News & Information

News and information sections, from near to far

Brattleboro Selectboard Agenda and Notes – August 16, 2016

by cgrotke | Town News

Central Fire Station’s plans will be presented and reviewed at the next Brattleboro Selectboard meeeting at the Municipal Center on Main Street.

The Stone Church is applying for a liquor permit, road re-classifications (if any) will be announced for three sites in town, there will be a discussion of push button crosswalk lights, ordinances will begin the amendment process, and other projects will get underway.

You can bring up other matters not on the agenda during public participation.

3 Record Drive Mobile Home Fire Press Release

by BrattFireDept | Police & Fire

At 11:46pm on August 8, 2016 the Brattleboro Fire Department responded to 3 Record Drive for a mobile home fire with occupants trapped. Two of the four occupants in the home at the time of the fire perished. Glen Euber, age 42 and Michelle Blake, age 52 were both found upstairs on the main living level after firefighters extinguished the fire that destroyed their mobile home. Neither was able to escape the fire and were dead at the scene.

The other two occupants, Carroll Page, age 68 and Sean Stoltz, age 27, both lived in the lower level of the home and were able to escape safely. Stoltz received a second degree burn to the back of his neck and was transported to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital by Rescue Inc for treatment.

Pedestrian Flags for Western Avenue Crosswalk

by kathleenwhite | News & Information

In collaboration with the Holton Home and Brattleboro Department of Public Works, the Safe Streets Project recently launched a pilot program to improve pedestrian visibility.  It is located at the crosswalk between Holton Home and Trinity Lutheran Church on Western Ave. Two fluorescent orange and yellow flags sit on the yield signs on each side of the crosswalk,  with instructions to “carry a flag when crossing the street and place it in the container on the other side”. 

Plat of the City of Zion – And So Fill Up the World

by Vidda | State News

Believers of all affiliations are on the move. Their fluidity to channel into areas where disbelievers are the majority stems from having at their back generations of believers and accrued wealth and power that drives the machinery responsible for their boundless missionary work.

Areas of this country with the least religious Americans are clustered here in the northeast. In a February 2016 Pew Research Center study its writers and social scientists found that in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts only one-third of the populations are religious. Pew measured the extent of religious observance by “worship attendance, prayer frequency, belief in God, and the self-described importance of religion in one’s life.” Meanwhile, Pew also found that an overall growing share of Americans also self-identify as atheists.

Mobile Home Fire in Mountain Home Park

by BrattFireDept | Police & Fire

Date of Incident: 08/09/16
Location of Incident: 3 Record Drive
Nature of Call: Mobile Home Fire
Time Reported: 11:46pm
Time Under Control: 1:14am

Number of Alarms and Times Upgraded: 2nd alarm @ 11:53pm
Type of Building: Mobile home w/basement
Building Owner & Address:

Injuries? Yes
How Many? 1
Type? 2nd degree burn to back of neck

Fatalities? 2

Brattleboro Taxes and Utilities Due

by Not Signed In | Town News

The 2016 Real Estate and Personal Property Tax Bills were mailed on August 8, 2016. The first quarter payment will be due on September 15th, 2016 by 5:00 PM. Payments made after September 15th, 2016 will have an additional 1% interest added to the unpaid balance.

Utility bills are due on August 15th, 2016 by 5:00 PM. Payments made after August 15th, 2016 will have an additional 1% interest, as well as an 8% penalty added to the unpaid balance.

16 Story Buildings in Burlington!

by Dfk-b | State News

In the profiles of the lieutenant governor candidates on Vt Digger: http://vtdigger.org/2016/07/24/smith-focuses-on-downtown-vitality-child-poverty-health-care/  , Shap Smith states that he supports “the construction of buildings 160 feet high” in Burlington.  Folks, that ttranslates into 16 story buildings! Hardly sounds human scale to this former big city dweller! Just wanted to draw this to peoples’ attention.

Oak Hill Capital Partners to Acquire Sovernet Communications

by Not Signed In | Business

Combination with FirstLight Fiber and Oxford Networks will create a stronger Northeast fiber provider

Bellows Falls, VT, August 8, 2016 – Sovernet Communications (“Sovernet”), a leading fiber-optic bandwidth infrastructure services provider operating in Vermont, New York and southwest New Hampshire, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Oak Hill Capital Partners (“Oak Hill”). At the closing of the transaction, Oak Hill intends to combine the operations of Sovernet with FirstLight Fiber (“FirstLight”), which Oak Hill previously announced an agreement to acquire. FirstLight is another leading provider of fiber optic communications in the northeast.

Brattleboro Committee Meetings and Agendas

by Not Signed In | Town News

The Brattleboro Tree Advisory Committee will meet on Tuesday, August 9, 2016 at 7:00pm at 9 Southern Avenue. NOTE the change in location for this meeting only.

The Brattleboro Police-Fire Facilities Building Committee will meet on Wednesday, August 10, 2016 at 4:00pm in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center.

Selectboard Meeting Notes – A Bitter $800,000 Pill To Swallow

by cgrotke | Town News

Ouch. The Brattleboro Selectboard settled a lawsuit with Kingsbury Construction Co. at their meeting on Thursday night. Brattleboro won’t owe the $1.5 million, but the settlement payouts will add over $800,000 to the cost of work done at Black Mountain Road for the gravity fed sewer line to be complete.

Assistant Fire Chief Peter Lynch is taking a new job, tax rates were set, good news on Police and Fire project bond financing was reported, committee appointments were made, and Brattleboro’s new Comprehensive Review of Town Operations is officially debuted and open for public comment.

I-91 Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project Update: Week of August 8th

by Not Signed In | Town Plan

I-91

Northbound I-91 traffic has been relocated onto the southbound bridge. Traffic will remain reduced to one lane in each direction on I-91 until completion of the new bridge. The new bridge will be 104’ wide and is designed to carry all four lanes of traffic –two northbound and two southbound.

To reduce congestion on I-91, both Exit 3 on ramps will be closed on Sunday, August 7th, from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm. I-91 will remain open.

Whipple Street Closure

by Not Signed In | Town Plan

Please see the following road closure information effective MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2016:

Whipple Street will be closed to through traffic for road repairs from approximately 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday, August 8th through Friday, August 12th.

If you have any questions, please contact Hannah O’Connell, Highway / Utilities Superintendent, at the Brattleboro Department of Public Works at (802)254 – 4255.

Brattleboro’s Comprehensive Review of Town Operations – Draft

by cgrotke | Town Plan

One of the major tasks Peter Elwell announced when he took the job as Town Manager was a Comprehensive Review of Town Operations. It’s a top to bottom look at everything Brattleboro does coupled with an attempt to organize a new to-do list for the town. Added to this is some analysis of where we are doing well and where we might be coming up short. It has been a project that has had the involvement of town staff of every department.

The draft version of the document is completed and will be presented to the Selectboard Thursday night for their review and comments. In fact, the document is to be considered a “living document” so that it can be changed an updated as need be as times change. What you see here is the starting point, subject to change. That also means that you can have a role in shaping Brattleboro’s future by reading it and letting the Selectboard or Town Manager’s office know what you think.

Below you’ll find the full draft version (minus the table of contents, unnecessary here). The introduction is a letter from Mr. Elwell explaining the project and the process. He also points out some of the major lessons learned thus far in the course of creating the document.

Brattleboro Primary Election Office Hours

by Not Signed In | Town News

The Brattleboro Town Clerk’s office will be open Saturday, August 6, from 9 a.m. to noon for early voting in the State Primary elections. The Town Clerk’s office will be closed Tuesday, August 9, as staff will be conducting elections in the Municipal Center, room 212. Polling hours are 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.

Annette L. Cappy
Brattleboro Town Clerk
230 Main Street, Suite 108
Brattleboro. VT 05301

acappy@brattleboro.org
ph 802-251-8129
fax 802-257-2312

Hate Motivated Assault in Brattleboro

by cgrotke | Police & Fire

Police report and details sent to us this morning:

“HATE MOTIVATED ASSAULT
August 2, 2016

Mariam J. Belarj, 20, of Medford, New York
OFFICER VINTON

On 7/31/16 at approximately 2107hrs, Brattleboro Officers responded to Elliot St. for a report of an assault. Upon arrival they discovered two victims. A male was attacked randomly and struck repeatedly with a beer bottle, and a female passerby was attacked because she was black. The suspects, a male and female, shouted racial slurs as they assaulted the female.

The suspects fled down Elliot St. after the assault. The victims were treated for non life-threatening injuries. Vermont State Police and the Windham County Sheriff’s Department assisted Brattleboro PD in searching for the suspects. VSP deployed their K9 Unit.

Brattleboro Transportation Center – Temporary Closing of Elliot Street Entrance

by Not Signed In | Town Plan

The Elliot Street entrance to the Brattleboro Transportation Center will be closed temporarily from Thursday, August 4th to Friday, August 5th to allow for regular maintenance of the expansion joint on the bridge from Elliot Street to the garage. The work will be performed by Nicom Coatings Corporation of Barre, Vermont.

The closing is expected to commence on August 4, 2016 at 8:00am. The work will continue until complete, with an anticipated completion date of August 5, 2016. While the Elliot Street entrance is closed, the public is asked to use the Flat Street entrance. The parking of vehicles in the Brattleboro Transportation Center will not be affected by the closure of the Elliot Street entrance.

Free Cell Phone and Minutes Provider

by babalu | Other

I heard earlier today that someone in Brattleboro had signed up for, and received a free cell phone with free monthly minutes included.  The person who was asked to help activate this phone today, asked me if I knew about any such program.

The only thing that came to mind was a monthly credit (that came directly from the service provider)  called “Lifeline”.  The application for Lifeline credits at one time was included in the state income tax booklets but I haven’t seen hide nor hair of any such application for several years now.  

US Marijuana Party on Nov. 8, 2016 Ballot If Cris Ericson Loses Democratic Primary

by CrisEricson2016 | State News

My name is Cris Ericson and I will appear on the November 8, 2016 general election ballot for the United States Marijuana Party if I lose the Democratic Primary election on Aug. 9, 2016.I am deeply disappointed in the Vermont Democratic Party because I have been excluded from the majority of candidate debates and forums for gubernatorial candidates, and U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy has refused to debate me for the U.S. Senate seat in this primary election Aug. 9, 2016.

Government should not be of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich, but that is what is going on in Vermont because candidates for governor and U.S. Senate without large campaign budgets are excluded from the majority of debates and forums, or denied any participation in democracy at all, as in the case of U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy refusing to debate me.

West Brattleboro Fire Station Groundbreaking

by Not Signed In | Town News

The Town of Brattleboro invites citizens and interested persons to attend a ground-breaking ceremony celebrating the rebuilding of the West Brattleboro Fire Station on Thursday, August 4, 2016 at 4:00pm at the West Brattleboro Fire Station.

TOWN OF BRATTLEBORO
Town Manager’s Office
230 Main Street
Brattleboro, VT 05301
(802) 254-4541
FAX (802) 257-2322