News & Information

The Selectboard completed this week’s business in near record time for a regular Tuesday evening meeting, ending the meeting just over an hour after it began.

A streamlined FY14 Parking Budget was approved, despite a less than glowing characterization as “an absence of failure” by town staff. Curbside compost carts are being purchased, the library is getting a new videoconferencing system, and the Town is going to refinance the Honeywell Project to realize savings with new, lower interest rates.

Pleas for fees for Sunday parking went unanswered, and the logic of sidewalk repairs was explained. Read on for all the Election eve Selectboard meeting excitement.

Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast – Home Energy Challenge

The next “Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast” will take place on Friday, March 15, 2013 at the Gibson Aiken Center, downstairs, hosted by Senior Meals. Doors open at 7:30am.

Tad Montgomery will present on the Home Energy Challenge. For those that don’t know: The state of Vermont has set a goal of using 90% renewable energy by 2050, and a big part of the plan to achieve this involves conservation. The Home Energy Challenge is a new initiative this year to get homeowners to undertake substantial energy retrofits and cut their heating bills by 20-50% or even more.

Please do not hesitate to pass along this invitation to others who might be interested, but:

In what some might term a win for the Old Guard, Kate O’Connor, John Allen, and David Schoales were elected to the Brattleboro Selectboard today.  O’Connor easily defeated Spoon Agave for the 3 year seat by a vote of 985 to 664. Allen was the highest vote getter for the 1 year Selectboard seat with 710 votes.  Schoales garnered 580 points, narrowly defeating Ian Kiehle who had 564.  

Kate O’Connor is daughter of former Selectperson Martha O’Connor who left the Selectboard in 2011.  John Allen served with Martha O’Connor during his time on the Selectboard but lost to Daryl Pillsbury and Jesse Corum in 2010.  

The Brattleboro Agriculture Advisory Committee will meet on Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 7:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.

The Brattleboro ADA Advisory Committee will meet on Friday, March 8, 2013 at 10:00am at the Marlboro College Graduate Center in the VCIL conference room.

Additional Public Meetings and Hearings:

The Brattleboro Energy Committee will meet on Monday, March 4, 2013 at 5:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.

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

The Selectboard will be given a recommendation for hiring a Police-Fire Project Manager at their next regular Tuesday evening meeting. They will also select a project manager for the downtown sidewalk repair project.

There will be discussion of the FY14 Parking Budget, consideration of a videoconferencing system for the library, the purchase compost carts for the new composting pickup program,  Honeywell lease financing and more.

Catch it all on TV or in person at the Municipal Center on Main Street. You can bring up other issues not on the agenda during Public Participation, too.

The Brattleboro Citizen Police Communications Committee (CPCC) will meet on Monday, February 25, 2013 at 5:30pm in the Brooks Memorial Library community room.

Citizen Police Communications Committee
Monday, February 25, 2013, 5:30pm
Brooks Memorial Library Meeting Room

The Brattleboro Traffic Safety Committee will meet on Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 8:30am in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center.

TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013 – 8:30am

SELECTBOARD MEETING ROOM

The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee will meet on Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 4:30pm in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center.

The Brattleboro Energy Committee will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 7:00pm at Marlboro College Graduate Center in Room 2NE. The Town Meeting Members and public are invited to attend and discuss PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy).

Informational Meeting:
The Town invites downtown business/property owners, residents and the public to attend a public discussion on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center to discuss the upgrade of sidewalks on the east side of Main Street.

The West Brattleboro Association (WBA) is a group of business owners and residents interested in promoting commerce in the village and assuring that it is a safe, healthy, attractive and prosperous place – both for the community and visitors. And they have decided one way to get traffic to take a look at West Brattleboro is to place attractive signage welcoming people to it.

With the help of Keene Signworx the WBA has developed a design for the new, free-standing signs. 

Citizens were in attendance at this week’s Selectboard meeting to request once again that the town consider the concerns of the neighbors and do a proper site selection process for the new park. Dick DeGray said that the skatepark selection process consisted of himself and Jesse Corum proposing Crowell Lot as a good location, and that he was proud of their decison.

The Selectboard also approved Brattleboro’s Town Plan, continued thinking about expanding the Downtown Improvement District, began a discussion on implementing a local gasoline tax, and was accused of collecting parking income on national holidays.

All this and more, below…

Preliminaries