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 COUNCILOR HAL COLSTON sleonard@winooskivt.org DEPUTY MAYOR NICOLE MACE CITY COUNCIL COUNCILOR ERIC COVEY COUNCILOR KRISTINE LOTT Agenda Monday, October 1, 2018 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 and Liquor Control Minutes of September 17, 2018 b. Approval: Warrants: Payroll for period 09/09/18 & 09/22/2018 , Warrant ending 09/28/2018 and Subsequent to Payout August c. Approval: Headworks Phase II Final Design Loan Agreement VI. City Update VII. Council Reports VIII. Public Hearing 6:05 P.M.  Discussion/Approval: Consideration of Repeal of Section 6.14 “Aggressive Begging/Panhandling” Ordinance – J Baker IX. Regular Items: a. Discussion: Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) – Annual Report – J Baker b. Discussion: Master Plan Update – E Vorwald c. Discussion: Marketing, Branding & Website Update – H Carrington d. Approval: Resolution: Small Business Saturday – H Carrington e. Discussion/Approval: Myers Pool – Engineering Services Agreement – J Rauscher f. Discussion/Approval: Vermont Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant: Myers Pool Renovation Project – R Coffey g. Discussion: FY20 Budget Goals – J Baker h. Discussion: Charter Process regarding All Resident (Non-Citizen) Voting – S Leonard X. Adjourn MINUTES The Mayor called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilor Covey. Members Present: Mayor Seth Leonard Councilors: Kristine Lott, Eric Covey, Hal Colston, Nicole Mace was absent. October 1, 2018 Winooski City Council  Officers Present: Jessie Baker, City Manager; Carol Barrett, City Clerk; Eric Vorwald, Planning and Zoning Manager; Heather Carrington, Economic Development Director; Jon Rauscher, Public Works Director; Ray Coffey, Community Services Director; Paul Sarne, Communications Coordinator; Angela Aldieri, Staff Accountant, Rick Hebert, Police Chief. Others Present: Sally Tipson, David Dube, Normand Poirier, Kelsey Adams, Ron Stotyn, Charlie Baker, CCRPC III. Agenda Review - None IV. Public Comment Sally Tipson representing Season’s Greetings said this is the 16th year and it will be the last year. She is hoping that the City or a group will take this over. We will be carving pumpkins on October 20, 21, this year the pumpkins will be shown on October 26, and 27. The Mayor said the time and investment that you have put into season’s greetings is immeasurable. She thanked the Mayor and Council but she was not alone, we had 3rd generation Maynard family and many other volunteers. V. Consent Agenda MOTION by Councilor Covey seconded by Councilor Colston to approve the consent agenda as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. VI. City Update The City Manager gave the following update: City is doing great  Making it Happen: Local Leadership for the Future of Vermont Communities – Winooski was well represented  Capital for a Day o Main Street Revitalization – officials from ACCD, ANR, DEC, and USDA o School visit o Opportunity Zone briefing o Twincraft meeting  268 Groundbreaking City Updates  Jointly filed the Litigation Stay with UMB Bank last week. Working to put together all of the related agreements and contracts as well as plan for a new parking structure at Lot 7D.  Burlington Airport held their first stakeholders meeting for their Master Plan last week. There will be two more through the process including one in November.  PD Date Rape training with liquor license holders  Middle school projects - Journey team is working on planning for a park at Lot 2. Nexus team is doing a story telling project where we will be talking about the City’s brand story. Upcoming Housing Events  Housing Policy Panel Discussion hosted by the Housing Commission o Tuesday, October 9th, from 6-8 pm in Council Chambers at City Hall. o Confirmed panelists include:  Michael Monte, Champlain Housing Trust  Erhard Mahnke, Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition October 1, 2018 Winooski City Council   Brian Pine, former City of Burlington Housing Director  Erik Hoekstra, Redstone  Convening of Housing Committee Members in Chittenden County on Monday, October 29th from 6 to 8pm at the CCRPC offices at 110 West Canal Street, Winooski. Focus on Housing Trust Fund. Speakers from South Burlington and Champlain Housing Trust will provide an overview  Vermont’s biennial Housing Conference is being held on November 13th – 14th at the Hilton in Burlington. This year’s conference has a community/municipal-level theme and will be a great conference for all of you! https://www.vhfa.org/conference/ . Events  The last Winooski Wednesday for the season will be held this Wednesday evening 10/3 - featuring The Tender bellies  Arts Walk - Friday, October 5th - 6-9 pm Celebrate Downtown Winooski's first Winooski Art Walk! Take a self-guided tour to the many local businesses participating who will have a featured artist, snacks, and specials.  Best Pooch in the 'Noosk informal dog show - Sunday, October 7th 11 am - Winooski Farmers Market  Saturday, October 27th for Halloween in Winooski. The Rotary will be covered in jack-o-lanterns, the Haunted Mill will be running, and the City's Community Services Department will be running hosting all sorts of fun, family-friendly activities in the Community Room at VSAC.  "save the date" for pumpkin carving would be great, too. VII. Council Reports Councilor Colston – None Councilor Covey – None Mayor Leonard said the Housing Commission reviewed the draft language for replacement ordinance and manage the number of units that would be impacted. We have positive progress on policy proposal. There are some questions on Housing Trust Funds, and inclusionary zoning. At our next meeting, we will take the opportunity to recognize Clem Bissonnette who has served the community for over 50 plus years. Clem has decided to step down from the legislature. He is leaving behind a massive legacy of service to the City of Winooski. We have received the official letter today, which is the stepping down letter from the legislature so we will be taking action to ensure that Clem has a great send off in the next stage in his life. The City would not be where it is without all of his efforts, time, dedication to this community and decades and sometimes-thankless service, that required a lot of time and investment and distraction away from his personal and professional life to make this community a better place to live. Councilor Lott- said she also attend the Housing Commission meeting. We also had the discussion around replacement ordinance, also included monitoring accountability. It’s important to do well as a discussion about trying to work from the framework of incentives versus barriers when it comes to development. The housing trust fund is the next priority. We had a meeting with Jessie, Seth and Paul Sarne, we talked about communication ideas, and what are the best next steps to take versus just taking the best ideas. VIII. Public Hearing 6:05 P.M.  Discussion/Approval: Consideration of Repeal of Section 6.14 “Aggressive Begging/Panhandling” Ordinance. The Public Hearing started at 6:19 p.m. The City Manager said there has been some interest in repealing this section. The Mayor summarized the Winooski City Charter under §19-304(3) of the State Statute allows the Council “To adopt, amend, repeal, and enforce civil and criminal ordinances relating to the regulation or prohibition of any condition, activity, enterprise, public nuisance, or matter concerning the promotion of public health, safety, and welfare as October 1, 2018 Winooski City Council  permitted by general law of the State.” On September 17, the Council set a Public Hearing date of October 1 to hear testimony on the repeal of Section 6.14 of the Winooski Municipal Code related to “Aggressive Begging/Panhandling.” There was no public comment. MOTION by Councilor Colston seconded by Councilor Lott to approve the Repeal of Section 6.14 Aggressive Begging/Panhandling as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. The Repeal will go into effect in 30 days. IX. Regular Items: a. Discussion: Chittenden Country Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) – Annual Report Mr. Baker, Executive Director requested the opportunity to address you and provide an update on their efforts in Winooski this year. He said 7% comes from local funding and 90+ comes from State and Federal Funds. In FY2018, the CCRPC provided direct assistance to Winooski on the following projects and initiatives: Winooski River Bridge Scoping, Winooski Main Street Revitalization Project, Real-Time Traffic Information, Geographic Information systems, FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation, Emergency Management – LEOP, Stormwater Planning, Municipal Infrastructure Inventories, Municipal Roads General Permit Compliance and Water Quality Planning assistance, VTrans Better Road Program, Chittenden County Brownfields Program, and Technical Assistance. There is also Regional Activities that have taken place in FY2018. The Mayor thanked him for the support while we are working on the master plan because we have had limited staff. The City Manager also said we are lucky that CCRPC can move quickly with us. CCRPC also supported us with the Main St. Bond project. The Mayor thanked them for being a partner. b. Discussion: Master Plan Update Mr. Vorwald provided the Mayor and Council with an overview of the Master Plan. He said the current plan was last fully updated in 2003. It has not received a comprehensive update in quite sometimes. Last several updates were re-adoptions of the previous plan. Since that time, there has been many specific studies that have occurred. The memo that was provided in your agenda packet details some of those specifically. See attached. While the masterplan hasn’t been updated comprehensively, there have been many specific target studies that have occurred throughout the city to address some of these key issues and core issues. Since the plans have been done we are taking the approach to this masterplan update at a more macro level and trying to align the statutory planning elements. There are 12 required elements from Statute and 14 planning goals and align them with the City’s strategic vision statement. He said this work was started in July and we contracted with CCRPC through a municipal planning grant to provide some support on that. It is understood that without the CCRPC help and specifically Regina down there this wouldn’t be happening right now. We have worked through a preliminary and secondary draft of each of the sections so far. We are making good progress and expected to have a complete draft by the end of this month for the initial review and completing the review of that draft in mid-November and for the Planning commission to hold their public hearing in early December; this puts it on track for January potentially. The current masterplan is set to expire in 2019, so that is our deadline for getting all this work done. The schedule we have put out will meet that deadline. The Mayor recommends the Council to look at some of the chapters. c. Discussion: Marketing, Branding & Website Update Ms. Carrington said per the Council adopted 2018-2019 Policy Priorities and Strategies, staff has identified implementing the Marketing Plan as a priority strategy under the Winooski Strategic Vision goal of Economic Vitality. Implementing a new website is part of the Market Plan and is a priority strategy under the Strategic Vision goal of fostering Safe, Health and Connected People. The following is an update: October 1, 2018 Winooski City Council  Marketing & Branding Plan – Was completed and deliverables were received from the consultant, Engage Strategies in July 2018. The plan is an 18-month process and is currently underway. Branding- The branding initiative resulted in a revised City seal, a Legacy logo, brand position and brand story. Staff is currently undertaking rebranding of our existing documents in preparation for migration to the new website. New Website – She said the new website is underway. The staff has contracted with CivicPlus to develop the new website. The new website will feature: new and improved agenda and minute’s center, a searchable news and document archive integrated online forms, improved and consistent department pages, professionally managed security and data protection etc. Legacy Campaign – She said leading up to the Winooski Centennial in 2022 the City will develop a “campaign” structure that builds pride and creates a common shared narrative about Winooski. Staff has initiated outreach to key stakeholder partners to introduce the legacy campaign concept and solicit assistance. Mr. Sarne presented a power point project on the Marketing & Branding implementation. This should be launched in February of 2019. See attached PowerPoint. The City Manager said we would also be changing our email from winooskivt.org to winooskivt.gov. They will merge our email addresses. d. Approval: Resolution: Small Business Saturday Ms. Carrington said the City of Winooski has been invited to participate again this year in demonstrating our commitment to our small, local businesses by establishing November 24th, 2018 as Small Business Saturday. Small business Saturday draws national attention to the important role that small businesses play in boosting our economy, creating jobs, and maintaining our neighborhood character. The Mayor read the following Resolution: Small Business Saturday, see attached. MOTION by Councilor Colston seconded by Councilor Covey to approve the Resolution establishing November 24th 2018 Small Business Saturday as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. e. Discussion/Approval: Myers Pool – Engineering Services Agreement Mr. Rauscher presented the scope of services to include all work necessary for design permitting and bidding of the pool replacement project. Services also include construction phase support through project completion. Mr. Rauscher said he is requesting an expenditure of $310,000 ($305,000 Engineering Services + $3k-$5k BAN cost) He also gave an Engineering Services Summary. The scope of work covers remaining design, bidding, permitting, and construction phase services. The total lump sum amount for this work is $307,000. The Engineering Scope Financing is we are proposing to use a bond anticipation note (BAN) to cover the engineering services costs, which would roll into a bond for the full project cost. The estimated administrative cost for the BAN is $3,000-$5,000. We anticipate the bond would be submitted for the summer issuance in July 2019. The deadline for the summer issuance is May 20219 which will allow the Council, design team, and pool committee to determine a bond value based on the approved bid scope and fundraising to date. Discussion ensued concerning the agreement and the period of the project. This item has been tabled to the next City Council meeting. f. Discussion/Approval: Vermont Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant: Myers Pool Renovation Project. Mr. Coffey said we are seeking to apply for this grant in support of the cost of reconstruction of the Myers Memorial Pool. The attached summary from the funder details the grant program, including the requirement that projects supported by this grant be retained in perpetuity as recreational facilities. Given that the Myers Pool was originally funded with a grant from the LWCF ($100,825 grant in 1971), this requirement is October 1, 2018 Winooski City Council  already in place for the property. Mr. Coffey said this grant cycles every 2 years and if invited, subsequent full application for up to $150,000.00 in funds to support the Myers Memorial Pool Renovation Project. The pre-application is due on October 15 and we will have a site visit with staff. Full application is due on December 17. Councilor Lott asked if the community room would be a conflict because this is a recreational grant. Mr. Coffey said he would look into this. MOTION by Councilor Covey seconded by Councilor Lott to approve the submission of pre-application and if invited, subsequent full application for up to $15,000.00 in funds to support the Myers Memorial Pool Renovation Project as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. g. Discussion: FY20 Budget Goals The City Manager presented the FY20 Budget Goals. She said on September 17, 2018 the Council approved the FY20 budget schedule as presented by the Leadership Team. As we work to build the proposed budget over the next two months, there are key questions we would like you to consider.  What is the Council’s tax rate goal for FY20?  What are your priority areas to fund?  Given that we may need to identify cuts, what are your priority areas for service reduction?  Are there new initiatives or programs you would like us to consider as we build the budget? My recommendation is to present a FY20 budget that achieves the Council’s tax rate goals and maintains our current level of services including continuing work toward the 2018-2019 policy goals and strategies adopted by the Council. As part of this recommendation, we would call out areas where budget allocation have significantly changed. Our hope is that this budget proposal would be outside of any additional tax rate increases associated with the Myers Pool Reconstruction or the Main Street Revitalization project. As you consider these questions, we provided some background as well. She said in FY19 every 1% increase to the tax rate adds $0.0107 to the current tax rate and raises an additional $50,300. In FY19 every $1M addition to the grand list, would raise an additional $10,700 outside of the TIF District See attached. Discussion ensued concerning the budget goals. The Mayor asked about the current fund balance. Ms. Aldieri said there is remaining unassigned from FY017 is $368,000.00. I have not finalized FY018 numbers, but it looks like an additional $150,000.00. The Mayor said these are operational items. I do want to put that number in there from a context standpoint, because I do think we are going to probably end up having conversation about how that could play into lowering long term debt service on some of these large capital projects. I think this would be a good conversation. Ms. Aldieri said those amounts do not count the Council’s policy for fund balance, so that 30 days cash on hand is not included in those. The Mayor said we were guesstimating when we had the initial tax conversation around 4%, this was kind of the stated goal going in and the conversation about what operational be necessary to maintain and sustain operations for this year. It seems reflective of this document too. The Mayor said Nicole did submit formal written statements on two items tonight, which is the last two items on the agenda. She believes we need to limit grown on the tax base of Main St and Pool projects cost, plus the lowest amount necessary to cover increases in salaries and benefits. I don’t think we are in the position to expand programs or services at this time unless we can propose potential cuts from programs or shifting around. The Mayor explained the budget process and he said the guidance this year is a lot more important and necessary in fairness. We have the debt service that is also going to be hitting the tax rate at the same time. He said the way we have done budgeting in the City for quite some time is we have asked for a net zero impact budget. He explained the net zero impact. Councilor Lott said she sits relatively in the same boat as Nicole. I don’t believe we are in a position to add additional programs in this City. She has concerns about the adds need. Even with the 4% for operation, cost doesn’t leave us in a good position. The Mayor said it’s going to cost more to run the City every year then it did last year. We have one of two choices you either do that or you tell people what to cut. The message is I October 1, 2018 Winooski City Council  don’t think we have a lot of room this year. I don’t think we are going to be reactive as we have been in the past. Councilor Covey said the position he doesn’t want to be in is to see services or programs cuts. Staff already does an amazing job providing a considerable amount to our community with the resources that we have and I think I would not feel comfortable restricting those resources. The Mayor said instead of not net zero but level services a more fair approach. Councilor Covey, Councilor Colston and Councilor Lott are in favor of that. The City Manager said this is also outside of the process that Eric, John Audy sitting down with our City Assessor and coming up with base reality of assumption about our grand list growth, which is half of this equation h. Discussion: Charter Process regarding All Resident (Non-Citizen) Voting The Mayor said following the vote in the last meeting we are bringing back as promised and next potential on the consideration for the community of moving towards a public vote on some timeline in regards to all resident voting. I put together a memo that includes potential options under each of these categories of direction for Council to consider. On October 1st, Council was asked to provide feedback and direction on each of the categories. Please note, this is not an all-inclusive list and additional options and ideas should be shared at the October 1st meeting for consideration. Please also note that these proposals are very focused on Council Process – meaning close coordination with staff and the city’s legal team will be necessary to ensure appropriate operation capacity and progress are also realized. The Mayor also noted that this is a policy creation perspective and the timeline is an important key piece of this. I wrote this, just taking from our conversation, but what we did not do is go to staff and build out a combined policy or schedule. The thinking there was the potential charter change process, the content, outreach efforts, those things are going to fee into what the timeline should feasibly be and should be done in consultation either with this body if we are going to continue to own the issue or potentially by a committee. This should vet that with staff closely and thoughtfully and not have it be just a schedule or policy that is just implemented and based off a deadline. There should be an exchange there, where staff can say we need his as part of that and then can also overly whatever goals we have given to them if it’s the committee or it is us. We can come up with a more important schedule, I just want to flag that this is from a policy perspective. The Mayor read the following potential options: Potential Charter Change Process Options: Option 1: Continue with model that staff is doing operational work and Council is considering all policy development. Option 2: Create a Charter Committee with Council/Public/School Participation o Offer Joint Committee opportunity to the school. School District should be presented with this proposal to formally weigh in on process, timeline, and outreach. o Review Composition of Committee: Potential composition could include two city council representatives, two school district representatives, three community members, staff liaison. o Committee would coordinate operation feedback/legal review with staff. Discussion ensued the two different options and the Mayor said historically we have done it multiply ways. We have targeted outreach, brought specific individuals in, recruited people, we have done it with public postings, and then there were other times we have opened it for public process so anyone can apply. Councilor Lott agrees with two council representatives brainstorming on what we are really looking for. The Mayor said prior to making this a public posting I think it would be good to offer to the school because it has had no communication on this since our last meeting. We have not reached out to them. The Mayor asked if the Council has a commitment to move forward with a committee as well should the October 1, 2018 Winooski City Council  school not participate. Councilor Colston said yes and Councilor Lott said the members of the committee are to then try to include the school district in this targeted outreach area. The City Manager said she has a list of things that she would like to change operationally in the charter. I think it is very much incumbent on you all to define the parameters of this. This is really for the purpose of a public process around all-resident voting, that is a very different process than have a committee conversation about governance in who we are and how our city operates. The Charter commissions that I worked on before is an intense process between the commissions, staff and legal counsel. You go through a process and what is your value as a community and what are you trying to achieve in governance. It is kind of a three-step process; community values, to best practice, to language of your charter. This is a very different process then what you all have been talking about. The things that I specifically have identified just about what city operations would like to see, this isn’t about what the community may want to see from a value perspective. I would like to take the word citizen out of the charter. Our charter refers to our volunteer fire dept. which we do not have, we have a paid on call dept., language clarity helps. Our charter also calls out the Manager is the Personnel director, the Manager will always have hiring and firing authority so that it doesn’t necessitate the need to hold that title with the manager. I think the manager should be able to delegate that title, still holding the hiring and firing power. The Mayor stated that this is a very time sensitive thing to open up the entire charter. The Mayor said he wants to make it clear we might not have a full function committee for a month. Councilor Covey said if we could move with Council liaisons tonight, we could probably have those council liaisons come back with some recommendations at the next meeting. The Mayor asked if there are councilors interested in being on the committee. Councilor Colston and Councilor covey is interested. Councilor Mace did not express it and I did not connect with her today. Because this has been such a big issue, he feels slightly conflicted on that because she is not here to be part of that selection process. I have no idea is she wants to be part of the body or not. The Mayor would like to nominate Councilor Mace is she has time to do it. If she declines the opportunity, he will reach out to everyone. He also said he would reach out to the school district. The council was in agreement with Option 2. Content Direction for next steps: Option 1: Continue focus on all-resident voting as singular item being proposed in the charter change update.  Clearly direct whether that includes consideration of Voter Checklist Protections or any additional items Option 2: Open the charter to a broader review of other operational and/or political structure items. The majority accepts Option one and the Mayor said Councilor Mace was in favor of option one and this includes removing the word citizens. Outreach Efforts:  Perform targeted outreach directly to impacted community members for feedback (recommended assignment to Council/or Committee if designated)  Schedule Public Information Sessions and Forums. Determine who will lead and organize those efforts. Ensure forums include operational explanation. (recommended assignment to Council/or Committee if designated, with staff providing operational overview materials/presentation and being a conduit for outreach materials prepared by Council/or Committee)  Formally Engage School District for feedback on process (recommended assignment to Mayor for School Trustees and City Manager for Superintendent’s Office) October 1, 2018 Winooski City Council   Formally engage Governor’s Office, Vermont League of Cities and Town, and key Legislators and Legislative Committees (engage Winooski’s representatives to take lead on this, recommended assignment to Mayor with Council support) o Coordinate with any additional municipalities considering issue, consider support efforts for any additional initiatives before the legislature The Mayor and Council were in favor of the outreach efforts. The Mayor said the important thing for the committee to do is look at these and provide feedback. The City Manager said she wants to call out the list of efforts. She said between now and the end of January we will also be doing public outreach and public hearings on budget, bond vote for parking garage, master plan, charter and housing policy ordinance. This is a lot of community outreach and we may want to think about how we tell that story. I am not saying this as a staff perspective I am saying this as a community perspective we need to have a comprehensive story. Potential Timeline Opportunities for schedule proposals and work plan to be developed: Option 1: March 2019 Town Meeting Option 2: Special Vote in 2019 at a date to be determined Option 3: March 2020 Town Meeting Option 4: Set no date at this time, continue with Council or Committee Process and allow a schedule to develop based on their initial work. Discussion ensued concerning the timeline; Councilor Lott understands we need to give them guidance and timeline, but I do not want to be in a situation where we have expressed support for a certain date and then we find ourselves not ready to move forward. I am not in support to committing to option one and given all the other things that are going on that was just mentioned, I am considering option four. The Mayor said this time commitment is contingent upon this. If you were to choose option one, you better be ready to meet every other week and expect them to be full meetings. Councilor Covey is in support of option one and he feels there is enough time The Mayor stated that Councilor Mace has expressed written interest in option four. The Mayor said his perspective would be to convey to them that we are open to having it on the March ballot and have them look at the schedule and give us feedback. Councilor Colston said to have the committee come up with a work plan that is feasible. Councilor Covey suggested that we have backup for each of the two councilors. A-team Councilor Colston and Councilor Mace; B-team Councilor Covey and Mayor Leonard. The Mayor recommends an alternate resident. The body will be a composition of seven. He recommends four residents and specifies one as an alternate. There was no decision on a timeline. The City Manager said that this week we would put out the posting for the commission; the next council meeting we will bring back the charter for the charter commission and do a traditional charter for that commission, and follow the meeting laws and potential appointments. MOTION by Councilor Covey seconded by Councilor Lott to adjourn the City Council meeting at 8:55 p.m. Voted and passed 3-0. ATTEST:_______________________ City Clerk October 1, 2018 Winooski City Council