II. Evaluate
– Assess Draft of statement re Students with Immigration Status [Mikaela and Shannon]
– Gender Freedom in Schools – Proposed new policy
F34 Transgender and Gender Creative Students Policy
On Wednesday, February 26, Green Mountain Power will be replacing a utility pole at the intersection of Clark Street and Estabrook Street. Clark Street will be closed from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It is advisable for residents to make the necessary arrangements and utilize the southern entrance of Clark Street for ingress and egress. Emergency services are aware of this closure and will implement a plan to continue to provide any services needed beyond this closure.
6:15 – 7:00 Town Plan 2026
• Review and approve community outreach plan for Community Conservations. Discuss topics that the Planning Commission would like to explore in these conversations.(cont.)
• Interactive activity using maps and photos to identify characteristics of development and uses that are desired in the discussed areas.
AGENDA
Call to Order
Review and Approve Minutes of previous meeting.
Review of Cases/Public Hearings to be reviewed under the Brattleboro Land Use Regulations as warned on October 12, 2015.
2025-2 Windham Windsor Housing Trust for the Ursula Dalem Life Estate; Residential Neighborhood 5400 District; request for Traditional Neighborhood Planned Unit Development Approval for a Traditional Neighborhood PUD with 70 housing units.
Below is some helpful information for the March 4th Town Meeting and WSESD School Board Director Elections.
Absentee Ballots
Absentee ballots for these elections were mailed by request. Please make sure to follow the instructions provided
with your ballot, including:
• Signing the certificate envelope and ensuring your ballot/s are inside the certificate envelope.
• Using a black pen to mark your ballot.
Snow and ice will be cleared from select streets in Brattleboro on Monday, February 24, 2025, starting at 10 p.m. The affected streets include: Western Avenue, from Exit 2 to Edward Heights
Greenleaf Street
Canal Street
Clark Avenue
South Main Street
I’ve known Isaac Evans-Frantz for several years and I am glad he is running for Select Board.
Isaac’s Brattleboro roots run deep. He was born in Brattleboro, grew up in a low-income family and graduated from BUHS before going on to college.
His at times challenging upbringing gives him the experience to understand those in town who can’t afford huge increases in local property taxes. So I admire the way he has shown a light on the way the current Select Board has stonewalled the RTM Finance Committee and its recommendations. I know he will bring a more responsible fiscal outlook to the board.
Feb. 24 Mac & Cheese
Stewed Tomatoes
Cauliflower & Broccoli
Apple Slices
On Saturday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m. the Windham County Heat Fund will hold a benefit concert in conjunction with the Vermont Jazz Center. It is 20 years since we started the fund and the need never diminishes. This concert is not so much of a celebration but more of a lamentation of the fact that the fund still needs to exist. On a hopeful note, we do not rely on any government funding for our efforts and that means our money is local and it stays local.
This has been an unusual year for the fund. Although it is still February our statistics put us at the end of the season, meaning we are very low on funds because about 100 individuals and families have been provided with $48,850 in fuel while we have received $45,503 from individual donors, local businesses, churches and grantees. The surplus we had at the end of last year has made a big difference.
The Brattleboro Human Services Committee will meet on Monday, February 24, 2025 at 6:30pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room and over Zoom.
The Brattleboro Arts Committee will meet on Tuesday, February 25, 2025 at 5:00pm in the Brooks Memorial Library Meeting Room.
The Brattleboro Finance Committee will meet on Wednesday, February 26 and Thursday, February 27, 2025 at 6:15pm in the Hanna Cosman Meeting Room.
The Brattleboro Charter Revision Commission will meet on Thursday, February 27, 2025 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room and over Zoom.
A colleague on the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) Finance Committee and I undertook a comparative analysis of the funds Brattleboro’s Human Services Committee had to allocate and similar spending by our adjoining towns and Putney and also such spending by eight towns, four just larger and four just smaller than Brattleboro in population. Data were collected in all cases for the current fiscal year.
Because all Brattleboro voters will have the unusual opportunity to express their preferences so as to advise RTM which will set a sum for social services spending in the next fiscal year, I wish to share what we found.
Brattleboro provides human service organizations with more money ($367,810) than is allocated in the 13 comparison towns. Rutland is close, at $342,243, and this is more than double what any of the other towns spend for the purpose. Brattleboro also has the highest percentage of general fund dollars set aside for social service organizations—2%. Our nearest rivals are Dummerston and Rutland (1.2% and 1.3%, respectively). Restricting attention to our neighbors, Brattleboro’s social service spending per capita is over $34; on a per capita basis, Putney comes in at $16.27 and Guilford at $11.27; the other three are below $10 per capita.
Snow and ice will be cleared from select parking lots and streets in downtown Brattleboro on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, after 11 p.m.
The affected streets include: Canal Street, Elliot Street, Flat Street, Green Street, Elm Street, Church Street, School Street, and High Street. Snow will also be removed from the High Grove and Municipal Center lots.
Vehicles parked along the streets or in the parking lots listed above must be removed or they may be towed at the owner’s expense.
VTrans came back to the Brattleboro Selectboard, granting their wish to pay less for the bridge on Western Avenue. The board was happy, but wouldn’t sign the documentation quite yet. And there is also the matter of VTrans not being able to build the bridge or even put the bridge project on their construction schedule yet. Maybe by 2027 or 2030? No one knew what the future might bring. It will be a great bridge someday, though.
There was some debate over the Town Manager’s interpretation of the audit findings. He saw proof of a solid financial situation going forward; others weren’t so sure since the document didn’t make such a characterization and hadn’t taken into account decisions made last fall, after the audit was finished.
Brooks Memorial Library gets a new roof and a new rooftop solar system, and taxpayers get a video about reducing property taxes.
Snow and ice will be cleared from parking lots and streets in downtown Brattleboro on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, after 11 p.m.
The affected streets include: Canal Street, Main Street, High Street, Flat Street, Elliot Street, Grove Street, Harris Place, Walnut Street, Park Place, South Main, Green Street, Church Street, Elm Street, School Street, Oak Street, Putney Road, and Chapin Street.
Vehicles parked along the streets listed above or in downtown parking lots must be removed or they may be towed at the owner’s expense.
There comes a time when your web site starts looking a bit old and out-of-date and it needs a refresh. This is true even if you do web design and development for a living.
Our old site was starting to be an embarrassment. We had let it go while as we did work for others to get their sites looking nice. Eventually it came time for a MuseArts site re-do.
We developed a plan based on what we wanted: to simplify, to continue to demonstrate what we can do, and to add some fun and animation to the site.
As former members of the Brattleboro Human Services Committee, we are writing to encourage all members of the Brattleboro community to read the detailed, informative report to the town, from the current members of the Committee, which appeared in the February 12 issue of The Commons.
Article Vl, on this year’s Annual Town Meeting Ballot, asks Brattleboro voters to choose one of five town funding options for local Human Service organizations.
We think that voting to eliminate or drastically reduce the town’s share of funding of these organizations would be a short-sighted, major mistake, and would be detrimental to Brattleboro’s well-being. During the time that we served on the committee, each one of us came to more deeply understand and appreciate what a critical role the nonprofit organizations, whose funding requests we carefully reviewed, play in the healthy functioning of our community.
A multicultural community of idealistic teenagers and young adults, the Brattleboro Area Interfaith Youth Group comes together monthly to develop friendships, to have fun and to provide service to others. Twenty-one members of their group, ranging in age from 13 to 22, are busy fundraising to make their dream of a service and learning trip to North Carolina a reality this spring.
Brian Remer, one of the adult leaders describes the group as being made up of young people who are interested in sharing their life experiences and cultures and providing each other support while doing community service that helps others. Nearly half of the group are young newcomers from Democratic Republic of Congo, refugees who were resettled in the area in the last several years.
“We first got the idea last fall when we heard about the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene on the area surrounding Asheville, North Carolina, as it was eerily reminiscent of the damages we experienced from Hurricane Irene in the Windham County area,” Remer said.
Many Vermonters are in the Benefits Trap. You can’t earn over a certain amount of money or you will lose your benefits, and the benefits have more financial value than the value of rent which could put you over the benefits limit by renting a room to someone.
In the Benefits Trap scheme of things, you are allowed to own one home (up to a certain value) and one car (up to a certain value). If you have an extra bedroom, and you rent it out, that is income, and poof! you could lose your benefits which have a value greater than the rent a person might pay.
Feb. 17 CLOSED FOR HOLIDAY
Feb. 18 BBQ Meatballs
Roasted Potatoes
Mixed Veggies
Blueberries
The committee discussed the question of whether a policy in support of immigrant students should be developed, a topic that was also under discussion at the board meeting on 2/11/25. MS cautioned that Pietro has advised to stay away from a new policy, and instead to focus on law and procedure. A vision statement would be fine and would be a way to send a message to the community.
