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Brattleboro Selectboard Special Meeting December 28, 2021- Possible Opioid Litigation Settlement

The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, December 28, 2021 at 6:15pm in the Second Floor Meeting Room at the Central Fire Station (103 Elliot Street) and over Zoom. Everyone will be required to wear a face covering and maintain social distance. The public is encouraged to participate in the meeting over Zoom. The Board will convene at 6:15pm and is expected to enter immediately into executive session. It is expected that the public portions of this meeting (before and after the executive session) will be very brief. However, as noted on the agenda, the Selectboard may take action upon adjourning the executive session and resuming the public session. The attached agenda contains information on how to access the meeting remotely, including the required “passcode.” 


Selectboard Meeting Notes – Peter Elwell’s Final Meeting, Mask Mandate Modified

peter elwell

It’s the final regular meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard for 2021, (if any meeting this year could be called “regular.”)

The board reconsidered the mask mandate, reviewed FY’23 matters, looked at annual audit results, considered financial reports, and bought some trucks and equipment repairs. More interesting to me, though, was that this was the last “regular” meeting for outgoing Town Manager Peter Elwell. That’s kind of where my thoughts are tonight, more than on budgets and such.

And, for that reason, I don’t plan to transcribe everything word for word tonight. Instead some thoughts…and a bit of the meeting.


Harris Hill Lights, Fireworks, Night Jumping Planned

On Friday, February 18, an evening of FREE festivities will be held to kick off the weekend and honor the fans as Harris Hill Ski Jump and The Brattleboro Outing Club celebrate their 100th anniversaries. The evening, which will run from 6-8 pm under the new lights, will include ski jumping competition, local food and beverages and a fireworks display. The Harris Hill Ski Jump and Brattleboro Outing Club were founded by Fred Harris in 1922.


Royal Road Sidewalk Public Meeting

The Brattleboro Department of Public Works will hold a Public Meeting on January 5, 2022 at 5:30pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room and on Zoom to discuss a project that will connect the sidewalk between Royal Road and downtown.


BCTV Schedules – Week of December 20, 2021

BCTV Channel 1075 schedule for the week of 12/20/21

Monday, December 20, 2021

5:00 am North Branch Nature Center – Drawing on Birds – Comics, Science, and Sharing Nature
6:10 am Northgate TV – Guided Meditation – A Grateful Heart 12/1/21
6:25 am Stories by Tego – Catania, Sicily – Scenes from the Feast of St. Agatha
6:30 am Vermont Youth Orchestra – A Fantastique Return 2021
7:52 am BUHS-TV – BUHS-TV News 12/14/21
8:00 am Democracy Now! – Democracy Now! Daily Broadcast


The Campaign Season Has Begun

When Senator Patrick Leahy announced his retirement recently he set off a political chain of events that marked the start of the campaign season. Leahy served almost 50 years in the Senate and he proved to be one of Vermont’s best political assets.

Rep. Peter Welch has served Vermont in Washington since 2007. He is the heir apparent to Leahy’s seat. There will be contenders for the office but it is clear that Welch will be the frontrunner and the person most prepared to represent Vermont in the Senate.


National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day Vigil

Dec. 21, the Winter Solstice, is National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day. The Vermont Workers’ Center, in solidarity with the National Union of the Homeless, will be holding a vigil on the Brattleboro Common starting at 4 PM. This is one of a series of vigils being held across the country remembering those we’ve lost in the streets and in the struggle. There will be an opportunity to lift up individuals who participants wish to remember, and also for people to share experiences with homelessness or other ways the housing crisis has affected them and people they care about. We also welcome people to join in support of our community members who are struggling with homelessness and housing precarity.


Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Steering Committee Meeting Agenda

• Proposals and possible motions
o Clarification with passed motion for funding lunch, with regard to committee position on BUHS fundraiser lunch. Request for clarity from the BUHS principal, from this committee.
o … to endorse continued support for BUHS in providing RTM lunch.
o …to amend this committee’s original 2021 proposal to include and welcome ex-officio members.
o …to end committee meetings for this RTM year and for members to use the time to execute the work that has been agreed.


Brattleboro Selectboard Meeting Agenda and Notes December 21, 2021

It’s the final regular meeting of the Brattlboro Selectboard for 2021 and the last regular meeting for outgoing Town Manager Peter Elwell. They’ll take up issues of mask mandate exemptions, financial audits, and more FY23 budget planning. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation, and you are probably welcome to bring holiday cookies as well.


20 Years Unable to Defeat Taliban Now USA Freezes Afghanistan’s $9B Bank Deposits Causing Starvation

In freezing Afghanistan’s money the government of the United States of America is committing genocide in Afghanistan and trying to have its CIA controlled Western media portray those dying as the fault of the Taliban government, which the US 2001 invasion overthrew but which easily and quickly reinstated itself when the American military withdrew 20 years later in August of 2021.

Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. The Afghan central bank had $9.4 billion in reserve assets as of April, according to the International Monetary Fund, which is equivalent to about a third of the country’s yearly economic output.


WSESD Meeting Agendas

AGENDA

I. CALL TO ORDER – 6:00 p.m. – David Schoales, Board Chair

II. CONSENT AGENDA

• CLERK’S REPORT – Approval of Minutes – December 14, 2021

• FINANCES


Brattleboro Christmas and New Year’s Closings

In observance of the Christmas holiday:

Brattleboro Town offices will be closed on Friday, December 24, 2021. 

Brooks Memorial Library will be closed on Friday, December 24 and Saturday, December 25, 2021.

Parking is free at all metered spaces and in the pay-and-display lots on Friday, December 24, and on Saturday, December 25, 2021. All other violations will be enforced.


Mara Williams on “Here We Are”

Join Mara Williams as she tells stories about her adventures as Curator for the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, featuring Red Grooms, Wolf Kahn, Jim Dine and the many local luminaries who helped put BMAC on the map.


Community Safety Review Update

The Brattleboro Selectboard will hear highlights from the last three months of work on the Community Safety Review Recommendations from Town Manager Peter Elwell this evening.  Here is his latest memo outlining what he plans to present. (I’d love to cover this special meeting but other plans intrude).

…….

This memorandum, the attached updated implementation table, and the presentation I will make at the December 14 Selectboard meeting comprise Town staff’s second status report to the Selectboard and the community regarding our implementation of recommendations from the 2020 community safety review.


Balint Campaign Raises $125,051 On First Day of Campaign

Montpelier, VT— Vermont Senate President, Becca Balint, launched her campaign for United States Representative yesterday, Monday, December 13. The Balint campaign is proud to announce that in the first 24-hours of the campaign, Balint raised $125,051 – all from individual, grassroots donations – earning support from all 14 Vermont counties.

 “I am astonished and overwhelmed with the level of support we received yesterday. This is a hard time for so many families and the fact that people chipped in where they could means so much to me. This is going to be a campaign powered by people and yesterday showed me just how many people that is,” Balint said. “I’m running because we face immense challenges, but I believe we cannot back away from fighting for each other. We have to deliver on some big promises for Vermont working families and that is going to take all of us. I’m ready for this fight.”