi Laura,
Good point.
FYI, this isn’t a transcript… I just sit, watch, and take notes on the meeting and put them up, so people can get MORE than what the newspapers write up without needing to watch the full meeting. Thanks for pointing people to the full meeting video.
For what it is worth, I didn’t think you interrupted him. I got the sense he was interrupting you to wrap up public participation.
And, since you plan to speak at future meetings, feel free to submit your comments here, or correct me, anytime… : )
Final note – I type fast and spellcheck often corrects my typing to something incorrect. Apologies for spelling errors! (I was typing about downtown parklets for one meeting and it kept changing them to downtown parakeets.)
Thanks for your clarification. That's not the full me
Thanks for your clarification. That’s not the full meeting, just me. I found the full video through bctv’s website.
*Anyone* interested in joining my fight to rid Brattleboro of slumlords- I plan to start a petition for an ordinance, perhaps to ban folks from owning rental property after X number of violations/citations/failed inspections/lack of certificate of habitability, etc.. I’ll hopefully have it typed up by the 7th.
In any case, my email is lavajin@gmail.com. I get a lot of spam, so please include “Brattleboro Slumlords” in the subject. 🙃
Thanks everyone!