The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold two public hearings to discuss a Charter Amendment. The first public hearing will be held on Friday, February 3, 2023 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Municipal Center (230 Main Street) and the second public hearing will be held during a scheduled Selectboard meeting on Tuesday, February 7, 2023 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard meeting room.
Jessica Sticklor (she/her/hers)
Executive Assistant
Town of Brattleboro
230 Main Street, Suite 208
Brattleboro, VT 05301
(802) 251 – 8115
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Warning for Public Hearings on
Town of Brattleboro Petition for a Charter Amendment
The legal voters and citizens of the Town of Brattleboro are herby notified that the Selectboard will hold two public hearings on a petition that the Town of Brattleboro has received for proposed Amendments to the Brattleboro Town Charter on Tuesday, February 3, 2023 at 6:15pm and Tuesday, February 7, 2023 at 6:15p.m. in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Brattleboro Town Offices, 230 Main Street.
The Town of Brattleboro has received one petition, proposing an amendment to the Town Charter pursuant to 17 V.S.A. §2645. The public is invited to the public hearing to discuss the provisions of the proposed Charter Amendments and to make comment thereon.
This warning of the Public Hearing shall be published in the Brattleboro Reformer and posted in 5 conspicuous places within Town.
A copy of each of the Proposed Charter Amendments is filed at the Town Clerk’s Office in the Town of Brattleboro for public inspection.
Voter – a person of full age who is a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Vermont and of the Town of Brattleboro who has taken the voter’s oath and whose name appears on the checklist of the Town of Brattleboro.
Article II. Shall the Town of Brattleboro amend its charter as follows:
Shall the Charter of the Town of Brattleboro, as amended, be further amended to provide protections for residential tenants from evictions without ‘just cause’, by adopting and adding a new section to read as follows:
(A) Residential tenants, as defined in Chapter 137 of Title 9 of the Vermont Statutes Annotated, shall be protected from eviction without ‘just cause,’ where just cause shall include:
(1) a tenant’s material breach of a written rental agreement,
(2) a tenant’s violation of state statutes regulating tenant obligations in residential rental agreements,
(3) non–payment of rent, and
(4) a tenant’s failure to accept written, reasonable, good faith renewal terms.
(B) This charter provision excludes from ‘just cause’ the expiration of a rental agreement as sole grounds for termination of tenancy.
(C) Exemptions to this charter amendment, include properties defined in Chapter 137 of Title 9, in addition to;
1. sublets
2. in–unit rentals
3. owner–occupied duplexes and triplexes
4. Accessory Dwelling Units on owner’s property
(D) A landlord shall not evict a tenant for the sole purpose of raising the rent. When rent increases are legitimate, the total rent increase, including consideration of operating expenses, maintenance expenses, capital improvements, and cost–of– living (CPI) adjustments shall not exceed 12% in any twelve–month period.
(E) The terms of this amendment shall not be binding on a landlord in cases where the tenant is effectively evicted by extreme weather or acts of God. Otherwise, a landlord may evict a tenant for purposes such as major required construction, lead remediation and abatement work, or housing a family member(s). However, the following restrictions apply to such evictions:
(1) If a comparable unit owned by the landlord is already available, or if such a unit becomes available before recovery of the rental unit, the landlord shall rescind the notice of eviction and dismiss any action filed to recover possession of the unit and offer the comparable unit to the tenant at the rate currently paid by the tenant
(2) If a non–comparable unit becomes available before recovery, the landlord shall offer the non–comparable unit to the tenant.
(3) If a landlord cannot accommodate the tenant, the landlord must pay one month’s rent as hardship and relocation assistance
(4) The rental unit must be offered first to the displaced tenant when the required repairs, abatement, construction or other work is complete, or when a family member moves out before a term of 36 months.
(F) The landlord seeking to recover possession of a unit must submit with the notice of eviction a notarized affidavit attesting to the need for the eviction, and when appropriate, the identity of the family member(s), and the intent of the family member(s) to have no other principal residence.
Evidence that the landlord has not acted in good faith may include, but is not limited to,
any of the following:
(1) The landlord or family member(s) for whom the rental unit was vacated did not move into the unit within three months of the recovery date and subsequently did not occupy the unit as a principal residence for a minimum of 36 consecutive months.
(2) The landlord rented the unit to a new tenant at an increased price exceedingly the yearly rental increase as allowed in section C of this Charter Amendment
(G) This legislation shall take effect upon approval.
(H) If any provision of this legislation is held to be unconstitutional or to be otherwise invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions, and they are held to be severable
