At Thursday’s Brattleboro Selectboard meeting, I joined Amanda Thurber in voting against the proposed 27 million dollar budget because Brattleboro municipal taxes have far outpaced wage growth. At selectboard meetings, in the street, and Thursday at the Senior Center, I kept hearing, “Enough.”
We need to stick up for everyday folks who are working for a living, trying to save for the future, and wanting to give their children a better future.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Brattleboro Municipal Center (230 Main Street, Room 212) and over Zoom. The attached agenda contains information on how to access the meeting remotely, including the required “passcode.” Closed captioning will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members. The backup materials for this meeting will be available on the town website by the end of the day. Please note that the Zoom credentials for this meeting have changed. They can be found inside the agenda and administrative report.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Thursday, January 22, 2026, at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Brattleboro Municipal Center (230 Main Street, Room 212) and over Zoom. The attached agenda contains information on how to access the meeting remotely, including the required “passcode.” Closed captioning will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members. The backup materials for this meeting will be available on the town website by the end of the day.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a regular meeting on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Brattleboro Municipal Center (230 Main Street, Room 212) and over Zoom. Prior to the meeting, at 3:00pm the Selectboard will convene and hold a site visit at Bittersweet Lane. The Selectboard will then hold a site visit at 4:00pm at TH-20 / Gulf Road. The Board will then meet at 5:45pm and is expected to enter immediately into executive session to discuss contracts. The attached agenda contains information on how to access the meeting remotely, including the required “passcode.” Closed captioning will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members. The backup materials for this meeting will be available on the town website by the end of the day. Please note that the Zoom credentials for this meeting have changed. They can be found inside the agenda and administrative report.
The Brattleboro Selectboard, where I’ve served as clerk since last spring, has repeatedly committed to prioritize fiscal responsibility. Now the rubber meets the road — We have an opportunity to align our actions with our words.
The selectboard has tough decisions to make. At our meeting Tuesday night we prioritized honest budgeting for a more realistic picture of expected revenue and expenses. We restored funding for critical infrastructure for our bridges, retaining walls and bicycles. And we unanimously passed my motion to restore the finance director position. If we can stick with these decisions, we will set the town up for better financial health and stability.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Thursday, January 15, 2026, at 7:00pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room (230 Main Street, Room 212) and over Zoom. The attached agenda includes information on how to access the meeting remotely. Closed captioning will be available for deaf and hard of hearing community members.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, January 13, 2026, at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Brattleboro Municipal Center (230 Main Street, Room 212) and over Zoom. The attached agenda contains information on how to access the meeting remotely, including the required “passcode.” Closed captioning will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members. The backup materials for this meeting will be available on the town website by the end of the day.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Monday, December 22, 2025, at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Brattleboro Municipal Center (230 Main Street, Room 212) and over Zoom. The attached agenda contains information on how to access the meeting remotely, including the required “passcode.” Closed captioning will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members. The backup materials for this meeting will be available on the town website by the end of the day.
A discussion of town-owned parcels of land was focused primarily on parcels that are vacant and have the potential to be built upon, be they parking lots or watersheds. The board asked the planning department to continue their investigation of land that might be sold, conserved, or developed.
Windham and Windsor Housing Trust closed out a grant, and the board heard from a number of departments about their FY27 budget requests.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will find out what land the Town owns might be suitable for housing during their next regular Tuesday meeting. They’ll also hear from many more departments about their budget request for FY27, and hold a quick close out hearing for a scattered site grant with WWHT.
You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
Despite the weather conditions, the Brattleboro Selectboard went forth with their first meeting of December. Being a very long meeting, I decided to jump in somewhere around the time of the discussion of health care changes and voting on RTM, which appeared on the agenda for roughly 8:15, which was actually more like 9pm.
The board covered the DPW, Rec & Parks, Library and DID budget requests. Interestingly, they decided to hold public hearing to gather important feedback from the public about declaring an emergency and making it more difficult for social service and charitable use organizations to exist. This will be at a special meeting of the selectboard to be held December 22nd, overseen by Mr. Potter.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will continue work on the FY27 budget at their first regular meeting in December. From the way it is scheduled, this could be a VERY long meeting. The agenda-setters have the final item beginning AFTER 10 PM, and we all know how good they are at estimating agenda starting times.
In addition to hearing from Rec & Parks, the Library, the downtown organization, and Public Works about their budgets for FY27, the board will take up the bigger items of a change of health care providers, a discussion of options for voting to end Representative Town meeting, a new potential zoning change to start controlling “social assistance or charitable services” through conditional use permits, a monthly budget update, and anything else the public wants to bring up during public participation.
The Brattleboro Selectboard was focused on budget and finance issues for most of their meeting. Near the beginning of the long meeting, they adopted a new solid waste plan, agreed to a contract with Casella for three years, and decided to add additional fees to the already-increased PAYT bag costs in an effort to help keep expenses down for some people in a program TBD.
Fireworks are expensive, but drones are even more expensive so Brattleboro will continue to pay for the joyful explosions upsetting pets and people with PTSD.
In the budget presentations, the police department made accusations against a selectboard member that they said accused the police department when asking questions at a recent meeting. And the fire department really wants a 42 hour work week and four platoons instead of the 56 hour week and three platoons they currently suffer under.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a Special Meeting on Thursday, November 20, 2025 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room. Please note that there will be no Zoom component to this meeting.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will be working on the budget at their next regular meeting. The Police and Fire departments are scheduled to present their FY27 requests. The Town will also adopt a new solid waste contract and program, raising your PAYT bag prices and having DPW expand to pick up compost.
The board will also discuss trespass warnings and fireworks, and you can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a Special Meeting on Wednesday, November 12, 2025 at 6:15pm in the Brooks Memorial Library Main Room to hold a Budget Listening Session. Please note that there will be no Zoom component to this meeting. Directly after the conclusion of the Listening Session, the Board is expected to enter into executive session to discuss relations with employees, contracts, and public safety.
It was a lot of numbers at the first regular meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard for November. The first pass at a proposed FY27 budget gave us the number 4.4%, which is the amount property taxes might increase. It might go up more, though, warned the public.
There was a presentation about cost savings for the new solid waste plan. Those cost savings have a cost, however. PAYT bags are back and will be more expensive, plus the town will add staff and equipment to the DPW to pick up compost.
The board heard a monthly finance report and got a quarterly update and EMS Policy Billing review by the fire department.
Also, Brattleboro has a new annual circus festival underway. Get in touch with NECCA for more info!
The Brattleboro Selectboard has some typically hot-button issues on their next agenda – the solid waste contract, the FY27 budget, the quarterly fire department report, and EMS billings and collections.
You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
The Brattleboro Selectboard held a long regular meeting, learning about programs and opportunities with Interaction, hearing an update about BDCC/SeVEDS, and holding an extended conversation with state legislators about the Town’s legislative suggestions thought up by town staff.
Most interesting, beyond a hint that education taxes in Brattleboro could go way down, was talk of a new waterfront trail along the Connecticut River from the old Hinsdale bridge southward. Dreams of connecting this future trail to the West River Trail linger.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will again hold a meeting on a Tuesday evening, and they will discuss a new pedestrian and bike path being planned for along the Connecticut River.
They’ll also get annual updates from Interaction, and BDCC and SeVEDS. They’ll also learn about housing possibilities in town-owned properties and review their legislative priorities. You can bring up other items during public participation if they aren’t already on the agenda.
