Community Safety Priority Area

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions; names and details may be misheard. No vote was taken.

What: Manager Curry proposed adding a fourth pillar to the council's strategic plan on community safety, reflecting staff time spent where public health and public safety overlap (homelessness, mental health, substance use, repeat calls for service).
Where it stands: at the 2026-10-08 retreat councilors agreed to keep working on it. Several asked that the title and wording shift toward community safety and well-being (or community health and safety), and that the language not target any group. Councilors stressed they were not approving the draft strategies yet.
Next: the manager will revise the wording, add the well-being aspects and cross-reference the city plan, and take input from councilors. Another round of discussion is expected before adoption; the pillar will also feed the budget discussion.

The draft builds on the city plan, the council's prior strategic plan (which had a public safety area two years ago), and staff priorities such as exercising the emergency plan and staffing and succession planning in public safety.
One draft strategy would establish a multi-agency accountability working group to bring public safety and public health leaders together to identify service and accountability gaps. Councilors saw this as the keystone and noted the word "establish" means the city would take the lead.

Colonel Jim Baker, a consultant helping with the police chief search, described the process he used for the state's public safety enhancement team in Brattleboro (and similar work in Springfield and Bennington, built on his earlier Project Vision in Rutland). It took about ten months and ended in a symposium, then a charter signed by roughly 30 organizations, now called One Brattleboro. Key ideas: catalog existing resources, build trust among providers, agree on what safety means, share data on repeat users of emergency services, and hold agencies accountable to each other. He stressed involving the faith community and that empathy without accountability only enables.
In answer to councilors, he said state officials sit on the Brattleboro group, and that public perception of downtown safety improved after the town added an outreach team.

The county situation table meets weekly on Wednesdays, bringing providers together on individual cases; Interim Chief Pearson and others called it successful but not a systemic forum. No one from the faith community attends, and councilors called that a local choke point.
Councilors said past community meetings fizzled because no one was named lead. Staff said they sit in separate meetings on housing, alcohol use disorder and winter planning with largely the same people.

Framing: Paul Costello said the pillar should be about community safety and well-being, caring for people with needs while keeping accountability. Another councilor said "safety" alone suggests dangerous people rather than people needing services, and a third wanted more emphasis on caring for people and was cautious about placing outreach workers inside the police department.
Councilors asked who would lead the work and what it would cost; a councilor said a lead staff person is probably needed.
Pelin Kohn (apparently) asked about state collaboration, since Montpelier is the capital, and about reviewing wording so it does not target any population. A councilor described personal experiences of feeling unsafe downtown, and a women's safety group was mentioned.

Colonel Jim Baker, joining virtually, presented a model effort to assist unhoused people in Brattleboro and answered questions; councilors said further talks are needed. The City Manager will keep consulting him (he also assists with Police Chief recruitment, see Police Chief Search) and asked councilors to send suggestions on public safety and homelessness. See also Homelessness Response.

About 54 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-10-08 - City Council (special)	54

2026-10-08 - City Council (special) — Manager proposed a fourth strategic plan pillar; Colonel Jim Baker presented the Brattleboro model; councilors supported continuing the discussion with a broader title and wording.

Homelessness Committee pause is tied to setting the new "community safety and wellbeing" strategic plan pillar (item 2026-411); see also State-Local Public Safety Collaboration.