Your water bill will go up, your sewer bills will go up, the town is buying a $73k car for the fire department, there will be a bit of free parking near the holidays, and a new sculpture park is being preliminarily proposed for the area near BMAC and he Amtrak station. All this and more at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will approve new FY26 budgets for water, sewer and parking rate at their next regular meeting. The parking budget includes options for the possibility of some free parking in December, or perhaps not. It’s up to the board to decide.
They will also buy a new fire car, plan a retreat, and hear about plans to improve the Depot Street area of town. You can bring up other items on the agenda during public participation.
The Brattleboro Selectboard heard initial presentations about Water & Sewer and Parking budgets for FY26. This included a detailed discussion of Sunday parking, whether free parking might be better in some cases to encourage shoppers and 1% LOST income, and whether parking costs should be charged based on how popular a lot might be. The board decided to ask for no changes.
Also, pickleball courts are on the way.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Friday, May 30, 2025 at 12:00pm 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 Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a regular meeting on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 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 the Board will meet at 5:45pm to hold committee interviews for the Development Review Board. The attached agenda contains information on how to access the meeting remotely, including the required “passcode.” ASL interpreters will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members.
The first meeting of June for the Brattleboro Selectboard and they decided your Water & Sewer Rates are going up 5%.
The board spent quite a bit of time, though, talking about raising your parking rates, too. Remember the great meter system that the Town staff insisted be purchased a few years back? Fast forward a bit and now the Town staff wants to cut down every meter and replace them with a handful of credit card powered kiosks. They’d like to get rid of any coins or cash in the system. And Town staff suggested merely doubling current rates.
Newly increased water rates will be adopted and the FY25 Parking Fund will be presented for approval at the next regular meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard. Part of the discussion will be the adoption of a grant for downtown parking system improvements. A slightly more unusual part will be to choose between parking fund revenues of $654,500 or $1,029,500, which most likely means a decision about raising parking rates.
There will be a small affordable housing grant for BAAH, and an application for a grant to improve sidewalks and add a path to the backside of the Common. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
The results of the Brattleboro Selectboard board retreat will be discussed at their next Tuesday meeting. Hint: they have established their five top goals of the year to be good transportation center parking, the town pool, the community safety plan, safety zones, and housing.
Tax rates and utility rates will be set, housing and land use will be discussed, and you can bring up any other items not on the agenda if the Chair allows under Public Participation.
Brattleboro employees will get raises and taxpayers will get a 5% reduction in water bills at the next regular meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard.
Parking and Utility budgets will be approved, the monthly EMS update will be given, and the public’s chance to weigh in at the 2nd meeting in June regarding EMS services will be on the agenda as well. You might also be able to bring up other items not on the agenda.
At their first regular June meeting, the Brattleboro Selectboard will hire two outside security firms to patrol parts of downtown.
They will also discuss utility budgets, financial software, traffic safety, and committee vacancies. You might be able to bring up other items not on the agenda if the Chair allows.
The Brattleboro Selectboard held one of their longer meetings in some time. The public was active! Complaints about downtown crime, lack of action on climate change, and open meetings kept the board busy until after 10:30pm.
Of note, the Town acknowledged their violation of open meeting protocols and adopted a new two-part process to make sure it won’t happen again. This wasn’t enough for most people, who wanted a more detailed accounting of the EMS decision making process.
The board changed RTM districts to conform with state updates, adopted Utility and Parking budgets, and poured luke-warm water on a suggestion to bring back the electric trolley.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will emerge from another Executive Session to do something that isn’t done very often – update the boundaries of the voting districts in town, which will change representation at Representative Town meeting. This update is to conform with adjustments recently made by the state.
The board will also take up the Utility Fund, Parking Fund Budget, raises, and the Depot Street parking lot project. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
The Brattleboro Selectboard had a long discussion about their long discussion last week about face coverings. Is it too strict? Not stick enough? What about the children? They then moved on to a discussion of raising water and sewer rates to help pay for the new water filtration plant. Is 6% a year too much? Is 2% too low?
The final discussion was of the parking system, and how with no income and continued expenses, the budget doesn’t look so good. Should the Parking Fund remain an enterprise fund or be rolled back into the General Fund? And who has the best ceiling?
I’m going to argue for free parking in Brattleboro.
The main reason we have to pay for parking here and not in most other towns in Vermont is to pay for our parking meters, parking enforcement, and parking infrastructure. Other than helping to pay for parking lot paving and snow removal, this is a silly, unnecessary burden for locals and visitors, and could instead be money spent in downtown stores.
The biggest news of the Tuesday meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard came not from the agenda but introductory remarks. The Town manager announced that Planning Services Director Rod Francis was leaving Brattleboro in the next couple of weeks.
This was followed by an unscheduled but surprisingly active discussion of aggressive panhandling in the downtown area.
Beyond those matters, the skatepark hired a design firm and got some extra cash, contracts and grants were approved, the utility budget passed, a long resolution was adopted, and more.
It’s happening. At their next regular meeting, the Brattleboro Selectboard will hire a company to do the designs for the skatepark at Living Memorial Park.
The board will discuss repairs at the Waste Water Treatment Plant, discuss parking, talk about loans and grants, approve an annual contract with Rescue, Inc., and proceed with the loan for the new fire truck. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
