Town applies for firetruck grant
BRATTLEBORO — BRATTLEBORO - At the Jan. 16 regular meeting, the Selectboard approved the application for a $475,000 grant to help pay for a new, $950,000 aerial ladder firetruck.
In recent months, Brattleboro Fire Department officials and the Selectboard have discussed whether the town should replace the department's used, 24-year-old aerial ladder truck - this replaced the 26-year-old truck the department took out of service in August because of safety issues.
As Fire Chief Michael Bucossi and Assistant Fire Chief Leonard Howard III have explained, this vehicle is crucial to fire safety - it goes out to every fire, and relying on a used aerial ladder truck is risky.
At a Jan. 9 budget meeting, the Selectboard voted to include the aerial ladder truck in the proposed Fiscal Year 2019 budget, pulling $450,000 of the $950,000 purchase from the General Fund and borrowing the remaining $500,000.
One way the town can reduce the cost of the apparatus is through grant funding.
Last year, town officials applied for $950,000 from the FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, and although the application was well-received, Brattleboro was turned down.
This year, said Town Manager Peter B. Elwell, “what might make the critical difference” is the town's contribution of 50 percent of the truck's cost.
“Keep your fingers crossed!” Bucossi said.
Bradley House keeps tax-exempt status
BRATTLEBORO - Bradley House officials seek an additional one-year exemption from education taxes, and at the Jan. 16 regular Selectboard meeting, they cleared the first hurdle.
The Board approved the request, which puts the question on the warning for Representative Town Meeting's consideration.
Bradley House Executive Director Cindy Jerome appeared at the Board meeting to explain why the organization asked for the exemption.
“We are in the middle of a large project” to renovate the Harris Avenue residential care home, Jerome said. But because of construction delays, the Bradley House has fewer rooms available than they expected, she explained.
Jerome expects that next year, when construction is complete and the rooms are filled again, “we'll have the financial means to pay our taxes, which is what we intend to do.”
Selectboard member John Allen asked Jerome if weather delayed the renovation's completion.
She said it was “a lack of man-power, of woman-power. Encourage your kids to go into the trades. They're needed!”
Selectboard sends appointments to Town Meeting
BRATTLEBORO - In what Town Manager Peter B. Elwell described as an “annual ritual we go through,” Elwell presented his staff's recommendations for town clerk, treasurer, and town attorney at the Jan. 16 regular Selectboard meeting.
The Town Charter, Elwell explained, empowers the Board to approve appointments to those positions, which are then ratified by Representative Town Meeting.
The Selectboard approved Hilary Francis as town clerk, John O'Connor as treasurer, and the Fisher & Fisher Law Firm as town attorney.
The terms for the three offices are from March 26, 2018, to March 23, 2019.
In a separate motion, the Selectboard approved the Fisher & Fisher contract for legal advice and representation as the town attorney.
Elwell noted his office recommended the contract, which is identical to last year's, with one exception: the fees will increase by 2 percent, for a total of $106,080 for the year.