City Council

27 WEST ALLEN STREET WINOOSKI, VERMONT 05404 (802) 655-6410 CITY OF WINOOSKI (802) 655-6414 (fax) JESSIE BAKER CITY MANAGER MAYOR SETH LEONARD DEPUTY MAYOR BRIAN CORRIGAN mayor@winooskivt.org CITY COUNCIL COUNCILOR NICOLE MACE COUNCILOR ERIC COVEY COUNCILOR BRIAN SWEENEY Agenda Monday October 16, 2017 6:00 p.m. Claire Burke Council Chambers I. Call to Order II. Pledge of Allegiance III. Agenda Review IV. Public Comment V. Consent Agenda a. Approval: City Council Minutes of October 2nd, 2017 b. Approval: Payroll Warrant as of 9/24-10/7/17, Accounts Payable Warrant as of 10/13/17, and Subsequent to payout warrant for August VI. City Update VII. Council Reports VIII. Regular Items a. Approval: Appointment – Public Safety Commission Katie Jennings – R. Hebert b. Discussion: FY17 Year End Budget Update – J. Ticehurst c. Discussion: Goal Update: Safe, Healthy, and Connected People – J. Baker d. Approval: Approval of $12,487 of FY17 Surplus to Fund Winter Plowing of City Lots – J. Baker e. Approval: Amendment to Parking Agreement with Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC) and the related Waiver of First Offer with MWG Champlain Mill, LLC to accommodate Spinner Place parking needs IX. Executive Session a. Executive Session per 1 V.S.A. §313(2) the negotiation of real estate purchase or lease options related to the O’Brien Community Center b. Executive Session per 1 V.S.A. §313(2) the negotiation of real estate purchase or lease options related to the Strand Development Project X. Adjourn MINUTES The meeting was called to order by the Deputy Mayor at 6:00pm. The meeting began with the pledge of allegiance led by Deputy Mayor Brian Corrigan. Minutes of October 16, 2017 Winooski City Council Page 1 of 5 www.winooskivt.org Members Present: Mayor Seth Leonard Councilors: Brian Corrigan, Eric Covey, Nicole Mace Officers Present: Jessie Baker, City Manager; Angela Aldieri, Assistant City Clerk; Heather Carrington, Community and Economic Development Director; John Audy, Fire Chief; Ray Coffey, Community Services Director; Richard Hebert, Police Chief; Alicia Finley, Recreation Manager; James Ticehurst, City Treasurer Others Present: Katie Jennings, Kate Simone, Kristen Ryan, Sarah McGowen-Freije, III. Agenda Review Ms. Baker requested that Council add an item to approve an amendment to the VSAC parking agreement and the related waiver of first offer with MWG Champlain Mill LLC to accommodate Spinner Place Parking needs. The negotiations on this item were finalized this morning and the item is urgent. IV. Public Comment No public comment was made. V. Consent Agenda MOTION by Councilor Covey, seconded by Deputy Mayor Corrigan to approve the City Council minutes of October 2nd as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. MOTION by Councilor Mace, seconded by Councilor Covey to approve the warrants as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. VI. City Update Ms. Baker reminded the Council that in November there is only on scheduled meeting on November 6th. The agenda will likely have a number of item on it. She went on to note that there will be an additional warrant toward the end of the month that Council will be asked to come in to sign to remain current on our payments to vendors. The Airport resolution previously approved by Council is up for consideration at the Essex Select Board tonight. Paul Sarne is representing the City at the meeting. The Sound Mitigation Committee is serving as part of the Noise Compatibility Program Update – Technical Advisory Committee. The first meeting will take place tomorrow at 5:00p at the airport and will be open to the public. This is a group that is required by the Federal Aviation Agency. Ms. Baker stated that staff continues to work on opportunities to move the Main Street and Pool projects forward. A timeline is currently being created to insure that we are able to meet funding deadlines. We anticipate bringing a request for funding for preliminary engineering for both projects at the next Council meeting. Minutes of October 16, 2017 Winooski City Council Page 2 of 5 www.winooskivt.org The fourth annual Halloween event in the City is scheduled for Saturday October 28th in the downtown. Pumpkins will be in Rotary Park, family fun at VSAC, and the Champlain Mill will be holding the haunted mill. The haunted mill will also be held on Friday and Halloween. The audit fieldwork began today. A large amount of work went into getting ready for this and they were presented with a completed checklist of items when they arrived. VII. Council Reports Councilor Mace reminded residents that pumpkin carving in preparation for the Halloween event will take place this weekend at the Winooski Senior Center. She encourage anyone interested to come participate. She went on to note that she will also be at the Senior Center on Tuesday this week to meet with the membership and discuss their concerns. Deputy Mayor Corrigan had no update. Mayor Leonard stated that he had helped Season’s Greetings get over 800 pumpkins that will be carved over the weekend and that they went back for additional ones later. He went on to note that the City is still meeting with the Airport commission, the Burlington Mayor’s office, and South Burlington offices to continue work on moving Winooski’s interests forward. Mayor Leonard stated that he had not been able to attend the last planning meeting but understood that there was great conversation regarding the municipal plan content and narrative. The Housing Commission will be meeting next week. Councilor Covey thanked those involved in sending a letter regarding the airport resolution to the Essex Select Board. He went on to state that he had missed the most recent public safety meeting in order to hold a transparency tour meeting in another municipality. The transparency tour will be in Winooski on Wednesday in the Claire Burke Council Chambers from 6pm to 8pm and will discuss public records and open meeting laws. It was noted that the Winooski Historical Society would be having a talk that would include historical architecture on November 5th at the Winooski Senior Center. A member of the public asked why there was no item to allocate funding for the pool. Ms. Baker stated that we had received a quote that was significantly higher than expected and are having our engineer review the specs to decide if additional quotes are needed. This should not result in a delay to the project VIII. Regular Items a. Approval: Appointment – Public Safety Commission Katie Jennings – R. Hebert Katie Jennings was present. She introduced herself to Council and gave a brief statement about her interest in the commission. MOTION by Councilor Mace, seconded by Councilor Covey to approve the appointment of Katie Jennings to the Public Safety Commission as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. b. Discussion: FY17 Year End Budget Update – J. Ticehurst Mr. Ticehurst stated that the end of fiscal year 2017 was extremely positive. He went on to give highlights of the strong financial position and commend staff for their efforts. Discussion regarding the TIF payment overage, the additional funds received for charges for services, vacancy savings, and future budgeting followed. Mr. Ticehurst noted that he would be back before the board in November to report on the first quarter of fiscal year 2018. Additional discussion regarding the surplus use conversation and when it would be appropriate to consider followed. Minutes of October 16, 2017 Winooski City Council Page 3 of 5 www.winooskivt.org  c. Discussion: Goal Update: Safe, Healthy, and Connected People – J. Baker Ms. Baker gave an overview of the presentation and had each division director update Council on their efforts to further these Council goals. Chief Hebert spoke about involvement with the opioid project as a tool to identify high risk members of the population to target outreach. He highlighted the relationships being built with other agencies as well. He went on to state that progress toward the police three year strategic plan is being made with an internal survey to identify areas of improvement being planned. Chief Hebert noted that Winooski has been meeting biweekly with other agencies to identify those with multiple police contacts in short time periods that may need additional outreach. Monthly meetings with mental health agencies are also occurring to discuss individuals and address how to work with the population. Discussion regarding the meeting with the Agency of Human Services followed. Ms. Baker explained a potential partner program with Howard Mental Health and other partner communities to provide access to specific mental health staff on a regional basis. Chief Audy reviewed his department’s efforts to further the Council goals noting a visit with the senior center to discuss housing issues and St. Michael’s Rescue outreach to Barlow Street residents. He stated that a fire prevention safety day will be held in industrial park to meet with employers and employees. This is an event he intends to move throughout the City to spread information to all demographics. Mr. Audy went on to state that he had met with Colchester, Malletts Bay, and the Vermont Air National Guard fire departments to understand what agencies around us are able to do so that we can best leverage and provide resources to the region. Discussion regarding making housing inspection information available to the public followed. Mr. Coffey began by noting that the items being presented to Council are only a few of the many items beings worked on by staff. They are taking time to identify in the community what the highest priorities to be met for vulnerable populations are and determine metrics so that outcomes can be measured. Discussion regarding the role of government and the role of partner agencies followed. Mr. Coffey highlighted that recent meetings with Association for Africans Living in Vermont to discuss challenges and provide a conduit for advertising job opportunities has resulted in several applications. He updated Council on the progress with a partner grant with the Winooski School District that is being rewritten this year. Finally, Mr. Coffey explained that there had been only a single applicant for the Promises Grant request for proposals. The committee is currently reviewing the submission and it will be brought to Council at the next meeting. Ms. Baker noted that the agreement for regional dispatch is at the Attorney General’s office for review. Once they have completed their review the final draft will be brought back to Council for approval consideration before town meeting. She went on to highlight the Council actions that will be coming in the near future to advance the goals discussed tonight. There was a comment from the public that there is a need for programs for low income children. Mr. Coffey noted that cost recovery program models, a scholarship program, and commission goal setting are all items that are in progress to address this need. d. Approval: Approval of $12,487 of FY17 Surplus to Fund Winter Plowing of City Lots – J. Baker Ms. Baker noted that there are significant vacancies in the Public Works department that have existed since last fiscal year. There are currently only four staff members with CDLs that can plow this winter. Ms. Baker noted even if a CDL driver was hired tomorrow they would likely not plow this winter due to training needed on the specific equipment. As a solution the department including members of the union has proposed contracting out the plowing of City controlled parking lots. This would be a short term Minutes of October 16, 2017 Winooski City Council Page 4 of 5 www.winooskivt.org  solution only due to the vacancies and not a long term change. This would allow members of our staff to focus plowing efforts on streets and sidewalks. MOTION by Deputy Mayor Corrigan, seconded by Councilor Mace to approve the use of $12,487 of FY2017 surplus to fund the winter plowing of City lots as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. e. Approval: Amendment to Parking Agreement with Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC) and the related Waiver of First Offer with MWG Champlain Mill, LLC to accommodate Spinner Place parking needs Ms. Baker noted that this is a critical agreement that was finalized this morning. The Vermont Student Assistance Corporation currently subleases spaces to Spinner Place students. This agreement would allow them to continue the arrangement until December 2018. It was noted that if Council wished to discuss changing any terms in the proposed agreement they would have to do so in executive session. MOTION by Councilor Mace, seconded by Councilor Covey to approve the amendment to the parking agreement with VSAC and the related waiver of first offer with MWG Champlain Mill as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. IX. Executive Session a. Executive Session per 1 V.S.A. §313(2) the negotiation of real estate purchase or lease options related to the O’Brien Community Center Mayor Leonard stated that at a prior meeting two potential tenants for the O’Brien Community Center were identified and a possible contract for lease of space that could involve negotiations needs to be discussed. Council may take action on this item tonight but would reconvene in open session to vote. b. Executive Session per 1 V.S.A. §313(2) the negotiation of real estate purchase or lease options related to the Strand Development Project Mayor Leonard noted a negotiation of a real estate purchase or lease related to the Strand Development needs to be discussed. No action will be taken on this item at tonight’s meeting. MOTION by Deputy Mayor Corrigan, seconded by Councilor Covey to go into executive session at 7:37pm for the purposes of discussing the negotiation of real estate purchase or lease as presented bringing the City Manager in for both items and Mr. Coffey for item a. Voted and passed 3-0. Meeting reconvened at 8:13p MOTION by Deputy Mayor Corrigan, seconded by Councilor Covey to authorize the City Manager or the Community Services Director to sign letters of intent with the UVM Medical Center and SNAP Fitness for the former YMCA space at the O’Brien Community Center. Voted and passed 3-0. X. Adjourn MOTION by Deputy Mayor Corrigan, seconded by Councilor Mace to adjourn the City Council meeting at 8:17pm. Voted and passed 3-0. ATTEST: ___________________________ Assistant City Clerk Minutes of October 16, 2017 Winooski City Council Page 5 of 5 www.winooskivt.org