Selectboard Meeting Notes – Groundworks Update and How To Decide How To Govern

selectboard sept 9 2025

The Brattleboro Selectboard held their first regular meeting in over a month. Top issue was Groundworks, who came to give an overview of recent stats and projects. People seemed most interested in a new project to build 40 beds near Morningside, and safety issues.

The other big discussion was about possible changes to the Charter. The results of the 2.5 years of Charter Revision Commission meetings were somewhat enhanced and overshadowed by members of the public being confused, asking to slow down, wanting consideration of other options such as certified petitions, potential petitions, special and regular meetings, informational meetings, educational programs, and legal issues.

The board made the firm decision to wait until their next regular meeting, not the listening session, to decide whether to discuss putting it on an agenda at a meeting in October to consider holding a special election on November.


Town Charter Revision Commission & Open Town Meeting

The next Charter Revision Commission [1] will meet Thursday, July 17, 2025 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room and also on Zoom (the agenda [2] contains the Zoom link) Meetings are also being planned for August.

As you may be aware the Charter Revision Commission is recommending that the Brattleboro form of government be changed from Representative Town Meeting (RTM) to Open Town Meeting (OTM). A survey, the results of which are available online with percentages [3] show a preference for OTM [173 to 84].

At its June 4, 2025 meeting, the Commission voted 6-0 to approve a motion “that the Commission is committed to developing a plan to replace Representative Town Meeting with a system that would include an Open Town Meeting.”


Selectboard Meeting Notes – Bridge Over Troubled Island, Charter Changes

brattleboro selectboard july 8 2025

The Brattleboro Selectboard learned what the Brattleboro Charter Commission has been working on regarding the form of town governance and other possible changes to the Charter. The Commission has put over two years of work into this and the Chair seemed quite interested in being able to edit whatever they present, such as the form of town government, when it comes before the board again in September.

The next big discussion was about the old Hinsdale bridges. Hinsdale sent some semi-unanticipated reps to read Brattleboro the riot act. They seemed to take special glee in pointing out just how terrible Brattleboro’s problems are, and wanted to know if the town would agree that the bridges should be destroyed or sold.  A split vote at the end of the discussion means Brattleboro does not surrender in the battle