Town News

BRATTLEBORO 1/31/2013 – After nearly 20 years of service and dedication to Brattleboro Area Affordable Housing (BAAH), Byron Stookey (the Board’s founder), retired from the organization’s volunteer board in November 2013.

Stookey – described by his colleagues as steadfast, tenacious, unyielding, determined, inspirational, resolute, and meticulous – led BAAH from its infancy in 1995 to a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization serving greater-Brattleboro with a number of initiatives, including three current programs.

1 The Save Our Homes loan program makes no-interest loans to people facing housing emergencies.
2. The Apartments-in-Homes program helps homeowners who have under-utilized space in their homes create a modest and affordable apartment for rental.

The Brattleboro Energy Committee will meet on Monday, February 3, 2014 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 Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee will meet on Friday, February 7, 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 Police-Fire Facilities Building Committee will meet on Thursday, February 6, 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

NOTICE is hereby given that the Brattleboro Town Auditors’ Report for fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, is available upon request and may be picked up at the Brattleboro Town Clerk’s office, 230 Main Street, Brattleboro, Vermont.

The Auditors’ Reports will also be available as part of the Town and Town School District Annual Report which will be available at the Town Clerk’s office no later than February 21, 2014.

Despite the few candidates on the ballot, there are two issues for voters this year when they get to the polls.

The first is non-binding consideration of adding a 1% sales tax to help property owners save money:

“ARTICLE II

Should the Town of Brattleboro provide property tax relief and help defray the cost of Police- Fire facilities renovations by adopting a 1% local option sales tax?

YES
NO”

Unless something unusual happens, the same Selectboard members you see serving the town today will be the same ones serving Brattleboro in the next year.  No one is challenging them this year at the polls.

David Schoales will be running for the 3 year seat. John Allen and Donna Macomber are running for the two open 1 year seats on the board.

Lawrin Crispe is the only candidate for Representative Town Meeting Moderator.

The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, January 29, 2014 at 5:00pm in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center. It is anticipated that the Board will enter into executive session immediately following the meeting to discuss a potential litigation matter.

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

The Brattleboro Traffic Safety Committee will meet on Tuesday, January 28, 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 Citizen Police Communications Committee (CPCC) will meet on Monday, January 27, 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 Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee will meet on Friday, January 31, 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 Selectboard spent most of the regular Tuesday meeting adding things to the agenda for Representative Town Meeting in March. They also gave over $30,000 to a regional effort to develop the economy, and firmly set forth their final budget for FY15.

A number of the articles put on the warning were aimed at reducing property taxes. One thing that won’t be on the Town Meeting agenda, at least not this year, is lowering the voting age to sixteen.

In food news, the former Bickfords will become Brattleboro’s latest pizza place, a regional chain called Ramuntos Brick Oven Pizza. Read on for all the details.

It is agenda setting time for the Brattleboro Selectboard, and Tuesday’s regular meeting will result in a slate of issues for Town Meeting and Representative Town Meeting to consider, including a 1% local option tax, transfer of skating rink funds not used, taking money from the Unassigned Fund Balance to apply toward tax relief for 2015, and repurposing of agricultural land protection funds to apply toward tax relief in 2015.

The board will get a request from SeVEDS for about $36,000. They will also approve a liquor license for Brattleboro’s newest pizza restaurant and sign off on an FY15 General Fund budget of $16,284,625 and a Capital plan budget of $1,380,475.

The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee will meet on Friday, January 24, 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 Arts Committee will meet on Tuesday, January 14, 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 Tree Advisory Committee will meet on Tuesday, January 14, 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 Police-Fire Facility Building Committee will meet on Thursday, January 16, 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 Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee will meet on Friday, January 17, 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 Selectboard announced their nearly-final budget numbers for FY15. It will cost $16,306,285 to run the town, an increase of about 8.7 cents for taxpayers. Everything was trimmed, but nothing substantial was cut or reduced. As one member said, the can was kicked down the road.

In the good news category, a unique public-private partnership has been formed to save the town large sums of money. Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, SIT, and Harris Hill have offered to help the town relocate communications towers off of Wantastiquet by providing towering locations in town.

The topic of energy audits returned, a plan for a $50,000 energy audit fund was proposed, and a 16 year old asked the board for the right to vote. All this and more below.

Traffic has slowed on Western Ave near Union Hill as police clear up a multi-vehicle accident on Monday evening.

It’s getting icy out there. Drive, ride, and walk carefully.