Town News

Brattleboro’s historic train station is up for discussion again at the next Brattleboro Selectboard meeting. Fulcrum Arts has abandoned their plans for the space, taking the board back to planning how best to use the building.

The Brooks House team is expected to ask the board for a tax stabilization agreement, the board will consider the nearly $5 million FY14 Utilities budget which includes an over-$635,000 deficit There will also be multiple grants from Homeland Security for more training and equipment, annual liquor and tobacco licenses will be renewed and more.

You can watch it all on TV or attend in person at the Municipal Center on Main Street. If you do go, you can bring up other issues not on the agenda during Public Participation and speak to anything on the agenda.

Jon Evans, Akley Rd. resident, was the 500th person to sign up for Curbside Compost!  Jon was awarded a year’s supply of GLAD compostable bags! 

Jon writes, 

“Thank you so much for the (year’s supply of GLAD compostable bags)! I am truly looking forward to participating in this composting project!  I will be looking forward to the email (saying) that I can come and get the container …  I will be sharing this project with everyone I know in town!”

BRATTLEBORO, VT — The third annual Tour de Heifer — a trio of scenic farm-to-farm rides — will again challenge dirt-road cyclists on Sunday, June 9.

The Tour, organized by Strolling of the Heifers and taking place on Stroll Weekend, will include 15-mile, 30-mile and 60 mile options.

The longer routes are designed for seasoned riders: there’s an elevation gain of nearly 4,200 feet on the 60-mile route, and 2,100 feet on the 30-miler. The 15-mile route is a challenging one for beginner riders, with nearly 1,400 feet of elevation gain.

Beverage Service Trainings at the Marlboro College Graduate Center on Wednesday, March 13th and Thursday, March 14th. All employees who sell or serve liquor are required to be receive training every two years. Statistics show that employees who receive their required training directly from the DLC, rather than in-house, are less likely to fail a compliance check for selling tobacco or alcohol to minors.  The training is free and no registration is required, however, late attendees will not be admitted. 

Several Brattleboro committees are looking for volunteers to serve. Following are committees with vacancies:

• Agricultural Advisory Board
• Arts Committee
• BASIC (Brattleboro Area Skatepark is Coming)
• CPCC (Citizen Police Communications Committee)
• Conservation Commission
  

The Brattleboro Arts Committee will meet on Tuesday, March 12, 2013 at 4:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.

The Brattleboro Tree Advisory Committee will meet on Tuesday, March 12, 2013 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 Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at 5:30pm at Academy School on Western Avenue in West Brattleboro in the gymnasium. It is anticipated that the Board will enter into executive session at 5:30pm and reconvene the public meeting thereafter.

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

The Selectboard completed this week’s business in near record time for a regular Tuesday evening meeting, ending the meeting just over an hour after it began.

A streamlined FY14 Parking Budget was approved, despite a less than glowing characterization as “an absence of failure” by town staff. Curbside compost carts are being purchased, the library is getting a new videoconferencing system, and the Town is going to refinance the Honeywell Project to realize savings with new, lower interest rates.

Pleas for fees for Sunday parking went unanswered, and the logic of sidewalk repairs was explained. Read on for all the Election eve Selectboard meeting excitement.

Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast – Home Energy Challenge

The next “Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast” will take place on Friday, March 15, 2013 at the Gibson Aiken Center, downstairs, hosted by Senior Meals. Doors open at 7:30am.

Tad Montgomery will present on the Home Energy Challenge. For those that don’t know: The state of Vermont has set a goal of using 90% renewable energy by 2050, and a big part of the plan to achieve this involves conservation. The Home Energy Challenge is a new initiative this year to get homeowners to undertake substantial energy retrofits and cut their heating bills by 20-50% or even more.

Please do not hesitate to pass along this invitation to others who might be interested, but:

In what some might term a win for the Old Guard, Kate O’Connor, John Allen, and David Schoales were elected to the Brattleboro Selectboard today.  O’Connor easily defeated Spoon Agave for the 3 year seat by a vote of 985 to 664. Allen was the highest vote getter for the 1 year Selectboard seat with 710 votes.  Schoales garnered 580 points, narrowly defeating Ian Kiehle who had 564.  

Kate O’Connor is daughter of former Selectperson Martha O’Connor who left the Selectboard in 2011.  John Allen served with Martha O’Connor during his time on the Selectboard but lost to Daryl Pillsbury and Jesse Corum in 2010.  

The Brattleboro Agriculture Advisory Committee will meet on Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 7:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.

The Brattleboro ADA Advisory Committee will meet on Friday, March 8, 2013 at 10:00am at the Marlboro College Graduate Center in the VCIL conference room.

Additional Public Meetings and Hearings:

The Brattleboro Energy Committee will meet on Monday, March 4, 2013 at 5:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.

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

The Selectboard will be given a recommendation for hiring a Police-Fire Project Manager at their next regular Tuesday evening meeting. They will also select a project manager for the downtown sidewalk repair project.

There will be discussion of the FY14 Parking Budget, consideration of a videoconferencing system for the library, the purchase compost carts for the new composting pickup program,  Honeywell lease financing and more.

Catch it all on TV or in person at the Municipal Center on Main Street. You can bring up other issues not on the agenda during Public Participation, too.

The Brattleboro Citizen Police Communications Committee (CPCC) will meet on Monday, February 25, 2013 at 5:30pm in the Brooks Memorial Library community room.

Citizen Police Communications Committee
Monday, February 25, 2013, 5:30pm
Brooks Memorial Library Meeting Room

The Brattleboro Traffic Safety Committee will meet on Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 8:30am in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center.

TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013 – 8:30am

SELECTBOARD MEETING ROOM

The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee will meet on Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 4:30pm in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center.

The Brattleboro Energy Committee will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 7:00pm at Marlboro College Graduate Center in Room 2NE. The Town Meeting Members and public are invited to attend and discuss PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy).

Informational Meeting:
The Town invites downtown business/property owners, residents and the public to attend a public discussion on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center to discuss the upgrade of sidewalks on the east side of Main Street.

The West Brattleboro Association (WBA) is a group of business owners and residents interested in promoting commerce in the village and assuring that it is a safe, healthy, attractive and prosperous place – both for the community and visitors. And they have decided one way to get traffic to take a look at West Brattleboro is to place attractive signage welcoming people to it.

With the help of Keene Signworx the WBA has developed a design for the new, free-standing signs. 

Citizens were in attendance at this week’s Selectboard meeting to request once again that the town consider the concerns of the neighbors and do a proper site selection process for the new park. Dick DeGray said that the skatepark selection process consisted of himself and Jesse Corum proposing Crowell Lot as a good location, and that he was proud of their decison.

The Selectboard also approved Brattleboro’s Town Plan, continued thinking about expanding the Downtown Improvement District, began a discussion on implementing a local gasoline tax, and was accused of collecting parking income on national holidays.

All this and more, below…

Preliminaries

Does anyone have a comprehensive file on how much public monies were invested in the Robert Gibson River Garden?  At a recent Selectboard meeting, a member of the Town Finance Committee asked the question. After some thought, the Town Manager said the Town probably could not answer that specific question. It could only account for Town funds that went into the property, not all public funds.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, Brattleboro’s new Town Plan will be approved by the Selectboard at their next regular Tuesday night meeting at the Municipal Center.

If you attend in person or watch on TV, you will also hear discussions of a new gravity fed sewer line for Black Mountain, an update on progress with Brattleboro’s new skatepark design, talk of taxing your gasoline, thoughts on changing the boundaries for the Downtown Improvement District, and the parking garage committee will be dissolved.

All this and more on Tuesday night, and you can read about it in detail here the morning after.