By STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON—The Brandon Selectboard convened on Monday evening for its regular meeting.
Sewer commissioners
Under their authority as Sewer Commissioners, the Board approved the purchase of two vacuum samplers for the town’s wastewater treatment plant. The total cost of the samplers is $20,514, of which $20,000 will be reimbursed by the Trustees of Public Funds.
Brandon Town Manager Seth Hopkins estimated that the cost of installation would run into the low thousands.
Town Manager report
Mr. Hopkins delivered his report, the full text of which is reprinted in this issue and is also available in the Selectboard packet for 5/26/25 on the town website.
Mr. Hopkins announced the resignation of Laura Miner from the Trustees of Public Funds (TPF). Ms. Miner had submitted her resignation earlier that day. Ms. Miner’s resignation follows the resignations of Courney Satz and Tanner Romano earlier this month. This leaves all three seats on TPF vacant.
Applications to fill these vacancies will be accepted by Mr. Hopkins until 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 5 and the Selectboard will interview applicants on Monday, June 9. The appointments will remain in effect until March 2026, when all three seats will appear on the ballot.
Mr. Hopkins noted that the town sold its 2015 police cruiser for $1,400 on Municibid, which he said was significantly more than the car would’ve fetched as scrap.
Mr. Hopkins also stated that the town has been informed that health-insurance premiums for its employees will increase by 13.7% for those employees on Blue Cross and 7.5% for those on MVP. All town employees except for some at the police department are on MVP.
Community Development report
Deputy Town Manager Bill Moore delivered his report, the full text of which is reprinted in this issue and is also available in the Selectboard packet for 5/26/25 on the town website.
Tier 1B zoning request
The Board unanimously agreed to request designation as Tier 1B under Act 181 for certain areas within Brandon. According to Mr. Hopkins, the designation allows further streamlining of the permitting process for new construction and bypasses Act 250 review for most cases within the 1B areas.
In Brandon, the areas that would be designated as Tier 1B are downtown Brandon and its adjacent neighborhoods and Forest Dale village and its adjacent neighborhoods. These areas already have municipal infrastructure and would not need the scrutiny under Act 250 that new construction in undeveloped areas might require.
A map of the designated areas is available in the Selectboard packet for 5/26/25 on the town website.
Some attendees questioned whether this decision should be made without input from the community, as increased development in the town would strain already limited resources such as parking.
Jack Schneider of the Brandon Planning Commission noted that the proposal had been discussed in public meetings and that the Rutland Regional Planning Commission intended to have more public meetings.
Mr. Schneider also noted that the town’s own zoning and land-use regulations will remain unaffected.
“It’s not like people will suddenly be able to do whatever they want,” he said. “There’s no downside to Tier 1B designation.”
Mr. Hopkins pointed out that the town had already opted to change its development threshold for Act 250 review from 1 acre to 10 acres, meaning that development in denser neighborhoods would already be exempt from Act 250 review in most of the neighborhoods to be designated Tier 1B.
Public information for appropriations
The Board discussed but did not act on a request from Board member Ralph Ethier to publish the financial reports submitted to the Town Clerk by organizations seeking appropriations from taxpayers at Town Meeting in March.
The change had been proposed by a citizen at a previous meeting and Mr. Ethier had thought it was “a good idea.”
Currently, organizations that seek appropriations must submit financial records to the Town Clerk. Those records are available for examination by the public at the Town Office but are not actively made public by the town.
The Board discussed the cost of including all of that information in the annual Town Report, the cost of which the town now bears on its own, since RNESU and the Fire District have decided to publish their own annual reports.
It was suggested that the financial reports be posted on the town website so voters can determine for themselves whether the organizations need Brandon’s tax dollars.
Mr. Hopkins also noted that this might be a good opportunity for the Board to review its overall approach to the Town Report going forward.
Police cruiser
The Board unanimously approved the purchase of a Dodge Charger AWD to replace the 2015 cruiser that was just sold. The cruiser was chosen from among 11 sealed bids and will cost $62,436, including delivery and police-specific fixtures (e.g., lights, partitions, etc.).
The winning bid came from Utilitac in Ridgeway, PA.
Mr. Hopkins said that Chief Kachajian and Officer Kelleher had personally tested several of the cars that had been proposed and felt that the Charger was best suited to the department’s needs.
Two of the proposed cars were fully electric and one was hybrid. The Brandon Energy Committee had prepared material for the Selectboard in favor of electric vehicles (the Energy Committee’s material is in the Selectboard packet), but the Board deferred to the Chief, with several Board members and attendees stating that the police were best positioned to know what was best for the department.
Mr. Hopkins added that though he fully supported the town’s Green Fleet policy, which seeks to meet state goals on carbon emissions, “officer safety must take priority.” Chief Kachajian and Officer Kelleher did not feel that the other proposed vehicles were large enough to accommodate all the necessary equipment.
Ethics report
The Board unanimously approved a statement to be appended to its final report on the ethics complaints against Tanner Romano and Laura Miner, both former Trustees of Public Funds.
The statement clarifies that the original complainant, Brent Buehler, did not explicitly accuse Mr. Romano or Ms. Miner of financial conflict of interest. Instead, he maintained that his complaint alleged only that Romano and Miner had a personal conflict.
The report found that a reasonable person could perceive a personal conflict between Mr. Romano’s position on TPF and his role in an organization to which TPF awarded funds. However, the report did not find that Mr. Romano had a financial conflict because of the award. The report did not find any conflicts for Ms. Miner.
Mr. Buehler addressed the Board and objected to any implication that he had alleged financial impropriety. Though Mr. Buehler’s original complaints did not specifically allege financial conflict, such accusations were made by others over the course of several public meetings on the topic.
The full report and appended statement are available under News & Notices on the town website.
The Board did not allow any public comment on the statement, with Board Chair Doug Bailey stating that the Board did not oversee the Trustees and that its role in the situation had come to an end with the release of the report.
All three Trustees (Tanner Romano, Courtney Satz, and Laura Miner) have resigned within the last month in response to harsh criticisms of their approach to the trust that they oversee on behalf of the citizens of Brandon. The Selectboard will now appoint replacements to hold the seats until Town Meeting in March of 2026.
Paving
The Board unanimously approved a plan to commit $160,000 in 1% funds for the resurfacing of Town Farm Road this summer.
Mr. Hopkins had submitted a letter to the Board outlining two proposals for paving for the fiscal year beginning on July 1.
One proposal was for Wheeler Road and would cost $230,000. The other proposal was for Town Farm Road and would cost $160,000.
The Board had already committed $100,000 in 1% funds for paving for the coming fiscal year. The Board committed an additional $60K from the fund on Monday evening.
Mr. Hopkins stated that there was enough in the 1% fund to cover the $160K plus the other expenses that the town had already determined would come from the fund, including $25K for a truck payment and approximately $30K for the roof of the Town Hall.
The Town Hall project is currently underway. Mr. Hopkins said that the total cost of the roof would require all of the ARPA funds that had been allocated to it, the ARPA funds that had been returned after the failed solar project last year, the insurance settlement from the roof damage two summers ago, and the additional money from the 1% fund.
Warrants
The Board unanimously approved a warrant in the amount of $1,590,770.24 to cover its expenses and obligations. This particular warrant included funds to be disbursed as appropriations and an amount to be paid to the school district, making the total significantly higher than usual.
