An election night meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard was held to discuss democracy and a summary overview of the FY22 budget. They finished after Vermont had been called for Biden, but before 8pm, and members prepared to watch results as they adjourned.
Tuesday’s special meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard was mostly about money, but also a bit about scheduling. These was also a good summary of how the sustainability coordinator position has evolved in year one.
NOTICE OF BOARD MEETING
The Windham Southeast School District Board will meet remotely at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 7, 2020 via Zoom:
The Brattleboro Selectboard held a special meeting to accept the recommendation of Representative Town Meeting and increase the Human Services budget, giving every applying organization extra money.
They spent the bulk of the meeting interviewing prospective candidates for the Community Safety Review Committee, then voting on them. The Committee is now formed.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, September 22, 2020, on Zoom (with no physical location due to the ongoing social distancing requirements of COVID-19). It is anticipated that the Board will enter into executive session at 5:30pm to discuss the negotiating or securing of real estate purchase or lease options and the appointment or employment or evaluation of a public officer or employee. The Board will reconvene the business meeting at 6:15pm. The attached agenda contains information about how to access the meeting remotely, including the required “passcode.” Information about how to connect to the meeting is also posted on the homepage of the Town’s website. ASL interpreters will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members.
There is a current call across the nation to defund the police and to use that money for other things such as human services or education:
“Community groups advocating for defunding have put forward differing strategies, some merely opposing police budget increases, others advocating mass reductions, and some fighting for full defunding as a step toward abolishing police forces. Some initiatives are tied to the fight to close prisons. All are pushing for a reinvestment of those dollars in services.”
What does Brattleboro’s police budget look like?
An important school election is coming up! The WSESD Annual Meeting vote is Tuesday, June 30, 2020.
Follow this link for Information about the Windham Southeast School District FY ’21 Budget Vote including links to the Warning and a Sample Ballot.
https://sites.google.com/wsesu.org/wsesdboard/home
The Budget Vote on Tuesday, June 30 is via Australian Ballot
The Windham Southeast School District (“WSESD”) will hold its Annual Meeting on Tuesday, March 17th, 2020 at 7 p.m., in the gymnasium at Brattleboro Union High School (BUHS). BUHS is located at 131 Fairground Road, Brattleboro, Vermont. Childcare will be provided.
Warned items for the meeting include election of district officers, and a vote to approve the FY2020 budget, in the amount of $51,171,300. Your opinion matters, but you can only vote if you are present on the floor of the Annual Meeting.
The Windham Southeast School District (“WSESD”) school board will hold a budget information session on Tuesday, March 10th, 2020 at 6 p.m., in the Multi-Purpose Room at Brattleboro Area Middle School (BAMS). BAMS is located at 109 Sunny Acres Road, Brattleboro.
The Windham Southeast School District Board will hold a Public Information Meeting on the Proposed FY ’21 Budget at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10, 2020 in the Brattleboro Area Middle School’s Multi-Purpose Room, 109 Sunny Acres, Brattleboro. (Note: Childcare will be provided)
The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee will meet on Monday, January 13, 2020, at 5:00pm, in the Mezzanine Meeting Room at Brooks Memorial Library.
Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
The Brattleboro Selectboard has a short agenda awaiting them at their next regular meeting. There will be an update on municipal broadband funding, financial reports, updates to the grand list, a grant close out hearing, and consideration of FY21 budget loose ends. You can, as always, bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
The board discussed final tidbits relating to the FY21 proposed budget, and consider other items as well, such as giving themselves a raise, giving election workers a raise, demanding an overhaul of the health care system, and then some wondering about who is getting raises and why they are getting them.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, December 10, 2019, at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Municipal Center. ASL interpreters will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members.
The Brattleboro Selectboard got a first look at the FY21 proposed Town Budget. Your taxes will be going up. By how much exactly will be determined over the next several meetings.
The board heard more about opioid lawsuits, learned about the Department of Public Works and Recreation and Parks Department budgets, heard about marketing Brattleboro generally and possibly to “homosexual couples,” and learned of doings at the downtown organization.
The Brattleboro Selectboard started their meeting a bit late and ended it quite early, with a rare move of taking nearly everything major off of the agenda and moving it to next week. The reason? Two absent board members.
Almost the entire agenda will be added to next week’s agenda, making next week’s special meeting a whopper.
Agenda
1. Approve Minutes of 10/2/19 & 10/29/19 Finance Committee Meeting:
2. Approve Warrants and Payrolls:
3. Discussion of Field Turf Improvement Project and Preparation for WSESD Board meeting discussion:
The Brattleboro Selectboard decided once again that there is no climate emergency worth declaring. The proposed declaration was “a mess” and existing efforts were deemed ample.
The board had their expectations managed about possibilities of self governing anytime soon, budget season is lurking, and the possibility of a bike lane on Western Ave will be further investigated.
Residents of Putney, Brattleboro, Dummerston and Guilford are invited to join the new merged school board, Windham Southeast School District Board, for our 2019-2020 Budget Process.
The first annual meeting of the new merged board will be held on Tuesday, June 25th. Voters present at the WSESD annual meeting will vote on the new merged budget. This budget is a compilation of the five independent district budgets developed by the Guilford, Dummerston, Putney and Brattleboro Town School Boards and the BUHS District #6 School Board (Brattleboro Union High School, Brattleboro Area Middle School, Windham Regional Career Center).
Vice Chair Tim Wessel led the board through the second regular meeting in May. It was a night of numbers, with Water & Sewer, Parking, and Solid Waste FY20 budgets being discussed in detail. One member compared the evening to math class, but budgets can be revealing, and many new town projects and plans were listed. The projects have timelines and costs, hence their inclusion in budget talks.
