Upper Dummerston Road Closure March 19

On Tuesday March 19th the Brattleboro Highway Division will replace a failed culvert on Upper Dummerston road, near House #1111. Crews will start at 7:30 am with alternating one lane traffic while they prep the area. At 10:00am this section of road will be closed to traffic, as they install the new culvert pipe. A full closure is expected from 10:00am to 1:00pm. After the full closure, residents should expect alternating traffic for the remainder of the day. Residents should plan accordingly and seek alternate routes. Emergency services are aware of this closure and will implement a plan to continue to provide any services needed beyond this closure.    


Groundworks Promotes Libby Bennett To Be New Executive Director

Libby Bennett.

BRATTLEBORO—The Board of Directors of Groundworks Collaborative has announced that Libby Bennett, formerly the agency’s Director of Development & Communications, has accepted the offer to lead the organization as its new Executive Director.  

Bennett has been on staff with the agency since joining the Morningside Shelter team in 2012. Previously, she served as an intern for the organization in 2011 while completing practicum work toward her master’s degree in non-profit management from the SIT Graduate Institute.  

Bennett points back to volunteering for overnight shifts at Brattleboro’s Seasonal Overflow Shelter in 2010/2011 as her earliest interaction with the agency—inspired to volunteer after hearing a presentation from the founder of Brattleboro Area Drop-In Center, Melinda Bussino. 


Brattleboro District 3/9 Forum

Brattleboro Residents of District 3/9 are invited to attend the third annual District 3 forum where we will hear your questions and concerns in advance of Brattleboro’s Representative Town Meeting. The forum, organized by Robert Oeser and David Levenbach, will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church, 161 Western Avenue, at 3 pm on Sunday March 17. For more information, write fideladelphia@gmail.com or call 413.559.1533.


Brattleboro Selectboard Meeting Agenda and Notes – March 5, 2023

The Brattleboro Selectboard has decided to have a tiny meeting on Vermont’s Town Meeting Day. While everyone else will be looking over vote totals and analyzing candidate and issue wins and losses, the board will discuss upcoming legislation at the state level this season, public safety, and committees.  They will likely squeeze in reactions to local election news as well. 

You can bring up other items, if this Chair allows, during Public Participation.


Brattleboro Select Board Candidate

I am Jaki Reis and I am running for Select board here in Brattleboro. You may know me from the 22 years that I’ve lived and worked downtown. Maybe we met at Brown and Roberts, or at the Chamber or the River Gallery School, or at the Latchis Theater. I have been close to so many who know me as their neighbor, friend, and fellow volunteer.

I have gained a rich understanding of how we all live and the concerns and complaints that we all share. Like most of you, I love this town a great deal, and I’m happy to have a chance to contribute to the Select board in doing its job.


Brattleboro Town Clerk’s Office Closed March 5, 2024

The Brattleboro Town Clerk’s office will be closed all day on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 in order to run the Town Meeting elections, which will be held at the American Legion from 7am-7pm. The Town Clerk’s office will also be closed to the public on the morning of Wednesday, March 6. On Wednesday, March 6, 2024, the Town Clerk’s office will reopen at noon (12:00pm).


Brattleboro Gravel Road Warning Sign System

DPW will continue inspecting and reporting the conditions of Brattleboro’s gravel roads during mud season as we did last year.

The updated report will not be sent daily as in past years. Starting in the coming days, you will see a sign at the beginning of each gravel road. The sign will have a color-coded section that indicates the current condition of the road and QR code that will take you directly to Maps-on-line for the conditions of all roads.  Instead of waiting for all of the roads to be checked to report each road be entered immediately which should speed up the reporting significantly.  Attached is a press release explaining the new procedure.


Déjà Vu: Heartless Town Officials Lack Institutional Memory

newspaper article

The Town of Brattleboro’s harrassing Kurt Daims for doing what he could to shelter homeless people closely parallels something that happened nearly 4 decades ago.

Thirty-eight years ago, the Town of Brattleboro gave a homeless shelter run by Faith Ministries a December 25 deadline to close.

The Christmas deadline — a public relations blunder — was dramatic enough to garner national attention, but the real issue was articulated in a press release in which Wally & Emily White said the following:


Western Avenue Utilities Work  Feb 27, 2024

The Utilities Division of Public Works will be performing an emergency sewer main repair in the area of 735 Western Avenue on Tuesday, February 27. The work is scheduled to begin at 8:30 am and will require alternating one lane traffic with flaggers.  Motorists should expect delays in the area and seek alternate routes. 


$72,000 Parking Ticket

(And that’s not the worst of it. The judge hinted he could raise it to $170,000.)

On February 14 the Town asked VT Superior Court for a judgement of $72K against a local nonprofit for placing RVs that were used as emergency homeless shelters on private land in Brattleboro.

The Town has effectively evicted the RV shelter, though homeless people are now sheltering in the house of the non-profit Brattleboro Common Sense, which started the shelter in late 2022. The non-profit claims the Town has started to harass them for that. The group spokesman, Kurt Daims, says “We have a good safe project here. See the work we’ve been doing for sixteen years.


Brattleboro Committee Meeting Warnings

The Brattleboro RTM Finance Committee will meet on Monday, February 26, 2024 at 6:30pm in the Hanna Cosman Meeting Room (230 Main Street, Rm 211) and on Wednesday, February 28, 2024 at 6:30pm in the Hanna Cosman Meeting Room (230 Main Street, Rm 211).

The Brattleboro Arts Committee will meet on Tuesday, February 27, 2024 at 5:00pm in the Brooks Memorial Library Community Room (224 Main Street).


Selectboard Meeting Notes – Brattleboro Ambulance Rides To Be $1400

selectboard feb 20 2024

The Brattleboro Selectboard set EMS rates and policies, settling on a $1400 cost for a ride in their new ambulance service. Your insurance will pay for most of it, and if you get a bill you can ignore it completely or enter into a payment plan or pay it all at once. It is compassionate, they agreed.

The Town will embark on a search for a new waste management partner, someone who will listen and be responsive, and perhaps take long walks or watch movies together.


Safe Neighborhoods Wants To Hear From You!

Safe Neighborhoods is a Brattleboro area group organized to address the problem of drug-selling houses in our town. This group is growing and we invite anyone affected and/or concerned by this issue to contact us (we safeguard your identity), learn more and join in. We coordinate with the police department plus town and state officials.  Please email us at


Brattleboro Selectboard Agenda and Notes – February 20, 2024

The big item for the Brattleboro Selectboard at their next regular meeting will be setting the billing and collection policies for the Town’s new EMS service. The board is setting the rates to be charged and what to do if someone doesn’t pay, among other things.

Also, the Water Treatment Plant’s engineering costs are over-budget and will cost an additional $303k.  ARPA funds will be used to cover staff salaries, bids will be accepted for trash collection in town, motions will be assigned for reading at Representative Town Meeting, and you can bring up other items not on the agenda, perhaps, during public participation.


Brattleboro Presidents’ Day Closings

In observance of Presidents’ Day, all Brattleboro Town offices will be closed on Monday, February 19, 2024, with the exception of emergency services. Parking is free at all metered spaces and in the pay-and-display lots on Sunday and Monday,
February 18 and February 19. All other violations will be enforced. Brooks Memorial Library will be closed on Monday, February 19, 2024 as well. Trash, recycling, and composting are NOT affected by the holiday. Collections will take place on the normal schedule.


Brattleboro Committee Meeting Warnings and Agendas

The Brattleboro RTM Finance Committee will meet on Wednesday, February 14th at 6:30pm in the Hanna Cosman Meeting Room (230 Main Street, Room 211).

The Brattleboro Traffic Safety Committee will meet on Thursday, February 15th at 8:00am in the Selectboard Meeting Room (230 Main Street, Room 212) and over Zoom.

The Brattleboro Charter Review Commission will meet on Thursday, February 15th at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room (230 Main Street, Room 212) and over Zoom.