The Brattleboro Selectboard held a rare listening session Tuesday evening. It was held at the Library and the topic the FY26 budget.
The board was quiet; some took notes as they heard from many community members responding to three pre-set questions which enabled a wide-ranging discussion and quite a few passionate, eloquent arguments for various desired outcomes.
(Apologies for names spelled wrong…. feel free to correct me!)
Preliminaries
The meeting tonight is at the Library. It is the Selectboard Large Print Edition!
They start, for the first time in a long time, on time. : ) (Sort of….)
….
6:15
Chair Elizabeth McLoughlin – There is a signup sheet for speakers, so signup for the sections of the agenda you’d like to speak about. It will help things go smoothly. We’ll start soon. (they pause)
6:21
Chair Elizabeth McLoughlin – thanks for everyone coming out. I really appreciate it. Thanks to the Library for hosting it. It is National Library Week and we are grateful and happy to be here. This is a warned meeting and regular business. There is a signup sheet and I have a list of people who signed up and more can sign up. I have a list of rules and regulations – from the SB Rules of procedure. Comment open to all members of the public, up to 3 minutes per person, Amanda will be the time-keeper, speakers will be first come fist speak but Chair controls overall, be acknowledged , wait your turn, no interruptions, can speak twice on something if Chair says so after others are done, no clapping or outbursts, no disruptions, and no party shall make personal attacks on anyone, or interrogate anyone without their consent. Last, the Chair will follow a process to address disruptions and restore order.
Amanda Ellis-Thurber – this yellow card means 30 sec, red means 15 seconds left.
Liz – Wendy Harrison wants to speak before we start.
State Rep Wendy Harrison – thanks. This is not an easy lift but Brattleboro is worth it. I had a conversation about transportation with a rep from Shelburne. She wanted to change the way things are – people want to be like Brattleboro. I just wanted to share that with you. Brattleboro has a good rep. I wanted to share that news.
Round 1
Liz – tonight we have a listening session and we on the board are in a listening mode. Comments will inform our deliberations. I have an agenda that begins with What values Do You Most Want To See Reflected in the FY 26 Budget?
Ken Fay – The values I’d like to see are multifold – compassion – nothing when it comes to numbers but a lot when it comes to helping others. I’d like it to focus on humans more than businesses. Humans that need help are more important to me. Another value – there was safety to me is for all people in Brattleboro. The people in need to me are those who are in ore dangerous situations than those who aren’t in need. I’d like the budget to help those to be safe. It’s not that safe living outdoors, without restrooms, etc. Finally, I want to plug the library – a value for learning.
Melissa – I gave a lot of thought to his questions. Number one is safety – not just for those of us housed – also those feeling unsafe – the community at large and those most vulnerable. I’d like to see infrastructure – roads – get more attention, and I’d like to focus on a compassionate and fair way to help the most vulnerable so that no one is resentful;. No us vs then. You have an opportunity to remind us that unity is important. We’re a community that cares for one another.
Mark Baxter – I live on Main Street – the board has a difficult issue of weighing compassion with safety and growth. In particular, the value of the historic downtown. We are in danger of losing it. I’ve lived on MainStreet for 3 years. I’m a liberal and want to help everyone. Tn years ago I got help. I’m all for a hand up. The town is confusing it with handouts. Ate we helping people or enabling them? We have people entrenched on the downtown street. More trash, litter, needles. I’m confronted by unstable people, addicts passed out in doorways, more assaults, more breaking, people being knifed – you know it is true. I’m in favor of compassion, but need to increase police and powers of police to patrol downtown. People downtown working and living are struggling. Businesses, residents and the town’s future will move across the river.
– how do you compare justice, truth and beauty. I survived painful situations through art. I spect time doing art therapy. I’m so happy to be here. Not to say art is best, but to say that I worked with poke who were criminals, throwaway people from all over the world in NYC on Staten Island. People well off, people living in the streets, murders, victims. They could be delusional. They’d start to paint and become completely absorbed. I’d learn to ask what;s going on, then they’d tell me the story of their life. It happened over and over – with children in the Bronx. Poetry and drawing. Of course we need police. Most homeless people are quite harmless. I don’t have the terror – it is sometimes overrated. The power of the arts is always underrated. Even people doing fine have a hinger to do art. It works! And to have it be the first thing that is cut – it is wrong. It can’t be the first thing that is cut. We came here, back tot he land, and are committed to the arts. It’s not a thrill. Thank you.
Arlene Distler – I’m seconding those thoughts on the arts. I want to encourage you to reinstate the town arts fund be returned to the budget. I have some figures from the last five years – TAF has received $154 applications, 53 were awarded grants. project foster joy and solidarity in the community -s need money for projects that wouldn’t otherwise happen. In the town report – page 106 – there is a full page photo of a mural on High Street. It wouldn’t have happened without the town arts fund.
Megan – Nuance in discourse and appreciation for diverse points of view. We have potential for respectful discourse that I’d like to see amplified. I’d like to amplify our solidarity – diversity, equity and inclusion – I see DEI in action in our current board and am appreciative of that. I value accessibility . Our quality of life means different things to each of us. As a parent and caretaker of an elder parent we should concentrate on quality of life. We can all play a part in that effort. Investing in social services that support youth, working people, non workers, and elders. Finally, the values of appreciation for nature and for the arts, particularly for children and those on a healing path.
Liz – Oscar reminded me of zoom – it will follow the in-house sheet of signups.
Megan S – I’d like to thank the library. My request is for the selectboard to emphasize programs that do the greatest good to the majority of taxpayers, rather than niche programs for a minority of residents. I have concerns about the top five human service items. Could I write to you about them? Thanks.
– I want the board to value what the voters said – the voters said they did not want the human services to exceed 2% and were concerned about crime. WE didn’t hear enough voices? You can only look at the data you have. Listen tot what the voter s said. If you listen to RTM, then you are ignoring what the people want, and what I want. I’m tired of coming to meetings. I say it, I see it, and people want to litigate it over and over again. Maybe we didn’t each the right people? Maybe we need an open forum? The data told us what it told us. People don’t want it over 2% and are concerned about crime. I speak for the majority. Listen to the voters.
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Michael Bosworth – I support a lot of values – safety affects everyone. The tough thing is we can’t afford everything. I’d like to mention the value of affordability. We are not a rich town. We can’t adjust easily to large tax increases. We get compared to town around us – Greenfield and Keene – but I did a lookup in the census and the city of Greenville is 13% higher median income than us. Keene is 64% of ours. We don’t need all the services they have. I want to plug for affordability in the budget.
John K – I don’t envy your job. The RTM did you a disservice – they didn’t give you direction or percentages that would be acceptable. When you consider it, look at the Charter – the duties of the selectboard are listed – the first 8 are about police fire and public works, and the 9th is “any other”… I urge you to remind yourself of that Charter commandment that talks about public safety and infrastructure first. Without that core functioning of the town, we can’t provide the other options people are talking about tonight. For the record I was willing to vote for the budget – it was the best we could do. We have to invest and make sure this town can survive. Downtown generates the vibe and the income and revenue for all the other programs.
Bob F – values – I think there are a couple of metaphors. If you try to build on a shaley foundation you will have a haley building. What is our fiscal responsibility to the town and are we correctly using the facilities the taxable provides to us. We have a habit of overextending ourselves. Where does that come from – we think of us as a fixed sum tax base – less local business contributing. A second metaphor -a vicious circle of chaos downtown and moving out of local businesses and depletion of a local tax base. If we can’t build on an astringent tax base we can’t help the homeless and others. can we turn it around and crate a virtuous circle? We attract new business – why don’t we have a clothing store in Brattleboro? How do we create a cycle where Businesses want to come to town?
– thanks – this is a hard question. I love Brattleboro. Lived here fr 30 years, went to BUHS and came back here as an adult. I wanted to walk into town. Ive walked in to town for 30 years. More important to spend it here than on Amazon. I support this town and I love this town and worry about it. I don’t enjoy walking downtown anymore. The joy is gone. I used to go down on Saturdays, but don’t do it anymore. I wouldn’t recommend this for young families. The town is not going in a prosperous direction. Downtown businesses are important to me. Without them, people are coming here. I want to value the needs of people who need help in the streets (I have addicts in my family) but we need more accountability for some of those folks. I don’t want toes all this money going to human services. I want a strong and fully funded police force and did vote for not 2% going to human services – I’d like to see less. maybe we can up it later when more money is coming into town. Infrastructure, too. The potholes are ginormous. And state funding. Look for state funding for services we want to provide. Our tax base can’t support it.
Peter Case – project your voice, please.
– This is difficult. Glad you are getting it done. I’d urge professionalism, planning and efficiency. Follow the town charter. Wow need safety, police, DPW. It’s a minefield out there. We need those things. I hope you are planning more than this budget – a multi year planning session – a committee to do it – looking 10 years out. We can’t let solid waste just pop up and have a 12% increase. Wow have new housing coming online… do we have staff to handle it. They will need more services. I like a hand up not a hand out. Wow give people 9 days of help for addictions – that is money misspent if it doesn’t help them? Maybe spend it in other ways? We need to look at efficiencies and look at what is really helping. And planning, we need to look at everything we do and what’s coming and what pitfalls.
Kate L – we’ve read the Lorax – I am the Lorax – I’ve heard voices speak about values – my two cents – to speak for human services. Taxpayers feel fear and trepidation. MY husband and I have lived in 6 different places, and abroad – everywhere – the place that make it nice is the people and how they treat people. Human services is about treating people as people. It should be efficient, and data drive, and data shows that’s coal workers are most efficient at helping children, adults… the police force is so present. It is not the only way to offer protection to the community. I can see how much it matters to be someone to be the only one to say “I”m glad you are here, how can I help you.” That matters more. A human life is incalculable. If you look at the deaths of people freezing in the snow this winter, look at how much is your dollar worth?
Scott – thanks for the work last fall with the community conduct ordinance. It wa sunder appreciated. I value a string and vibration downtown Brattleboro and I’m seeing lot less of it. I’m a dealer at Twice Upon A Time – I’ve seen things on Mian Street that would drive new businesses away – people yelling F-Bombs across the street – drug dealing in plain view on Flat Street. We will se a hollowing out if these things continue. I’m in favor of a string police presence in the downtown. Without it we’ll lose more of our tax base. I’m in favor of keeping the human services budget at or under 2%.
Deena – don’t we want ti all and want to help people – we are looking to you to do something. We need so many things. We need to help our people, but if you don’t have money… how can we undig our heels? How can more businesses pay for this rather than homeowners. The BRAT Team is doing a great job downtown and that’s a greta liaison between police and series. It’s a tough job. No bright ideas from me. But how can we get more revenue to pay for all the things we want. I read about the lawsuit the state is getting $22 million – so how can we get those funds for our town. You know someone who has an addiction problem. I do. My brother. We need to help people by finding the finds through the state. The Sackler Family funds – be a squeaky wheel.
Marta G – I was grateful when you asked this question – values – I want to say something a little bit different – I love Brattleboro so much. Friends visit. Marketers will ask you what your differentiator is? For me it was the Strolling of the Heifers. This is amazing. My values – the towns values? – Brattleborois an artistic, literary place , and a great place to raise kids and be outdoors. This is why a lot of us are here. I’d like to see these things reflected in the budget. The Finance Committee didn’t value any of the things – the library – the town arts committee (double it!). They did the murals! I’d like to see value for community groups – those doing things that want people to come here.
Susan Bellville – someone recently said to me that Brattleboro can walk and chew gum at the same time – we can be string on public safety and show the world that we can encourage businesses to come here because we fix issues that need addressing. No one area needs more attention, but if we don’t do town safety and infrastructure we won’t be able to tell businesses that we can provide a great community. This winter, I parking in Harmony Lot and watched people. I saw a family come back – kids were climbing on a snowbank and dads were having a great time. A street person got between them all and cut that fun time short. Dads were nervous, so they convince d the gentleman to move on and nothing happened, but this person then went over and engaged the two moms in a conversation in their car. They won’t be coming back downtown. It could have escalated. It’s not violence but people not respecting peace and staying on the right path.
Jane W – not a lot more to say other than I appreciated the affordability mentions. WE need to provide the basic things for people. I support having the police plans go ahead. I’m not against homelessness. We need to care of basic needs. In my years as an addictions counselor we need a range of solutions. People need to be arrested. I needed to be arrested. Some people need a hand up. Some people need Turning Point. Some people are cons. Some people appreciate help. There is not one answer to what is going on, so just because we disagree we wren’t morally superior. How am I going to be represented?
Liz – we have several more people who wan to speak to question 1. May have to go to 2 minutes for question 2.
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Jemma -equality, liberty and justice for all – equity and growth for today and for the future in rough climate area. I want a Brattleboro for all reflected in the budget. Look at the long term outlook – not a snow globe of sentimentality for a way of life that wasn’t;t welcoming to all, but what we know is coming – Raise you eyes to the horizon. We don’t have a problem of scarcity – in is an inequitable system and time for us to fix it. Town is in a critical state of disrepair. We must condense development to downtown. It must be affordable to live downtown without cars. Only by attracting new resident will we expand the tax base. If we can’t find the courage to do this we’ll fail ourselves, children and environment.
Ray, Mason, Avianna, (Library Advisors) – As teens we think it is important to fund a safe public environment open until 9 pm; we feel it important to buy materials that reflect all sorts of people and see all sorts of people represented in; providing accessible spaces for community events; and having youth and teen reps on the selectboard- the school board has teen advisors and give teen input on decisions. The library has a teen board. We think it would be good to have a teen speak for the youth.
Rachel D – I speak in support of returning the Town Arts fund and for humans services. Brattleboro is struggling to attract new residents so more middle income families, etc. In my experience talking to people who have moved here, I hear time and time again that the arts was the clincher for them. ‘ a licensed counselor and arts therapist . Arts can address conditions of despair. The arts play a critical role in giving voice to the voiceless. The arts are also an important part of making the community – bringing that joy back not the community – the murals are bring back joy and light. Human services – I see programs supporting young families and elders and we have lots of retirement age folks on fixed incomes. Services for young families are really important. lastly, under the current climate I see nationally and federally the support for human services are being defeated – like heating programs.
Hanna R – NUHS student -this budget situation is like a game of tetris – fitting blocks together but you will always lose in the end. I can’t express an opinion on all the points, because I’m not educated enough on morality. But arts and the library I am comfortable talking about – I am a child care worker and lots of families need to get out of the house. Some are homeschooled. The library is a great resource. Socialization is important and the library space is helpful. With art – some ays “my art defines me” – but we define an our art as we define our space and community. We need to support spaces to create arts. I am happy to see the murals. Someone might be selling drugs but I like the murals. I just turned 18 and have an opinion. I’ve only lived here 18 years and don’t own a house. I want to support Boomerang. I went on a college tour and someone knew about Experienced Goods. There is value placed on spaces we have. There is som much good helping here. I can’t talk about all of it because it is a game of tetris, but it’s my two cents.
Mark Y – For the new people, hi. I sit here listening to everything – where is the money coming from – us, the taxpayers. rents are too high? Why because we have to give it to people who want to spend it. So, starting with he downtown – you want that to come back? Make it inviting! Why do things cost too much? a 1 or 2% tax rate, renting spaces are too expenses? Why taxes? People move to New Hampshire. What will we do to bring people here… help them and hold their hand. We don;t do that at all here. The basics are – you want arts:? Make businesses thrive! I spoke tot he Town manager about having money on the budget. My grandfather lived here – we paved our own town roads – =we have the equipment. We can do our own asphalt. We could be putting it on arts or other things. You have to think that way. How are we going to save it? Then the old people live here. They can’t live here because rents are too high and taxes are too high, but I don’t see anything being done for old people. I’ve been here 59 years and it is the worse it has been in 15 years and you guys really have to pay attention to hep businesses grow.
Mel – I’d like to address – I want tome civility – people are threatening other people and are talking loudly during comments – (fuck off). I’m new to the area and want to have an informed opinion. We had our first meeting of the Finance Committee – we want to take emotions out of the equation, do multiyear planning, and be responsible about what you cut now vs later impacts. You are taking money from the revolving loan fund for the police sub station – it could hurt people in the long term. I’m surprised if the fixed bid is sustainable – material costs are going to be volatile. Values?? Prudence and future thinking and a lot of what we’ve said today it is police and human services again. RTM voted to keep it at 2%. Not something to focus on.
Sonya – I kept writing down more values – one is affordability around housing, and one thing is having a dent in the art community is the inability to find affordable rentals – we should not just have fancy high end housing. Diversity is a value of mine. I moved here 7 years ago. Friends said we were diverse… it would need to be intentional. The refugee pole have lost half their staffing. The value of nature and preparing for impacts of the climate crisis – the previous board made cuts there that were slat in the woulds. We could have more green space. Human services is important, but we need to have access to nature not by pushing them further into the woods but by dealing with the issues. Value is care – and caring for people. Last is that it is weird hearing people reading the dat – “More than 2%” got the most votes by a wide range and there is a lot of support. It’s just 2%. Let’s look at the other 98%.
Liz – zoom?
zoom
Jessica D – I grew up here in the 80s and 90s and returned to raise my daughter. because of that I do a lot with families and children. Loving stewardship of Brattleboro is my top value – infrastructure – public works is really really important. One way to do it is by lovingly caring for the infrastructure – Good roads, good walls, good flood prevention. Town Arts Fund are dedicated to free third space public programming for everything. I was able to host 11 dance parties – Boogie Down Kids. Don’t slash anything about the Library – it is invaluable. And Parks and Rec – some of the most equitable spaces in town. Memorial Park. They need staff for camps and make sure that infrastructure is tended to as well. Do deep dives about police and human services, but it is prudent to examine if we need to spend so much on law enforcement, maybe now pour as much as we can into infrastructure and public life. Dick’s Flowers as well. Then more people will want to be here. You can’t beautify a town by focusing on law enforcement, but you can by putting it into infrastructure, etc.
Amanda – folks on zoom – look at the broadcast so we’ll give you warnings on time…
Gerald S – values – one that hasn’t been mentioned is trust and transparency. I don’t admire the task ahead. You have an uphill battle against negative attitudes toward previous select boards with trust and transparency. Keep that top of mind. Also – support Library and Parks and Rec department – they should be considered as essential services as any other and not low hanging fruit.
(A short break)
Five minutes later.... Question 2
Liz – Okay, back to work.
Amanda – please kindly respect the timekeeping cards, so everyone can share. Yellow is 30 seconds left, and red is 15 seconds left.
Liz – I remind the crowd – we are now moving to 2 minutes each. What Topics Do You Want to See the Selectboard Do a Deep Dive On?
Melissa – I’ve heard a lot already said but there is one thing we don’t talk about a lot . With the hotel program and the disaster of and ending we are watching we need to hold Montpellier and Governor Scott more responsible. The state uses us like a potluck that never ends. That’s something that really needs to be addressed. There is so much division here. You don’t have to fix it, but this is a board that represents the values and community that we are, varied and respectful. I was grateful for how you treated each other during campaigns. You can foster us coming back together as a community. I love Brattleboro, everyone in the room does.
Bonnie – I’m a member of Centre Congregational Church – we collect $$ for many human service organizations. What I want a deep dive into is Groundworks being granted $75k. They should show how they take care and use that money. Groundworks asked many town properties if they would put up a portal potty. Centre Church did this but asked for a daily cleaning. It was forced on the church staff, and had to clean up the lawn. We won’t renew without a cleanup plan, and Groundworks should be responsible if they set up something
Kate O – I’d like atpughful conversation about what you are doing and why? Just the FY26 budget, or a continuation into the FY27 budget as well. We need to know how you are seeing the decisions you are making. Take a deep dive into how the budget is put together – what expenses comes from what pots, the special fund used to create reductions…. the question is how much money do we really have. I believe we are in a financial crisis. We need to know what you think about that, and honesty and transparency – some people think we need to do things we don’t have the money for and you need to be honest about it.
Meghan – I appreciate this question in particular. Like the first question, nuance is important. W are in a time of flux and evolution and need to get creative. The deep dive I’d like is to be creative, utilize community members, share your burdens – you are lacking staff – I encourage you to have more forums like this or other… do a deep dive on the decisions making of the unassigned find balance. How is an issue to do with staffing or culture downtown designated an emergency? Can you improve pin,uc communication about decisions? I’d like to join others who spoke to look for the known unknowns of the climate crisis. Looking at the unassigned fund balance, consider the known unknowns.
– I’d like a deep dive into the police sub station – I doubt it can be completed at that costs. You have the space and they fall behind in maintenance . Your retrofit costs will be increasing. There is no plan to repay the loan to the revolving loan fund. The finance committee will be looking at the way funds are being used. I also think this is a broader topic, and worth a deep dive on the continuation of care – who do the police pass people off to? You need continuation of care. The hospital and Retreat have programs.
Neil M – out in West B. I want to pas my house on to my kids. With the taxes the way they are I won’t be able to. My kids won’t be able to afford it. With this budget you are between a rock and hard place – not a lot of time for creativity with this budget. I voted for the entire budget but hated the 12%. You have a problem downtown. take care of that with the police. if you can reduce costs, great. But everyone expects you to do cuts. Next year you need to come up with ways to bring in. I saw an article that someone was caught speeding – the number has increased . That’s an income source for you. Coming down Western Ave at 50 mph from CT at Exit 2… that’ income.
Gemma – I general policy wish – to seriously consider a tax structure away from house value to land values – if you tax buildings, you get fewer small buildings. If you tax land values, land is a fixed part of nature that can’t be created or destroyed. You get more newer and better buildings per unit of land. You get greater capital investment. You remove the pressures of driving . Towns are green technology. We need to waste less energy. Change taxes to expand the tax base. the state sets some of it. Now is a time to make changes with a revised Charter.
Rachel D – look at creative solutions for bringing in more income beyond FY26. Look at the establishment of an insurance buying district with neighboring towns. Purchase municipal employee insurance to get a bigger group and lower cost. I’d like to see a dive into what it would cost to have municipal solid waste department. Casella has us over a barrel. And incentives for building owners to fill empty properties. Progressive tax on highest wage earners to shift some weight off of middle and lower income families.
Liz – Excellent. Question 3…
What Do RTM Members Most Want to See Changed In the FY26 Budget?
Liz – question 3.
Ken Fay – are you just asking RTM? OK. The changes that I would look for are probably not going to happen but I’d like to think about going back to Rescue Inc. Employees are going to lower the budget. The library is pennies vs dollars. So go back to Rescue Inc. The added police, in lieu of police, have a volunteer nicer Guardian angel volunteer group – everyone here loves the town. People would volunteer. if you had a group of people at the DBA office – anytime you need an escort a group would be there to help. Probably not carrying gifts. Probably won’t happen. Take care.
– I’m glad Mel brought up the substation. I was thinking the same thing. We have space on Main Street in the municipal center… doesn’t cost us $700k and so put that aside right now. Look at going back to Rescue. Try to get some clarity from fire EMS to get their expenses. I keep getting put off. We don’t know what it costs are. And he last thing is we do need to look at staff but consider the school district – teachers will take different increases to keep more staff. The department head increases should be looked at, too.
– Genna – Peter felt we weren’t giving any direction but voting it down. I’m not necessarily looking at a reduction – it is just that the priorities are out of line. I completely disagree with the expansion of the police e- the amount is too much. Maybe we should do some. We can’t get rid of trash pickup, or fixing roads. They are in the worst condition, which impacts me as a bicyclist. You have to build bike infrastructure before more bikes come. More for bike infrastructure.
Liz – thank you all for coming and staying. I appreciate the comments and ideas. I offer the mic to my colleagues for comments.
Isaac – I appreciate all who showed up and even stayed to the end, for caring about Brattleboro, and those at home. We’ve heard about safety, costs, concerns about neighbors and family members, equity, solidarity, taking care of our town, the love for Brattleboro – fear and excitement. One thing we can come together around is the desire for planning and fiscal responsibility and buoying trust. I look forward to looking more closely at Finance Committee recommendations to look down the road at future budgets – we need to know fit it will be 3% or 20% – the impact of our decisions today on tomorrow. Impacts of this year’s decisions on last year. Thanks to Oscar for proposing the listening session, and how it came together. That’s a strong community that cares. We’ll get through this budget process.
Oscar – thank you all for participating. I listened and have 7 pages of notes to look at. We’ll meet agin Thursday.
Amanda – – to the far left over here – themes – I was listening – transparency, themes, safety, parks, rec, library, business, nature, accessibility, freedom and unity for all. I appreciated the high schoolers come. Come to the meetings and push for influence. It is an honor to be here. It is a lot of fun.
Peter – it all boils down to a downtown everyone wants to utilize. Then there is less of an issue about being caught up at 2% level of funding. I supported it, but if we aren’t protecting our economic center, downtown, everything gets called into question. We figure it out n make the hard decisions and move forward and figure it out. This is not fun. This is hard, hard work. We’re not using cows out to pasture, lady. Anything I’ve done it town has been hard and everyone on the board has this focus.
Liz – I’ll see you all on Thursday. Thanks for coming.
quick transcripion
Hi cgrotke – I appreciate all of your efforts to transcribe! However, that quick transcription misrepresents what I was saying. I was also trying to speak quickly so I’m sorry for making it hard. My concern was that making the entire budget about human services vs. police is that if we forget about what makes this town great, one day it will just be a gray and personally-less place. So when Fish said at RTM “I don’t understand your values” (in relation to the budget) I think that was a positive statement of curiosity and I was glad to share what values I would like to see represented in our budget.
My first experience with Brattleboro was when we were looking for a place to live around Greenfield and we happened upon Strolling of the Heifers. As a former 4-H kid, and seeing at the joy, that is part of what made me want to be here. What differentiates Brattleboro from anywhere else is that it’s an art and literary town with great outdoor activities and is a good place to raise kids. The grid in the finance committee’s report about all the small cuts to the budget showed that what the selectboard chose to cut were things that make this town great. (Note: taking funding from children’s books at the library, eliminating the town arts fund that is so small – just $10,000, the bike lane project, environmental stuff, public transit stuff, stuff for kids, etc.).
The murals absolutely make this town vibrant and colorful, and in addition to our own home-grown and well-loved arts community we now have members of the Art Lords group from Afghanistan living here, which I particularly enjoy. My favorite is the mural they did on Canal St. on the side of Foodworks.
What I would love to see in the budget as a reflection of our values are community stuff (think of stuff like block parties or other things that support joy). Support for the Brattleboro Literary Festival, the Brattleboro Film Festival, the Northern Roots traditional music festival, the Harris Hill Ski Jump, and other things that bring people to town (who spend money) to see what is important here. To support and show off what we are proud of. To keep our town vibrant and show why this place is special.
In relation to other spending, this is small beans, but we can’t just talk about misery and safety and police when we talk about values. How about happiness, beauty, the natural beauty we are surrounded by and that feeds us (figuratively and literally).
I just wanted to remind us that we love this place, and some of the reasons why, which I think represents a good part of the values that the town as an entity has.
Thanks
I was typing fast and people were talking fast, so thanks for the fullness of your addition here… ; )
I don’t think of this as a transcription so much as a live blog. I’d always suggest going to the BCTV tape for the final word! And I love when people fill in the details after because I do not catch everything.