By RUSSELL JONES
The Brandon Selectboard voted to release $8,000 in a dedicated fund as part of an effort launched by the Brandon Chamber of Commerce to build a music pavilion behind the Brandon Inn. The cost of the project is estimated at $18,000, and the chamber has raised $5,000 in donations so far, leaving another $5,000 to be raised.
For the past three years, the Brandon Chamber of Commerce has put on a Summer Concert series featuring live music by the river with spectators on the lawn (moving inside the inn when it rains.)
The selectboard voted Monday to use funds from the Hildreth Landon Fund, which was set up for the sole purpose of helping build such a pavilion.
“Hildreth Landon lived in Brandon and died in 1980,” Atherton said. “She left the town $3,000 to be used to build a bandstand and plant trees.”
“The fund has done well over the years and there is currently a little over $8,000 in it,” Town Manager Dave Atherton said. “The fund was meant to be spent and never meant to be a permanent fund.”
The Chamber had asked the town to use the entire fund for the purpose of construction of a pavilion behind the Brandon Inn. Board chairman Seth Hopkins recused himself from the discussion because he is part of the group that was asking for use of the fund.
“We (the chamber) have an open-ended contract with the Brandon Inn that will either be carried over or the pavilion will have to be purchased back from us if the inn is ever sold.” Hopkins said, in his capacity as a Chamber member. “Sarah and Louis at the inn are going to pay the property taxes, maintain and provide electricity for the pavilion.”
The board voted unanimously to approve the request.
Other selectboard news
Selectman Tim Guiles also provided an update on contract negotiations with Earth, Waste and Metal, the company that runs the transfer station in Brandon. Guiles said there was a common ground between the two parties to build a better contract. They may have even worked out a compromise on the matter of the broken scales, finding a set of portable scales that the town could also use for other business.
CLARIFICATION: In last week’s Reporter I wrote: “It is imperative the board consider this staffing now,” Brickell told the selectboard, “given there will be at least two retirements in the not so distant future,” regarding Chief Brickell’s report to the board. I characterized this as a statement directly to the board, when actually it was on a report written by the Chief and given to the board.
