Isaac Evans-Frantz is running for a one year seat on the Brattleboro Selectboard.
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Tell us a bit about yourself. Who are you and why are you running for a one year seat?
I was born and raised in Brattleboro, and I love this community. The gap between rich and poor, the opioid crisis, and the housing shortage are hurting us. We all want a community where we can earn a living wage, put food on the table, and let our kids play outside without fear of drugs or violence. We need a selectboard member who listens and helps us achieve a stronger Brattleboro. I will bring energy, hope and determination to the Brattleboro Selectboard.
My team has been knocking on doors all over Brattleboro. Residents are telling us they are concerned about the selectboard’s proposed property tax increase of more than 12%, drug trafficking, and lack of shelter for people who are sleeping out in the cold. We need a selectboard member who listens to residents and brings people together for a stronger Brattleboro, for policies that actually work. I was born at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, graduated from BUHS, and am deeply committed to the people of Brattleboro. I have brought people together across political divides nationally and achieved policy change. I’m ready to do that in Brattleboro.
Is there any particular issue that is motivating you to run? Why did you gather signatures?
I actually gathered more than 120 signatures, which is four times as many signatures as I needed. The divisiveness in our country and the suffering in our community have inspired me to run. I have good listening skills and the ability to build coalitions between people. I have brought groups of people together – Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Progressives, and independents – for a better economy, more jobs, and peace, and gotten bills through a divided Congress. I’m ready to do that kind of work to build bridges between people here in Brattleboro.
When you elect me, I’ll work to:
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Spend Wisely: Create a budget that taxpayers can afford.
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Keep Us Safe: Give our community tools to stand up to drug traffickers.
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Save Lives: Uplift local solutions to support and shelter our neighbors.
How would you quickly describe Brattleboro to someone who has never been here?
Brattleboro is the best small town in the world to me, full of natural beauty and neighborliness. We have a vibrant arts community, a strong network of farmers and local food producers, and people with a can-do spirit. Brattleboro is a compassionate community and has recently welcomed new Americans – refugees, immigrants and asylum-seekers – and it has a visible and active LGBTQIA+ community. There is, of course, a diversity of viewpoints but it is clear that people here care about our community.
What problems do you see at the top of Brattleboro’s list in 2025?
– The selectboard’s 12.5% tax hike is too much. My paycheck is not increasing by 12%. It’s not even increasing by 3%. The board created this budget with total disregard for the Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee’s input. This is why I spoke out at the January 21st selectboard meeting and asked them to disapprove the budget. When you elect me to the Brattleboro Selectboard, you can count on me to take the Finance Committee’s concerns seriously. If the town manager comes to us with a proposed tax increase in the double digits, I will look at the most expensive items first (personnel) when considering cuts. I’ll also look at the impact of decisions on future budgets and be transparent about that impact. When something is not right, I will vote against it.
– The housing shortage, combined with high taxes, and high rent, make it difficult to afford to live here. With new federal policies that spell uncertainty, we need a paycheck protection program, and that includes trimming our Town budget without eliminating critical services.
– The opioid epidemic – fueled by both greedy pharmaceutical corporations and big-time drug traffickers – has brought pain to many of our lives and is wreaking havoc in Brattleboro. It’s literally ruining people’s lives and tearing families apart. Our community needs more tools to stop trafficking in our neighborhoods.
– Vermont’s growing gap between rich and poor. I was born at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital 42 years ago, the wealthiest Vermonters have been getting wealthier while the lowest-income Vermonters have been getting poorer. This strains our society and lowers our life expectancy.
– The climate crisis will continue to impact Brattleboro, likely with more flooding, and we will need to prepare, mitigate, adapt and respond.
What are your priorities? Have any new ideas for solving any of our problems?
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Fiscal Responsibility: We need to create a budget that taxpayers can afford, and we need to plan ahead. I spoke out at the January 21st selectboard meeting where I encouraged the board to take the guidance of the Finance Committee, and encouraged the selectboard members to disapprove of the proposed budget in light of their complete disregard for the recommendations of the Finance Committee. The selectboard has a job to do. It’s not always going to feel great to people to think about the possibility of cutting positions, but some of those positions haven’t even been filled, some of them are new positions, and we need to be willing to look at everything, and to first start by looking at the biggest expense in our town: personnel. This includes new positions, unfilled positions, and raises for department heads. I’m also concerned by the December 16th auditor’s report that raised some serious concerns.
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Safety: I’m troubled by the 16% increase in calls to the Brattleboro Police Department for assaults, burglaries and other serious offenses, from 2023 to 2024. Our community needs stronger tools to stand up to drug traffickers. So many tenants, neighbors and property managers have told me stories about drug traffickers taking over vulnerable residents’ apartments and making life miserable for tenants and neighbors. I am calling for a Vermont state policy change that makes it easier to enforce the rights of law-abiding tenants and neighbors and have discussed this with Rep. Ian Goodnow.
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Shelter: Support local solutions to shelter our neighbors. Specifically, we should open an emergency winter shelter when it gets below a certain temperature. In my own life, growing up in Brattleboro, neighbors were always important. We depended on our neighbors when we needed support. When I was a baby, and we were living in a building with no insulation, and were cold in the winter, our neighbors took us in. They sheltered us. They fed us. Now, in 2025, while other communities around Vermont have opened emergency shelters for unhoused residents when the temperature drops below a certain level, Brattleboro has not. We should make that happen. We should listen to service providers and do our best to fill the gaps.
What impresses you about Brattleboro – why be here? What are our strengths and how can we tap into them?
After I finished school I moved away for work, but my spouse Derrick and I returned to Brattleboro for family, community, and the natural beauty. I love this place. Our location at the confluence of the Connecticut and West Rivers, the creativity of people in our community, the educational institutions here, our proximity to other places, our vibrant downtown, our library, our schools and hospitals – these all are awesome assets of our town.
Let’s build on our strengths: We have an impressive arts community, a strong network of farmers and local food producers, and people with a can-do spirit. Brattleboro is a compassionate community and has recently welcomed new Americans – refugees, immigrants and asylum-seekers – who bring skills, energy, and new businesses.
We need win-win solutions to make life better for downtown residents and visitors, and build on success. Take the Brattleboro Food Co-op as an example. The Co-op had been experiencing frequent shoplifting and customers being harassed. An employee then started connecting with unhoused community members, offering slices of pizza, distributing cold drinking water in the summer, and hot coffee in the winter. Soon the rate of shoplifting fell from four or five thefts per day to fewer than one incident per week. We need this sort of collaborative approach in municipal policy-making as well, that focuses on resident and visitors’ basic needs, including safety and security.
We can support mutual aid and community-led responses to extreme poverty like the distribution of hot meals and essentials like first aid and medical supplies by Ian and April, a local couple that had been living out of a tent and that now has a newborn baby and is utilizing the motel voucher program.
Strolling of the Heifers used to have a food entrepreneurship incubator program. It was great in placing folks in local restaurants before COVID. But Brattleboro business leaders have told me that food service is struggling right now. Let’s work with local businesses to see where they have gaps and how to link people who are coming out of homelessness with those gaps. We have a labor shortage in our state, and yet we have people who need work. Let’s link unemployed residents with local jobs regardless of their history.
When you think of the future, how do you see Brattleboro?
I see growth and improvement in Brattleboro’s housing stock. I support implementation of the Brattleboro Housing Action Plan, including: Work with developers to increase the supply of quality and diverse housing in Brattleboro. Create new funding sources and strategies to create and rehabilitate affordable and middle-income housing. And support residents in their efforts to find and retain quality housing. As a homeowner and landlord myself, I believe in tenant protections, including guardrails on rent increases.
How do climate issues figure into your vision?
I will work to protect against flooding of the Whetstone Brook and invest in the next generation. Through long-term planning, and cooperation between multiple entities, Brattleboro has made positive investments like the Whetstone floodplain restoration project across from Williams Street. Protect Brattleboro against future floods by making further investments in areas along the Whetstone Brook. Leverage existing resources to reduce climate emissions and protect the most vulnerable residents by advancing Brattleboro’s current sustainability initiatives.
12.1% seems like an enormous property tax increase for taxpayers. Thoughts?
Yes, this is too much. I am also concerned by the process that got us here. We need to protect Brattleboro renters and homeowners and ensure people can afford the rent and property taxes. Most residents’ incomes are not keeping up with the property tax increases. The Brattleboro Selectboard in 2024 and again in 2025 refused to consider long-term budget costs when creating new positions and large-scale capital investments. In looking at where to cut expenses, we should first look at vacant positions, and construction projects we have not yet started, and then at executive-level pay and proposed raises.
Could we get better budgets if we reversed our current system and instead had Representative Town Meeting create the town budget and let the Selectboard approve it?
This is an interesting idea, but I actually think that what we need is a shift in culture rather than process. Representative Town Meeting elects a finance committee. The selectboard should consider what the finance committee has to say to increase the chances that Representative Town Meeting passes the budget. Representative Town Meeting is elected by the people of the town, and is a politically diverse and vibrant group of people. Recently, the selectboard has declined to follow any of the finance committee’s recommendations. At a time of major setbacks to our democracy nationally, we need a new selectboard member who will stand up for democratic culture locally.
Do you expect the advisory vote on human services funding to give you good feedback? Was it smart to limit the question to human services funding and not other parts of the budget, say staffing or program cuts?
It was a mistake to focus exclusively on this relatively small part of the budget. Personnel represents the majority of the budget. When the federal government can no longer be relied upon to support critical services for life-saving programs in our town, this is not the time for the selectboard to be targeting the 2% of our town budget that helps our town to meet people’s basic needs and provide essential services
In your view, would it be better to have a central indoor location for people to use needles for drug injections, or should we keep things as they are currently (ie, any locations around town, out in the open)?
We should see how the overdose prevention center works out in Burlington, learn about its impact on both people who access the center and the neighborhood, and then move forward from there.
Are you satisfied with Brattleboro’s support of its farming community? What’s working and what can we do better?
I love how excited Brattleboro residents get about our agricultural heritage and community. I was just bragging to someone about the Holstein Association USA, the world’s largest dairy cattle breed organization, being based in Brattleboro. You can listen to my recent interview with Jenny Nelson, a long-time Vermont dairy farmer, and Sen. Bernie Sanders’ former agricultural advisor: https://tr.ee/oAHpJC5ya3
As a child I sold products my family grew and produced (vegetables, flowers, maple syrup) at the Brattleboro Area Farmers’ Market. I have been spending a lot of time at the Winter Farmers’ Market connecting with vendors, farmers and food producers. Every dollar that we spend locally is an investment in our community.
Are you satisfied with public engagement in town matters? Is local democracy strong?
There is no other state in America with a higher percentage of residents that reports frequently discussing political, societal or local issues with neighbors (Vermont Civic Health Index, p. 34, Vermont Secretary of State’s Office). This is such an important attribute of our communities.
When it comes to the Brattleboro Selectboard, I’d like to see it have more deference to Representative Town Meeting, which is significantly larger and more politically diverse. The selectboard should listen to what the Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee has to say, and work to honor its requests. And it should respect the decisions Representative Town Meeting makes.
In 2024 the selectboard voted narrowly for an ordinance that reiterated expectations for conduct downtown and established new penalties for infractions. It also punished landlords for more than three calls to the police for a building in a three-month period. The selectboard’s ordinance was created without buy-in from providers of services required by the ordinance, and without looking at unintended consequences in towns where similar ordinances were enacted. After hearing reasons for and against the ordinance, the Representative Town Meeting overturned it, but the selectboard keeps pushing it. People in power repeating votes until they get the results they want – that’s not democracy. To build unity and consensus, the board and Town management can secure support from a wider variety of key stakeholders before bringing forth policies for votes. Board members and Town administrators can individually meet with community groups and leaders that are expressing concerns about proposed selectboard policies. The board should seriously consider the input of people whose lives and work will be most affected by their policies.
This is the first year in recent memory that every single seat for Selectboard and Representative Town Meeting is contested. Let’s harness this energy to shape positive change in our community!
The Community Safety Review Committee recommended, generally, that we should aim to reduce policing and increase human services in Brattleboro. Do we respect the work of committees?
Our current selectboard has not respected the work of committees. This is evident with the Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee. It’s also evident with respect to the Community Safety Review Committee.
In my September 3, 2024 commentary in the Brattleboro Reformer, “Brattleboro Select Board: Respect taxpayers, follow through on Community Safety Plan,” I detailed the extensive investment that went into that report and accompanying recommendations. I also described how the selectboard essentially decided to abandon that report. I wrote, “As taxpayers, Brattleboro residents trust in our Select Board to oversee and care for our resources. Abandoning the hard work and investments we’ve made as a community is not a sustainable path forward…. It’s imperative that we respect our community’s efforts and ensure that our resources are used as intended — to foster safety through community-based initiatives. We cannot afford to disregard the thoughtful, community-driven work that has already been done.”
What specific policy changes do you have in mind for making it easier for police, town administrators, and landlords to handle drug dealing in residences?
Brattleboro has had an issue with drug trafficking since I was a child here. But the opioid crisis has taken it to a new level. I’m concerned by the 16% increase in calls to the Brattleboro Police Department for assaults, burglaries and other serious offenses, from 2023 to 2024. Our community needs stronger tools to stand up to drug traffickers. So many tenants, neighbors and property managers have told me stories about drug traffickers have taken over vulnerable residents’ apartments and made life miserable for the tenants of the building. I am calling for a state policy change that makes it easier to enforce the rights of tenants and neighbors who are experiencing the effects of drug trafficking in their communities.
I’ve spoken about this topic with the Brattleboro Police Chief Norma Hardy, Vermont State Rep. Ian Goodnow, and with landlords, with tenants, and with neighbors. It’s why I’m reaching out to Governor Scott’s staff asking him to come to Brattleboro. I am calling for a policy change that makes it easier to enforce the rights of law-abiding tenants and neighbors to safe residences without the fear of violence from drug trafficking. We need a state policy change to make it easier to keep drug trafficking out. Specifically, it needs to be easier for our community to say, you know what, you’ve taken over someone’s apartment in our building, and we need you to leave, and not come back. Right now we have abusive visitors who are terrifying neighbors – older adults, children, people with disabilities – and the people who live there have to endure months upon months of fear before they’re able to fix the problem. We need to make sure that tenants receive the information and support they need to take steps to address the problem in their residence. We also need a Vermont state policy change. Tenants and neighbors and landlords need to be able to say, “You know what? Your trafficking is not welcome here anymore,” and then that needs to be enforced.
Recommend some books, movies, and/or music for us…. what is interesting you lately?
I have two books here beside me on my desk, both written by authors I met in Brattleboro. One is Pioneer Species, a book of poems by Ross Thurber (the husband of one of the other competitors in this selectboard race), and the other is Mundo Cruel, a book of stories from Puerto Rico’s gay community, by Luis Negrón.
Something I’ve been enjoying this winter is Memorial Park – skiing, sledding, and ice skating. I just learned about the backcountry cross-country ski trails at the top of the park and had fun skiing up there.
Is there anything you’d like to mention that hasn’t been asked?
Here are a few more things I’d like to tackle when you elect me to the Brattleboro Selectboard:
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Protect against flooding of the Whetstone Brook and invest in the next generation. Through long-term planning, and cooperation between multiple entities, Brattleboro has made positive investments like the Whetstone floodplain restoration project across from Williams Street. Protect Brattleboro against future floods by making further investments in areas along the Whetstone Brook. Leverage existing resources to reduce climate emissions and protect the most vulnerable residents by advancing Brattleboro’s current sustainability initiatives.
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Build Confidence in Brattleboro Town Government. We all need clear information. The new parking payment system is a great example of the need for clear communication from the Town of Brattleboro. One simple idea: Ensure that every household receives a postcard with a link to a webpage to receive Town updates.
What’s the best way for voters to reach you?
I welcome your ideas and support at Team@IsaacForVermont.com. Learn more at IsaacForVermont.com.
