Town News

The registered voters of Brattleboro will have an opportunity to vote on the town budget within a few weeks. David Gartenstein told fellow Brattleboro Selectboard members that a successful petition by fifty-six Town Meeting Representatives will trigger a town-wide vote by ballot, as stipulated in the Town Charter, allowing for voters at-large to weigh in on the $16.2 million budget.

The Police Fire Facility Project committee has been requested by the board to look for additional ways to cut costs. New cell phone towers, solar arrays, skatepark location possibilities, and more were also discussed Tuesday evening.

56 Town meeting Member signatures were collected calling for a town-wide vote on the budget (Article 19 of the warning for Representative Town Meeting).  This exceeds the minimum requirement of 50.  The Selectboard now has 10 days to set the date for the vote which must be within 15 days thereafter.  Thus the first two if not all three of the initial steps will be concluded in April.  If the budget is defeated the Selectboard will have to call a Special Representative Town Meeting to present a new budget.

The “new” Brattleboro Selectboard will have their first regular Tuesday meeting of the year on April 1.

There are some atypical items on the agenda awaiting them, too. There will be a Representative Town Meeting follow-up discussion, and an issuance of a Health Order against Susan Rockwell, owner of 19 Elm Street.

Also on the agenda, a new cell tower for Meadowbrook Road, an update from the Skatepark Site Selection Committee, a request for additional solar energy use, and more.

You can watch on BCTV or attend in person. If you go, you may bring up additional items not on the agenda during Public Participation.

The Brattleboro Police-Fire Facility Building Committee will meet on Thursday, April 3, 2014 at 4:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

We’ll be attempting the annual live blog of Representative Town Meeting. The official festivities get under way at about 8:30 am at the high school. See you in a few…

The Brattleboro Citizen Police Communications Committee (CPCC) will meet on Monday, March 24, 2014 at 5:30pm at the Brooks Memorial Library in the community room.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro Traffic Safety Committee will meet on Tuesday, March 25, 2014 at 8:30am in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting in Montpelier on Wednesday, March 26, 2014. The Board will meet with the Governor, Legislators and other officials starting at 1:00pm, to discuss regional economic hubs, State plans for Vermont Yankee settlement funds, State aid to municipalities for class 1 roads and other regional matters.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special organizational meeting on Monday, March 24, 2014, at 8:00am in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center. The purpose of the meeting is to swear in the new board members and elect officers.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

It’s not official yet, but the Brattleboro Selectboard promised that the town will take steps to recognize Martin Luther King Day as a town holiday, despite concerns of complexity voiced by the Interim Town Manager and the results of an informal poll of town staff. 

Sidewalk plowing on Cedar Street was debated, but with the snow season coming to an end the board decided to contemplate the issue for a while longer before making any decisions.

Duo gets a loan, CRT gets a memo of understanding, and the Fire Department is staffed well. All this and more follows below.

Will Brattleboro recognize Martin Luther King Day as a holiday by 2015? The Brattleboro Selectboard will debate the issue at their next regular Tuesday meeting at the Municipal Center. You are welcome and encouraged to attend.

There will also be discussions of farm tax stabilization, a loan for the new Duo restauarnt, a public hearing on Utility rate changes (speak now or forever pay your increases), sidewalk plowing for some of Cedar Street, and more. You can also bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.

Watch on BCTV, and read about it hear the day after.

A number of folks viewing this are likely Town Meeting Members ~ maybe a few more will be after tomorrow’s caucus  (Wed., Mar. 12 – Town Meeting Informational Meeting & Caucus preceding meeting to fill vacant Town Meeting Representative seats – Academy School, 5:00pm)

Do you want another opportunity to discuss the issues?  What about the Local Option Sales Tax?  

The Brattleboro Tree Advisory Committee will meet on Tuesday, March 11, 2014 at 7:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro Arts Committee will meet on Tuesday, March 11, 2014 at 4:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro ADA Advisory Committee will meet on Friday, March 14, 2014 at 10:00am at Marlboro College Graduate Center in the VCIL conference room.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

Despite having major objections to aspects of the plans, the Brattleboro Selectboard unanimously approved designs for the Police and Fire facilities at their Tuesday meeting on Election Day.

The long meeting began with a string of liquor license approvals. Utility rate increases had a first reading, Brattleboro is applying for funds to install two electric vehicle charging stations at the Transportation Center, and the search for a new Town Manager begins again. Read on for all the details, and then some.

According to unofficial results from the Town Clerk’s office, 881 people voted in Town Elections today affirming the candidacies of everyone on the ballot. Since no one was running unopposed, no official candidates lost and everybody won. Rare when that happens. (The sole exception being Kathryn Turnas II, who was a write-in candidate for Selectboard.} The environmental question passed. The 1% Local Option Sales Tax squeaked by in a very close vote of 438 in favor and 402 against. The vote is only advisory and the number of voters low, but if the result tells us anything, it’s that there seems to be no clear concensus on this issue.

The West Brattleboro Association is inviting all the District 1 Town Meeting members to meet with the West B community on Thursday, March 6 for a Q&A/discussion session.  This will be at 7 pm in the Hayes Court Community Room on Garfield Drive, just west of the Post Office and Richards Building.

The focus will be on the warrant for the upcoming Town Meeting on March 22, but the questions and conversation will go wherever the attendees take them. The actual warrant can be found on the town’s website – – by following the Election Info link.

Spring is just around the corner and the Strolling of the Heifers is gearing up to make more connections between farmers and the community with their first annual Spring Gardening and CSA Preview. 

CSA’s are community-supported agricultural ventures. CSA members or subscribers pay at the onset of the growing season for a share of the anticipated harvest; once harvesting begins, they receive weekly shares of vegetables, fruit, meat, cheese, eggs or other products depending on the farm.

The following CSAs are among those exhibiting at the event:

Tuesday will be a busy day. You’ll need to take time to go vote for mostly unopposed candidates, and take time to go observe the new Police and Fire Plans and attend the Brattleboro Selectboard meeting to express your Police and Fire Facility comments in an official, public capacity before they approve them as presented.

The board will give out the first liquor license to a new Brooks House business, a restaurant with owners from Colorado, and approve annual licenses for a list of other local establishments. Utility rates will be get a first reading, new electric vehicle charging stations for the Transportation Center will be discussed, the Town Manger search 2.0 will kick off, the Selectboard will discuss goals for the coming year, and more.

You can attend in person and bring up anything not otherwise on the agenda, or watch on BCTV. We’ll have the full report Wednesday.