City Council

27 WEST ALLEN STREET WINOOSKI, VERMONT 05404 (802) 655-6410 CITY OF WINOOSKI (802) 655-6414 (fax) KATHERINE R. DECARREAU CITY MANAGER MAYOR SETH LEONARD COUNCILOR NICOLE MACE sleonard@winooskivt.org DEPUTY MAYOR BRIAN CORRIGAN CITY COUNCIL COUNCILOR ROBERT MILLAR COUNCILOR BRIAN SWEENEY bcorrigan@winooskivt.org Agenda Monday, January 4, 2016 6:00 p.m. Claire Burke Chamber I. Call to Order II. Pledge of Allegiance III. Public Comment IV. Consent Agenda a. Approval: City Council Minutes of December 21, 2015 b. Approval: Warrants as of January 4, 2016 and Subsequent to Payout - October V. City Update VI. Agenda Review VII. Regular Items a. Discussion: CCRPC Report – Charlie Baker – K Decarreau b. Approval: Event Permit French Heritage Day Steve Norman & Rita Martel – K Decarreau c. Discussion: Administration Budgets – K Decarreau d. Discussion: Public Works Ordinance (Streets) – Peter Wernsdorfer e. Discussion: Community Services Ordinances – Ray Coffey f. Approval: Charter Approval – K Decarreau g. Approval: Parking Notification Policy – K Decarreau h. Approval: Adjust Council Schedule for City Holiday – K Decarreau VIII. Adjourn MINUTES The meeting was called to order by the Mayor at 6:00 p.m. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Deputy Mayor Corrigan. Members Present: Mayor Seth Leonard Councilors: Brian Corrigan, Brian Sweeney, Nicole Mace, Robert Millar. Officers Present: January 4, 2016 Agenda Winooski City Council Katherine Decarreau, City Manager; Carol Barrett, City Clerk; Angela Aldieri, Staff Accountant; Ray Coffey, Community Services Director; Peter Wernsdorfer, Public Works Director. Others Present: Ted Regula, Steve Norman, Rita Martell, Charlie Baker, CCRPC; Michael O’Brien, Rep to CCRPC; Maura O’Neill and Kelsy Adams, WCP; Sarah Petrokonis, Kate Nugent, Chad Loseby III. Public Comment No comment was made. IV. Consent Agenda MOTION by Councilor Sweeney seconded by Councilor Mace to approve the consent agenda as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. V. City Update -The City Manager wished everyone a Happy New Year. -Town Meeting Day is March 1, 2016. There are 2 Councilor Seats up both are a two year term. There are 2 school board seats up 1-2 year term and 1-3 year term. First day to file January 21, 2016 and last day to file is January 29, 2016. -Working hard to remove snow. Routes to school are open. - January schedule of City Council meetings are: January 11th: Community Services Budget- Parks, Recreation, Pool, Library, Senior Center and Regional Programs Location/Time Senior Center 123 Barlow St at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, January 19th: Public Safety Budget – Code Enforcement, Fire and Police – Location/Time Fire Department 120 Main St. at 6:00 p.m. Monday, January 25th: Public Works Budget and Capital Work Plan Budget – Streets/Sidewalks, Facilities and Grounds and Engineering – Location/Time Public Works Department 200 Gilbrook Rd at 6:00 p.m. Monday, February 1st: Final Budget Hearing – Location/Time: City Hall 27 West Allen St at 6:00 p.m. The City Manager said the budget will be recommended by February 1. Councilor Millar asked how the first parking ban went. The City Manager said there were about 60 cars out on the street. We gave people a pass. Our policy is we will try and give 24 hours in an emergency and 72 hours for non-emergency. We have temporary signs that we can put up in neighborhoods when we go to remove snow from the streets and sidewalks. VI. Agenda Review No changes to the Agenda. VII. Regular Items a. Discussion: CCRPC Report – Charlie Baker Mr. Baker said CCRPC started 50 years ago by the Towns in Chittenden County. The Board is made up of municipal representatives. Mutual concerns are: Federal/State Funding, Regional Planning Funding, Water Quality Funds etc. We do appreciate you appointing Mike to our Board. We re-located to West Canal St. about 6 years ago. Some concerns are how to replace the bridge. What should it look like, bikes and pedestrians, etc. January 4, 2016 Agenda Winooski City Council It’s not going to happen in two years but we need to start planning. There is a project this spring in Burlington (Riverside Ave and Barrett St. area) which will affect traffic in Winooski. He also said Vermont received a Tiger Grant (Rail System). We are trying to get the train from Rutland to Burlington. The thorn is how to turn the train around. There maybe the opportunity to travel to Essex. He said there is a bill pending in legislature to provide other services – municipally driven. The Mayor and Council thanked CCRPC for all the work that they have done for us. b. Approval: Event Permit French Heritage Day – Steve Norman & Rita Martel Mr. Norman said the French Heritage Day went off extremely well. We are proposing to move the celebration up 3 weeks because on June 24 is St John the Baptiste holiday. We are looking at Saturday June 25, 2016 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. See attached event permit. We are looking reaching out to more organizations to raise money. We are looking into possibly closing Winooski Falls Way. We appreciate your consideration and cooperation. Ms. Martell said the response has been remarkable, but on of the concerns is they couldn’t get into the museum. We need a ramp. Councilor Sweeney had some concerns about port-a-lets. Ms. Martell said they have been using the bus station and the Champlain Mill. MOTION by Councilor Sweeney seconded by Councilor Mace to approve the French Heritage Day to be held on Saturday, June 25, 2015 from 8:30 to 5:30 p.m. with the condition that the Public Works Dept. signs off on the event permit. Voted and passed 4-0. c. Discussion: Administration Budgets The City Manager presented the Administration Budget- See attached Power Point presentation. Overall Notes: Salaries follow CPI - these numbers will come out on January 20. We will update it at that point. Salaries are actual. Energy – Short term out look – We saved $16,000.00 over current budget Gas- Diesel – Level funding back to 2015 Health Insurance – She said the 2nd half of the year is going to see an increase about 8.5% from Jan-June 2016. This is in the premium portion not in the deductible. Revenue Budget – Comes from Property Taxes and PILOTS -Any revenue that recovers the expense of delivering a particular service. Collection of Taxes, Permits, Fees, Fines, Forfeitures. Inter Governmental – Revenue that comes from Enterprise of Special revenue Funds back to the General Fund to cover Administrative Expenses. The City Manager said we are running a fund balance every year. The fund balance is the total contribution of revenue over expenses at the end of the year. It was only 3%. Revenue is pretty level funded at this point. The City Manager went over the Administration Budget. Every budget has 10 roll up lines. You may see 40 to 60 lines rolled up into 10. Administration Salaries include Full, Part and Overtime, and Temporary. Admin. Benefits are Health, Vision, Dental, and Disability. Life Insurances, Retirement, FICA/Medi, Unemployment, Worker’s Comp and Training and Travel. General & Special Supplies: Offices Supplies, Postage, Copier, Phone, Internet. There is an increase and the reason is we will do more direct mailing and we have two extra elections this year. Contracts/Professional Services – CCTV, Audit Planning and Economic Development, Assessment, Legal, PayData, Insurance Broker, Translation Software Support, ACS and Advertising and Legal. The Mayor asked to talk about the Entities and third parties listed here. Efficiencies have been created by outsourcing some things that make sense to outsource. The City Manager said what that is doing is allowing administration to do more. PayData -We are now outsourcing our payroll to PayData. This has been a huge January 4, 2016 Agenda Winooski City Council success. They do all the reports and reporting and W2’S. This is allowing Janet to begin to take point to rolling out new programs. What that has allowed us to do is you can have water/sewer and tax payment taken directly out of your accounts. Vehicle and Misc. Lease on Electric Car – Miscellaneous Insurance Deductibles, Fish and Game, Vehicle Registration Total Increase = 1.46% over what we budget last year. (Administration Budget) Administration – Add/Restore From Savings on /Base Budget -Nixle for General Purpose Communication -From First Add List 24 Hr/Wk Admin to work window and move current staff to Public Safety Admin The City Manager said the Nixle Program is used for communication, to post snow bans, notices to emails, cell phones etc. We have a current contract with them. Part of the $10,000.00 savings is on the base. I’m suggesting 1¢ of taxes that’s coming from fund balance that result in being able to raise expenses by 1¢ or about $50,000. 00 but not have taxes because we are rolling in fund balance. In that first piece we believe that the biggest bang for our buck is the administrative side. This would be for a 24hr/wk Admin to work and to move current staff to public safety and back fill the position from the window. The Mayor sometimes thinks it hard for people who have looked at other organizational budgets to understand. We don’t typically carry administrative staff within the Police Dept, Public Works, Water/Waste Water. When were moving people around that means that person is supporting a couple different dept.? The City Manager says nobody has an Administrative Asst. not even me. – CCTV is an addition so that they can stream the meeting so people can see it real time. 2nd List – If you don’t take fund balance this would be the second penny. If you do take fund balance it would result in a penny of tax increase. There is a Community and Economic Development position using funds from Planning & Economic Development contract funds ($52,000) and $30,000.00 from Parking/TIF/Garage ($25,000) We are still working on a number of things. The Part-Time Clerk increase would be from 24 to 28 hours. Contracts and Dues CCTA, Senior Rides Special Programs ($20,000), WCP and WVPD CCTA is going up $17,000.00. There’s a requirement that for elderly and disabled any where within a certain distance of a bus stop and if they can’t get to a bus stop we have to pick them up and move them where there are going. If they are having to go to Tilley Drive and there is no bus service out there. When they can’t take the bus we have to have SSTA take them out there. CUSI funds goes to 0 and we fund an officer. WCP-WVPD these annually make the list but we recommend restoring them. WVPD has been instrumental and we continue to work with them. If we were to pay dues to WVPD we would owe them a little over $14,000.00 we took our parks so they don’t manage them. Mora O’Neil, director of WCP introduced Kelsey Adams who is Vice President of the Winooski Community Partnership board. Ms. O’Neill provided us with a background of what the WCP does. Winooski has what’s called a designated downtown. If a builder, developer or resident is either building new property or rehabbing property through our organization they are eligible for tax credits or sales tax reallocation. In the last 5 years because of the WCP, Developers and or Residents have received more than $500,000.00 in tax credits and re- allocations. Both Winooski Mill projects, Peking Duckhouse, RedStone Property received more than $100,000.00. We also do a number of community development projects, so we work with businesses to bring more people into the City to patronize our businesses. We also do the Winooski Farmer’s Market five month a year. We have quarterly socials; send out weekly news letters on what’s going on in Winooski. The average amount of budget of the designated downtown budget that they receive from funding that they are apart of is 60%. We ask for $25,000.00 which would have been 40% of our budget. $7500.00 is about 15% of our budget. January 4, 2016 Agenda Winooski City Council The rest will have to be raised on our own. She said in 2016 we will have to re-designate the designated downtown area, so without the downtown designation none of those developers would be eligible for tax credits. The Mayor said you do a tremendous amount of work. Councilor Sweeney is very pleased the way the way the direction of this board is going. Councilor Sweeney said the city also contributes the sidewalk fee to the WCP. The sidewalk fee is $2.00 per sq. ft. and anyone who uses the sidewalk or public right of way on a permanent basis. This is usually used by restaurants only. Last year was approximately $5500.00. The City Manager said we will bring this back to you on February 1, 2016. Councilor Mace asked where the $10,000.00 in savings is showing up. Ms. Aldieri said the future budgets that you will see will have savings there. d. Discussion: Public Works Ordinance (Streets) – Peter Wernsdorfer The City Manager said her and Pete have been talking a lot about the water and waste/water ordinances. They are really complicated and very technical. I’m going to suggest that barring another conversation with Pete that we actually adopt them the way they are unless we make a mistake and take too much out. There’s a lot of technical stuff and just to make sure there’s no reason to rush. Mr. Wernsdorfer presented the Street/Sidewalk Ordinance. This Chapter provides for the operations and maintenance of sidewalks and streets in the City of Winooski. It includes the requirements for issuing excavation permits, and has a penalty for non-compliance. All penalties for non-compliance are civil offenses as defined in Chapter 1, Section 11. Multiple sections were removed their entirety as they are now governed by the City’s Zoning Ordinance including the paving of private driveways and placement and construction of awnings. This section also includes the process of naming streets in accordance with #-911. Last, it defines when a property owner is responsible for snow removal. There was discussion concerning the snow removal. Councilor Mace says we need transparency. This can be who does what through a policy. The City Manager said there are a lot of moving parts on snow & ice removal and by the 25th were going to comeback with an understanding of what that is and the implication of the budget. There is no question that we need a second sidewalk plow even if were going to keep some of the main entrances open. 17-7 - Mr. Wernsdorfer said we need to regulate this area. 17-18 Authority to Require Numbering – The Ordinance is in compliance with E911 regulations. 17-36 Permit Required to make Excavation. This is from the Old Ordinance from 1944. We made it more modern. We have the language here, draft standards relatively soon. There is an issue with cuts and excavations. The Mayor asked if there is a difference the way people pave or re-pave their driveways. What’s the implication of this? The City Manager said we need to regulate and have a good handle on this. We are going to be responsible for storm water. Curb cuts – if we have a bike path and your going to allow extra curb cuts that every curb cut you have is an opportunity for every car to back out between two parked cars and it hits a pedestrian or bicyclist. Curb cuts are really a vital part of knowing what our infrastructure is going to be. That’s why you only allow 1 curb cut per property. We are going to have to regulate. Councilor Corrigan asked will there be fees that follow that process of stormwater. The City Manager said we are looking into that process. e. Discussion: Community Services Ordinances – Ray Coffey The Mayor asked for a recess at 8:02. Meeting reconvened at 8:06 p.m. The City Manager said a lot of work was done by Sally Tipson and a group a couple of years ago and it has been waiting for a total re-write. Mr. Coffey said he had neglected to include the originals of Chapter 11 Business Licenses, Permits and Regulations and Chapter 14 Parks and Recreation. What you received in the packet was the proposed Chapters. Mr. Coffey said the original chapter 11 regulates all business activity that requires a permit from the City. Included in the current chapter are the licensing of trash haulers and the current smoking ban. The proposed is both of these sections were removed and are now contained in Chapter 7: Garbage and Refuse and Chapter 18; January 4, 2016 Agenda Winooski City Council Public Health, for smoking regulations We also pulled special activities out and capture in separate chapter which will be called Chapter 26. Section 11-12 Current version had Billiard Rooms and Pool Tables – We are recommending that this be eliminated as no longer necessary. This is a new penalty for violating any conditions of a license or permit, or for operating without one, has been clarified to assess a civil penalty for the 1st and 2nd violation and an enhanced criminal penalty for any 3rd or subsequent violations. A lot of this reflects back to State Statutes. The Mayor said there was another group that looked at vending and created different definitions that were more modern. I strongly recommend we look at what this group provided. This came before the council and were both approved and supported. Itinerant Vendor vs Peddler is good. There were some concerns concerning 5.04.01 (b) The Mayor asked if the event permits were publicly posted. If they were less than 150 no they are not posted. We need to make recommendations to discuss the number on the event permit and revisit the fees in chapter 30. Chapter 14 Parks & Recreation – Current Chapter 16 Parks and Recreation Proposed. Mr. Coffey said Under Chapter 14 the current ordinance regulating parks was adopted in 1973. The proposed Chapter 16 has significant changes that were made to delete language that is no longer relevant to the operation of our current system. The chapter now references the Community Services department as the authority to enforce rules and regulations of the parks department and all recreation programs. This particular chapter got a lot of attention from the commission. Proposed: Hours of Operation now defined as “dawn to dusk” unless otherwise adopted by a Council resolution. The proposed ordinance opens up the possibility of allowing alcohol at events in City parks, so long as a licensed vendor is managing the alcohol distribution/consumption, and all relevant Municipal (Chapter 5) and State Statute is complied with. Councilor Mace had some concerns about this because we can allow alcohol in Winooski Falls Way but not in our parks. The proposed ordinance prohibits the use of “lighted tobacco products and e-cigarettes” in all City Parks. Mr. Coffey said we talked a lot about tobacco in City Parks. The proposed Ordinance prohibits the use of lighted tobacco. The commission felt really strong about this. The City Manager also added that there is significant lobbying from kids against tobacco. They also have been before the Council. Mr. Coffey said a lot of communities are making this choice around their parks. Councilor Millar said he does not support this at all and #2 I think it is a little big for what we are doing. There is not enough public involvement to take on. Also he is worried about enforcement issues. Mr. Coffey said both of these points came up at the commission. Councilor Mace welcomes folks who have concerns. I’m interested in e-cigarette. Relative to the unknowns of what these devices do? What environmental impact does this have? The City Manager suggested that part of this exercise be your ability to nominate any parts of this that you want to take out and discuss separately and then we can pass the base ones and go back and vote on individual pieces of this. One logical way of doing this is to hold a meeting where we adopt everything that’s recommended and pull out specific pieces and adopt those or not. This warrants further discussion. The three areas of concerns are: sidewalks, # of people, tobacco in the parks and 100 decibels that we need to discuss further. Proposed: Mr. Coffey said the ordinance now authorizes the City Council to designate an “off leash” park within the City. The Director would be responsible for developing rules in the park. We would need a resolution for West Allen Street Park. We are also recommending that we open up the option for camping in City parks, by permit only. January 4, 2016 Agenda Winooski City Council Current: The current ordinance regulates fires within parks: Proposed: We are proposing to move this to be governed under Chapter 14: Open burning. -There is not adequate language to cover that activity. I will work with John and update you. Current: Ordinance regulates signage within parks. Proposed: We are proposing to rely on the language in the Zoning code that regulates signage. Proposed: Issuance of permit for use of all City property is proposed to be governed under a new chapter (26) Current: The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board is the oversight authority. Proposed: It is anticipated that this board would no longer be appointed and therefore, all applications and appeals would be regulated in Chapter 26. Public Comment: Mrs. Nugent offered some background information on tobacco. We have been working on a community survey for 3 years. We surveyed 200 people. We have a lot of information we could provide to you. Ms. O’Neill asked that when you put things on the agenda such as Community Services Ordinance, nobody is going to come. When you put smoking in public parks on the agenda you will get more people here. The Mayor said we also need to look at swimming, fishing, glass use, bathroom use, aviation and flying things mainly (drones). Any idea of age restriction in parks ever come up. Mr. Coffey said it did not. The City Manger said we are trying to clean this and it falls under the 80%. Chapter 26: Mr. Coffey said currently “Special Activity Permits” are regulated in Chapter 14 Business Licenses, Permits, and Regulations. Proposed: We are proposing a new Chapter specifically geared towards the regulation of events on City property, regardless of size. This does not include event “Special Event Permits” for licensed alcohol vendors, which are still proposed to be regulated in Chapter 5 Mr. Coffey said he flipped the 3rd and 4th paragraph concerning the 200 people. We are proposing that events of less than 200 people, and for which no closure of City streets is required, be approved through a staff-driven administrative process. In the event an appeal, we are recommending that the City Manager have the final say on these types of permits. We are requiring applications be sent in 30 days in advance so as to allow for adequate Council review. All events that are more than 200 people, or that require closure of a City street, will require Council Approval. We are asking that permits be submitted 5 days prior to the event, but are leaving some degree of flexibility here, understanding the scope of these events may not always necessitate much advanced planning. Mr. Coffey what we are trying to do is have one document and or one form for the customer. He also said this felt like a lot of pretty basic, with again the 100 decibel piece being the one exception here felt like really more procedural and how we’re going to walk people through this process. I think where the rubber is going to meet the road here is with that permitting process and how the procedures and policy’s back this up. We are working with Mora, staff and Jessica. There was some discussion on the decibels. The City Manager and Mr. Coffey will work together on this. Councilor Mace said with respect to the 200 people is 5 days enough time to evaluate the permit. The City Manager said I think we are going to revisit. This is looking more at City Property. The Mayor said we should also be thinking of other controlled substances. January 4, 2016 Agenda Winooski City Council Councilor Sweeney asked if it was appropriate here to have a conversation concerning a fee for staff when they have to attend the event. The City Manager said we are internally trying to figure it out f. Approval: Charter Approval – K Decarreau The City Manager said you have seen all of this. We are going to post both of these tomorrow. I will put a disclaimer that will read that this is not intended as official documentation but merely a general summary and for anything specific you need to see the Red Line document. The red line will be available in every voting booth. It just too much to put in the newspaper. The City Manager also said there was a tremendous amount of work by the Committee, Kevin Lumpkin, George Cross, Diana Gonzalez and Diana Arnell. The process is to have the council approve the recommendation to the voters and if approved we will send it off the legislature. MOTION by Councilor Millar seconded by Councilor Corrigan to approve the recommendation to the voters of the City of Winooski. Voted and passed 4-0. g. Approval: Parking Notification Policy – K Decarreau MOTION by Councilor Corrigan seconded by Councilor Millar to approve the Notification Policy for Parking Bans as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. See attached parking notification policy. h. Approval: Adjust Council Schedule for City Holiday – K Decarreau MOTION by Councilor Millar seconded by Councilor Sweeney to adjust City Council meeting schedule for City Holiday on Monday, February 15, to Tuesday February 16, as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. MOTION by Councilor Millar seconded by Councilor Corrigan to adjourn City Council meeting at 9:30 p.m. Voted and passed 4-0. _______________________________ City Clerk January 4, 2016 Agenda Winooski City Council