By STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON—The Brandon Selectboard convened for its regular meeting on Monday evening, much of which was taken up by continued, active debate over electric vehicles for Brandon’s police fleet, the potential hiring of an additional police officer, and the Board’s decision to eliminate the Brandon Police Department’s K-9 unit.
During the public-comment segment of the meeting, the Board received significant pushback against the proposal to purchase two electric police cruisers. Attendees once again criticized the cost, maintenance, and environmental impact of the vehicles.
Though electric vehicles may normally be more expensive than comparable gas-powered cruisers, the town has received grants and other incentives that would bring the cost slightly below gas cars, said Brandon Town Manager Seth Hopkins. Nonetheless, several attendees remained unconvinced that EVs were financially prudent.
There was also significant concern that EVs would be difficult to maintain, that they were not suitable for Vermont’s harsh winters, and that the lithium-based batteries were too expensive and posed a major risk to the environment.
Brandon resident Eric Mallory, owner of Mallory’s Automotive, suggested that the town purchase one EV to gauge the suitability of the vehicles before committing to a second one. Other attendees recommended that the town consider hybrids rather than all-electric.
Mr. Hopkins reminded the room that even if the proposed budget passes, no decision on EVs would take place before July, when the new budget kicks in. The town has not committed to buying any EVs and any eventual purchase would have to be approved by the Board in a public meeting.
Attendees also asked where the Board currently stood with regard to the hiring of another police officer in order to provide 24/7 on-duty coverage. Currently, Brandon has 24/7 coverage but must summon on-call officers, who are paid a higher rate, during certain hours when no officers are on active duty.
Ultimately, the Board agreed to gauge the community’s interest in hiring another officer by placing on the March ballot a non-binding, advisory question that will ask voters whether they would like the town to hire another officer to provide 24/7 on-duty coverage. If the majority of voters respond “yes” to the question, the Board will take up the issue in next fall’s budget workshops knowing that voters have specifically requested the additional officer. The vote to include the advisory question on the ballot was 4 to 1, with Brian Coolidge the sole nay.
Board chair Tracy Wyman had placed on the meeting’s agenda a revisit of the police department’s K-9 program, which the Board had voted to eliminate during a budget workshop in December and then failed to reinstate during a subsequent revote earlier this month.
Mr. Wyman stated on Monday that he had rethought his position on the program and was now ready to vote in favor of maintaining it. The Board’s decision to eliminate it had provoked a public backlash, though Mr. Wyman attributed his change of heart to a reassessment of the program from a businessman’s perspective.
Board member Tim Guiles, who voted to eliminate the program in both of the previous votes on it, expressed his respect for the political process that can lead to reversals such as this but also reiterated his opposition to the program. Mr. Guiles stated that Brandon was not large enough to necessitate a K-9 program, that he did not want to enlarge the police presence in Brandon, that the dedication of a vehicle and handler was expensive and inconvenient, and that the history of police dogs in the United States was troubling.
Attendees spoke in favor of the program, noting that the dog, Guinness, had recently assisted with the discovery and confiscation of a large supply of fentanyl. One attendee noted asked rhetorically, “What price do you put on the lives destroyed by fentanyl?”
The final vote on the K-9 program was 3 to 2, with Mr. Guiles and Mr. Coolidge both voting against it once more.
Other business
The Board authorized the inclusion of a bond vote for a town-owned solar array on this year’s March ballot. If approved by voters, the town would borrow $500,000 to finance a solar array on leased land at the Brandon Industrial Park off of Arnold District Road. The Board also approved a bid by Green Earth Energy of Brandon to construct the array at a cost of $468,500. No construction will occur if the bond is not approved.
The votes on both the bid and the bond were 3 to 2, with Mr. Wyman and Mr. Coolidge voting against them. Mr. Wyman stated that he did not want the town to take on any more infrastructure that it couldn’t maintain. Mr. Guiles, a longtime proponent of the project, noted that the cost of maintenance was included in the bid and that the income from the array will offset the bond payments.
Town Clerk Sue Gage requested that the Board approve an article on the March ballot asking voters whether to allow residents a grace period on delinquent payments of town bills before any penalties are assessed. Ms. Gage stated that she felt it was “unnecessarily punitive” to begin assessing penalties immediately when some residents simply need a few extra days to submit payments. “I’d like to see us be a little kinder,” she said. The Board approved the request unanimously and the question will now be put to voters in March.
The Board approved the final warning for Town Meeting, which will include the grace period, the solar bond vote, and the advisory question on an additional officer.
The Board authorized the replacement of the plate glass windows in the Town Office at a cost of $14,637.85. The windows have been cracked and discolored for years.
The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department requested and received a letter from the Board in support of the Department’s purchase of a parcel of swampland along Brandon’s border with Sudbury. The land will be added to the Department’s holdings there in the Brandon Swamp Wildlife Management area. The Department has purchased ten similar parcels in Brandon since 2020. The town will continue to receive property tax on the land.
The Board approved a new blanket authorization for payroll, to reflect the increase in the hourly rate paid to a police officer, Ethan Kelleher, who had just received his B.A. in criminal justice and was now eligible for training at the Police Academy, thus triggering an automatic raise as per the Police Union contract.
Greg Poelker-McKee of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission addressed the Board to request that anyone interested in helping the Commission update its regional plan visit its website (rutlandrpc.org/plan2026) to take a survey. The survey will let the Commission know what local residents want for the region.
The Board’s final public business of the evening was the approval of a warrant in the amount of $121,981.57 for the town’s expenses and obligations and a warrant in the amount of $98,047.50 for the distribution of grant money to the Brandon Free Public Library.
