City Council

Mayor Kristine Lott - klott@winooskivt.gov Councilor Hal Colston - hcolston@winooskivt.gov Councilor Jim Duncan - jduncan@winooskivt.gov Councilor Mike Myers - mmyers@winooskivt.gov Councilor Bryn Oakleaf – boakleaf@winooskivt.gov Winooski City Council Hybrid Meeting Tuesday September 7, 2021 at 6 PM Attend online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86333116495 Attend by phone: 1 646 558 8656 Webinar ID: 863 3311 6495 Attend in person: Winooski City Hall (27 West Allen Street) - Masks and 6' distancing required I. Call to Order II. Pledge of Allegiance III. Agenda Review IV. Public Comment V. Consent Agenda a. Approval: City Council Minutes of 8/2/21 & Special City Council Minutes of 8/30/21, 8/31/21 & 9/1/21 b. Approval: Accounts Payable Warrant as of 8/18/21 & 9/2/21 and Payroll Warrant for period 7/25/21-8/7/21 & 8/8/21-8/21/21 and Subsequent to Payout for May & June. c. Approval: Financial Policies-Control Environment VI. Council Reports VII. City Updates VIII. Regular Items a. Discussion: Vermont Air National Guard Wing Commander – K Lott b. Approval: Errors & Omissions – T Nelson c. Discussion: Financial Policies – Long Term Financial Planning – A Aldieri d. Discussion/Approval: Community Services Job Descriptions – R Coffey & P Townsend e. Discussion/Approval: Appoint Voting Delegate-Vermont League of Cities & Towns Annual Business Meeting – P Townsend & J Rauscher f. Discussion/Approval: Planning Commission Appointment – E Vorwald IX. Executive Session Executive Session Pursuant to 1 V.S.A § 313 (3) the appointment or employment or evaluation of a public officer or employee (City Manager Candidate Post-Interview Finalists Discussion) – K Lott & Council X. Adjourn  Minutes The Mayor called the meeting to order at 6:02 pm. Deputy Mayor Colston led the Pledge of Allegiance. Members Present: Mayor Kristine Lott Councilors: Hal Colston, James Duncan and Michael Myers. Councilor Oakleaf was absent. Officers Present: Phoebe Townsend and Jon Rauscher, Co-Interim City Managers; Janet Brouard, Sr. Asst Clerk; Angela Aldieri, Finance Director; Heather Carrington, Community and Economic Development Officer; Paul Sarne, Communications Coordinator; Ray Coffey, Community Services Director, Yasamin Gordon, Equity Director; Eric Vorwald, Planning & Zoning Manager; Ted Nelson, Assessor; Angel Lane, Asst City Clerk. Others Present: Robert T. Ackland, Marguerite Adelman, Ciara M, Sam Spaulding, Col Adam Rice, Col Dan Finnigan, Maj Meghan Smith, Patrick Kelly, Camille Clark, Vicki Knoepfel, Jeanne Keller, Carolyn Sistrand, Joanne Quinn, Jacqueline Schultz, Jacil Brady, Colin Flanders, Courtney Kramer, Mandy Ball, Sudan Warner-Mills, Carol Altobelli, Karol Cannon, Lucy D’Aponte, Sam Russo, A Parrish, Terry Zigmund, Bobby Arnell, Matthew Ennis, David Senical, Ben Shulman, Heather Demers, Jeff Baron, George Cross, Pete S., Jennifer Decker, Anthony Apocada, Kelly McDonald, Joy Yonan-Renold, Nari Penson, Christopher Ramos, Sharyl Green, Lana Cohen, James Leas, Brooke Bishop, Cara Montague, Rivera, Erica Victoria, Lucy Gluck, John Reuwer, Michael Palardy, Leslye, Julie Wasserman, Rick Langlais, Will, TSW, Annalee Pratt, Jean Shockley, Fiona Griffin, Farran K., Dan Abbott, Aaron Lackowski, Bria Yazic, Ann Goering, Mia Skadyk, Spencer Dryden, Jerry Thornton, Nathan Oxenfeld, Ginsdeng Mackaur Tisbert, Britta Tonn, Abby Bleything, Aimee Germain, Brian Chatwin, Mike Bisogno, Edward Cashman, Prashanth Mundkur, Emily Glassman, Beverly ?, Richard Joseph, Pamela Williams, Mike Kane, Jordan Funke, Matt Bacewicz, Beth Zigmund, Jenn ?, Kerri Ann ?, Maggie and Charlie, Respect BEA Paras, Eliza Lewis, DL Johnson, Jenny Norris, Carol ?, Loretta Marriott, Michael Connolly, Luke Local 22/44. WPTZ, News Channel 5, James Ehlers, Jack Brock, David Bresidene, Michael LaPierre. III. Agenda Review – None IV. Public Comments - None V. Consent Agenda a. Approval: City Council Minutes of 8/2/21 & Special City Council Minutes of 8/30/21, 8/31/21 & 9/1/21 b. Approval: Accounts Payable Warrant as of 8/18/21 & 9/2/21 and Payroll Warrant for period 7/25/21-8/7/21 & 8/8/21-8/21/21 and Subsequent to Payout for May & June. c. Approval: Financial Policies-Control Environment MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Duncan to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. VI. Council Reports Councilor Colston – None Councilor Duncan – The Housing Commission met at the end of August to finalize their workplan. Their focus is on the Zoning barriers outside the Form Base Code areas. Data continues to show growth in all bedroom categories, but with higher & faster gains on one-bedrooms. If trends continue, we will need to look into more multi-unit construction. We are excited to welcome 2 new members to the commission. Finally, there are 3 more days to sign up for the Winooski Tree Give-a-way. For more information you can go to the City’s website or email winooskitrees@gmail.com. Councilor Myers – None Mayor Lott – The Planning Commission did not meet due to lack of quorum. They will be meeting this Thursday. The Housing Commission will be joining to share recommendation incentive options and to discuss zoning impacts on housing developments. The Finance Commission had their regular meeting. They continue with policy review. They also talked about AARPA funding. The State finally decided how they are going to distribute the County funds that the Federal Government shared. We are going to end up with around 2 million dollars. We will be having more discussions at future Council meetings and would encourage public input on how to allocate those funds. VII. City Updates Mr. Rauscher, Co -Interim City Manager said that we received the first round of AARPA funding in the amount of around $712,000. We have time to decide how to spend the funds. Guidelines say the funds need to be obligated by December 31, 2024 and fully spent by 2026. He is happy to report that the Hickok Street project is complete. The project consisted of replacement of a very old water main, one that had been the cause of many water breaks over the years. We also rehabbed the sanitary sewer lines, re-surfaced pavement, replaced curbing and added about 600’ of new sidewalks. Currently we targeting that the project will be $800,000 under budget. Ms. Townsend, Co- Interim City Manager gave the following updates; The pool season wrapped up yesterday and will have a report out on seasonal stats at the Council meeting on the 20th. Just a reminder that the City is requiring masks for all staff and members of the public inside City buildings regardless of vaccination status until further notice. We continue to keep a close eye on case growth in Winooski and Chittenden County and have resumed the weekly COVID huddles with VDH & community partners. We would like to thank the following partners for the assistance on 09/05/2021 (37 Mayo); St. Michaels Fire & Rescue Colchester Fire Department VT Air National Guard Fire Department VT State Police VT Division of Fire Safety Green Mountain Power VT Gas Both Winooski Police and Winooski Fire Departments appreciated the help. This was an incredibly challenging and sad incident so thank you to all who responded. VIII. Regular Items a. Discussion: Vermont Air National Guard Wing Commander – K Lott The Mayor said she is pleased to have several members of the Vermont Air National Guard here tonight to listen and respond to our community concerns. We will begin by allowing the Guard members to talk about their operations. We will then have a Q&A session from the Council and finally open up for public comment. Col Rice introduced his team and gave a brief overview on the operational side. He said they received the 20th and final F-35 in October of 2020. The F-35 training is on track. Training and flying schedules will remain consistent as the previous year. We will continue to notify the public of any significant change. We normally fly Tuesday-Friday, once in morning and once in afternoon and one weekend per month, normally on drill weekends. We continue to work on noise mitigation, we have adjusted our takeoff and landing times to lessen the noise impact and we have adjusted the flight patterns to accommodate local outdoor events. Later this year we expect the FAA to implement sound proofing measures that will enhance local residents’ quality of life. Col Rice talked briefly about the guards’ activities throughout the COVID 19 pandemic. He said we have teams working in various pandemic centers, we constructed a testing site at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds. We have produced thousands of test kits and delivered them to various testing sites. We aid with administering vaccines at such sites. We have delivered endless meals to those in need. Mayor Lott commended the work done by our local guard unit. This has been a trying time and we are tremendously lucky to have your assistance. She said she will now open the floor to public comment and due to the number of participants here tonight both in-person and on- line, we will be limiting everyone to 3 minutes. There were a vast number of comments, primality voicing frustrations with the noise and the disruptions that the planes have caused in their lives. Some have even said it has forced them to move out of the city. Many voiced their concerns over the impact this is having and will have on our children. One student from Winooski School District gave her view on what a typical day of learning was like, “simply awful and disrupting, making it hard to learn” was her comment. After a very lengthy comment period and everyone’s voice was heard that wanted to be heard, Mayor Lott summarized a list of questions that she heard were asked of the guard. The questions raised ranged over concerns with decision making policies, safety issues and overall concerns from exposure. The Mayor decided the best solutions was to compile all the questions brought up here tonight, send to Col Rice and allow VTANG to respond. All questions and responses will be made available to the public. Mayor Lott thanked the Air Guard team for coming tonight and she will be in touch with a list of questions. Mayor Lott called a 5 minutes recess. The meeting will reconvene at 8:58 pm. b. Approval : Errors & Omissions – T Nelson Mayor Lott introduced Ted Nelson, City Assessor. Mr. Nelson said the attached list from the 2021 Grand List requires corrections. The most significant one is on St Stephens Church. The property is no longer an exempt property; therefore, a value has been placed based on its highest and best use. The owner was notified of the change and no appeal was issued. The others combined make no serious impact to our revenue projections. MOTION by Councilor Duncan seconded by Councilor Colston to approve the Errors & Omissions as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. c. Discussion: Financial Policies – Long term Financial Planning – A Aldieri Ms. Aldieri said the City of Winooski has a Financial Policy and Procedures Manual. Many of the documents need to be updated to reflect changes to operations including staffing and technology. Presented here tonight are four of these policies that encompass the Long-Term Financial Planning for the City, including the Investment Policy, Debt Policy, TIF Policy and Capital Improvement Policy. All of these policies have been reviewed and approved by the Finance Commission. Mayor Lott thanked Ms. Aldieri and the Finance Commission for their work on bringing these updates tonight. If no other comments or objections from Council, these polices will be brought back at the September 20th Council meeting for adoption. d. Discussion/Approval: Community Services Job Descriptions – R Coffey & P Townsend Mr. Coffey said in response to several recent staff position vacancies and a significant increase in programming participation as a result of the City’s ESSER contract with the Winooski School District, we are proposing a series of updates to position descriptions to enable us to better serve our community. We are seeking approval for the Thrive Site Director and Recreation Program Assistant to be expanded from part time to full time. Both positions increases will have neutral salary impact due to not filling vacancies, or funds being received elsewhere. Councilor Colston asked if the purpose was due to jobs that have been modified, duties increased? Mr. Coffey confirmed as such. e. Discussion/Approval: Appoint Voting Delegate- Vermont League of Cities and Towns Annual Business Meeting – P Townsend & J Rauscher Ms. Townsend said as a part of the Town Fair, the Vermont League of Cities and Towns hold its annual business meeting. As a member community, we need to designate one official as the voting delegate to ensure that our voice is heard. This can be an elected official or one of our Co-Interim City Managers. Mayor Lott said she has no problem being the delegate in that she will be attending the business meeting because she is a panelist. It was further discussed to appoint an alternate to ensure Winooski had representation if Mayor Lott couldn’t attend. MOTION by Councilor Colston seconded by Councilor Duncan to appoint Mayor Lott as Voting Delegate in attendance at the Vermont League of Cities and Towns Business Meeting and appoint Phoebe Townsend as alternate. Voted and passed 3-0-1. Mayor Lott abstained. f. Discussion/Approval: Planning Commission Appointment – E Vorwald Mr. Vorwald said the City has been actively recruiting residents to fill vacant positions on the City’s Commissions. Currently, a vacant position still remains on the Planning Commission for the position of alternate. Mr. Brendan Sage is a new resident to the City and will bring additional perspectives to the Planning Commission as a renter in the community with aspirations for home ownership. Mr. Sage is an attorney with personal interests in public policy including housing affordability and community development. MOTION by Councilor Colston seconded by Councilor Duncan to appoint Mr. Brendan Sage as alternate to the Planning Commission as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. IX. Executive Session Executive Session Pursuant to 1 V.S.A § 313 (3) the appointment or employment or evaluation of a public officer or employee (City Manager Candidate Post-Interview Finalists Discussion) – K Lott & Council MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Colston to enter into Executive Session at 9:23 pm. No staff invitations. Voted and passed 3-0. X. Adjourn MOTION by Councilor Duncan seconded by Councilor Colston to adjourn the Council meeting at 9:57 pm. Voted and passed 3-0. ATTEST: ________________________________________ Sr Asst City Clerk