City Council

Winooski City Council Meeting Monday, July 15, 2019 6:00 PM Claire Burke Council Chambers 27 West Allen Street Winooski, VT 05404 Mayor Kristine Lott - klott@winooskivt.gov Councilor Hal Colston - hcolston@winooskivt.gov Councilor Jim Duncan - jduncan@winooskivt.gov Councilor Amy Lafayette - alafayette@winooskivt.gov Councilor Mike Myers - mmyers@winooskivt.gov Jessie Baker, City Manager - jbaker@winooskivt.gov I. Call to Order II. Pledge of Allegiance III. Agenda Review IV. Public Comment V. Consent Agenda a. Approval: City Council Minutes of June 27, 2019 b. Approval: Payroll Warrant ending 06/19/2019 to 06/29/2019 and Warrant ending July 12, 2019 & Subsequent to Payout for May c. Approval: VTrans Town Road and Bridge Standards d. Approval: Hickok Street: Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund Step 1 Application e. Approval: Pine Grove Terrace: Contract Award f. Approval: Main Street: Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund Step 1 Application g. Approval: Main Street: Engineering Services Agreement with VHB h. Approval: Local Agreement Tax Rate for Veterans Exemption VI. City Update VII. Council Reports VIII. Regular Items a. Approval: Event Permit: Wolfsgart – H Carrington b. Discussion/Approval: Commission Charters and Bylaws – J Baker  Charter Commission  Finance Commission  Housing Commission  Municipal Infrastructure Commission  Safe Healthy Connected People Commission  Commission Bylaws IX. Public Hearing – Chapter 28 Fees - 6:15 PM a. Approval of Chapter 28 Fees – J Baker X. Regular Items a. Discussion/Approval: Redevelopment of Lot 7D – Request for Proposals – J Baker b. Approval: Job Description: Assistant Fire Marshall/Fire Captain – J Audy  c. Approval: AFSCME Contract – J Baker d. Approval: Grant from PACIF for Police and Public Works Safety Equipment - J Rauscher e. Discussion: Goal Update: Housing – H Carrington f. Approval: Fund Balance Request for Temporary Summer Staffing at the O’Brien Community Center – R Coffey g. Approval: Fund Transfer: Capital Investment for Community Services at the O’Brien Community Center – R Coffey h. Approval: Vermont Buildings and General Services Grant – R Coffey XI. Adjourn MINUTES The Mayor called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilor Lafayette Members Present: Mayor Kristine Lott Councilors: James Duncan, Amy Lafayette, Mike Myers, Hal Colston arrived at 6:05 p.m. Officers Present: Jessie Baker, City Manager; Carol Barrett, City Clerk; Angela Aldieri, Finance Director; Heather Carrington, Economic Director, John Audy, Fire Chief; John Rauscher, Public Work Director; Ray Coffey, Community Services Director; Julie Hulburd, Human Resource Manager; Eric Vorwald, Planning & Zoning Director, Alicia Finley, Parks/Rec Manager; Steven Bova, Police Officer. Others Present: Ray Racine, Dick Lewonski, Doug & Claire Weston, Robert Millar, Samuel Myers, Mike Whitney, Eric & Kristin Eaton, Dave Trainque, Jessica Bridge, John & Tanya Weinert, Jackie Rabidoux, Robert Rabidoux, Mark Niquette, Glenna Myers, Nan Campion, Irene Bowman, Gayle Hance, Brenda Dupuis, Darrell Desautels, John & Mary McCabe, Bernard Metivier, Margaret Bass, Sarah Franco. III. Agenda Review The City Manager said there is an agenda addendum. It is under Regular Items. The item is item a. Discussion/Approval: Redevelopment of Lot 7D – Request for Proposals – J Baker Potential Executive Session: Executive Session Pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (2) the negotiation of real estate purchase or lease options related to Lot 7D. MOTION by Councilor Duncan seconded by Councilor Myers to approve the agenda addendum as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. IV. Public Comment – None V. Consent Agenda MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Duncan to approve the consent agenda as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. VI. City Update  Reminder: an interim warrant will be prepared the first week of August and we will need at least three members of Council to come in to sign to release the checks. The warrant will be on for reaffirming approval at the 8/19 meeting. o Next Council meeting will be on August 19th o Joint Council and School Trustees meeting on August 21 st at the School  State Auditor’s Office TIF Audit continues. We anticipate receiving a draft final report from them in October.  Upcoming Events o August Winooski Wednesday concert on August 7 th o Urban Campout  Deadline to register is Tuesday!  July 20 - 21 at Casavant Park  Enjoy a night under the stars in Casavant Park with your neighbors and friends! There will be camp out activities, games, a moonlight walk, campfire, & s'mores! You must bring a tent for your family/or yourself and sleeping gear. o Animals in Myth and Legend  Friday, July 26, 2019  1 PM @ the O'Brien Community Center (32 Malletts Bay Ave)  Join the Winooski Memorial Library and the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) for this exciting live animal educational program invites participants to meet mythical creatures, hear their stories, and learn about their survival adaptations. o Art in Nature  July 28: Clay Prints @ Gilbrook Nature Area (1 - 3 PM)  Winooski Rec will provide pieces of clay and ask participants to find an object in nature that inspires them. We'll teach you how to make a perfect impression to take home and keep forever! o Wicked Cool for Kids Camps  We are still accepting enrollment for children in grades 1 - 5 for the Lego We Do 2.0 and Wicked Cool Med School Camps in August. Please visit our website for more details. o Football Skills Development Program for youth grades K to 8.  FREE! August 5th - August 9th, 2019 @ Landry Park  Registration deadline: 8/2/19 The camp will be held at the Tennis Courts at Landry Park from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (Aug. 5th - 9th). o Youth/Adult Pick Up Soccer with the Vermont Patriots  Tuesdays, 6 PM - 8 PM, June 18 - August 27, 2019  Free and Open to all - just show up!  @ the Winooski School District Soccer Field VI. Council Reports Councilor Duncan - said we had a final dialogue of our equity meeting. We also have a tree inventory coming soon. Councilor Colston – said we had a series of meetings on the Winooski Equity Dialogue, which came out of the Equity summit. Out of that there were two ideas that rose to the top. 1- Is to create equity leadership council which would be a diverse group of community members that will help us as a council have a better sense of equity in the work that we do. 2- Is to expand the role of the multi-lingual liaisons that are now at the schools and how they might be able to work here in our city and help us to be better at connecting with all different citizens. I reached out to the 15 people that had served on the council. I had 3 responses for the equity leadership council and still waiting to hear for those who want to step up and help to figure out the details of the multi-lingual liaison expansion. We hope to get both of those working teams together in the next few weeks so that at our next council meeting we can hear their findings. I also have an update from Community Services Commission, they have prepared a draft for their scholarship policy and they are going to bring it forward at our next council meeting to consider approval. Mayor Lott said she attended the Housing Commission meeting and they continue to wrap upthe Housing Trust Fund Policy. The Planning Commission met to discuss their work plan for FY20 based on the outcome of the discussion that we had at the June 1st meeting. She said she has received an update on the bike lane pilot on E Spring St planned for September. The Winooski Bicycle Coalition is working on that so more info to come. She also said she met with Burlington’s Mayor Weinberger and S. Burlington Chair Helen Riehle to discuss a memorandum of understanding between our Cities’ as it relates to the Burlington Airport, noise map and noise capability program. We discussed how Burlington can keep us involved as Cities are impacted by this. We should be receiving draft information back to us in late August. Councilor Lafayette said she attended the Downtown Winooski meeting last month, they are in the process of updating their bylaws to better reflect the new mission of their organization which is business focused. They are also in the process of planning French Heritage day on Sunday, August 11 which will coincide with the Farmer’s Market from 10:00 to 2:00 p.m. Councilor Myers had nothing to report. VIII. Regular Items a. Approval: Event Permit: Wolfsgart – H Carrington Ms. Carrington said we received an application from Wolfsgart to hold the annual Wolfsgart Airout event on Saturday, August 3rd, 2019. This gathering of high-end show cars is proposed to be held on Winooski Falls Way, and will require closure of the street between Cascade Way and the circulator from 3:00 to 10:00 p.m. Staff reviewed the application at the June 17 th event review meeting and established the following conditions:  Event sponsor will coordinate with Green Mountain Transit to re-route buses during the street closure  Event sponsor will coordinate with Downtown Winooski and local businesses to co- promote MOTION by Councilor Lafayette seconded by Councilor Colston to approve Wolfsgart Airout Event Permit for Saturday, August 3, 2019 as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. b. Discussion/Approval: Commission Charters and Bylaws- J Baker  Charter Commission  Finance Commission  Housing commission  Municipal Infrastructure Commission  Safe Healthy Connected People Commission  Commission Bylaws The Mayor gave an overview of the Commissions and Bylaws. We have been discussing as a council for past several months re-aligning the commissions to meet our strategic vision area. We discussed this at prior meetings and at our last meeting we talked about updating the language within the Charters to reflect and re-align them across the board. In addition to that we have re-named and re-configured the Commissions. She explained each Commission and said we also have a Charter Commission that we approved back in October with the previous council and we wanted to, as we discussed at previous meetings expand the scope of that approved Charter from the voting issue to include governance issues as well as making sure we are in line with the School’s Charter where we need to be separate municipalities that work together. What we are discussing tonight is moving forward with these Charters in this new alignment and how we feel about the new language that’s being used. To be clear all these Charters are already all established as is and have made updates to the language. There was also change in language to the bylaws. Councilor Myers said at our meeting on June 17, 2019 we discussed all the commissions except for the Charter Commission and I think at that time it would have been nice to discuss that language and that Charter Commission so we could have it for approval for this meeting. I reached out to some residents and many of them are here tonight. One who couldn’t make here sent me an email with some language that would better align with the Charter Commission. See attached. I would like to propose that to the Council for consideration to change the language to removing the Winooski voter’s with a charter change that would enable non-citizen residents to vote in Winooski. A better way of saying this for this Charter change would be for Winooski voters of any charter changes related to municipal elections. This gives it a better broader view. There was an overwhelming response to this discussion concerning the Charter Commission Charter. The Mayor said this commission can facilitate the discussion on a broader level outside of these walls with more members of the City of Winooski to get to a point on how to approach this idea. Again, we are not making any decisions on this right now we are trying to start a community conversation to carry this out and see what we want as a City. The Mayor asked if there were any questions on the other Charters. Councilor Myers asked if we are moving for a vote tonight. The Mayor said yes, this is a discussion/approval topic, if there is a motion to approve these documents then we would move forward. Councilor Myer’s question is, are we able to move forward on the commissions discussed on June 17 and leave Charter Commission out for another discussion? The Mayor said Councilor Myers has shared some alternate language. We have the possibility of separating this item out, if that is our desire. I also would take a motion to approve the items as is tonight. MOTION by Councilor Colston seconded by Councilor Duncan to approve the Commission Charters and Bylaws as presented. Vote and passed 3-1. Councilor Myers voted no. Councilor Myers wants it stated that I’m not anti-non-citizens I think that they should have to follow the process of our country for amount of years. IX. Public Hearing – Chapter 28 Fees – 6:15 P.M. a. Approval of Chapter 28 Fees – J Baker The Public Hearing started at 6:55.m. The Mayor said we had previously voted to change how some of the fees work. She gave a summary of the fee changes. See attached. MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Duncan to approve chapter 28 Fees as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. The Public Hearing closed at 6:57 p.m. The Mayor called for a 2 minute recess at 6:57 and meeting reconvened at 6:59 p.m. X. Regular Items a. Discussion/Approval: Redevelopment of Lot 7D – Request for Proposals – J Baker The City Manager gave an overview of the Redevelopment of Lot 7D. She said in February 2019 the City Council considered a permit application for the subdivision of Lot 7D (City-owned and located at the corner of Winooski Falls Way and Abenaki Way in the TIF District) and the development of a municipal parking structure and a hotel. On Town Meeting day the voters approved a bond vote for the parking infrastructure. In late May, we were notified that the Winooski Hotel Group was interested in re- exploring the development of Lot 8. We continue to be willing to work with him but also would like to move forward with the redevelopment of Lot 7D in the community’s vision. The City Manager said we have a draft RFP outlining a potential process for moving forward. Per our policies, Council does not need to approve the RFP. However, we are interested in the Council’s feedback on the potential visions articulated in the RFP and specifically the proposed projects outlined as: 1. Construct the project as envisioned in the plans provided and as approved by City Council including subdivision of the Property into two parcels, the “hotel lot” and the “garage lot” whereupon:  Option A. The Bidder proposes to construct a hotel on the south subdivision of the Parcel, while the City constructs the proposed garage.  Option B. The Bidder proposes to construct the hotel, and to serve as construction manager to build the City-owned garage on the north parcel. 2. Propose an alternate use of the south parcel for the subdivided lot, with the 4 proposed parking garage planned on the north parcel.  Option A. The Bidder proposed to construct an alternate use on the south subdivision of the Parcel, with the City constructing the proposed garage.  Option B. the Bidder proposes to construct the alternate use project on the south subdivision of the parcel, and to serve as construction manager to build the City-owned garage on the north parcel. 3. Propose to utilize the entire lot, with no subdivision, to construct an alternate use(s) in conjunction with a parking garage. Bidder proposes to build and own the parking structure, while committing to enter into a long term agreement with the City to lease back XXX parking spaces to the City for a term of XX years, and to contract with the City to operate the garage as part of the public parking inventory. Discussion ensued concerning the 3 options. Ms. Carrington read the method of award and selection criteria: Decisions to sell the Property are at the sole discretion of City Council. This RFP process shall not create a binding obligation on the part of the City Council to sell the property unless and until a Purchase and Sale Agreement has been executed and all pertinent City Charter and Policy requirements have been satisfied. If a written agreement cannot be negotiated with the selected Bidder within a reasonable period of time after selection, the City reserves the right to terminate negotiations and select another Bidder from among the other finalist. She said the top 3 finalist will have an interview with Jessie Baker, Heather Carrington, John Rauscher and Eric Vorwald. MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Lafayette to approve the redevelopment of Lot 7D – Request for proposals as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. b. Approval: Job Description: Assistant Fire Marshall/Fire Captain – J Audy Mr. Audy said with the resignation of Assistant Fire Marshal Courtney Brown comes a tremendous opportunity to further strengthen our vision and efforts to unite the staff and assigned duties of Fire/Code. This resignation was not part of the FY20 budget planning or any immediate future staff planning. He said Courtney has moved on to other opportunities and with her leaving left a big void and this is the opportunity to have an Asst. Fire Marshall/Fire Captain. There was some discussion concerning how many respond to fire calls during the day. Councilor Duncan asked if this was a hybrid position and is this common in other departments. Mr. Audy said there are no other departments that does what we do. Our rental registry is one of the few in the State. MOTION by Councilor Colston seconded by Councilor Myers to approve the Job Description of Assistant Fire Marshall/Fire Captain as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. c. Approval: AFSCME Contract – J Baker Ms. Hulburd said the majority of the changes were cleanup such as current law, union dues and codified salary for the next three years. MOTION by Councilor Lafayette seconded by Councilor Myers to approve the AFSCME contract as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. d. Approval: Grant from PACIF for Police and Public Works Safety Equipment – J Rauscher The grant is an annual 50% match grant request to procure safety related equipment. The 2019 grant application includes; an eye wash station, drug take-back cabinet and manhole cover lift system. The total grant =$5,000.00 Officer Bova said they recognized a couple of items that the Police Dept. needed. The Dept. is looking for and eye wash station and a drug take-back cabinet. The amount of both items are $5653.00. Mr. Rauscher said we are looking to purchase a manhole cover lift system in the amount of $2627.23. They both said that they have money to cover the difference in the safety line item. MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Duncan to approve the PACIF Grant application request as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. e. Discussion: Goal Update: Housing – H Carrington Ms. Carrington said Jessica Bridge apologized for having to leave the meeting she was to present the goal update. She introduced Robert Millar, Chairperson of the Housing Commission. Ms. Carrington said before you, you have a memo, and much longer memo than you will see for one of these reports because this is our first presentation to this council. I wanted to give you an update on the background on what the Housing Commission has done. We have done a lot of data analysis I wanted you to get a high level idea of what data we looked at and what we found thus far. The matrix that you are looking at is pretty consistent with what you will see throughout these updates. She explained the policy goal and priorities. Mr. Millar presented the data analysis. See attached. Discussion ensued concerning, addressing life safety issues, funding sources are not identified and look at how other communities fund this. Also included was draft of the Housing Trust Fund policy guidelines. Ms. Carrington said her recommendation for future goals are:  Finish HTF policy  Monitor incoming housing developments in comparison with affordability targets  Provide to Planning Commission parking minimum changes to FBC?  Review and make recommendations on HTF applications  Track HTF outcomes  Investigate methods of further funding HTF f. Approval: Fund Balance Request for Temporary Summer Staffing at the O’Brien Community Center – R Coffey Mr. Coffey said this summer we have seen a significant volume of youth activity in and around the O’Brien Community Center, and at times have struggled to maintain adequate staffing ratios to manage youth behavior. Our efforts to respond to this increase in building usage have required significant amounts of staff time for existing staff (including Community Services, Police, and Community Justice Center), which at times has negatively impacted our ability to perform other core elements of our positions. It has also led to several negative youth incidents that are being addressed in partnership with the Community Justice Center. However, in order to adequately serve the youth we are seeing, and keep the space accessible and comfortable for the entire population, we need additional staffing support. As such, we are proposing a summer staffing pilot whereby we bring on two part time, seasonal Recreation staff who primary responsibility will be to positively engage the youth we are seeing, and to work proactively to get them connected to positive, pro social activities, events, and programs both at the O’Brien Center and throughout the City. The positions will be for up to 25 hours per week and will run roughly from July 22 through September 1, 2019. We feel that this one time investment of funds will significantly improve our ability to positively engage youth, especially as we seek to bridge to next summer, when the Myers Pool will reopen. We will use the information and outcomes from this approximately 6 week pilot to assess future seasonal staffing needs for recreation, and will incorporate that thinking into future staffing and budget planning as appropriate. Mr. Coffey said he is requesting up to $4,700 (undesignated General Fund fund balance) to support the hiring of two seasonal recreation staff. MOTION by Councilor Colston seconded by Councilor Myers to approve the Fund Balance Request for Temporary Summer Staffing at the O’Brien Community Center as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. g. Approval: Fund Transfer: Capital Investment for Community Services at the O’Brien Community Center – R Coffey Mr. Coffey is requesting reassignment of Capital Reserves for OCC Office Fit Up. The request is for $17,300 of designated capital reserves (previously assigned to City Hall Office Rehab) to support office rehab for the Community Services office space at the O’Brien Community Center. The following investments are being recommended (and are highlighted in the attached floorplan):  Wall panel system to create small, separate meeting space for the Community Services team to meet with partners, colleagues, and customers. $8,486.82)  Cubicle system to create a portioned office space for Children and Family Programs Manager within the larger space. ($1,300)  A multi-purpose work station with space for up to three staff, interns, volunteers, etc. who are touching down periodically. ($3,900)  Addition of two wall jacks with additional network connections for City Staff. ($2,000)  Addition of one computer to accommodate the ability for Community Services Staff to process registrations (and eventually credit card payments) on site at the O’Brien Center. ($1,300 from SymQuest) MOTION by Councilor Lafayette seconded by Councilor Myers to reassign $17,300 of Capital Reserves for OCC Office Fit Up as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. h. Approval: Vermont Buildings and General Services Grant – R Coffey Mr. Coffey said on May 6, 2019, Public Works Director John Rauscher presented a memo detailing the need to assign Capital Reserves to support improvements to the HVAC system at the O’Brien Community Center. The staff is seeking to secure grant funds through the VT BGS Grant program to offset a portion of the cost for this much needed improvement, thus lessening the burden on the Capital budget. The grant program is open to municipalities and non-profit organizations that provide human services and educational services in an individual community or recognized community service area. The maximum grant amount awarded is $25,000.00 per project. Request in any amount up to $25,000.00 limit will be considered. MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Colston to approve the Vermont Buildings and General Services Human Service and Education Facility grant as presented. Vote and passed 4-0. XI. Adjourn MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Lafayette to adjourn the City Council meeting at 8:43 p.m. Voted and passed 4-0. ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk