It’s 02-20-2021 and iBrattleboro is 18 today. Watch out now, we’re all grown up and can vote! Still a few more years until we can rent a car, but hey…
More seriously, the site stated 18 years ago as a place for people in the Brattleboro area to share news, events, information and opinions. iBrattleboro can be whatever you, the community contributor, wants it to be. If it is exciting and useful, you made it so.
AGENDA
Call to Order
Review and Approve Minutes of previous meeting.
On the record review of Cases/Public Hearings to be reviewed under the Brattleboro Land Use Regulations. Pursuant to 24 VSA §§ 4464(a)(1)(C) and 4471(a), participation in this local proceeding is a prerequisite to the right to take any subsequent appeal.
The issue of deadly racism in the USA has been brought to the attention of all Americans by the persistent efforts of impassioned activists, especially by carrying placards with photographs of African-American victims of deadly police actions. Article suggests how the greater toll of darker skinned people murdered by Americans overseas could become a burning issue of concern for American activists fighting racism at home.
Town Meeting Day & Windham Southeast School Elections
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
Absentee Voting Now Underway!
Request a ballot online at mvp.vermont.org
or by calling your town clerk
Due to COVID safety there will be no in person Windham Southeast School District Annual Meeting this year. You can vote on the school budget and for school board members by requesting a school ballot from your Town Clerk and voting absentee or by voting in person at each of the polling locations in Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, and Putney on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021. Due to COVID-19 and social distancing, voters are strongly encouraged to vote through absentee ballot.
A Virtual Public Information Meeting on the proposed FY ’22 School District Budget is scheduled for Tuesday, February 23 via Zoom at 6pm. The link to the Information Meeting agenda and how to call in, as well as budget documents can be found on the school district’s website listed below: https://www.wsesu.org/wsesd-budget-vote.html
The manufacturer of the Town’s Pay-As-You-Throw garbage bags recently sent purple bags intended for Portland, Maine, to Brattleboro retailers. That has caused some understandable confusion for customers and for Triple-T, the Town’s solid waste hauler. Compounding this confusion is the fact that the Portland bags (30.6 gallons) are slightly smaller than the Brattleboro bags (33.5 gallons). Customers who have ended up with Portland bags instead of Brattleboro bags have two options:
AGENDA
I. CALL TO ORDER – 6:00 p.m. – David Schoales, Board Chair
II. INFORMATIONAL MEETING – PROPOSED FY ’22 BUDGET
An extended discussion about Brattleboro becoming the largest purchaser of Cow Power ended with explanations of feelings and confusions, but no purchase agreement. The Brattleboro Selectboard was saved from making a decision by Town Manager Elwell’s suggestion to gather more data.
Lots of water and sewer improvements and activity, a thank you from Boys & Girls, and a new name for a short street rounded things out.
In October 2020, S.54, Act 164 became law. This legislation outlines how Vermont will establish retail cannabis sales. The implementation of the legislation is still very much a work in progress. The Act empowers communities to create a local cannabis control commission and for such commission to condition issuance of a local license on any zoning bylaw adopted pursuant to 24 V.S.A §4414.
The purpose of this memo is to provide information on what zoning controls are authorized under the legislation. Many details have been left to be decided on by the State Cannabis Control Board which will be formed in 2021. As currently written, the law allows the following types of zoning regulations:
BCTV Channel 8 / 1075 schedule for the week of 2/15/21
Monday, February 15, 2021
5:30 am The News Project – Press Pass – 1/25/21 – Greg Sukiennik
6:00 am The News Project – In Studio – Pandemic Lessons Learned Part 4
6:30 am Groundworks Collaborative – Brattleboro Area Homelessness Awareness Day Vigil 2021
7:52 am Stuck in Vermont – Building Beds for Kids
8:00 am Democracy Now! – Democracy Now! Daily Broadcast
9:00 am Brattleboro Rotary Club Speaker Series – Ep 26 – Archer Mayor
Jonathan Barber’s star has been on the rise since his auspicious 2018 debut, Vision Ahead, and a 2019 tour in Pat Metheny’s trio… an abundance of heightened energy and new ideas executed with pristine precision by the bandleader and his future-facing ensemble.
Bill Milkowski, Downbeat Magazine
Vermont Jazz Center Presents Drummer Jonathan Barber and Vision Ahead in a Live Stream Performance on Saturday, February 20th at 8:00 PM
On February 20th at 8:00 PM, drummer Jonathan Barber’s Vision Ahead will perform a livestream concert at the Vermont Jazz Center which will be viewable on line at www.vtjazz.org
The Arts Council of Windham County announced some recent grantees and the projects that are being funded:
“The 2021 TAF Grantees include:
Puppet Companions (Shoshana Bass, Sandglass Theater) Sandglass Theater and Garden Path Elder Living team up to combat loneliness, promote creativity, and inspire story telling in residential care facilities through the magic of puppetry. Sandglass will create a collection of inviting puppets and accessories, along with a series of guided play suggestions for residents at Holton Home and Bradley House. Puppet makers will also bring Sandglass puppeteers and puppets for window visits with residents.
The Windham County Democratic Committee is looking for donations to its Reverse Rummage Sale to support families in the Community Asylum Seekers Project who are living in the area while they await asylum hearings.
The WCDC has set up a website with sign-up opportunities, including for two pickup trucks to gather and deliver the donated items the weekend of February 20-21 as well as a Spanish interpreter.
Other items on the list include kitchen bowls, small televisions, a bedroom dresser, twin bed frame, electric iron, blender for fruit juice, microwave oven, men’s winter gloves in size large, bed linens and mattress pad and four curtain panels in 63-inch length.
Daniel Quipp is an incumbent and running for a one year seat on the Brattleboro Selectboard.
Tell us about yourself….
I’m a 42 year old person with a funny accent who has lived in Brattleboro since 2015. My wife is from Newfane and I’ve been coming here since 2004. I work at SEVCA where I run our community solar program, help people get connected to resources, do work with our data and reporting system and assist people in getting health insurance (p.s. If you don’t currently have insurance email me at dquipp@sevca.org or call 802 254 2795). I’ve been on the Selectboard for the last two years and am hopeful you’ll allow me to serve the town for another year.
As the second Trump impeachment trial comes to an end it is clear that the Republican party has put the final nail in the coffin of democracy. The Democrats share a lot of the blame, but it is the Republicans who have made it clear that the pursuit of truth is no longer a guiding principle of the American form of government and that justice is an ideal that is not attainable.
Politics has always been a dirty business and most people have been willing to accept a high level of bullshit, lying and corruption over the decades and centuries. But we are now at a point where it has become clear that this country has not dealt with what is wrong with the way government works for far too long. The political process is beyond repair.
When a president is allowed to break the law at will and openly trash the constitution then it is impossible for our form of government to have any credibility in the eyes of fair-minded people in this country and around the world.
Broad Brook Grange will hold its annual Pre-Town Meeting on Thursday, February 18, 7:00 pm. This year’s event will be online, via Zoom. Info on how to join the meeting is on the websites of Broad Brook Community Center, and on the Town of Guilford site, which have links below.
Town Meeting will be different this year, due to COVID, with no actual meeting. Instead, voting on articles will be by Australian ballot on Town Meeting Day.
Thus, this traditional Pre-Town Meeting — and an official informational meeting to be held by the selectboard online a week later — are the only opportunities for voters to hear details of the articles which will be voted on March 2, and to meet and discuss issues with the selectboard in advance of voting.
AGENDA
1. Minutes – December 17, 2020
2. Public Participation
3. Monthly Report on Pedestrian and Bicycle Incidents
(a) Overall Report
(b) Incident on January 2, 2021, on Canal Street near Fairview Street
There will be an emergency discussion of a Muffin Monster at the next regular meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard. They’ll also discuss a new Cow Power agreement, water treatment facility funding and security, and hear an update about Brattleboro’s Boys and Girls Club operations during COVID.
The board will wrap up their meeting with a renaming of a portion of Elm Street in honor of Stanley Lynde, the well-know motorcycle shop owner. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
The Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee will hold a meeting on Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 4:00pm using Zoom (with no physical location due to the ongoing social distancing requirements of COVID-19). The attached agenda contains information about how to access the meeting remotely.
AGENDA
I. CALL TO ORDER – 6:00 p.m. – David Schoales, Board Chair
II. RECOGNITION OF VISITORS
III. CONSENT AGENDA
• CLERK’S REPORT – Approval of Minutes – February 2, 2021
IV. COMMUNICATIONS
