A seemingly tone-deaf Brattleboro Selectboard pushed forward on multiple options for a multimillion dollar swimming pool project, as well as a messaging campaign directed by Town staff with catchy slogans to discourage being generous. This came after many objections by meeting-goers.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will continue their attempts to legislate downtown safety by discussing and implementing a campaign for “Acceptable Community Conduct” at their first meeting of October 2024.
They will be discussing swimming pool renovations at Living Memorial Park and how much the project is expected to cost. Staff are suggesting that this project possibly be put off to future budget years. The Planning Department will also give the board an update out housing permits and projects. You can bring up other items not already on the agenda during public participation.
The 2020 Community Safety Plan is on the agenda again after quite a long time. “Final Staff Recommendations for Implementation” will be presented and acted upon.
The Town wants to adjust Town Ordinances regarding “Acceptable Community Conduct” and will hold a first reading of some proposed changes. Some new housing on Elliot Street, plans for the Safe Fair, and a Health Order for 6 Reynolds Drive, round out the agenda for the evening. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during Public Participation.
The Brattleboro Selectboard voted in favor of many suggestions by Police Chief Norma Hardy at their regular Tuesday meeting: using community safety funds to purchase surveillance cameras, plus authorizing a move forward on un-budgeted hiring of three more officers, hiring two unarmed police staff, and one police data technician. They also will move ahead with locating a police satellite office downtown.
This came after a presentation on police data that showed that the majority of police calls in town were not for crimes, and many incidents with police involve a handful of known actors.
Safety has a price and the Brattleboro Selectboard will begin to hear some of the new costs for downtown safety at their next regular meeting. Brattleboro Police will request hiring of additional staff and officers plus the creation of a parking garage satellite office for police use. It is part of their downtown safety action plan. They will also discuss their HEAT mapping and how this impacts deploying resources to problem areas.
Esteyville bandstand plans will be discussed. The result of the public input is that people want the bandstand, but not way up in the air as it currently sits. The selectboard will also set a plan for this year’s budget process. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
The Brattleboro Selectboard got an earful from people in town that definitely do not feel safe downtown. Things have reached new levels of awfulness for people of all ages. The board is considering making downtown a “safety zone” to take care of this problem once and for all. What that means exactly remains to be determined. But progress is being made! And the Youth Council created a cool map.
The board also learned that come September, people in the hotel and motel program will begin to be kicked out of their lodgings and will require sheltering of some sort.
Brattleboro will take possession of the new park at 250 Birge Street during their first regular meeting in August. The floodplain has been restored and the work is complete.
Emergency housing, water treatment plant construction, and “safety zones” will also be discussed. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
A hot July evening, and the Brattleboro Selectboard approved new property tax rates. , The Town’s Finance Director told the board 75% of the increase is because of education. Dick Degray called it an unsustainable increase.
The new parking ordinance had a first reading. The costs to business owners and employees on Main Street was a concern to some and an outright horror to others.
The board made a list of things to discuss with legislators, adjusted rules for political signs, and discussed parking enforcement at the Vermont Country Deli.
The Brattleboro Selectboard has some spelling-challenged items to take care of at their next meeting. They plan to approve the 2025 “Fical” Year property tax rate and hear about a new proposed “pollical” sign policy.
The board will also discuss changes to the parking ordinance, things they’d like to have the State of Vermont help with (transportation funding, the Grand List, community development, municipal revenue, and public safety and public health,) and their own goals for the year – community safety, child safety zones, and enhanced state revenue sharing.
You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
A well-known quote from Benjamin Franklin 1775
250 years later, we have …
A possibly short meeting with potentially interesting topics ahead was actually not so short due to technical difficulties, but it certainly was interesting. A respite from budgets, for sure.
Sustainability, food security, downtown safety, bridge fixing, and more were all discussed. Some with slide presentations!
Flood Plain Restoration is more expensive than originally thought. By hundreds of thousands of dollars. That’s part of what the Brattleboro Selectboard will hear at the first regular meeting of February 2024.
The board will also create a new road for the Town to take care of, hear updates on town safety, sustainability, food, farms, and vacant buildings. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation, if the Chair allows.
Well, well, well. The Brattleboro Selectboard has decided at the last moment that it would be good for them to explain to the public all the secret EMS BFD Rescue relationship information they have known about, information the public has asked them about for over a year and half and the board has remained steadily tight-lipped about. Until now.
Former Chair Liz McLoughlin cracked and said she wouldn’t let Rescue, Inc. control the narrative anymore, and that she wanted a meeting to reveal everything the board knows that the public has been kept in the dark about by her and her fellow board members. Chair Ian Goodnow warned the board that the town attorney told them they should not discuss these secrets with the public, but they voted to hold a special meeting anyway. The plan is to let the public know all the reasons that Rescue and BFD don’t get along.
This throws the public forum and decision-making meeting dates into question.
The Brattleboro Selectboard got off to a late start then quickly put their meeting on hold for technical reasons. Forty-five minutes later, the meeting was postponed until Thursday to give BCTV and Facebook time to fix themselves.
Those interested in discussing EMS and downtown safety will have to wait.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will be spending most of their first regular September meeting discussing town safety and EMS options for Brattleboro. They will review the EMS proposals received and learn about EMS insights from other communities. They’ll also discuss wrapping up the process, holding a public meeting, and then making an EMS decision.
Twelve items are packed into the consent agenda – a possible record, and good thing! You may bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
It was a really long Brattleboro Selectboard meeting with not much getting done! They heard about downtown safety issues, but took no action. They approved a mural design they couldn’t see. There will be more places to buy liquor. The preferred bridge design was selected. And then it was 10:30 pm with discussions of a woman right to choose and EMT issues, among other things, still awaiting ample discussion. They ended up postponing much of the agenda to a future meeting.
A packed agenda of important items awaits the Brattleboro Selectboard for their first regular meeting of July. It’s going to be a long meeting.
There will be new liquor licenses, Commonwealtth Dairy wants to nearly double its water and sewer use, rental housing fines will be set, and the board will choose a bridge design for Melrose. There will be a discussion of downtown safety and a new mural for High Street. The board will discuss a woman’s right to choose. There are emergency repairs to authorize.
The firefighters get a “recently concluded additional collective bargaining agreement,” and the Fire Chief would like the board to approve additional funds to meet requirements of becoming a paramedic-level service.
But wait, there’s more! There will be a first reading of a new ordinance regarding wastewater allocation approvals, there will be a new contract for the Interim Town manager, a new street name will be approved, and the FY23 tax rate will be set.
Water leaks and collapsing walls were part of the first post-Daylight Savings Time regular meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard. The Department of Public Works reported on a couple of recent and ongoing emergency repairs downtown involving water.
The board heard an update on the work of the Windham Regional Commission, found out more about how poorly parking revenues are going this year, hired a company to do cemetery maintenance, and purchased some new playground equipment. And board members said goodbye to Brandie Starr and Jan Anderson, thanking them for their service.
The Brattleboro Selectboard approved an edited version of the community RFP for police review and public safety at their Tuesday meeting. The Town-edited proposal was discussed at length and a few final tweaks were made before it was unanimously approved. Next steps: facilitator proposals and the formation of a committee.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold two meetings next week. The first is their regular Tuesday meeting at which they will approve water and sewer construction contracts, set a date certain for Representative Town Meeting 2020, set property tax rates, buy winter sand, resume water shutoffs for commercial and industrial customers, and more.
Their second meeting of the week will be on Thursday, to review the Community Safety RFP.
You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
