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.
Below you will find all of the comments from the Selectboard meeting chat box for Tuesday July 21, 2020. This conversation isn’t archived and doesn’t become part of the public record, but it does happen.
6:12 PM
Brandie to Everyone
I am on the phone so patrick will need to let me in..lol
Mr. President, Madam Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, members of the General Assembly, honored guests and fellow Vermonters:
Today, I welcome the opening of the legislative session with the same optimism I had as a freshman senator from Washington County nearly two decades ago.
I come before you to report on the state of the state, to reflect on the work we’ve done and to share a vision and priorities for our future.
The Brattleboro Selectboard cancelled a few possible contentious items on the agenda (the Harmony Lot mural and the Health Code violation) but still got an earful from a couple concerned that blinking safety lights on Western Ave are unnecessary and lower the value of their home. The Wessel Baffle might prove to be the solution.
Town Manager Elwell gave the board an overview of the coming budget request from Town staff. Of note: the expected 4% health insurance increase is actually more like 17%. Ouch. Call a doctor. Police cars are being uplifted, a new solar project is being considered, and more.
Are you interested in the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists in Brattleboro? Are you interested in road projects that relate to pedestrians and bicyclists?
Come to the Safer Streets Forum in the Oak Grove School library on Thursday, September 27th from 5:30 -7:30 pm. Light snacks will be provided.
The Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance (SeVWA) continued its monitoring program for the summer of 2018 on Wednesday, July 18th. Volunteers will be collecting samples from 33 sites on nine rivers and streams every other week through the end of August. This year, we have sites on the West River, Flood Brook, North Branch Ball Mountain Brook, Rock River, Williams River (including the Middle Branch), Saxtons River, East Putney Brook, Sacketts Brook, and Whetstone Brook.
The Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance (SeVWA) started its monitoring program for the summer of 2018 on Wednesday, June 20th. Volunteers will be collecting samples from 33 sites on nine rivers and streams every other week through the end of August. This year, we have sites on the West River, Flood Brook, North Branch Ball Mountain Brook, Rock River, Williams River (including the Middle Branch), Saxtons River, East Putney Brook, Sacketts Brook, and Whetstone Brook.
One of the parameters we test the water we collect for is Escherichia coli, more commonly known as E. coli. It is a bacterium that is found in the guts of all warm-blooded animals, including humans. Most E. coli will not make a person sick, but sometimes the bacteria can sometimes become pathogenic which means they can cause illness. Additionally, the presence of E. coli in waters acts as an indicator for the presence of other, more difficult to test for pathogens that may cause waterborne illnesses to those swimming, wading, or boating. We publish our results to the public in order to help everyone make informed decisions about recreating in Vermont’s waters.
