public records

Brattleboro’s Social Media Policy Is Ignored, And It Is Causing Problems

by cgrotke | Op/Ed

At the last two meetings of the Brattleboro Selectboard, members of the board and the Chief of Police implored people NOT to use social media for official business, such as reporting crimes.

“Don’t rely on social media,” said board member Tim Wessel. “Social media has never been a form of reporting things,” added Chair Brandie Starr.

Where could the public have gotten such a crazy idea as to use social media for town business? Perhaps from members of the Selectboard?

The Testing of the Official Brattleboro Selectboard Emails

by cgrotke | Politics

Selectboard Chair Kate O’Connor recently announced during a Selectboard meeting that she didn’t read emails sent to her official email account. 

I decided to send a few questions to Town Manager Peter Elwell about this April 26. When did O’Connor stop reading her emails? How many emails piled up as unread? How many of them were from citizens and how many were spam? Which other Selectboard members don’t read their official email accounts? And how should citizens contact board members so that they know their comments will be read?