New Brattleboro Selectboard members Oscar Heller, Amanda Ellis-Thurber, Isaac Evans Franz were sworn in by Town Clerk Hilary Francis to begin the organizational meeting.
Peter Case nominated a slate of candidates: Elizabeth McLoughlin as Chair, Oscar Heller as Vice Chair, and Isaac Evans-Frantz as Clerk. The board voted 5-0 to approve the slate.
Returning Chair Liz then took comments from the board and public participation.
VTrans came back to the Brattleboro Selectboard, granting their wish to pay less for the bridge on Western Avenue. The board was happy, but wouldn’t sign the documentation quite yet. And there is also the matter of VTrans not being able to build the bridge or even put the bridge project on their construction schedule yet. Maybe by 2027 or 2030? No one knew what the future might bring. It will be a great bridge someday, though.
There was some debate over the Town Manager’s interpretation of the audit findings. He saw proof of a solid financial situation going forward; others weren’t so sure since the document didn’t make such a characterization and hadn’t taken into account decisions made last fall, after the audit was finished.
Brooks Memorial Library gets a new roof and a new rooftop solar system, and taxpayers get a video about reducing property taxes.
The first regular meeting of February for the Brattleboro Selectboard was mostly a series of quarterly reports, punctuated by questions about EMS billing and budgets. The board learned that the bad-sounding audit will not really be as bad-sounding as it sounds. Just wait. You’ll see.
Notable – parking revenues are down, the downtown safety plan is beginning to take shape, Golden Cross is having problems collecting revenue for us, and a few candidates came to use public participation to show that they are involved.
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%.
The Brattleboro Selectboard decided that a 12.1% increase is the best that they can do, ignoring members of the public and the Finance Committee who said it wasn’t enough but agreeing with the Town Manager who said the increase was necessary to avoid chaos.
One theme throughout the evening was that of continual eroding trust in the selectboard and their decision-making. “People are mad at us for a lot of different reasons,” noticed Chair Daniel Quipp. “We should think about it. Do we always have to make them a little more mad?”
A sub-theme was extreme agitation about representation at all levels of town government.
Weird meeting. If I were a Magic 8 ball I’d suggest “outlook not good.”
The Brattleboro Selectboard approved their revised FY26 budget with a 12% property tax increase without further changes, ignoring a great deal of feedback from the Finance Committee and members of the public that there were other items to consider and concerns that root problems were being put off for future years.
The board agreed that no cuts to staff will be considered. Staff positions in Brattleboro are seemingly guaranteed forever.
The board also asked that the community be more respectful when taking about municipal affairs, and laughed at Liz’s serious suggestion to tax cats.
The first regular meeting of the new year for the Brattleboro Selectboard…. and I’m not really sure what happened beyond the first few minutes. Gophers were nibbling on the internet tubes or something.
T’was the week before Christmas and all through the town, not a creature was stirring except for the Brattleboro Selectboard discussing FY26.
The board used Town staff suggestions and assumptions as a starting point. They boldy saved items from being cut but also agreed on cuts worth close to $2 million. Police will get new uniforms, for example, but snow cleanup, arts, and human services will see cuts. Members of the public cautioned that these were superficial, one-time, unsustainable cuts and told the board they pushing taxpayers over a cliff in years to come.
After much discussion, the Brattleboro Selectboard chose the only serious solid waste option presented to them: to have a 5 year contract with Casella to haul trash, recycling and compost for the Town. This decision added a significant amount to the budget and to Brattleboro property taxes.
The board told Town staff that the budget was too large now that the costs of their decisions this year have been factored in and asked to see a version reduced by 10%. This punted any significant FY26 decision-making away from the board until mid December.
Just about everyone had complaints for the Windham and Windsor Housing Trust and their planned “Chalet” development of affordable housing units.
The Brattleboro Selectboard discussed the “base budget” – a budget with no changes to services from current levels – at Tuesday’s Election Night meeting. As is, they said, it would be a 22% increase. Board members agreed it was a difficult budget, but none had any big ideas for getting the increase to a more manageable level.
Citizens attending had ideas – eliminate raises, cut Municipal Center hours to 32 hours a week for most employees, cut positions, and throw it all out and build up from what is truly necessary were suggested. Personnel costs, they noted, were the big numbers.
In a flashback to the era of Barb Sondag we heard the Town Manager ask the board to simply tell him what services they’d like to cut from the people of Brattleboro…
It is the second Selectboard meeting of October, and more potential tax increases were considered. The cost of trash, recycling and compost will be going up substantially to cover the costs of the new automated robot arm collection system. The Town says it isn’t that the new system is expensive, it is that the old system was way too cheap. Hints that the costs will skyrocket more after signing on were given.
The board discussed a million dollar plus plan to put a police substation, four public bathrooms, a community room, and new parking system offices at the Transportation Center. They also heard from members of the public saying these costs were too much.
The board’s “Review of Debt Management Guidelines” was postponed to another meeting.
A seemingly tone-deaf Brattleboro Selectboard pushed forward on multiple options for a multimillion dollar swimming pool project, as well as a messaging campaign directed by Town staff with catchy slogans to discourage being generous. This came after many objections by meeting-goers.
A divided Brattleboro Selectboard voted in favor of expanding an ordinance of acceptable behavior that criminalizes aspects of life for those who may be unhoused. The decision came despite pleas to have professionals review the changes.
The board then added hundreds of thousands of dollars to this year’s budget to fund additional downtown policing. They estimate $200 a year increases for most taxpayers to cover this expense. It was cheered on by a pro-policing faction that wanted big sticks and ass kicking, and criticized by those who were watching all their work for alternative community safety options go down the drain.
Finally, the board praised Turning Point for exceptional work with addiction and recovery, on a budget less than the annual cost of the new police expansion.
The Brattleboro Selectboard voted in favor of many suggestions by Police Chief Norma Hardy at their regular Tuesday meeting: using community safety funds to purchase surveillance cameras, plus authorizing a move forward on un-budgeted hiring of three more officers, hiring two unarmed police staff, and one police data technician. They also will move ahead with locating a police satellite office downtown.
This came after a presentation on police data that showed that the majority of police calls in town were not for crimes, and many incidents with police involve a handful of known actors.
The Brattleboro Selectboard got an earful from people in town that definitely do not feel safe downtown. Things have reached new levels of awfulness for people of all ages. The board is considering making downtown a “safety zone” to take care of this problem once and for all. What that means exactly remains to be determined. But progress is being made! And the Youth Council created a cool map.
The board also learned that come September, people in the hotel and motel program will begin to be kicked out of their lodgings and will require sheltering of some sort.
A hot July evening, and the Brattleboro Selectboard approved new property tax rates. , The Town’s Finance Director told the board 75% of the increase is because of education. Dick Degray called it an unsustainable increase.
The new parking ordinance had a first reading. The costs to business owners and employees on Main Street was a concern to some and an outright horror to others.
The board made a list of things to discuss with legislators, adjusted rules for political signs, and discussed parking enforcement at the Vermont Country Deli.
A Juneteenth eve Selectboard meeting stated late and went long. The board raised parking rates – 44% by one member of the public’s estimates – and voted to end free downtown parking on Sundays. They also voted to make it easier and quicker to raise rates in the future.
Winston-Prouty campus housing was discussed as was public feedback on trash, recycling and compost.
The first meeting of June for the Brattleboro Selectboard and they decided your Water & Sewer Rates are going up 5%.
The board spent quite a bit of time, though, talking about raising your parking rates, too. Remember the great meter system that the Town staff insisted be purchased a few years back? Fast forward a bit and now the Town staff wants to cut down every meter and replace them with a handful of credit card powered kiosks. They’d like to get rid of any coins or cash in the system. And Town staff suggested merely doubling current rates.
The Brattleboro Selectboard had a first reading of a new ordinance regarding vacant buildings around town. If a building is vacant for 180 days, it must get a permit, and the cost of the permit doubles each year. Will it finally put some pressure on the empty Home Depot building? Not as written. It will be exempt.
In a discussion about possible municipally-owned properties that could be candidates for new housing developments, Liz McLoughlin mentioned a confidential plan that might include both the Municipal Center and the High Grove parking lot. She didn’t explain further.
And, your water rates will go up 5% rather than 1% this October.
The Brattleboro Selectboard is contemplating just how much to raise Utility rates, specifically the cost of water. Rather than a 1% increase in FY25, they are thinking of raising it 5%, and 5% every year until 2030. But, it might go up even more because of the new expert study of utility rates they will commission for $75,000.
In good news, all the major roads of Brattleboro that the state has a hand in will be repaved in 2025-2026. And the Charter Commission is taking a deep dive into all sorts of issues related to Town Meeting and asking for your input.
