Town News

Major changes to Brattleboro’s trash and recycling were discussed, but decisions were delayed in order to gather more information from the public and solid waste district. And the prospect of savings from a switch to single stream recycling proved elusive.

BDCC and GS Precision received a decade of tax breaks along with loans and some property adjustments as a reward for staying in town, keeping and creating many good-paying jobs, and and supplying grandlist enhancing facilities.

Grants, an emergency compressor, committee vacancies, and more were also up for discussion.

The Brattleboro Parking Department would like to advise everyone that the winter parking ban will go into effect, starting Saturday, December 5, 2015. Overnight parking is forbidden on all streets in the town of Brattleboro. Vehicles parked for longer than one (1) hour between 11:00pm and 07:00am may be ticketed and towed at the owners expense.

Ready to go to every other week garbage collection? How about single stream recycling? The Brattleboro Selectboard will take up these and other waste-y issues at their regular Tuesday meeting on Dec. 1.

Tax stabilization, loans, and land transactions with BDCC and G.S. Precision will be discussed and approved, the DPW will buys some vehicles, Elliot Street bridge repairs will be discussed, and more. Watch on BCTV or attend in person, and read about it here after the meeting.

Brattleboro Selectboard Chair David Gartenstein wished everyone a happy, good,and safe Thanksgiving at the start of the board’s Tuesday night special meeting.

Police Fire Facilities

Gartenstein announced that they would be putting the Police and Fire Facilities Project on every agenda in the foreseeable future, to give time for updates, questions, and special topics of discussion. He named four issues for the board to consider at upcoming meetings: how funding the project relates to the general fund budget, how the project fits with our long-term capital needs, how moving the police to Putney Road would impact the use of the Municipal Center,  and the public impact and public good of moving police to Putney Road.

In observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, all Brattleboro Town offices will be closed on Thursday and Friday, November 26 and 27, 2015, with the exception of emergency services.

Brooks Memorial Library will close at 6:00pm on Wednesday, November 25, and will be closed on Thursday, November 26. It will be open for regular hours on Friday and Saturday, November 27 and 28.

The Brattleboro Citizen Police Communications Committee (CPCC) will meet on Monday, November 23, 2015 at 5:30pm at the Brooks Memorial Library in the community room.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, November 24, 2015 in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center. It is anticipated that the Board will enter into executive session at 5:15pm to discuss contracts, and will reconvene the business meeting at 6:15pm.

ALS interpreters will be available for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community members.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting and public information session on Saturday, November 21, 2015 at 9:00am in the Green Street School gymnasium. This is the first of three public information meetings to present information and hear public comment about the proposed alternatives for the Police-Fire Facilities Project.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro Selectboard approved new land use and zoning regulations for the town after making some minor amendments to the much-discussed document. Not much has changed from last week, unless you had plans for an easy kennel empire in a rural district.

Brattleboro is entering into an option agreement to have a chance to purchase the property on Black Mountain Road currently in use by the Reformer. The agreement buys some time to fully consider a proposal to move the police to the north end of town.

Farms, finances, and energy consumption rounded out the evening. Read on for details.

The second installment of the 2015 Real Estate and Personal Property Taxes will be due on November 16th, 2015 by 5:00 PM. Payments made after November 16th, 2015 will have an additional 1% interest added to the unpaid balance.

The utility billing is also due on November 16th, 2015 by 5:00 PM. Payments made after November 16th, 2015 will have an additional 1% interest, as well as an 8% penalty added to the unpaid balance.

The awaited Option Agreement to lock-in a chance to purchase a property at 62 Black Mountain Road has materialized and will be signed (if there is no objection) at the Brattleboro Selectboard’s next meeting. No property is bought, but some money is spent.

Brattleboro Land Use regulations may or may not be adopted, and may or may not be sent back to the Planning Commission for further work. It all depends on if the board is satisfied that any changes to the current draft are minor edits. One of the changes requested, though, isn’t minor. We’ll see how this gets resolved.

Also on the agenda, tax stabilization agreements for local farms, a report on town energy consumption, and more. Attend in person or watch on BCTV, and read about it here after the meeting.

The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Human Services Committee will meet on Thursday, November 19, 2015 at 6:30pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room. It is anticipated that the Committee will enter into executive session at 6:30pm to discuss records exempt from access to public records.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro Traffic Safety Committee meeting previously scheduled on November 19 has been CANCELLED. The next meeting is scheduled on Thursday, December 17 at 8:00am.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

One of the more spirited and specific discussions of the proposed Land Use Regulations occurred Tuesday evening, the result being a board unable to approve the regulations until further consideration.  Remaining issues include clarity of wording regarding signs and whether a new district boundary should be in the middle of the road or not.

The board also received an overview of the proposed budget for next year, where they learned that the starting point for discussions is a budget that increases 4.7%, which translates to an increase to property owners of $43.21 for each $100,000 of property value.  This, of course, before adding in any costs for funding Police and Fire facilities, if approved.

It’s early in the process and there are areas ripe for discussion before final rates are set, but there isn’t much proverbial wiggle room.

We at BML are very excited and proud to have Starr LaTronica as our new Library Director beginning on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016. LaTronica was recruited through an extensive search process by a committee that included the Brattleboro Town Manager and representatives of the public, the library Board of Trustees, and the staff. She will succeed the retiring current Library Director, Jerry Carbone.

LaTronica, youth services/outreach manager, Four County Library System, Binghamton, N.Y., is the president of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). LaTronica received her MLS in 1980 from University of California, Berkeley, and has been an ALSC member for more than 27 years.

In observance of Veterans’ Day, all Brattleboro town offices will be closed on Wednesday, November 11, 2015, with the exception of emergency services.

Parking is free at all metered spaces and in the pay-and-display lots on Wednesday, November 11. All other violations will be enforced.

Brooks Memorial Library will be closed on Wednesday, November 11, 2015.

The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Human Services Review Committee will meet on Thursday, November 12, 2015 at 6:30pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro Tree Advisory Committee will meet on Tuesday, November 10, 2015 at 7:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro ADA Advisory Committee will meet on Friday, November 13, 2015 at 10:00am at Marlboro College Graduate Center in the VCIL conference room.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee will meet on Wednesday, November 11, 2015, at 4:00pm at Brattleboro Savings & Loan (221 Main Street) in the meeting room. NOTE the change in location for this meeting.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100