The Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office will be emailing out a poll to Representative Town Meeting Members regarding their interest in Town provided childcare for RTM. This email will come from executive assistant Jessica Sticklor (email address: jsticklor@brattleboro.org). Please be on the lookout for this email and please return the poll as soon as possible, especially if you are interested in Town provided childcare for RTM.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will take an almost-final look at the proposed FY24 budget at their next regular meeting. Items of interest – the FY23 budget may be overspent, the Town Attorney gets a raise to $120,563, construction of some sort of public bathrooms might get approved, and more.
You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
The Brattleboro Charter Review Commission will meet on Thursday, January 12, 2023 at 6:00pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Municipal Center (230 Main Street).
The Brattleboro RTM Finance Committee will meet on Monday, January 16, 2023 at 6:00pm in the Central Fire Station Meeting Room (103 Elliot Street).
The Brattleboro Selectboard held their first regular meeting of the new year, and new Town Manager John Potter was on hand to answer questions and advise the board.
They discussed changes to the liquor license application requirements, backing off a previous BAPC suggestion that hasn’t had the desired results. They also had an extended discussion about the type of Representative Town meeting to hold this year, and heard from the public about homeless people and cold weather.
The format for the next Representative Town Meeting – in-person, online, or hybrid – will be up for discussion at the Brattleoro Selectboard’s first regular meeting of 2023. They will also revise the liquor license process and review flagged items on their FY24 General Fund budget list.
You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation throughout the New Year!
The Brattleboro Human Services Committee will meet on Monday, December 5, 2022 at 4:00pm over Zoom.
Jessica Sticklor (she/her/hers)
Executive Assistant
Town of Brattleboro
Petitions for Brattleboro Town Officers, Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) Board Members, and Town Meeting Members are now available at the Town Clerk’s office. Town elections will be Tuesday, March 7 at the American Legion, located at 32 Linden St., Brattleboro, VT 05301.
Annual Representative Town Meeting will begin on Saturday, March 25, 2023. The location and format will be announced at a later date.
Petitions for Town Officers and WSESD Board Members must contain at least 30 valid signatures of registered Brattleboro voters and be filed in the clerk’s office no later than Monday, January 30 at 5 P.M. to have their name placed on the ballot.
The Brattleboro Selectboard held one of their longer meetings in some time. The public was active! Complaints about downtown crime, lack of action on climate change, and open meetings kept the board busy until after 10:30pm.
Of note, the Town acknowledged their violation of open meeting protocols and adopted a new two-part process to make sure it won’t happen again. This wasn’t enough for most people, who wanted a more detailed accounting of the EMS decision making process.
The board changed RTM districts to conform with state updates, adopted Utility and Parking budgets, and poured luke-warm water on a suggestion to bring back the electric trolley.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will emerge from another Executive Session to do something that isn’t done very often – update the boundaries of the voting districts in town, which will change representation at Representative Town meeting. This update is to conform with adjustments recently made by the state.
The board will also take up the Utility Fund, Parking Fund Budget, raises, and the Depot Street parking lot project. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
It is sometimes helpful to look at information in a timeline format. Thanks to everyone who assisted in piecing this together this list of Brattleboro Fire, Rescue, and EMS items from the past year or so.**
Please note any additions or corrections you feel would clarify in the comments if you’d like. This is an in-progress project and will likely be updated. I’ll note any edits to the main timeline list in the comments.
2021
March 22 – Elizabeth McLoughlin becomes Chair of the Selectboard.
In a close vote Tuesday, Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting representatives have decided to add a new layer to town government in what will surely represent a new era in governing the municipality.
“We felt that Brattleboro’s Representative Town Meeting is the best form of town meeting in the state of Vermont,” said one member. “If representatives are good for the general public, we thought we should use the system ourselves within Representative Town Meeting.”
I’ve started a thread here for Representatives and others to share what went down at RTM this year.
What was the tone? How long did it last? What were the big discussions? Anything we need to know?
For many years it was assumed that the pool of selectboard candidates could be increased by increasing the compensation for the position. The idea was that maybe people who are single parents or working multiple jobs would run if only there was enough compensation to make it worthwhile. A corollary was that perhaps the board has been dominated by only people well-off enough to have the free time to serve.
Representatives at Brattleboro’s Representative Town Meeting would have this discussion at each RTM when the compensation article would come up. Eventually the arguments prevailed and the stipends went up. A board member now gets $8000 plus money to pay for child or other care during meetings. The chair gets more.
In an effort to promote citizen involvement and help RTM members better represent their constituents, there will be a public forum for District 3 residents at 3 pm on Sunday March 13 in the social hall at Trinity Lutheran Church, 161 Western Avenue. This citizens’ forum is intended to allow people who live in District 3 to express their concerns and to ask questions about Town issues in advance of the RTM meeting on March 19.
I would encourage RTM members from District 3 to attend to hear from their neighbors.
Complying with a vote of Representative Town Meeting in 2021, RTM’s Finance Committee has prepared a “Guide to the Brattleboro Town Budget.” The guide is posted on the Town’s website under the Finance Committee’s page and the RTM Resources section, both of which are accessible from the Representative Town Meeting tab on the left menu bar. Also newly posted is the annual report for RTM’s consideration of the FY23 budget.
Brattleboro Town Selectboard will hold a pre-town meeting information forum on Wednesday, March 9 via Zoom beginning at 7:30pm. Representative Town Meeting articles will be discussed, including the budget.
Beginning at 5:15pm (District 1), 6:00pm (District 2), and 6:45pm (District 3), town meeting members of each district will be available to meet with constituents to offer residents an opportunity to share their views and discuss articles to be voted on at the annual meeting. Also, at those times, each district will be accepting nominations to fill meeting member vacancies for 1 year.
The 2022 Brattleboro RTM Finance Committee Report on the Town FY23 Budget is currently available online on the Town website, Brattleboro.org. Paper copies are also available at the Town Manager’s Office at the Municipal Center (230 Main Street, Suite 208).
Kurt Daims is running for Moderator for Brattleboro’s Representative Town Meeting.
….
Tell us about yourself and why you’d like to be Moderator of Brattleboro’s Representative Town Meeting…
What sort of moderating experience would you bring, if elected? What’s your style?
Agenda:
1. Approval of minutes
2. Announcements
3. Review of Town Finance Committee Report draft
4. Other Business
The Brattleboro selectboard had strong words for downtown property owners over sidewalk snow removal. It was a good old-fashioned Selectboard -DBA battle for a while there, when the downtown organization tried to pass responsibility for clearing snow to the Town. No, insisted the board. Building owners have always been required to clear it, and if the downtown organization feels it is a shabby job, perhaps they should pay to use a more professional service. Take that.
They also raced through some public hearings, updates and reports.
