Town News

For stories pertaining to the town of Brattleboro at large and its government.

Selectboard Meeting Notes – Fire Department Suggests Hiring More Staff To Lower Costs; No Major Changes To Safety Budgets

by cgrotke | Town News
selectboard breakdown april 22 2025

The Brattleboro Selectboard continued their month of many meetings with a discussion of potential service reductions in public safety.

It was a long meeting, mostly because the police and fire departments were given hours to speak of the value they provide to the town. After that, the public spoke about how much they valued the police and fire departments.   In the end, no changes will happen and the town may end up hiring more fire department staff. To save money.  

Thanks to everyone who has sent a donation to support coverage!

Brattleboro Selectboard Special Meeting Agenda – April 24, 2025

by Not Signed In | Town News

The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Thursday, April 24, 2025 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room and over Zoom. Information on how to log onto the Zoom meeting can be found in the agenda. ASL interpreters will be in the meeting for the deaf and hard of hearing. The materials for this meeting will be available on the town website later this week.

Brattleboro Selectboard Special Meeting Agenda and Notes – April 22, 2025

by Not Signed In | Town News

The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room and over Zoom. Instructions on how to access the meeting remotely can be found in the agenda. ASL interpreters will be in the meeting for deaf and hard of hearing members of the public. The materials for this meeting will be posted on the town’s website by the end of the day.

Selectboard Meeting Notes – FY26 Revenues and Reductions

by cgrotke | Town News

I won’t be doing the usual transcription-style tonight. It’s too many meetings to type that much. But I will watch and give you highlights. And I’ll make a rare pitch – if you’d like to make a donation to help underwrite all of this, it does help. On to the show.

….

First off, they instituted a new sign up per topic list for those in the room, adding another level of confusion/intimidation for members of the public who must now anticipate what will be said and if they might like to respond.

Selectboard Meeting Notes – Long Term Planning To Return, EMS Numbers Reported

by cgrotke | Town News
selectboard april 15 2025

The Brattleboro Selectboard, meeting for some regular business and a discussion of the evolving FY26 budget, were able to agree on a few structural budget issues – to have a long term financial plan once again and to have a capital equipment and a capital infrastructure plans as well. 

The new fire chief praised his amazing staff, and all town departments. He also gave the first accounting of what EMS services were costing the taxpayers. Solid waste and mural discussions were postponed. And the 12% tax increase was really just 6% if you average it with some other numbers.

Brattleboro Water Department’s 2024 Consumer Confidence Report / Water Quality Report Available

by Not Signed In | Town News

The Town of Brattleboro Water Department’s annual Consumer Confidence Report / Water Quality Report for 2024 is now available. This report can be viewed online at www.Brattleboro.gov under Water Supply.  Printed copies are available at the Department of Public Works, Tri-Park CO-OP Office, Guilford Country Store, Town Clerk’s Office and Treasurer’s office (both located in the Brattleboro Municipal Center) and at the I-91 Welcome Center in Guilford. 

Brattleboro Selectboard Special Meeting Agenda April 17 – FY26 Budget Revenues and Reductions

by Not Signed In | Town News

The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Thursday, April 17, 2025 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Municipal Center (230 Main Street, Rm. 212) and over Zoom. The attached agenda contains information on how to access the meeting remotely, including the required “passcode.”  ASL interpreters will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members. The backup materials for this meeting will be available on the town Website Brattleboro.gov/Selectboard as soon as possible.

Brattleboro Selectboard Agenda & Notes – April 15, 2025

by cgrotke | Town News

The Brattleboro Selectboard continues their month of many meetings with a regular meeting on Tuesday where they will approve of some paving grants, approve a new mural, discuss tax stabilization for a farm, and get financial and fire updates. 

The big item should be the budget discussion about solid waste options.

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

Brattleboro Committee Meeting Agendas

by Not Signed In | Town News

The Brattleboro Finance Committee will meet on Monday, April 14, 2025 at 6:00pm in the Hanna Cosman Meeting Room.

The Charter Revision Commission will meet Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at 7:00pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room and over Zoom.

Selectboard Meeting Notes – Library Listening Session for FY26 Captures Community Complexity

by cgrotke | Town News

The Brattleboro Selectboard held a rare listening session Tuesday evening. It was held at the Library and the topic the FY26 budget.

The board was quiet; some took notes as they heard from many community members responding to three pre-set questions which enabled a wide-ranging discussion and quite a few passionate, eloquent arguments for various desired outcomes.

Brattleboro Selectboard Meeting Agendas – April 8 and 10

by cgrotke | Town News

The Brattleboro Selectboard begins the double-meeting stretch, with meetings on both Tuesdays and Thursday for most of April as they try to compress an enormous amount of work into a short time frame.  First up – a listening session on Tuesday. Go tell the board your thoughts on the budget for the coming year. They are redoing it and want to know how you would like it redone. It would be very helpful for RTM members to attend, too.

Thursday the board will review what was heard, and figure out how to turn that into a series of useful meetings that results in a budget that will pass Representative Town Meeting.

Selectboard Meeting Notes – New Board Thinks About New Budget

by cgrotke | Town News
sb swearing in fire chief april 1 2025

The newest version of the Brattleboro Selectboard had their first regular meeting, and it was quite something. Chair Liz McLoughlin kept things under control but things weren’t going her way most of the evening. The public was riled, the new members had “ideas,” and her suggestions weren’t always easily agreed upon by others. It was a long meeting.

The primary focus of the night was what to do about the rejected FY26 budget and how to go about doing it. It’s not 100% determined, but generally there will be lots of meetings in April (most Tuesdays and Thursdays), including a listing session to hear why the budget was rejected, a meeting to discuss what was heard at the listening session, and more meetings to discuss whatever then needs to be discussed. There will also be one or two special Representative Town Meetings to vote on whatever gets presented.

And, our new Fire Chief was sworn-in. There was much rejoicing.

Brattleboro Selectboard Agenda and Notes – April 1, 2025

by cgrotke | Town News

The newest iteration of the Brattleboro Selectboard will ease into their work year at their first regular meeting with an approval of an outdoor consumption permit for Snow Republic, then will take assignments for signing warrants and committee assignments and adopt rules of conduct. 

The Town Manager will review the budget re-development process with the board and supply his list of proposed cuts – to services.

The final item will be approval of a plan to re-paint bike lanes on Western Avenue in a new single-side-of-the-road pattern from Green Street to Exit 2 when the road is paved later this year.  You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation, and the board is free to engage with you on those items but not take any action.

More Buildings Open for Occupancy at SIT in Brattleboro

by Not Signed In | Town News

About 24 hours after emergency personnel responded to multiple fires at the School for International Training (SIT) campus, nine of the 26 buildings on campus have been cleared for occupancy, with three more expected to open tomorrow.

The American Red Cross plans to keep the temporary shelter open and provide food to those affected through the weekend as more buildings are cleared for occupancy. About three dozen people will remain in the shelter through Friday evening.

“At this time, SIT is taking things day by day as we focus on the well-being of our refugee students,” said Tim Rivera, Senior Advisor of World Learning & SIT. “We continue to assess the situation in all of our buildings and are looking forward to when we can resume normal operations on our campus. We would like to express our enormous gratitude to the Red Cross for their care and professionalism throughout.”

Noticed Around Brattleboro – Spring 2025

by cgrotke | Town News

What have you noticed? Little things matter.

Add any items that have caught your eye recently… such as:

– The Estey Organ Museum is featured in the AAA Explorer magazine. They got a nice photo, a few paragraphs of praise and even a mention of their program to give away organs. 

Brattleboro Selectboard Elects Liz McLoughlin Chair

by cgrotke | Town News

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.

Town of Brattleboro to Revise FY26 Budget Following RTM Vote

by Not Signed In | Town News

Following the Representative Town Meeting’s (RTM) vote not to approve the Town of Brattleboro’s proposed FY26 budget, the newly seated Selectboard will begin work to revise and resubmit a new budget proposal.

“We stated our reasoning and knew it was an uphill climb,” said Selectboard member Peter Case, “but we live in a community that still respects democracy, so now it’s back to the drawing board.”

The original FY26 budget included a combination of strategic investments to address community safety concerns and build long-term capacity. It proposed funding for additional police officers to respond to sustained increases in crime, while also supporting the behind- the-scenes work needed to launch One Brattleboro—a collaborative initiative that brings together public safety, social service providers, and community partners to reduce future reliance on police through prevention, outreach, and coordinated response.