For stories pertaining to the town of Brattleboro at large and its government.
The Brattleboro Parking Department would like to announce the lifting of the winter parking ban. Starting 04/13/16, at midnight, overnight parking will be allowed on all streets EXCEPT in the downtown area. The following streets are never available for overnight parking:
Main Street
High Street
Elliot Street (from School St to Main St)
The following dates have been scheduled for Brattleboro’s curbside Spring Leaf Collection. Whereas in the past leaf pickup was determined by scheduled day of rubbish pickup, all locations will be picked up each Friday:
Leaf Pick Up Date
ALL RESIDENTS Friday, April 22, 2016
ALL RESIDENTS Friday, May 6, 2016
All leaves and clippings must be in brown paper leaf bags and at the curb by 7:00 a.m. on scheduled leaf collection days. Acceptable waste…leaves, grass, clippings, garden waste, twigs, no branches larger than 1″ in diameter and 2 feet long. No other household trash is to be included.
The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee will meet on Monday, April 11, 2016, at 5:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.
The Brattleboro Arts Committee will meet on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 4:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.
The Brattleboro Tree Advisory Committee will meet on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 7:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.
Are you interested in the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians on Brattleboro’s roads?
Are you interested in road projects in Brattleboro that relate to bicyclists and pedestrians?
If so, please plan to come to Brattleboro: Safer Streets Forum on Thursday, May 5th at the River Garden from 5-7:30.
The goals of the forum are three-fold:
The Brattleboro Selectboard put off the formation of a new promotion committee. It was a suggestion of the Arts Committee and got mixed reactions from the board.
The Town Manager outlined a series of current and next steps for the police and fire facilities projects, currently moving full steam ahead. The board played a version of Match(ing Grant) Game with the Bradley House project, the end of weekly trash bag pickup was previewed, and more.
Dick DeGray will be sworn-in and the Brattleboro Selectboard will be discussing next steps for the Police and Fire facilities projects at the board’s next regular meeting on Tuesday.
They will also discuss Bradley House renovations and expansion plans, the possibility of forming a Town Promotion Committee. the upcoming change to every other week trash bag collection, numerous grants, and more. You can also bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation. Watch it all on BCTV, attend in person, or read about it here after it is over.
The Brattleboro Energy Committee will meet on Monday, April 4, 2016 at 5:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.
The Brattleboro ADA Advisory Committee will meet on Friday, April 8, 2016 at 11:15am at the Marlboro College Graduate Center in the VCIL conference room. PLEASE NOTE – This meeting will not begin at the usual time, the meeting will instead begin at 11:15am.
Town Clerk Annette Cappy presided over the swearing in of two out of three newly-elected Brattleboro Selectboard candidates – David Gartenstein and Kate O’Connor.
The newly sworn-in board members, along with John Allen, chose officers for the coming year. They are the same as last year: David Gartenstein will Chair, Kate O’Connor will be Vice Chair, and David Schoales will be Clerk.
David Schoales was not in attendance. Neither was Dick DeGray. There was no explanation for anyone’s absence.
Two school buildings stay warm with local, renewable heat from wood
BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT: The Academy and Esteyville school buildings in Brattleboro are the first public buildings to participate in the Windham Wood Heat Initiative by switching from fossil fuels to locally sourced wood pellets to heat their buildings. Academy School’s switch will reduce the school’s oil use by 15,000 gallons and generate $50,000 a year in positive economic impact for southern Vermont’s economy. Esteyville will cut oil consumption by 1,100 gallons and contribute $3,700 a year to the economy.
“We’ve got a quiet system providing an even heat and it’s been keeping our building warm,” said Andy Paciulli, principal of the 355-student elementary school. “A bonus is that many of our students are learning about the importance of reducing our carbon footprint and decreasing our use of non-renewable resources. Heating with wood pellets has helped to deliver that lesson to our young learners. I expect we’ll realize the cost savings which should be significant for us and the taxpayer.”
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special organizational meeting on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 at 5:30pm in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center. A revised agenda and an administrative report are attached .
Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special organizational meeting on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 at 5:30pm 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, March 28, 2016 at the Brooks Memorial Library in the community room.
Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100
In a stealth vote in the final moments of Representative Town Meeting today, fairly new RTM member Dylan Mackinnon of District Two proposed the following non-binding resolution:
“I move that the town change, in reference to the second Monday in October, as Indigenous People’s Day in place of Columbus Day.”
K. Daims attempted an amendment to have the Selectboard bring this proposal to a town-wide resolution, but the amendment was defeated 28 to 43. The proposal passed overwhelmingly, though the exact vote was obscured by a vast WHOOSH! of indigenous spirits flooding the room with silent whoops and hollars.
Brattleboro is restructuring the way town employees are compensated for health care. A new program to fill the gaps of higher deductibles might end up saving taxpayers $30,000 a year while continuing to provide a solid level of coverage for employees.
The decision of the recent special Representative Town Meeting to move the police station to Black Mountain Road has been incorporated into the budget to be presented at the regular Representative Town Meeting, Bradley House might be renovated and expanded if a new package of grants is approved, the town will buy new police cars, and Donna Macomber had a final regular meeting with the board.
Strolling of the Heifers and SEON — the Sustainable Energy Outreach Network — are partnering to present a workshop to explore collaborative opportunities between businesses in the farm, food, green building and green technology sectors.
The meeting will take place on Tuesday, March 29 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden, 157 Main Street, in Brattleboro.
The event is the second workshop in the Windham Grows series — the first was “Tech Salad,” which brought together farm, food and technology entrepreneurs on March 3.
Like Tech Salad, the March 29 event will be facilitated by Nadav Malin, president of Building Green, Inc., a Brattleboro consultancy that gathers, organizes and publishes information about green building technologies for building industry professional and policy makers.”
By a vote of 111 Yes to 27 No, Brattleboro Town Meeting Representatives have decided to move the police station to Black Mountain Road.
This approves the concept. At their regular Representative Town Meeting later this month, representatives will vote on the budget that contains this option. That budget, and other business, remains to be approved.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will incorporate the decision of Town Meeting Representatives into their annual budget suggestion at their next meeting on Tuesday at the Municipal Center, adjusting levels of anticipated debt service payments for facility projects depending on the outcome of the vote.
The police will get police cars, the substation at Cotton Mill Hill may be upgraded, and Bradley House might be expanded and improved. They’ll also revise the town’s health insurance program for employees. You can participate in person or watch on TV, and you are free to bring up other items that aren’t on the agenda during Public Participation.
The Brattleboro Arts Committee will meet on Tuesday, March 15, 2016, at 8:00am in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.
The Brattleboro Traffic Safety Committee will meet on Thursday, March 17, 2016, at 4:00pm in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center.
Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100
Richard DeGray will once again bring his special grace to the Brattleboro Selectboard. The Brattleboro Reformer reports a hand count of ballots has flipped the election results, giving DeGray one additional vote and diminishing Avery Schwenk’s count by 8. http://www.reformer.com/ci_29622449/brattleboro-recount-select-board-flips-results
Previously it was reported that Schwenk had won by a single vote: 1,505 to 1,504. The new count is 1,505 for DeGray to 1,497 for Schenk: A virtual landside for the popular former Selectboard Chair.
I just read on the Reformer Facebook page that Dick Degray won the election. He won an additional vote and Avery Schwenk lost 8 votes. It will be interesting to hear more about the process.
