BRATTLEBORO-After a summer of standing-room-only meetings about public safety in town, the Selectboard voted on Sept. 17 to adopt a new ordinance to address behavior and to fund increased police staffing.
Board members called these actions part of the town's community safety agenda which includes implementing a downtown safety action plan, developing a community safety messaging campaign, working for state legislative reform, and other actions to address public health and safety in town.
By establishing safety zones in town where "prohibited behaviors" are subject to penalties, the Community Conduct Ordinance "sets a community standard and expectation for everyone to behave appropriately," wrote Town Manager John Potter in a Sept. 13 memo to the board.
Three classes of prohibited behaviors are subject to fines ranging from $25 to $200. Prior to issuing a ticket, a verbal warning and the opportunity for changing behavior can be given for those behaviors not deemed "serious harmful conduct."
Additionally, the town can issue a trespass notice for prohibited behaviors.
A notice of trespass can be waived if the recipient completes a restoration plan which could include a combination of measures, including entering drug treatment or a mental health support program, completing a restorative justice process, or providing community service of at least five hours.
The ordinance also empowers the town to designate as "high-response properties" destinations to which police often respond to address concerns about quality of life, safety, or criminal activity.
Owners of these properties could be subject to payment of the costs incurred by the town for its police response.
Selectboard members Franz Reichsman, Peter Case, and Elizabeth McLoughlin voted to adopt the ordinance. Selectboard Chair Daniel Quipp and board member Richard Davis voted against.
In a second vote, the board directed the town manager to continue to implement the Downtown Safety Action Plan, with an estimated cost of $675,669 in unbudgeted expenditures for fiscal year 2025, and to add an estimated $803,459 to the base budget for FY26.
This funding would enable the full staffing of the police department's Brattleboro Resource Assistance Team (BRAT) of four unarmed police officers dedicated to downtown, and the addition of three police officers to the Brattleboro Police Department (BPD).
Quipp, Case, and McLoughlin voted in favor of the motion; Reichsman and Davis were opposed.
Working to change behavior
Reichsman proposed delaying implementation of the ordinance.
"I thought it made sense to let some of these issues bounce around a little bit more so that people feel like we were secure in our understanding of what it means and how it's going to be implemented," he told The Commons.
Reichsman sees the ordinance as a piece of a fuller package of approaches to dealing with the disorder in town.
"First, you've got to provide adequate social services. Then you've got to have a shared understanding of how you behave in Brattleboro, and you have to have law enforcement to make sure that people understand and adhere to those behavioral standards," he said.
"A lot of what the ordinance intends to do is not rely on enforcement, but rather to stimulate dialogue and mutual understanding of how we act in our downtown area," he said.
Police Chief Norma Hardy says that the ordinance is congruent with her department's current policing philosophy.
"It's always been my message that we're not arresting people all day long, but we're working with people to change behavior," she told The Commons.
"I think people think that the town created something more punitive with the ordinance," Hardy added. "But what it shows is that the town is trying to give people an out without having to burden us with arrests and burden the courts."
Opponents of the ordinance argue for increased social services to address disorderly conduct. A petition signed by 430 individuals and organizations has called for the town to invest in "dignified and compassionate solutions to increase quality of life, and to move away from a dehumanizing 'us vs. them' narrative."
Stating that "when people have their vital needs met, they are less likely to be publicly disruptive or commit crimes," the petition lists 13 "proven solutions and alternatives to criminalization," including providing drinking water stations around town, publicly accessible bathrooms and showers, storage lockers, and an overdose prevention center.
In an interview with The Commons, Hannah Sorila, one of the organizers of the petition, referenced recent analysis of BPD call response data that showed that the majority of calls to the police were for disorder, not criminal activity.
"The data highlighted the need for more social service and human service organizations' support," said Sorila, a town resident. "The police department ultimately is having to carry a load that it seems like they've expressed that they don't want to carry, that they don't have the capacity to carry."
Sorila said that opponents of the ordinance hope to increase public education about alternatives to the ordinance.
Acknowledging that Selectboard meetings are not the forum for "robust conversations" of this type, she would like to see a community forum at which the public could learn about the work of human service organizations and get their perspectives.
'Consider the implications'
Another signatory of the petition, Libby Bennett, identifies herself as a "lifelong resident, taxpayer, and advocate for people in vulnerable situations" and has called for the Selectboard to slow down its process.
Bennett, who is also the executive director of Groundworks Collaborative, which operates a 34-bed overnight shelter in town, spoke at the Sept. 17 board meeting about the implications of the ordinance.
"If this Selectboard feels the need to set an ordinance around conduct, we would ask that you very carefully scrutinize every detail in the context of what services are and are not available in this community," Bennett said.
"What happens when tickets go unpaid? Who is going to facilitate the restorative justice process?" she asked. "What will incentivize landlords to rent to people with [Section 8] housing vouchers if they are at risk of being named a high nuisance property?"
Her questions continued.
"Who will help people find recovery programs or substance use treatment? How will you make it easy for people to access? Where will you recommend people access detox beds, and will people be offered transportation to easily access detox? How will you make it easy for people to access mental health beds versus waiting for days on end in the hospital's emergency department?" she asked.
"If you provide for the needs of everyone in this community, and people opt not to use those resources, then enact an ordinance," Bennett said. "If you offer people an appropriate place to use the bathroom and they don't, then enact an ordinance."
Take the measure of existing police efforts
Prior to his vote, Davis argued for delaying implementation of the ordinance to examine the effectiveness of existing police efforts and to spend more time listening to opponents.
"I don't think we gave them [opponents] the due they deserve," he told The Commons.
"The question is, do we need the ordinance to enforce things that are already in place, or is this a knee-jerk reaction to an outcry by some vocal members of the public?" Davis said.
"I felt like Chief Hardy's plan to increase patrols downtown and to clean up places in the mornings was a good start. Why not let that play out for a while and see what kind of effect it has before trying the ordinance?" he added.
According to Chief Hardy, the Brattleboro Response Assistance Team will use the new funding to patrol the downtown area to deter criminal activity and "chaos-creating activities."
Additionally, BRAT staff will provide escorts to and from parking lots as requested, will use de-escalation training to resolve minor situations, and will connect with businesses to keep informed of changing concerns and successes.
Hardy said that the three additional police officers will supervise the BRAT staff and will enable her department to have a consistent presence downtown without compromising essential services in other areas of Brattleboro.
'We're drowning in taxes'
The Selectboard is considering the use of town emergency funds to cover FY25 expenses associated with increased police staffing. For FY26, the expenses would be added to the base budget, raising taxes by an estimated $65.90 per $100,000 of assessed property value.
Reichsman does not support the use of emergency funds to hire three additional police officers, arguing for a more deliberate budgetary process that doesn't "bypass the input of the [Representative Town Meeting members] who are ultimately responsible for approving the budget."
"We're just about to get started on our budget discussions for FY26, and it's going to be difficult to assemble a budget that does not have a very large tax increase," he said.
Calling the vote to increase spending by $803,000 "fiscally irresponsible," Davis supported funding only the BRAT program at the estimated level of $350,392.
McLoughlin justified her support for the use of emergency funds.
"It's not just me saying this is an emergency," she said. "There are people who were at the [Selectboard's] meeting a couple weeks ago insisting that this was an emergency and that we can't wait for the regular budget process. We have to authorize this now."
Support for the increased spending was mixed among community members at the meeting.
"I, like others, am not in favor of more taxes, but I think this is something that we have to support," said John Kennedy, a Brattleboro resident. "If it's $200 more in taxes, I look at that as an investment in this town, an investment in my property values, so that we maintain the kind of community that is attractive to people, [so] people [will] want to shop here, and they [will] want to remain here."
Kate O'Connor spoke against the increased spending, citing a 15% increase in property taxes last year.
"People are drowning in taxes," the former Selectboard chair said. "I do think safety is important, but I also think the long term affordability of this town is equally important."
There's only so much a town can do
In interviews with The Commons, Reichsman, McLoughlin, and Davis acknowledged that more social services are needed to address the root causes of disorderly conduct and criminal activity in town, but they said that the town has limited resources to affect change.
"It's true that if you don't provide for people's needs then you're only treating the symptoms," said Reichsman. "But where's the money going to come from? Can the town government actually take that on in a meaningful way? What would the staffing look like? How would the policies and procedures be developed?"
"State resources need to be brought to bear to solve these national social ills that are exhibited in Brattleboro," said McLoughlin. "The state needs to help us provide more robust drug treatment, more access to mental health services, more access for housing for the unsheltered. That's beyond the municipality's ability."
"The bigger problem is the societal gap between the rich and the poor," said Davis. "It's growing so wide, and we have no control over that."
This News item by Ellen Pratt was written for The Commons.