City Council

Special City Council Meeting and Charter Change Public Hearing Tuesday, September 29, 2020 at 6:00 PM • Attend Online: https://zoom.us/j/99382649235 • Attend by phone: 1 646 558 8656 • Webinar ID: 993 8264 9235 • View our Remote Meeting Procedures and Public Comment Request Form at winooskivt.gov or call 802 655 6410 I. Call to Order II. Pledge of Allegiance III. Agenda Review IV. Public Comment V. Council Reports VI. City Updates VII. Regular Items: a. Approval: Special City meeting for the Purposes of Considering Changes to the Winooski City Charter – J Baker VIII. Public Hearing: Charter Change Recommendations – 6:00 p.m. a. Approval: Public Hearing on Charter Change Recommendations including All-Resident Voting, Administrative Changes, and Self Governance Rights to be considered at a Special City Meeting held in conjunction with the November 2020 General Election – J Baker IX. Adjourn 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 MINUTES The Mayor called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. Councilor Colston led the Pledge of Allegiance. Members Present: Mayor Kristine Lott Councilors: Amy Lafayette, Michael Myers, James Duncan, Hal Colston Officers Present: Jessie Baker, City Manager; Carol Barrett, City Clerk; Paul Sarne, Communications Director; Heather Carrington, Economic Director Others Present: Michael Blood, Town Meeting TV; Tori Cleiland, Liz Edsell, Hussein Amuri, Alex Yin, Eric Covey, Gerry Myers, David Senical, Duane Sherwood, Joy Yonan-Renold, Sam Russo. III. Agenda Review: None IV: Public Comment: None V. Council Reports: The Council will give their reports at our next City Council meeting on October 5, 2020. VI. City Updates: • Ballots – We learned today from the Secretary of State’s Office that Winooski ballots have not yet been sent out. You are not missing yours! We hope they go out very soon. • School letter – The City/School MOU expires tomorrow. Given the changes under discussion, Sean and I have signed a 45 day extension. We will bring you something for consideration before then. • 10 Cedar Street is on the market! If you are interested search bids on our website. • 133 Elm Street o DRB issued their decision upholding the Zoning Administrators Notice of Violation. The decision and exhibits is on the website o Department of Environmental Conservation is also exploring their options. o We will provide additional updates within the week. • Halloween in Winooski – October 29 to 31 o 1,000 jack-o-lanterns light up Rotary Park o We need your help! asking community members to take the "pumpkin pledge" - take home as many pumpkins for carving as possible and VOLUNTEER o During the event all COVID-19 safety measures (masks required, 6', 150 people at a time w/volunteer counters + contact tracing info [if they ask]) o no trick or treating, no indoor activities o full details soon at winooskivt.gov/halloween VII. Regular Items: a. Approval: Special City meeting for the purposes of Considering Changes the Winooski City Charter – J Baker The City Manager said we have had lots of conversation over the past couple of months about the charter changes and putting those questions on the ballot. To meet the requirements of the Winooski City Charter as well as Vt. State Statutes with in this current time window that we are currently in, you actually need to take proactive action to vote to call for a Special City meeting and hold that in conjunction with the General Election to be held on November 3. The Warning for that notice is attached to your agenda. It list, the questions as they will appear on the ballot and warns the public hearing that will occur the night before election day as well as election day itself. The Council needs to call for that Special meeting. MOTION by Councilor Duncan seconded by Councilor Colston approve warning the Special City meeting as presented. Voted and passed 5-0. VIII. Public Hearing: Charter Change Recommendations – 6:00 p.m. a. Approval: Public Hearing on Charter Change Recommendations including All-Resident Voting, Administrative Changes, and Self Governance Rights to be considered at a Special City meeting held in conjunction with the November 2020 General Election – J Baker The Mayor opened the Public Hearing at 6:07 p.m. We are going to start with the overview of these changes and open it up to the public for questions and comments. The Mayor said in 2018 a proposal came through the City Council to make a change to our Charter that would allow residents who are not yet U.S. Citizens vote in local elections. In 2019, we established a Charter Commission to further explore that concept through a series of public meetings and came forward to us with a recommendation on that with some additional changes to our Charter. These items are already on the November General Election Ballot to Winooski voters to vote on. We also sent out a mailer to every registered voter. ARTICLE I The Mayor invited Charter Commission Chair Liz Edsell to give an overview of the process that the commission went through over the last year. There was a lot of outreach that we conducted, there were concerns of their citizenship being affected. The City staff also sent out a mass mailing to every active voter. ARTICLE II The Mayor said this article is an amendment to permit voters to adopt future charter amendments that have been approved by Vt. Legislature for other municipalities. What this means if we want to take on an amendment that the legislature has already approved elsewhere in Vermont we could cut that out of the process, do just the Winooski resident vote, and be able to implement that rule. Councilor Colston totally supports this effort. The City Manager said that these will be three separate articles and voters can vote on them individually. ARTICLE III The City Manager said this is a combination of administrative changes. The Charter Commission also considered and recommended to the Council and the Council approved to be put on the ballot. She said there are five specific changes and gave an explanation of each item. 1) To conform the charter to state law requirements for signing petitions (Section 19-205); 2) To remove language referring to volunteer firefighters (Section 19-305); 3) To permit the City Manager to give to the staff person performing human resource functions the title of “Human Resource Director” (Sections 19-506 and 19-603); 4) To amend the provision relating to the tax assessment of commercial properties to conform to current practice (Section 19-717); and 5) To modify the Oath of Office Language to eliminate religious references (Section 19-903). The Mayor opened the meeting for public comment. Mr. Senical stated his concern that 50 years ago he fought for the people of this City and I came disabled and fought for their rights to vote. I did not fight for the rights of somebody who are not American citizens. I don’t like it and I think it’s a bad idea. The Mayor said she appreciates the perspective that you’re bringing. However, its not share by every single veteran that I have spoken with. I have heard support and disdained for this measure. There is a lot of values whether they support this initiative and folks will be able to play that out when the vote their ballot. Ms. Joy Yonan-Renold said should would first like to thank Mr. Senical for his services. I support any veteran that sacrificed their time and lively hood. I also support the rights of New Americans. I think giving them the right to vote locally is something that in my opinion veterans would personify. Mr. Sherwood said there is a lot of wisdom welcoming newcomers, allowing newcomers to be more fully involved and more integrated with the City and our Community. I think that’s a positive step. Some of his concerns were how much is it going to cost to maintain two checklist and provide separate ballots, will they be eligible to run for office. The City Manager said it would cost a bit more in time from the Clerk’s office to maintain that second list. However, currently we believe we can do that with the existing capacity of the Clerk’s office. He also asked if they would be eligible to serve on a board and if there is a language deficit would there be translation services provided. The Mayor said we have not addressed that fully. We are able to pay to have interpreters at meetings. If we get to that position, we will address it if they need an interpreter. We do have time to work towards being prepared for that charter change. Mr. Sherwood is concerned about # 2. He feels that would be like copying someone else’s homework and it would be easy to take something that was geared for another municipality. Councilor Colston explained the process once it gets to the legislature. Mr. Russo asked if there has been any comment from the Secretary of State’s Office on Article I. Is there any potential conflict on the State or Federal regulations that could happen? What issues were or could be or if there is any potential, fallout that needs to be planned for in regards to that. Ms. Edsel said one of our fellow commissioners Eric Covey works for the Secretary of State’s Office. He has been an excellent resource on that. We also had the City Attorney review all of the recommendations and give guidance on language. We also have the benefit of Councilor Colston who sits on the Government Operations Committee of the legislature. Mr. Amuri who is a student at Winooski High School gave his personal story. He said his parents migrated here 5 years ago. My mom works two jobs and it is extremely expensive to apply for citizenship. The Mayor stated that application fees for citizenship are upwards of a $1000.00. So many members of our community unfortunately don’t have that flexible income. The Mayor thanked Mr. Hussein and Mr. Senical for sharing their personal experiences here. Ms. Edsell said we setup a reporting from for contacts since many different commissions, councilors, liaisons for conducting outreach and we had over 50 reports from that outreach. The Mayor said the meeting that she and Jim had through the Winooski School district liaisons with parents that was north of 50 individuals that we spoke with. Ms. Edsell said we did public presentations and we did an open-air conversation. The Mayor closed the Public Hearing at 6:55 p.m. MOTION by Councilor Duncan seconded by Councilor Colston to adjourn the City Council meeting at 6:58 p.m. Voted and passed 4-0. ATTEST: ____________________ City Clerk