Chair Daniel Quipp was under the weather, so the remaining four members of the Brattleboro Selectboard boldy went forth approving the warnings for the Annual Town Meeting and the Representative Town Meeting.
The biggest news is that there will be an advisory poll on the ballot when voters go to elect representatives and weigh in on articles, asking what percentage of future town budgets should be spent on human services. There will be five options, ranging from zero to over 2%.
Preliminaries
6:17
Chair Daniel Quipp is missing.
Liz McCloughlin – Chair Quipp is under the weather.
Town Manager John Potter – a few things. Monday, the Town’s Clerk’s office will be closed during lunch hour. Petitions are all submitted for candidates. Voters may now request absentee ballots. In person early voting will begin during the week of Feb 18th. Need to test voting tabulators. Dog owners should have gotten renewal notices – if not contact us. Online, follow the instructions and claim your record for renewal. Snow tonight – 2-4″ – the overnight parking ban is in effect. 11- 7 am.
Franz Reichsman – I’ve been getting emails about th presidents decision to withhold funding for loans and grants that impact all sorts of services. I asked if anything would affect the town and probably not in the short term says the Town Manager. Other agencies in town might be, though. Need to plan responses to take care of people in the community. Let us know what is going on.
Richard Davis – on the radio a federal judge has held that up until Monday.
Franz – good news. If I were the president I’d say “him and what army?”
Kate O’Connor – normally I can leave a meeting go home and live my life, but last week there were comments that were bugging me. There was an implication that if you don’t support the budget you don’t support the police or town employees. I don’t like the budget but I support community safety – implying it is divisive. We need to work together to work on the challenges. I hope that you can’t assume that we don’t approve the budget we don’t approve of all the other stuff.
Ken – Franz brought up a question – he’s been getting phone calls and emails. In other parts of government, any correspondence was included in the packets so everyone could see. If Franz didn’t mention it, he wouldn’t have told the board or public. Is there any though on having information that the board gets from citizens to be put into the package for the meetings so everyone can see all the information.
Liz – we’ll review that and open meeting law and get back to you.
Consent Agenda
A. Appointments for RTM – Ratify
i. Town Clerk
ii. Town Treasurer
iii. Town Attorney
B. VTrans Utility Agreement – Approve $41,475 Agreement
C. Assign Ethics Liaison
D. Asian Cultural Center Parade Permit – Approve
consented 4-0
Warn Annual Town Meeting and Representative Town Meeting
Liz – so, JOhn…
John – this is bringing back what you discussed at the last meeting. We revised the annual town meeting and the RTM warning. The main changes to remind you – annual town meeting – we added article 3 with the wording changes and included articles 4 and 5 as written, and we included article 6 in the language you used late in the last meeting, but also, we have a slightly different article 6 (human services funding) – we consulted with he town clerk and town attorney, we came up with a different idea that is a little more exact as to where the feedback could go. It is an option to consider or go with what you discussed last week.
Liz – any comments about the annual town meeting – 1-5 articles? OK, let’s talk about article 6. As a social scientist, polling the public gives more information than the original. Thoughts?
Franz – I like it. I like the new article 6. It gives more information. Categories are mutually exclusive. We can add them together or look at different breakdowns. It does a good job of giving us information.
Liz – I agree.
Peter – the mechanism – I step into the voters booth and say let’s go back to less than 1% and Franz checks keep it as is, … etc. Do we take all of that, or so but if a majority want it served out that is what it will fall to? I like the polling option..
Liz – it is more nuanced than the others .
John – remember this is advisory to town meeting. Nothing binding. Just feedback.
Peter – ok.
Richard – so this is guidance for RTM to guide them. Why are we putting in “in future budgets?”
Liz – we want to know what the public wants in general for now and in the future.
Richard – so if no one brings it up this stays in place?
Liz – it is advisory and we’ll have the info this year and by adding the language we’ll know how they feel in future years?
Richard – this appears on the warning each year?
Liz – no – we can use the info year after year.
John – You have two articles about this – we were trying to use simple language to get at the advisory nature of this. This is feedback for them.
Liz – public?
Heidi –
Patrick – people at home don’t know what the new article 6 is…(there are 5 options ranging from giving zero, to less than 1%, or between 1 and 2%, equal to 2% or to more than 2% of the previous year’s budget.)
Liz – so, has everyone read it? Any other comments? Jackie? No we are discussing what is in your hand. So why don’t we discuss the annual RTM warning – these articles – then we I’ll come back for a vote on the election day articles.
John – this one is virtually the same as what you saw last week, with one change. Article 9 is now in a better order and has the numbers in it for the unassigned fund balance requests.
Liz – board? Content with the way it is presented? (silence as they read) hearing none…public? Any commentary on the articles for RTM on March 22?
Kate – I want to comment and ask – in the memo it gives two options about the unassigned fund balance spending – it can come from the unassigned fund balance or put in the FY27 budget. Two more options – don’t take it out, or put it in the budget and the budget fails… there are more than two options in the memo. My question is including it in the FY27 budget means it won’t be able to be spent until July 1st. You voted to do police stuff in Sept, and we can’t have the money until July 1, how are you paying for all this stuff right now?
John Potter – town attorney is here….
Bob – you’d pay for it as you have been paying up until now. If you end up the year with a deficit, how are you curing it? We recommend taking from the unassigned fund balance. If the article fails, you don’t take it from the fund balance, you might have a general fund deficit, but not an overall deficit. The law says if you are in a deficit situation you can add to your tax rate in multiples of 5%, you can seek a bond and borrow to retire a deficit, or you..can borrow in anticipation of taxes. I don’t see you ending up with true deficit. If it fails the general fund would be deficit but you would pay as you pay now.
Liz – great. Any other comments.
Richard – Bob, if the article fails we find the money somewhere else. If it fails it means RTM doesn’t want to pay for it, but the project will go forward?
Liz – it will continue – it is whether it gets assigned to the unassigned fund balance.
Bob – if you pass it and you cover it. If it doesn’t pass you end up your fiscal year with a deficit in your general fund. Your fund balance exceeds your liabilities in town. It doesn’t look as good ending the year in the red rather than net zero.
Liz – so it is an accounting function.
Bob – yes.
Liz – ready for a vote? Oh, back tot he March 4 Article 6 – any other comments… Jackie.
Jackie R – I am affected by downtown. I am an RTM member and on the finance committee. Going through the budget is confusing to those of us who have done it on a minor scale. I know that at this point our taxes have gone up and nobody likes it, but we shouldn’t interrupt the gains made with safety downtown, and some people are calling for it. As for article 6 and the vote – I am in favor. We don’t have any say about what goes into the human services… no say… so even this is good and I’d like more for more input and we need a vibrant downtown and part of the funding that could go to making a vibrant downtown it could come from the human services. We give more than half a million dollars. That money can go for our staff – that’s 8 jobs on our staff – our townspeople. If we don’t have extra money why are we giving it to charity. I can’t do that. If you have trouble balancing a budget and paying bills, giving money away doesn’t make sense to me. I’d not for zero. I think this is a bad time for us to continue giving the way we have been.
Tom F – thanks for the work on Article 6 – I didn’t expect multiple choice. It is a great option. People can tell you what they want.
Liz – the Brattleboro public is not shy about telling us what they want. If we are all set…
John – we have a suggested motion – you might want to address the change of article 6 and put it into the motion. Under staff recommendations….
Franz – we can read it as is and amend it, or read it as staff recommends… should we include the full text?
Bob F – with regard to that if you make your motion to adopt the warning without the amendment of article 6, then read it, it will get retyped for signature tomorrow, but what you have voted on is the formal warnings.
Franz – (reads a motion that includes the full text of “new” article 6.)
Peter – nailed it.
Amanda – thanks for the work on this and for the town wide vote. The services in the community do a lot of great work and there are ways to fund them without annual tax increases, such as an endowment. We have current budget issues that make it difficult to help.
Liz – ready to vote…
4-0
Liz – thanks, now what is left on our agenda? We need one more motion.
Peter – I motion I’m outta here we should adjourn.
Germane
The decision as to whether or not something is germane is often governed by the political position of the decider.
For example, if the matter for discussion is the form of a question as opposed to its substance, and individuals rise to defend the substance, irrespective of the form, and the chair agrees with that substantive position, you likely will not hear an objection that the discussion is not germane.The decision as to whether or not something is germane is often governed by the political position of the decider.
For example, if the matter for discussion is the form of a question as opposed to its substance, and individuals rise to defend the substance, irrespective of the form, and the chair agrees with that substantive position, you likely will not hear an objection that the discussion is not germane.