This special select board meeting, held on September 15, 2026, focused exclusively on a community discussion regarding immigration enforcement and the town's fair and impartial policing (FIP) policy. The meeting was called in response to concerns about potential ICE activity in Brattleboro, following incidents in other Vermont communities. No votes were taken; the purpose was to hear public input and allow the police department to address questions.
Welcome to the special select board meeting of September 14th. John, has this meeting been properly warned? Yes, Oscar, it was. Thank you. So we only have one item on our agenda today, which is a community discussion. Yes. But before we reach the regular business, we're going to have, as always, a period of public comment. So this is an opportunity for anyone present in person or on Zoom to make a comment about something that's not on the agenda. So for anyone who's here to talk about the main item, please hold it until we get there. But for now, does anyone have a comment or a question about something that's not on the agenda? Okay. Seeing none, we'll move ahead. Hi, Amanda. So I'm gonna go over a couple ground rules. Um, some of you may never have been to a select board meeting before, so welcome. My name's Oscar. I'm the chair of the board. My main job here is to manage the meeting and make sure everyone gets a turn to speak, and we get to have a good conversation. We also have with us the town manager John Potter, the police chief Jeremy Evans, Assistant Chief Adam Petlock, and the rest of the select board, which is Isaac, Amanda, Peter, and Nell. We can't uh this is just a uh discussion tonight, so the select board won't be taking any votes or creating any policy. It's just an opportunity for us all to talk and hear what each other think and ask questions. I'm gonna call on people to be recognized one at a time. We have clipboards in the back since we've got a big crowd at the table by Tara in the back left. Anyone who'd like to speak, please put your name on those lists. I think one list was supposed to be for sign in and the other for sign up. At the moment, they're both for sign up. So whichever list you put your name on, you are on the list and will get a chance to talk. If you're on Zoom, if you'd like to speak, please use the raise hand feature. And from time to time, I will switch over to Zoom and we'll hear from people online. When you're called on, please come up to the microphone that's in the front of the room, state your full name and your town of residence, and then uh make your comment or ask your questions. Um this is a meeting of the Brattleboro Select Board, but as always, anyone is welcome from any town. Everyone will have about three minutes for their first comment. If we get through everyone and everyone's had a chance to speak, and we get to the end, and there are more comments, we may go around a second time. We do have one rule that may seem a little silly, but it is important. When you're talking, please direct all your comments or questions just to me as the chair, and then that gives me a chance to do sort of air traffic control and get the questions where they need to go. So I just want to say now that we're on to our main discussion, welcome to all of you. It's really gratifying to see so much community engagement on such an important topic. Um there are a couple paper copies of the town's existing fair and impartial policing policy that I think are sort of drifting around the room. So if you're interested in reading that, I'm sure a neighbor can share one with you. It's also available on the town website at brattleboro.gov slash policies-police-department. And the only other thing I want to say is that I think we can all recognize that this is a serious topic. It can be divisive, it can be intense. It's about something that is a is a threat to the rights and safety of people in our community. We all have strong feelings about it, and I have a lot of trust that Brattleboro can have that conversation in public, on camera, in front of the press, and with all our neighbors, and uh that we can have it with dignity and courtesy. So please, whether you agree or disagree with whatever somebody's saying, please listen with respect, let them have the floor and share their thoughts. And the last thing I want to introduce before we open it up to comments, is I spoke to State Representative Ian Goodnow, who is in the back of the room right now, and he gave me some updates to share on how these issues interact with the state government. Um there are two bills that passed this session, and Ian, please jump in and correct me if I stray. But S209 was a bill that greatly expanded the role of protected spaces, which used to just be courthouses. But this is a protected space. You cannot be arrested on a civil immigration warrant.