For stories pertaining to the town of Brattleboro at large and its government.
The report of the RTM Finance Committee for the May 27 Special Representative Town Meeting is posted on the Town’s website.
Go to: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rO3ELZP6e8HewXSf4CmYVbYtCaximdvL/view
The Finance Committee met weekly while the Selectboard was working on the revised budget and then held four meetings in May to prepare the report.
The Brattleboro Special Representative Town Meeting Budget Report is ready. Paper copies can be found at the Brooks Memorial Library. You can also find the Report on the RTM page of the Town Website. The link is below.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will have a regular meeting on Tuesday and will hear lots of updates and reports – on expanding rail service to Connecticut, electric company projects, state legislation, FY25 budget numbers, and the results of a Utility Rate Study to see if Brattleboro customers are paying the right amount.
You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation if the Chair anticipates what you are about to say is germane.
On Wednesday May 14th, the Brattleboro Highway Division will replace a failed culvert on Pleasant Valley Rd near house number 137. Please be advised there will be a full road closure from 8:00am – 12:00pm. 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.
All are welcome to join District 8 Chair Gary Stroud for an important community discussion about the Town Budget and how it will impact Property Taxes and Town Resources.
This meeting is a chance for Brattleboro residents—especially those in District 8, represented by Rep. Mollie Burke—to learn about and share their views on the newly revised Town Budget coming before the Representative Town Meeting at the end of Tuesday May 27th 2025.
The Brattleboro Selectboard had a regular meeting and approved of more changes to the recently-changed parking system. Zones will get new names, there will be new signs and stickers, rates and times will change, and more. This will make it easier for everyone, the Town assures us.
There are big beautiful plans by locals in Brattleboro for the old Hinsdale bridges, but they are owned primarily by New Hampshire and that side of the river isn’t too keen on maintaining them in the long term. It will take might private efforts to make something happen at this juncture, but a “balanced” letter will be sent to the NH DOT, with or without support from Hinsdale.
And Kate O’Connor is again director of the Chamber of Commerce.
It has been a while, but the Brattleboro Selectboard will again hold a regular meeting to discuss items other than the FY26 budget. Instead they will examine more changes to the parking system, new murals and events, get an update on the Housing Plan, and hire a financial services company for a year to help ill in for the Finance Director.
The board will also have a discussion about the old bridges sitting in the Connecticut River and come up with a list of requests for the state of New Hampshire to consider. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
The Brattleboro Finance Committee will meet on Monday, May 5, 2025 at 6:00pm in the Hanna Cosman Meeting Room.
The Brattleboro Finance Committee will meet on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 6:00pm in the Hanna Cosman Meeting Room.
The Brattleboro Selectboard held a May Day meeting to discuss and pass their new budget, which takes the overall municipal tax increase down from 12.1% to 10.8%, shaving 1.3% from the budget rejected by Representative Town Meeting.
The public, those allowed to speak, weren’t very impressed.
Chair McLoughlin began by apologizing for being rude to young people at the previous board meeting. Later on, she shut down the meeting with gavel banging and demands for an adult to stop speaking about something she said could not be tolerated- a discussion of Rescue Inc correcting the record.
Town Manager John Potter did what the Brattleboro Selectboard asked and has revised the FY26 budget with an additional $317k in savings. Here’s his memo to the board explaining the cuts he made on their behalf.
And yes, there are un-chill cuts to the Library.
Rescue Inc sent a letter to the Brattleboro Selectboard asking them to use correct numbers when discussing their services. In it, they calculate that the net cost to the town for FY26 EMS services would have been $255,846.00.
Full letter below:
The Brattleboro Selectboard will meet on Thursday, May 1, 2025, at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room and over Zoom. The agenda includes information on how to access the meeting remotely. Either ASL interpreters of closed captioning will be available in the meeting for deaf and hard of hearing community members. The backup materials for this meeting will be available on the website early next week.
The Brattleboro Finance Committee will meet on Monday, April 28, 2025 in the Hanna Cosman Meeting Room at 6:00pm.
The Town of Brattleboro’s winter parking ban has been lifted. Overnight parking is allowed on all streets EXCEPT in the downtown area.
The streets listed below are not permitted for overnight parking:
Main Street
High Street
The Brattleboro Selectboard held another in their month of many meetings to focus on decisions around solid waste and to hear the results of their budget decisions thus far. Those results were not good. They also warned a special Representative Town meeting to vote on the revised FY26 budget, which will face further revision.
As with last week, I’m watching this second meeting of the week but not typing up every word. I’ll summarize again.
The Brattleboro Selectboard continued their month of many meetings with a discussion of potential service reductions in public safety.
It was a long meeting, mostly because the police and fire departments were given hours to speak of the value they provide to the town. After that, the public spoke about how much they valued the police and fire departments. In the end, no changes will happen and the town may end up hiring more fire department staff. To save money.
Thanks to everyone who has sent a donation to support coverage!
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Thursday, April 24, 2025 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room and over Zoom. Information on how to log onto the Zoom meeting can be found in the agenda. ASL interpreters will be in the meeting for the deaf and hard of hearing. The materials for this meeting will be available on the town website later this week.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room and over Zoom. Instructions on how to access the meeting remotely can be found in the agenda. ASL interpreters will be in the meeting for deaf and hard of hearing members of the public. The materials for this meeting will be posted on the town’s website by the end of the day.
The Brattleboro RTM Finance Committee will meet on Monday, April 21, 2025 at 5:30pm in the Hanna Cosman Meeting Room.
I won’t be doing the usual transcription-style tonight. It’s too many meetings to type that much. But I will watch and give you highlights. And I’ll make a rare pitch – if you’d like to make a donation to help underwrite all of this, it does help. On to the show.
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First off, they instituted a new sign up per topic list for those in the room, adding another level of confusion/intimidation for members of the public who must now anticipate what will be said and if they might like to respond.
