The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, January 29, 2019, in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Municipal Center. It is anticipated that the Board will enter into executive session at 6:00pm to discuss the employment or evaluation of a public officer or employee. The Board will reconvene the business meeting at 6:15pm. ASL interpreters will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members.
Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
230 Main Street, Suite 208
Brattleboro, VT 05301
(802) 251-8100
BRATTLEBORO SELECTBOARD
TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019
SELECTBOARD MEETING ROOM, MUNICIPAL CENTER
EXECUTIVE SESSION – 6:00PM
SPECIAL MEETING – 6:15PM
AGENDA
1. CONVENE MEETING
2. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
3. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A. Arts Fund Proposal
B. Town Meeting Warnings
Annual Town and Town School District Meeting on Tuesday, March 5,
and Annual Representative Town Meeting on Saturday, March 23
4. NEW BUSINESS – None
5. ADJOURNMENT
…
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MEMORANDUM
To: Selectboard
From: Peter B. Elwell, Town Manager
Re: Administrative Report
Date: January 25, 2019
The following will summarize the proposed motions for the Selectboard meeting on Tuesday, January 29, 2019. The Board will meet in executive session at 6:00pm to discuss the employment or evaluation of a public officer or employee. The Board will reconvene the business meeting at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room.
3. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A. Arts Fund Proposal
At the Selectboard meeting on January 22, 2019, the Selectboard heard a proposal from representatives of the arts community to provide an amount equivalent to 2% of the annual receipts from the Local Option Tax on Rooms, Meals, and Alcohol for use as an “Arts Fund” to be allocated to public art projects. The Selectboard requested more information, including identification of the entity to whom the funds would be provided. The artists did not ask for this funding to be included in the Selectboard’s proposed FY20 Budget (which was approved at the January 22 Selectboard meeting) but for the matter to be added as an article on the warning for the Representative Town Meeting to be held on March 23, 2019.
POTENTIAL MOTION: TO ADD THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE TO THE 2019 REPRESENTATIVE TOWN MEETING WARNING: TO SEE IF THE TOWN WILL APPROPRIATE THE SUM OF $8,424 FROM THE UNASSIGNED FUND BALANCE TO ESTABLISH AN “ARTS FUND.”
B. Town Meeting Warnings Annual Town and Town School District Meeting on Tuesday, March 5, and Annual Representative Town Meeting on Saturday, March 23
The Selectboard reviewed the draft warnings at the January 22 Selectboard meeting. The warnings that are attached to this memorandum and are recommended for Selectboard approval reflect the actions directed by the Selectboard on January 22 and the review and advice of Town Attorney Bob Fisher and Town Meeting Moderator Lawrin Crispe regarding the proper form and wording of Town Meeting warning articles in compliance with Vermont Statutes and the Town Charter.
POTENTIAL MOTION: TO APPROVE AS PRESENTED FOR [or … AS MODIFIED DURING] THIS JANUARY 29 MEETING THE WARNING FOR THE ANNUAL TOWN AND TOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT MEETING TO BE HELD ON MARCH 5, 2019, AND THE SELECTBOARD’S WARNING FOR THE ANNUAL REPRESENTATIVE TOWN MEETING TO BE HELD ON MARCH 23, 2019.
Watch it go!
10% for promotion, 2% for Arts, then maybe 5% for Energy, 8% for Recreation, 4% for Schools, 6% for Chris, 7% for you, 12% for skateboarders…
I’d love to see lots of money for all of the above, but raiding the Rooms & Meals tax revenue seems like the wrong way to do it. Sets a bad precedent, and wasn’t originally voted on to be used this way. Does the Selectboard really want to schedule a presentation by every group that has a proposal? It would be fair, but exhausting, and those in line first would have the advantage as the pile of money dwindles.
Why not, instead, use the newly proposed 1% local option sales tax purely for supporting good causes and schemes? Propose it as such. Enact it as such. Let everyone know it is not for reducing property taxes so much as it is for investing in extras.