City Council

Minutes of the Montpelier City Council Meeting June 13, 2018 7:00 PM City Council Chambers, City Hall In attendance: Mayor Anne Watson (Chair), Councilors Dona Bate, Conor Casey, Glen Hutcheson, Rosie Krueger, Jack McCullough and Ashley Hill, and City Manager Bill Fraser. City Clerk John Odum acted as secretary of the meeting. At 6:15 PM the Council conducted a site visit on Scribner Street in accordance with 19 VSA 33 "Survey of Existing Highways." No formal action was taken. The scheduled meeting was called to order by the Mayor at 7:00. 18-172. Without objection, the agenda was approved with the understanding that flexibility would be required. 18-173. Kate Harrington spoke regarding plastic pollution. 18-174. Councilor Krueger moved to approve the consent agenda tabling item G (Montpelier Energy Advisory Committee bylaws revision) for further discussion. Councilor Bate seconded. After brief comments from the Mayor, the motion carried unanimously. 18-175. The Mayor called the Scribner Street hearing to order at 7:07 and offered introductory comments. City Manager Fraser stepped down from his seat to allow City Attorney Paul Gilles to take his seat at the front. Councilor McCullough swore in all who were present to offer testimony. Public Works Director Tom McArdle offered testimony before the Council. He was joined at the front table by Surveyor Lisa Gannett (Sunrise Surveying) who subsequently testified. Mr. McArdle offered 15 exhibits (exhibits 1 through 15). Hearing no objections from any other parties, the Council accepted exhibits 1 through 15. Mr. McArdle answered questions from the Council. Sarah Field and Bruce Sargent asked questions of Mr. McArdle and Ms. Gannett. Further testimony was offered by: Sarah Field, Maggie Neale, and Bruce Sargent. Ms. Neale and Mr. Sargent engaged in back-and-forth with the Council and the City Attorney. Without objection, the Council accepted exhibits S/N 1-20 as presented by Mr. Sargent. Hearing no further testimony, the Mayor closed the evidentiary hearing at 8:01PM. Mr. Fraser returned to his seat. No formal action was taken. 18-176. The Mayor called a recess at 8:02. Back at 8:07. A presentation was made before the Council by Montpelier high school students (Aidan Murphy, Leah Preston, Quinn mills, and Cyprus Leavitt) regarding plastic bag policy.  Discussion followed. Councilor Casey moved to direct city staff to investigate language for a charter change to ban plastic bags. Councilor Hill seconded. During discussion, Citizens Against Plastic Pollution member Joe Yoder addressed the council. The motion carried unanimously at 8:22. The following student presentations followed; recommendations on a potential indoor recreation facility (from Nathan Larosa, Evan Rohan, Sydney Dunn, recommending a new building financed by sales of the current one), and concerns about facilities for teens (from Isaac Mandell-Seaver, Quin Gomez, and Mason Ecklund-Gustavson, recommending dedicated, improved space in the recreation facility and including a survey). Discussion occurred throughout. 18-180. City staffers Kevin Casey and Corey Line, joined by Stu Sirota of Alta Planning and Design came forward for a presentation on the Complete Streets Plan. Planning Director Mike Miller participated. Discussion followed with no formal action taken. 18-177. Ward Joyce came forward for a discussion of the Main Street pocket park. No formal action was taken. 18-178. The Mayor opened the public hearing regarding the tax stabilization application from Timber Homes Vermont at 9:37. Shannon McIntyre, co-owner, came forward to answer council questions. Hearing no questions from the public, the Mayor closed the hearing and set the second hearing for the next meeting, without objection. 18-182. Kurt Motyka and Todd Provencher came for a discussion of the project at the Water Resource Recovery Facility. Larry Doyle with ESG participated in the ensuing discussion. Councilor McCullough moved the Council approve the plan of the DPW to proceed (with the project) on the basis of doing phase one and recognizing that this isn’t the final decision on the project. Councilor Bate seconded. After more discussion, the motion carried unanimously at 10:07. 18-183. There was a brief discussion of the Strategic Plan. No formal action taken. 18-184. The Montpelier Energy Advisory Committee item from the consent agenda was taken from the table for discussion. Councilor Kruger moved council adopt the bylaw amendments as proposed by MEAC with the addition of striking the sentence “current board members will nominate and propose all new board members to city council.” Councilor Casey seconded. Motion carried unanimously. 18-185. There was a brief discussion of the schedule of coming business. Councilor McCullough noted dissatisfaction with parklet ordinance and expressed concern about the sound system. Discussion followed. Councilor Krueger spoke about Ledgewood Terrace’s status. Councilor Hutcheson noted his constituent meetings at Bagitos. Councilor Casey expressed his desire to set up a walking tour of the town. Councilor Bate spoke about “Building With a Sense of Place” and asked about the Community Justice Committee and the Committee on Committees (Councilor Hill followed up with a brief report). 18-186. The Mayor invited everyone to the opening of the Guertin pocket park. She reported on  her meeting with Phil from the TW Wood gallery regarding art for the room before noting all the coming groundbreakings and openings. 18-187. The City Clerk reported on the status of the Non-Citizen voting discussion. 18-188. The City Manager noted the state hearing on the TIF district on June 28th. Without objection, the meeting was adjourned by the Mayor at 10:26 PM.