The Brattleboro Selectboard held a special meeting to announce the hiring of a new Town Manager, to fill the slot vacated by retiring Peter Elwell. They announced the hiring of Octavian ‘Yoshi’ Manale as the next Brattleboro Town Manager and approved the contract to hire him. He hails from NJ, and begins in the new year.
Promotion of Brattleboro was a primary topic at the regular meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard Tuesday. Blue Whale Public Relations had some typical Zoom-related delays but otherwise gave a solid report on their early efforts to reach out to the media.
Hybrid meetings will continue for a while longer, favorable financing for the water treatment facility was announced, new stop signs are official, and Union Station might be sold for a dollar in order to save as much as $100,000.
The Brattleboro Selectboard met on the last evening of summer, and heard big news. Steve Barrett, long-time employee of the Town, will be retiring and Dan Tyler will be taking his place. The switch happens in December.
There was discussion of racism in the community, COVID safety at the Stone Church, stormwater plans, designs for and objections to a new bridge on Western Ave, and more.
The Brattleboro Selectboard is easing into budget season while wrestling with the safety of retuning to in-person meetings. They got an update on the Water Treatment Plant upgrade, paid for some emergency repairs, gave out a liquor license, and discussed Town Manager Elwell’s final Long Term Financial Plan.
There was more – there will be new stop signs coming to some corners, a discussion of ARPA fund possibilities was quick, and a discussion of blinking crosswalks took quite a while.
The Brattleboro Selectboard held a special meeting to hear Town Manager Peter Elwell discuss the progress made on Community Safety Review Committee recommendations.
The Brattleboro Selectboard approved a new rule requiring face covering indoors, subject to the approval of Dr. Levine and the Vermont Department of Health. If Levine doesn’t approve, the board strongly recommends, rather than requires, the face coverings. This is all in response to a rapid rise in regional COVID cases, more Delta variant, and a fluctuating CDC rating of viral transmission.
In a related action, the board recommended to everyone who is able, please get vaccinated.
The first “hybrid” meeting using a combination of in-person and zoom participants had no real technical issues to speak of, but many interesting details to discern.
Big news was the agreement being worked out with owners of the nearby Connecticut River dams. They will be changing their operations to create a more natural water flow, which is good news for the river banks, all sorts of critters, recreation, and even the company’s plans for the future.
New land use amendments were approved, as was a mural project. The board also heard of two new places in town to get drinks more easily – Retreat Farm and craft experiment at the River Garden.
The Brattleboro Selectboard held their final Zoom meeting Tuesday night. Their next meeting, July 6, will be in person (with a hybrid mix) at the Municipal Center in the Selectboard Meeting Room. The Governor says it must be so.
Water shutoff will resume, in November. The board also approved of a financing plan for the water treatment plant on quite favorable financial terms, Tri-Park finances were re-financed, a process for gathering information for a new town website was presented, and committee members were appointed.
The Brattleboro Selectboard approved a plan to let Brattleboro Police switch from an understaffed three shift system to a two shift system that will reduce hours and stress. Brattleboro will go without patrol staff for certain hours of the week.
The water treatment plant is going ahead with approval of a firm to build the new plant, despite a bad reference and previous bad town experiences with the company. The local mask mandate will be lifted on Friday. And State Senator Becca Balint described the huge piles of money coming to Vermont in the near future.
The Brattleboro Selectboard heard the sad tale of the Parking Fund and its many losses over the previous, current, and probably future year at Tuesday’s meeting. Estimates for the coming year are just guesses. One of the hardest financial discussions ever, the Town Manager told the board.
Everything else, however, went smoothly. The Utilities Fund is pretty much as it was before. New paving projects have been approved. Winston-Prouty got a liquor license (for a single event for grown ups, ahem…), and more. No public participation, either. “A return to normal,” your reporter snarks snarkily.
I was all set to do the usual insane typing of what is said at the Brattleboro Selectboard but at 6 pm our power went out. It’s now 8:30 and things have just come back on here at HQ.
The Gods and Goddesses of Typing Up Selectboard Meetings have spoken, and I will obey their wishes. I will also go make an offering of some sort. (Any suggestions?)
We’ll see if they let me cover the next meeting.
It was the first April meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard, the first meeting with Elizabeth McLoughlin as Chair, the first time Congressman Peter Welch has told Brattleboro about $3.3 million on the way, and the first time we learn of Town Manager Peter Elwell’s planned retirement at the end of the year.
Much discussion, though, was about goals for the coming year.
Water leaks and collapsing walls were part of the first post-Daylight Savings Time regular meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard. The Department of Public Works reported on a couple of recent and ongoing emergency repairs downtown involving water.
The board heard an update on the work of the Windham Regional Commission, found out more about how poorly parking revenues are going this year, hired a company to do cemetery maintenance, and purchased some new playground equipment. And board members said goodbye to Brandie Starr and Jan Anderson, thanking them for their service.
The Brattleboro Selectboard approved of moving forward with the recommendations of the Town manager regarding the Community Safety Review Committee recommendations. Everything that can be underway is underway.
The board decided to go for a 6% investment in Cow Power and created a new fund with $70k to help reduce emissions and consumption.
The Brattleboro Selectboard held a meeting to set dates for three Representative Town Meeting informational sessions. They approved liquor licenses, made appointments, certified highway mileage, and began design work on a shiny new parking lot.
Candidate for Selectboard Gary Stroud dropped out of the race, citing health issues that would prevent him from doing all that was necessary to be on the board.
A snowy evening, and a short meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard resulted in an approved budget for Representative Town Meeting members, an approved Town Meeting warnings.
The Brattleboro Selectboard accepted the report of the Community Safety Review Committee with a unanimous 5-0 vote and sent the document to Town staff. Staff will annotate and organize the recommendations for the board, evaluating the legality and logistics for each recommendation.
The board also heard about plans for a new water treatment plant at a new estimated cost of $12.5 million. They approved of a charter change amendment to be put to voters on March 2. And they recommend to Town meeting representatives that the police training budget remain at $27,000 rather than be increased to $40,000.
The Brattleboro Selectboard approved of a few items for their FY22 budget recommendations, raising the amount for paving and agreeing to the increases for BCTV and Human Services. They also continued their discussion of the community safety report, and will continue to continue that discussion next week and in the future.
Marginalized populations of Brattleboro were a common theme for the Brattleboro Selectboard at their first meeting of the new year. They struggled with Human Services funding requests, then listened to an extended overview of the Community Safety report.
Everyone is encouraged to read the full report then return next week for more discussion of this and other topics.
The Brattleboro Selectboard voted 3-2 in favor of a rental housing ordinance that limits the amount landlords can collect upfront from new tenants. It takes effect in February.
The board was unanimous in the support of monsters.
