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, January 7, 2019 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 December 17, 2018 b. Approval: Warrant ending 01/04/2019; Subsequent to Payout for November c. Approval: Payroll Warrants ending 12/2/18 – 12/15/18 & 12/16/18 – 12/29/18 d. Approval: Budget Adjustment – Wage Plan Implementation VI. City Update VII. Council Reports VIII. Regular Items: a. Discussion/Approval: Event Permit: Waking Windows 2019 – H Carrington b. Approval: Downtown Winooski, Inc. Funding Request H Carrington c. Discussion: Public Works and Capital Improvement Plan FY20: Budget Presentation – J Rauscher d. Discussion/Approval: Resolution Establishing Housing Trust Fund – H Carrington e. Discussion/Introduction: Ordinance Update: Chapter 28: Fees – J Baker f. Discussion: FY20: Community Services Reserves– R Coffey g. Discussion: FY20: Council Update: Philanthropic Funding Opportunities for School-Aged Childcare Programs – R Coffey IX. Adjourn: MINUTES The Mayor called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Deputy Mayor Mace. Members Present: Mayor Seth Leonard Councilors: Nicole Mace, Eric Covey, Kristine Lott, Hal Colston Officers Present: Jessie Baker, City Manager; Carol Barrett, City Clerk; Angela Aldieri, Finance Director, Heather Carrington, Economic Development Director, John Rauscher, Public Works Director, Ray Coffey, Community Services Director, John Audy, Fire Chief, Ryan Lambert, City Engineer. January 4, 2019 Winooski City Council  Others Present: Amy Lafayette, Kelsey Adams, Winooski Downtown Assoc. Ali Nagle, Waking Windows; Greg Rabideau, Rabideau Architects; Adam Dubroff, Hotel Group. III. Agenda Review – None IV. Public Comment – None V. Consent Agenda MOTION by Councilor Mace seconded by Councilor Lott to approve the consent agenda as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. VI. Update The City Manager gave the following updates:  The preliminary audit results of an unqualified opinion or "clean" audit with two recommendations one of which has already been addressed. o Audit – next week with Treasurer’s report.  Housing Commission will be meeting this Thursday 1/10/19 rather than on the regularly scheduled fourth Monday of January  Planning Commission meeting on Thursday and may forward Master Plan to Council for consideration. As a reminder, ideally this needs to be adopted by mid-April.  East Allen Street Scoping Study Advisory Committee being formed. UPWP funding from CCRPC. Looking at East Allen Street and improvements that could be made to slow down traffic and improve pedestrian safety.  Project Review Committee will meet at the end of the month to discuss the redevelopment of 401 Main Street  Headworks project being reviewed by DRB for conditional use approval  Equity Training after Town Meeting Day  Downtown Association meeting on Wednesday to discuss Abenaki Way garage and hotel project  IXP will be in the City tomorrow meeting with the Chiefs and myself about the Regional Dispatch consulting work. Meeting with Dispatchers and public safety staff on January 22nd  Meeting with VEPC on Friday about our upcoming TIF audit by the State Auditor’s Office. Regular requirement as we are ¾ through our TIF period. VII. Council Reports Councilor Lott – Publicly announced that she will be running for Mayor and will have to resign from Council after the January 14, 2019 City Council Meeting. Councilor Mace – Said she would be meeting with the Mayor and City Manager to go over the transition from Deputy Mayor to Mayor. Mayor Leonard - He is drawing up a proposal for interim Council. He is recommending that we have someone just in case anyone get sick or something comes up. Councilor Covey – He announced that he would also be running for Mayor. He also said that his and Nicole’s term is up for Council. There will be a public safety meeting tomorrow night. Councilor Colston – He said it was safe to say that he is remaining on the Council. January 4, 2019 Winooski City Council  VIII. Regular Items: a. Discussion/Approval: Event Permit Waking Windows 2019 Ms. Carrington said staff has received an event permit application for the annual Waking Windows event in May 2019. This 3 day arts and music festival has been held for the last 8 years, and draws thousands of visitors to downtown Winooski annually. The event will take place in many downtown business venues, as well on outdoor stages on Winooski Falls Way and in Rotary Park. The event sponsor requests the closure of Winooski Falls Way for Friday through Sunday May 3rd – 5th, use of Rotary Park, use of city property along Winooski Falls Way, use of the terrace park in front of VSAC, and use of Landry Park at the skate park. Staff discussed requirements and event needs with the event sponsors at our monthly event review meeting on December 19th. A list of conditions and requirements is included in the event application. Staff recommends approval of the permit. Ms. Fogel said it is the same footprint as last year. We are adding a couple of businesses that have recently opened. The City Manager said we would have a kickoff meeting the morning of the event. MOTION by Councilor Colston seconded by Councilor Covey to approve the event permit application for Waking Windows 2019 as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. b. Approval: Downtown Winooski, Inc. Funding Request Ms. Carrington said the Downtown Winooski is requesting the City Council’s approval of funding in the amount of $54,497.12 from General Fund Balance, for the hiring, onboarding, and salary of a new 32 hour per week Executive Director. For reference, the current general fund balance is $586,511.19. She said one major change in the budget projections is assume no 2020 fund balance and to look at changing the fee for sidewalk usage permit. See attached. The Mayor asked Kelsey if the board has put together a hiring plan and or process. She said they have not but they have had success with Farmer’s Market process vs. one person making decisions. MOTION by Councilor Covey seconded by Councilor Lott to approve the Downtown Winooski, Inc. Funding Request and Memorandum of Understanding as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. c. Discussion: Public Works and Capital improvement Plan FY20: Budget Presentation: The City Manager gave an overview to the FY20 Budget. She said John started as our Public Works Director after the creation of the FY19 budget that we are currently in and I did this presentation to you all last year. He and Angela built this budget this year. He has re-built the entire General Fund, Enterprise Fund budgets line item by line item. I would like to acknowledge the work that they have done to rebuild it from the bottom up. He has also built a comprehensive Capital Improvement Plan. The City has always had a CIP but this is an advanced model that John has used in other communities. She said that Capital Improvement Plans are meant to be plans and living documents, so we have done our best to model out what is going to happen in the next 5 years. As projects come to fruition construction projects, change etc. and projects shift around. You will see that in the next 5 years as we use this document more. He has also built it to integrate our debt service plans; those are now reflected in our CIP that allow us to track our debt capacity as debt falls off for one thing. How do we use that capacity to reinvest in our municipal infrastructure? She also recommends that we skip into this presentation because we have guest here and focus first on the proposal for the Abenaki Garage, Parking Fund and then go back to the beginning Public Works presentation. The City Manager introduced Greg Rabideau of Rabideau Architects who is the Architect that we have been working with and Adam Dubroff, hotel developer. The City Manager presented the Power Point presentation for the Parking Fund CIP FY20 budget. See attached. If you have any questions Greg, Adam or John can answer them. She said this plan is very much in development and may change before you take a January 4, 2019 Winooski City Council  final vote on this. What this site plan achieves is a resolution of the lawsuits within the TIF district by building new parking infrastructure. It enables the full-build out of the TIF District. It also is maintaining the public access to Casavant Park. It meets CCV parking needs and we believe we can build this with zero tax rate impact, so build it solely based on the fees the users will pay. Mr. Rabidoux passed out renderings of the project. See attached. Mr. Rabidoux explained the images that he handed out and described the parking garage and the hotel structure. He also said the timeline is to start garage in 7 to 8 months and hotel in 12 months concurrent. Councilor Mace asked if all spaces would be allocated and not dedicated. The City Manager explained the parking system. Mr. Vorwald also explained the ACT250 permitting process. Councilor Colston asked how it became a TRUE Hotel. Mr. Dubroff said it is an urban brand for a more youthful orientation. The Mayor said he appreciates that this is clear and appreciates all the work that has been put into this. Mr. Rauscher presented the Public Works and Capital Improvement Plan FY20 budget. He gave an overview of the Public Works budget including enterprise funds, Capital Improvements program for General Fund and Enterprise Funds. Discussion followed regarding some of the alternatives to fix Main St. and percent increase in the utilities etc. Councilor Mace asked about the Resolutions and Questions that were in the packet. The City Manager said the two bond votes contemplated in John’s presentation on the garage bond vote and the Hickok bond vote, we are working with the Bond Counsel our lawyers to get these documents ready. You do not need to take any action on them tonight. We wanted you to start seeing the language and the process. You have to approve these Resolutions saying there is a need for a bond vote in advance of setting the ballot items for town meeting day. What these Resolutions say there is a need for this debt to be incurred. We are going to incur the debt for these purposes and they include a reimbursement clause that allows us to reimburse ourselves for cost incurred before the debt in acquired. There is no action that is needed tonight. Councilor Mace had a question about the ballot. Her concern is “repayment is intended to come from the enterprise fund.” Ms. Aldieri said she would check with the bond counsel if other language were allowable. There was a 2 minute recess and meeting reconvened at 8:34 p.m. d. Discussion/Approval: Resolution Establishing Housing Trust Fund Ms. Carrington said the Housing Commission recommends approval of the attached resolution establishing a Winooski Housing Trust Fund, to be followed by a set of supporting Housing Trust Fund policy and procedural guidelines in the next few months. We are asking for reallocation of the full amount of the Home Improvement Loan program funds held in an Opportunities Credit Union account ($347,061.48 as of November 30th, 2018 statement) to the Housing Trust Fund, with the Housing Improvement Program heretofore operating under the Housing Trust Fund umbrella. Councilor Mace is interested in how the funds will be distributed. Ms. Carrington said a portion would still be available to go to home improvement; we will set up a vehicle. Councilor Covey said this a great step forward. MOTION by Councilor Mace seconded by Councilor Covey to approve the Resolution Establishing a Housing Trust Fund as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. e. Discussion/Introduction: Ordinance Update: Chapter 28: Fees The City Manager said under your Charter authority, the Council updates the Fee Chapter from time to time. The FY20 budget, as presented, includes some recommended fee increases. Additionally, there are several January 4, 2019 Winooski City Council  administrative changes we recommend making in the ordinance. The proposed changes are presented and attached in track changes so you can see the proposals. The City Manager explained some of the changes to the Ordinances, see attached ordinance. She also said if introduced we could have a public hearing date on January 22, 2019 for approval. Councilor Mace introduced the Ordinance Update: Chapter 28 Fees. f. Discussion: FY20: Community Services Reserves The City Manager said both of these items were requested for additional information during Ray’s budget presentation, so the information is presented here. The Mayor asked if there were specific questions or concerns: Councilor Mace’s concerns were the reserves decreased over a third over this 5-year period. Is that a cause for concern for you and as you think about the long-term sustainability for the Dept.? This raises concerns for me. Mr. Coffey said there were a few programs when I started that were carrying big reserves because they had been run in a lean way. The meals program was carrying a $6000.00 surplus. I think it is fair to say the approach we have taken with the meals program in terms of meal quality and how we are getting food to kids is much different than at that point, the margins have shifted. Thrive is another example where we shifted the way; we do that work. The way we were doing things and what we are doing now is different. I think it is to the betterment of the people accessing those serviced but the cost is gone up. Mr. Coffey said the trend is on his radar, not concerned yet, but we need to make some adjustments. We are looking at some grant funding and looking at different ways to approach the recreation funding as well. Councilor Mace is just trying to understand the pattern. g. Discussion: FY20: Council Update: Philanthropic Funding Opportunities for School-Aged Childcare Programs. Councilor Mace asked if we have pursued any funding in the past for Thrive. Mr. Coffey said we have not for Thrive in the past, generally it has had descent program revenues. One of the challenges with these grant programs they are often looking to fund new or expansive elements, so it is challenging to write those for operational cost. It is an interesting game writing grants to support for kind of day-to-day services. Councilor Covey’s concern is the services that are important; we think the Dept. should be offering, this should be an investment we are making. IX. Adjourn MOTION by Councilor Lott seconded by Councilor Covey to adjourn City Council meeting at 9:00 p.m. Voted and passed 4-0. ATTEST:_______________________________ City Clerk January 4, 2019 Winooski City Council