Union Hill Safety Improvements Public Meeting

Residents and Business Owners:

The Town, working along with a private consultant, is engaging in a project study for safety improvements on Western Avenue in the area of Union Hill. This study is funded by the State of Vermont, Agency of Transportation, Local Transportation Facilities Division. As part of the process, the Town is holding a public meeting to present design concepts.


Putney Road Shooting

Early this morning, there was an officer involved shooting at a hotel on Putney Road. As per statewide protocol, the Vermont State Police is investigating. Further information will be made available in the future. Questions can be directed to the Windham County State’s Attorney at 257-2860. 

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100


Bondville Boys in Concert/Dance at the River Garden

The Bondville Boys, an eclectic, edgy bluegrass band, will play a concert and dance at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden in downtown Brattleboro on Friday, April 18 from 7 to 10:30 p.m.

The concert is a benefit for Strolling of the Heifers, which has established its headquarters at the River Garden and is raising funds for renovations and improvements including air-conditioning and a demonstration kitchen.

The Bondville Boys, so named because “some of us are from Bondville, and some of us are boys,” consists of Jake Geppert (banjo, guitar and vocals), Tom Morris (guitar and banjo), Laura Molinelli (guitar and vocals), Dennis Fink (bass and vocals) and Ben Campbell (guitars, mandolin and vocals).

Popular throughout western New England since 1990, the Bondville Boys have shared stages with Del McCoury, the Nashville Bluegrass Band, Buddy Cage, and the Gibson Brothers, among others. 


Brattleboro Board of Civil Authority Meeting Scheduled

The Brattleboro BCA will meet on Tues, April 8 at 12 noon in the Town Clerk’s office to discuss details of the upcoming Town Budget re-vote.

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


Brattleboro Selectboard Special Meeting – Site Visit, Public Hearing, Special Town Meeting

The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a site visit, special meeting and public hearing on Monday, April 7, 2014. The site visit will take place at 176 New England Drive at 5:30pm. The Board will reconvene the special meeting following the site visit and hold a public hearing at approximately 6:15pm in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100


West Brattleboro Assoc. Monthly Meeting, with Chris Hart, April 10

The next monthly meeting of the West Brattleboro Association (WBA) will be held at the New England House
on Thursday, April 10th at 6:00 PM. The guest speaker will be Chris Hart, Executive Director of the Brattleboro Housing Authority who will discuss possible future uses for the Melrose Terrace housing complex once residents are moved to new quarters being built on Canal Street called Red Clover Commons. The group will discuss various other items including the upcoming Green-Up Day on May 3rd and the semi-annual Chicken Barbecue sponsored by WBA on May 24th, the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. It will be held once again in the front of the West Brattleboro Congregational Church.


I-91 Project Update: Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project: Week of April 6, Including RT 30 Closure Info

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 in the Fall of 2015.

Weather permitting, night work will be conducted Sunday night, April 6th through Saturday night, April 12th.

Route 30

The speed limit on Route 30 near the work zone has been reduced to 40 mph. This reduction will remain in effect through the Spring of 2016.

Project-related truck activity on Route 30 will continue. Route 30 will be reduced to a single lane intermittently both day and night, with flaggers regulating traffic within the work zone.


Selectboard Meeting Notes: Town Meeting Petition Triggers Public Vote On Brattleboro Budget

The registered voters of Brattleboro will have an opportunity to vote on the town budget within a few weeks. David Gartenstein told fellow Brattleboro Selectboard members that a successful petition by fifty-six Town Meeting Representatives will trigger a town-wide vote by ballot, as stipulated in the Town Charter, allowing for voters at-large to weigh in on the $16.2 million budget.

The Police Fire Facility Project committee has been requested by the board to look for additional ways to cut costs. New cell phone towers, solar arrays, skatepark location possibilities, and more were also discussed Tuesday evening.


Petition Succeeds

56 Town meeting Member signatures were collected calling for a town-wide vote on the budget (Article 19 of the warning for Representative Town Meeting).  This exceeds the minimum requirement of 50.  The Selectboard now has 10 days to set the date for the vote which must be within 15 days thereafter.  Thus the first two if not all three of the initial steps will be concluded in April.  If the budget is defeated the Selectboard will have to call a Special Representative Town Meeting to present a new budget.


Heavy Rains Delay Closing Rt. 30 for Bridge Repair Work

Good Morning:

The heavy rains we’re getting have resulted in a slow down on the project. We now anticipate that we won’t be ready to do the work that necessitates the closing of VT RT 30 until April 9 or later. I will let everyone know as soon as we’ve set the new dates.

When it rains, it pours,


Brattleboro Selectboard Agenda and Notes – April 1, 2014

The “new” Brattleboro Selectboard will have their first regular Tuesday meeting of the year on April 1.

There are some atypical items on the agenda awaiting them, too. There will be a Representative Town Meeting follow-up discussion, and an issuance of a Health Order against Susan Rockwell, owner of 19 Elm Street.

Also on the agenda, a new cell tower for Meadowbrook Road, an update from the Skatepark Site Selection Committee, a request for additional solar energy use, and more.

You can watch on BCTV or attend in person. If you go, you may bring up additional items not on the agenda during Public Participation.


Vermont Official Warns U.S. Senate Panel: Don’t Let Transportation Funding Run Out

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 27 – Testifying at the invitation of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Vermont Agency of Transportation Deputy Secretary Sue Minter warned a Senate panel today that a looming shortfall in federal transportation funding could put people out of work in Vermont and “tip the balance of our fragile economic recovery.”

Projects slated for this construction season could be cancelled unless Congress acts soon to shore up the federal Highway Trust Fund, which is projected to be depleted by July.

“Reducing or eliminating transportation projects translates into job losses in the construction industry,” Minter told the Senate public works committee. “In a small state like ours, this can tip the balance on our fragile economic recovery.”


A Local Gas Tax?

Brattleboro is in a very tough spot. The town has suffered three severe economic blows in the past 5 years, in cascading order from national to state to local: The Mortgage Crisis, Tropical Storm Irene and the Brooks House Fire. Each event had a multiplying effect on the Town as revenue and equity evaporated from the region.

The mortgage crisis sapped equity from our homes and crippled real estate values which, in turn, crimped the tax revenue and town budgets. Tropical Storm Irene washed untold millions of equity downstream and cost millions more in repairs and rebuilding. And when the central block of your downtown lies vacant for three years, the economic scars seem fairly tangible.


Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project Update: Note RT Closure Scheduled for April 4-11

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 in the Fall of 2015.

Weather permitting, night work will be conducted Sunday night, March 30th through Saturday night, April 5th.

Route 30

The speed limit on Route 30 near the work zone has been reduced to 40 mph. This reduction will remain in effect through the Spring of 2016.