The Brattleboro Selectboard will discuss a plan for the “Fire-EMS Transition Project” which promises multiple opportunities for the public to weigh in with comments and opinions in the coming months.
They will also add Juneteenth to the official holiday schedule, adjust the cemetery ordinance , change the Agricultural Loan Fund, and more. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation. But keep it short, you pesky public! : )
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Brattleboro Selectboard will meet on Tuesday, May 2, 2023 at 5:15pm to conduct committee interviews with prospective appointees to the Citizens’ Police Communications Committee in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Brattleboro Municipal Center at 230 Main Street. The Selectboard will reconvene the business part of the meeting at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Municipal Center at 230 Main Street. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Board is expected to enter immediately into executive session to discuss contracts and labor relations agreements with employees. The public may also participate in the meeting over Zoom. The attached agenda contains information on how to access the meeting remotely, including the required “passcode.” ASL interpreters will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members.
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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BRATTLEBORO SELECTBOARD
TUESDAY, MAY 2, 2023
SELECTBOARD MEETING ROOM + ZOOM
COMMITTEE INTERVIEWS – 5:15PM
EXECUTIVE SESSION – AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE MEETING
REGULAR MEETING – 6:15PM
The physical location for this meeting will be the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Municipal Center at
230 Main Street.
If you join the meeting from your computer, tablet, or smartphone, please use this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86067892659
The “Meeting ID” for this meeting is:
860 6789 2659
Passcode: 12261753
You also can call in using your telephone
by dialing any of these toll-free numbers in the United States:
833-548-0282
877-853-5247
888-788-0099
833-548-0276
(*6 Mute/Unmute – *9 Raise Hand)
The meeting also will be carried live on BCTV:
On Cable TV: Channel 1079
Streaming Online: https://www.brattleborotv.org/channel-1079-livestream
Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/brattleborotv
AGENDA
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
1. CONVENE REGULAR MEETING (6:15 PM)
2. APPROVE MINUTES – April 18, 2023
3. CHAIR’S REMARKS
4. MANAGER’S COMMENTS
5. SELECTBOARD COMMENTS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS
6. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION (6:25 PM)
7. NEW BUSINESS (6:40 PM)
A. Fire-EMS Transition Project Plan – Discussion (6:40 PM)
B. Include Juneteenth on the Town’s Municipal Holiday Schedule (7:00 PM)
C. Cemetery Ordinance Change – First Reading (7:15 PM)
D. Agricultural Loan Fund Changes/Improvements – Authorize (7:35)
E. Committee Appointments (7:55 PM)
8. CORRESPONDENCE/FYI
A. Warrants
9. MEETINGS
See Town Calendar
10. ADJOURNMENT (8:00 PM)
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MEMORANDUM
To: Selectboard
From: John Potter, Town Manager
Re: Administrative Report
Date: April 28, 2023
———————————————————————————————————————————–
The following will summarize the proposed motions for the regular Selectboard meeting on
Tuesday, May 2, 2023. The Board will convene the regular meeting at 6:15pm in the Selectboard
Meeting Room and on Zoom. All times listed below are approximate, and interested parties should
monitor the meeting if they do not want to miss an agenda item.
Join the meeting from a computer, tablet, or smartphone, using this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86067892659
The “Meeting ID” for this meeting is:
860 6789 2659
Passcode: 12261753
You also can call in using your telephone
by dialing any of these toll-free numbers in the United States:
833-548-0282
877-853-5247
888-788-0099
833-548-0276
(use *6 to Mute/Unmute, *9 to raise Hand)
The meeting also will be carried live on BCTV:
On Cable TV: Channel 1079
Streaming Online: https://www.brattleborotv.org/channel-1079-livestream
Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/brattleborotv
7. NEW BUSINESS (6:40 PM)
A. Fire-EMS Transition Project Plan – Discussion (6:40 PM)
In a memorandum dated May 2, 2023, Town Manager John Potter discusses the Selectboard’s direction, given to Town Staff at the March 21, 2023 Selectboard meeting, to pursue parallel tracks of information gathering, cost analysis, and risk assessment to develop a preferred alternative for service delivery models for Fire and EMS services. The memorandum outlines a project plan that includes eight opportunities for the public to provide input and express their opinion over the course of the next five months.
POTENTIAL MOTION: TO ACCEPT THE PARALLEL TRACK FIRE-EMS TRANSITION PROJECT PLAN, AS PRESENTED.
B. Include Juneteenth on the Town’s Municipal Holiday Schedule (7:00 PM)
In a memorandum dated May 2, 2023, Town Manager John Potter discusses the history surrounding the Juneteenth holiday and the Town of Brattleboro’s connections to that historic day. Staff recommends that all Town departments and offices henceforth observe Juneteenth as a municipal holiday and that the Town administer Juneteenth like any legal holiday with the closure of town offices, compensation of staff for the holiday, and any compensation for necessary work performed on that day, to be determined by collective bargaining agreements. The administration also recommends that Town staff’s IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility) Committee work with interested organizations in Brattleboro to develop a program for suitable public celebrations with a budget not to exceed $1,000.
POTENTIAL MOTION: TO RECOGNIZE AND ADD JUNETEENTH (JUNE 19) TO THE TOWN’S MUNICIPAL HOLIDAY SCHEDULE AND TO DEVELOP A PROGRAM FOR PUBLIC CELEBRATION.
C. Cemetery Ordinance Change – First Reading (7:15 PM)
The Selectboard is asked to conduct a first reading of proposed amendments to Chapter 19 of the Code of Ordinances: Brattleboro Cemetery Ordinance, Article 3: Rules of Operation, Section 19-8: Purchase and Payment of Plots and Lots, and Section 19-9: Burial Site.
POTENTIAL MOTION: NO MOTION IS REQUIRED ON THIS ITEM.
D. Agricultural Loan Fund Changes/Improvements – Authorize (7:35 PM)
In a memorandum dated April 24, 2023, Sustainability Coordinator Stephen Dotson asks the Board to consider approving the newly reformulated Revolving Agricultural Loan Fund to be renamed the Brattleboro Agricultural and Food Systems Revolving Loan and Grant Fund. In his memorandum, Dotson discusses the history of the Agricultural Land Protection Fund, as well as the changing needs of the community regarding farmland and food security as well as the various proposed changes to the Fund. The Agricultural Advisory Committee proposes transitioning the current Town Agricultural Land Protection Fund into a funding mechanism with a broader application for supporting healthy food and farm systems in Brattleboro.
POTENTIAL MOTION: TO AUTHORIZE THE NEWLY REFORMULATED AGRICULTURAL LOAN FUND.
E. Committee Appointments (7:55 PM)
The Board is asked to make appointments to the Citizen’s Police Communications Committee. There are six applicants for the two committee seats and so the Board will conduct interviews with all candidates at 5:15pm, before the meeting begins.
POTENTIAL MOTION: TBA
Fire-EMS Transition Project Plan
The name of this is another example of how the public perception is that the board and town have already made a decision and are just going through the motions on this.
Is Brattleboro considering bids from others to provide fire services? That would be interesting!
Why include the word “Fire” here unless it is a forgone conclusion that that is indeed where the EMS services will end up? Seems to be putting a finger on the scale… again.
Fire EMS transition – that assumes BFD is involved and EMS is transitioning to them. If so, stop the fake public input process and just do it and tell us all that you know better than we do.
The proper name for this agenda item, if there are truly some options, should be along the lines of “EMS Decision Timeline”.
Fire-EMS Transition Project Plan
Bravo, I think you nailed it.