City Council

Winooski City Council Remote Meeting and Charter Change Public Hearing Tuesday, 10.13.20 at 6 PM Attend online: https://zoom.us/j/95917895767 Attend by phone: 1 646 558 8656 Webinar ID: 959 1789 5767 I. Call to Order II. Pledge of Allegiance III. Agenda Review IV. Public Comment V. Council Reports VI. City Updates VII. 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 VIII. 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 6:00 p.m. Councilor Myers led the Pledge of Allegiance. Members Present: Mayor Kristine Lott Councilors: Michael Myers, James Duncan, Amy Lafayette and Hal Colston were absent. Officers Present: Jessie Baker, City Manager; Carol Barrett, City Clerk; Paul Sarne, Communications Director. Others Present: Liz Edsell, Charter Commission Chairperson; Leslye, Jessica, Lucia White, Mike Fife, Tayor Small, Thomas Randall, Elizabeth Wood, Alex Yin III. Agenda Review: The Mayor said we will remove Item 5 Council Reports and this will be at the next City Council meeting. IV. Public Comment – None V. Council Reports – Removed VI. City Updates - The City Manager said we had a watermain break on upper Main St. today and it has been resolved. - Request for Halloween in Winooski and people to take the Pumpkin Peldge and carve pumpkins at home with their family’s and have them displayed in the rotary. - As of today the Clerk’s office has received 961 ballots at City Hall. VII. Public Hearing: Charter Change Recommendations – 6:00 p.m. The Mayor opened the Public Hearing at 6:03 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 Commisison 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 Ctiy 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. The Mayor also stated this article is supported by Hal Colston who is not here tonight. 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. Fife said he is expressing his support of the Charter change for non-residents to vote. This is a good democratic process and to have all equal voices. The City Manager said there is a question on chat. Are the administrative changes in connection with the charter change or are they separate? The City Manager said there are three ballot questions on the ballot. The third separate question is about those administrative changes that I just walked through, they are their own vote as a group, and therefore all separate from Article I and Article II. They are still considered charter changes and will still require an affirmative vote from the public and then to the legislature and be signed off by the governor. Mr. Yin said he is speaking on behalf as a resident of Winooski. He gave an overview of naturalization and rights of citizenship by allowing non-resident is sharing our freedom. Councilor Myers had a question concerning Title 17 Section 2645. Is the City of Winooski or City Council in violation of that Statute because the State mailing the ballots to registered voters? The City Manager explained the Statute, which calls for a number of different public hearings. I don’t believe we are out of compliance and our City Attorney has reviewed that and doesn’t believe we are out of compliance. However, that is likely a question we will have to answer if this goes to the legislature. Ms. Edsell said as a point of clarification the 1st public hearing was held before the ballots were received by Winooski voters. The Mayor closed the public hearing at 6:29 p.m. MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Duncan to adjourn City Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. Voted and passed 3-0. ATTEST:______________________ City Clerk