City Council

Winooski City Council Meeting Monday, November 1, 2021 Attend online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82554598349 Attend by phone: 1 646 558 8656 Webinar ID: 825 5459 8349 Attend in-person: Winooski City Hall (27 West Allen Street) 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 I. Call to Order II. Agenda Review III. Public Comment IV. Consent Agenda a. Approval: City Council and Liquor Control Minutes of October 18, 2021 b. Approval: Accounts Payable Warrant as of 10/29/21 and Payroll Warrant for period 10/3/21-10/16/21 and Subsequent to Payout September V. Council Reports VI. City Updates VII. Regular Items a. Introduction: New and Recently Promoted Community Services Staff – R Coffey b. Approval: Proclamation Establishing November 27th as Small Business Saturday in Winooski - Downtown Winooski request (Meredith Bay-Tyback and Board Members) – H Carrington c. Discussion/Approval: Downtown Winooski Local Option Tax request (Meredith Bay- Tyback and Board Members) - H Carrington d. Discussion/Approval: Historic Roadside Marker Approval Request – 10 Manseau St (Parc Terrace) (Britta Tonn) – J Rauscher e. Approval: Vermont Urban & Community Forestry “2022 Growing Urban Forests in the Face of Emerald Ash Borer” Grant Application – R Coffey f. Discussion/Approval: City Manager Search Firm Recommendation – P Townsend g. Discussion/Approval: Position Description: Human Resources Director – P Townsend h. Discussion: Financial Assistance Policies – A Aldieri VII. Adjourn  MINUTES The Mayor called the meeting to order at 6:08 p.m. Members Present: Mayor Kristine Lott Councilors: Michael Myers, Bryn Oakleaf, James Duncan, Hal Colston was absent. Officers Present: Wendy Harrison, Interim City Manager; Carol Barrett, City Clerk; Angela Aldieri, Finance Director; Heather Carrington, Community and Economic Development Officer; Jon Rauscher, Public Works Director; Phoebe Townsend, Human Resources Manager; Ray Coffey, Community Services Director; Eric Vorwald, Planning and Zoning Manager. Others Present: George Cross, Kirsten Wilson, Laura Wade, Zahra Mohamed, Meredith Bay-Tyback, Seth Leonard, Britta ton, Leann. II. Agenda Review – None The Mayor said Council was made aware there was a glitch with our website on Friday that was not displaying all the agenda items. I wanted to make that known publically. We did send out a corrected agenda update on Saturday. III. Public Comment Ms. Zigmund said back in early August she came to the Council requesting that the bike lanes be painted and she was told that it would be done by the end of the month. She said the bike lanes are still not painted. She is recommending that it be done every spring. Mr. Rauscher said he tried to get the contractor back here to do that but we are having trouble getting roadside paint. He also said they are proposing in this year’s budget to hire a contractor to do the stripping. IV. Consent Agenda MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Duncan to approve the consent agenda as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. V. Council Reports Councilor Oakleaf - said the Infrastructure Committee met on September 30 and we are anticipating joining the Finance Commission and the Safe Healthy Connected People Commission on November 9 to talk about priorities for the coming fiscal year as well. Potentially some discussion on ARPA Projects priorities. Councilor Myers – said he met with the Downtown Winooski Board. They discussed the Farmer’s Market being a huge success this year even though a smaller turn out. They are also hopeful to retain the Farmer’s Market Manger next year. Other topics were the Holiday Pop-Up which will happen on Thursday, December 2, from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. Location to be determined. He said the Board is not accepting new members at this time, but they did have volunteers who are interested in joining the board. They also discussed that there will be a fixed fence around Rotary Park soon. I want to thank everyone who was involved in the Pumpkin display this weekend. Councilor Duncan – said the Housing Committee met last Monday and we talked about Housing quality and life safety issues. Housing also approved a memo to the Planning Commission to identify potential zoning upgrades. This could support housing goals. We also discussed funding sources for the Housing Trust Fund. The tree committee met to make species recommendations for replacing the Ash trees in our public right of way. Winooski School District multi-stakeholder group on the SRO met last week to review data. Mayor Lott – she said the Board of Civil Authority met last week. The Board of Civil Authority manages our elections and we were invited to provide input to legislature. The committee is looking at re-apportionment for representatives and senate districts in the State of Vermont based on new census data. The legislative committee is recommending a single two-member district that would include only Winooski. We previously had a little section of Burlington and a two separate representatives east west setup. Right now, we have two that are at large for the whole city. The Board of Civil Authority had a discussion wanting to give feedback on how to support the area but not to move to having two separate representatives. The Planning Commission met last week starting with the new section of Form Base Code. We are reviewing our zoning regulations for the gateway district. One section they did dive into was the historic preservation protection. We received a response from the VT Air National Guard. Their leadership was here back in September. There were a lot of community questions raised that they were unable to address during the meeting. The questions and answers are now posted on our website. She also said the airport launched public access to a portal to access data from the noise monitor that is located at City Hall and So Burlington. VI. City Updates Interim City Manager Wendy Harrison updated the Council on the following: - To the follow up on the portal, staff is also trying to find ways to make it easier for the public to understand. - Dept. of Public Works is initiating the annual re-surfacing of the roads and it hopefully shouldbe a two-week period to complete them all. If your road is going to be resurfaced, you should have received a door hanger. - The roads are: Hood St. between E. Spring St & Bellevue St. Russell St. between Lafountain St and Bellevue St. Hawthorne St, High St and Whitney St. The resurfacing is going to happen between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday thru Friday. There will be no Street parking allowed during resurfacing. - Heather Carrington and Yasamin Gordon participated in a Building Homes together focus group – Helped set goals for housing construction and affordable units for the next 5 years. Preliminary targets being discussed and these are targets for the county as a whole. 5000 new homes with 1250 permantly affordable. - Winter is coming the parking ban will go into effect at the end of this month. It is on the City’s website; sign up through nixle, signage throughout the city and Front Porch Forum. Overnight street parking is prohibited in downtown Winooski from 2:30 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. December through March for the rest of the City, winter parking bans are case-by-case weather dependent basis. Residents need to be alert to when parking ban does apply to your area. Councilor Oakleaf asked if there would be any additional outreach to Winooski Falls residents. Mr. Sarne said we send it to the different apartment buildings. He also said he is going to be sending out a general announcement later this week. Ms. Aldieri said that Code Enforcement leaves warnings on cars giving them a two-week warning. VII. Regular Items a. Introduction: New and Recently Promoted Community Services Staff – R Coffey Mr. Coffey said the Community Services Dept. has seen a number of new hires and promotions in recent months and we would like to take the opportunity to introduce the new/newly promoted team members to City Council and the Mayor • Jenny Hill was promoted to Recreation and Parks Manager • Claudine Nkurinziza was promoted to the Thrive Site Director • Francine Bahati was promoted to Youth Interventionist • Rabin Dahal was promoted to Recreation Assistant • Leah Dollar and Jamie Chambers joined our team as Thrive Assistants • Kirsten Wilson joined our team as Children’s Engagement Specialist with the Winooski Memorial Library • Eliza MacLean joined our team as VYDC AmeriCorps STATE Youth Programs Coordinator • Miruna Muresan joined our team as VYDC AmeriCorps STATE Youth Programs Coordinator • Zahra Mohamed joined our team as the Community Services Department Admin and Outreach Coordinator Mr. Coffey also provided an Organizational Chart. b. Approval: Proclamation Establishing November 27th as Small Business Saturday in Winooski - Downtown Winooski request (Meredith Bay-Tyback and Board Members) – H Carrington Ms. Carrington said the City of Winooski has been invited to participate again this year in demonstrating our commitment to our small, local businesses by establishing November 27, 2021 as Small Business Saturday. Small Business Saturday draws national attention to the important role that small businesses play in boosting our economy, creating jobs, and maintaining our neighborhood character. Ms. Tyback-Bay said this is a campaign that is in collaboration with the Women Impacting Public Policy Group at American Express. They provide materials and different ideas for Small businesses and organizations like ours. MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Oakleaf to approve the Proclamation establishing November 27th as Small Business Saturday in Winooski as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. c. Discussion/Approval: Downtown Winooski Local Option Tax request (Meredith Bay-Tyback and Board Members) - H Carrington Ms. Carrington gave an overview of the Downtown Winooski Local Option Tax request. Downtown Winooski is requesting a 5% to 7% of Local Option Tax revenue on an annual basis. Downtown Winooski’s 2020 actual expenditures were $72,595 and the projection for 2121 is roughly $88,000 (calendar year) The City’s Local Option Tax revenue for the year ending 6/30/21 was $453,644.95. In the current year budget, we conservatively projected receiving $385,000. A 5% allocation of this years projected tax revenue would equal roughly $19,250, while a 7% allocation would equal $26,950 Ms. Bay-Tyack said Downtown Winooski provides services to events management, business support business attraction and business retention, marketing and promotion and place making. In addition to these direct contribution to Winooski Community Development efforts, Downtown Winooski works with the City and state of Vermont to maintain Winooski’ formal community development designations that ensure the community is eligible and has priority for critical state and federal funding. Mayor Lott stated she does not feel prepared to make a decision on this item. There was lengthy discussion concerning the request. The Mayor and Council would like to know what business are contributing, online sales, residents paying sales tax. We are asking for follow-up in detail and expense plan. Mayor Lott also noted that when the voters approved the Local Options Tax that that money was to be allocated to Capital Improvement Projects in the City. Mayor Lott asked if Ms. Aldieri could pull together the historic funding that we have supplied. Ms. Aldieri said she has pulled that together and we can include it in the packet next time. d. Discussion/Approval: Historic Roadside Marker Approval Request – 10 Manseau St (Parc Terrace) (Britta Tonn) – J Rauscher Mr. Rauscher said we received a request for a historic marker in the vicinity of 10 Manseau St the new Parc Terrace development. We worked with Ms. Tonn on a location. As part of the historic review process, the Council needs to review the process. I have included the documentation that Ms. Tonn provided with the text and current location. Ms. Tonn said there is an application that needs to be filled out and the narrative created can only be 767 characters, which is challenging to squeeze a lot of information into that small marker. The text talks about the neighborhood and captures many things. This is part of the mitigation for the loss of the historic building that was located at 223 E Allen St. where Parc Terrace is located now. She said this text would be presented to the Division of Historic Preservation for their review. They typically have many edits because they like to put their mark on it. What we are looking at right now is the first draft, this could change a bit and might change the structure. For the application, we need to review this and it approved so I can send it on. At some point, I will bring it back to you to get final approval once it is gone through edits. Councilor Myers is concerned about the placement of the marker be there could be an issue with visibility. Mr. Rauscher said Ms. Ton has met with Mr. Shaw about the placement. MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Oakleaf to approve the text as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. The Mayor called for a four-minute recess and the meeting reconvened at 7:30 p.m. e. Approval: Vermont Urban & Community Forestry “2022 Growing Urban Forests in the Face of Emerald Ash Borer” Grant Application – R Coffey Mr. Coffey said the City, with support from the Winooski Tree committee and the Centennial Celebration Committee, has applied for grant support from the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry “2022 Growing Urban Forests in the Face of Emerald Ash Borer” Grant to support the removal and replacement of 8 Ash trees along Winooski Falls Way and Cascade Way, as well as to support the planting of a Centennial Tree at Richards Park to commemorate the City’s 100th birthday. He also said the grant applications for this program were due on October 29, 2021, so staff are seeking permission to accept these funds should the City be awarded the grant. MOTON by Councilor Oakleaf seconded by Councilor Duncan to authorize staff to accept funds from the 2022 Growing Urban Forests in the Face of Emerald Ash Borer Grant Program in an amount up to $5,000 to support the planting of a Centennial Tree at Richards Park, and the replacement of up to 8 street trees along Winooski Falls Way as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. f. Discussion/Approval: City Manager Search Firm Recommendation – P Townsend Ms. Townsend gave an overview of the City Manager search firm recommendation. See attached recommendations. Mayor Lott asked the Council their pros/cons of different options. She askedif anybody had a strong opinion about first choice. Mayor Lott Alliance- priciest, modern and traditional, shortest potential timeline. Recruitment of non-job seekers. California based and appeared to have done all their placements in that region. Not as experienced with our area. POLIHIRE – less detailed about their process and record of placement, speaking to be boutique size, strong focus on DEI and black and indigenous folks. GOVHR – middle price, traditional, a lot of placement and a number in the Northeast. Limited scope option that did not include background check or question development for things that we may not need because we already did part of this work. MRI – VLCT recommended traditional approach, they were lower cost, they focused on understanding the Community, and place and creating the job profile help the candidates. Did not have any focus on equity or minority. Councilor Duncan Alliance – Wishing they had experience in the Northeast and being the priciest. GOVHR – Standard approach POLIHIRE - experience of the people who would be on the project team and having serve both as administration member but also have before and after recruitment. In terms of cost and getting a customize approach for an additional $1500.00 I think it is intriguing to consider. Councilor Myers Alliance - did not care for them because they are West Coast ties, they did not show any work in New England The two he liked were GOVHR and MRI. The MRI, I read through and part of it was the less expensive out of the four. If we are talking about having to reimburse candidates flying here, driving here this is going to get very costly. MRI - Everything that Winooski’s Community is they are going to seek out the Council and City and referred to by the VLCT. It is what is before Winooski MRI – First GOVHR – Second Councilor Oakleaf Alliance - strong proposal and her concerns are about being a California firm without any examples about New England placement. GOVHR – showed a lot of strength with placement nationally. Small communities as well as large. POLIHIRE – felt like I was left with a lot of question as to what their approach and plan would be. MRI – their timeline seems to be what we are looking for. I do not think Alliance is on the table for me. I rank GOVHR, POLIHIRE, and MRI Mayor Lott said she is hearing if this was like ranked choices, that we might be leading toward GOVHR, one of the top two for most of us. It might be worth discussing how we feel about potential in person interviews and is that something we want to consider. We should discuss how we should engage with in person interviews and is that something we want to consider. Mayor Lott said she did not think it was necessary at the initial stage of interview especially two years into a pandemic. The first could be virtual and then the finalist in person. Interim Manager Wendy Harrison said this is an important decision and I do not want you to feel hurried by this. She said there is a possibility to interview the firms. It is important that you feel good about the firm that you are choosing. This process should involve a lot of trust and openness and discovery in part of the City. Mayor Lott said what if we interview POLIHIRE and GOVHR. Phoebe and I can do that and we can take question from councilors. She also said she would coordinate with staff o recruiting for interviews and with a target of having an update for next meeting. g. Discussion/Approval: Position Description: Human Resources Director – P Townsend Ms. Townsend said the City’s Charter Changes, passed in June 2021, include the City Manager’s right to appoint a Human Resources Director along with other City Officers. (24App.V.S.A. Ch. 19, §506). In addition, the charter changes repealed item (b) in section §19-603: “Personnel system designating the City manager as the Personnel Director.” With these changes, we respectfully ask that the Council approve the updated position description for the Human Resources Director. Position Title – Human Resources Director Purpose – Under general supervision, the Human Resources Director ensures that human resource programs support the long-term goals of the City of Winooski. This position performs professional work of considerable difficulty overseeing a range of functions related to human resource management, employee development and benefits administration. This position also contributes to the Leadership Team by providing guidance, training, and support related to employee relations and advising the City Manager on employment related issues. The Human Resources Director is responsible for executing department specific procedures, policies and operations. Funding Source – General Fund 100% MOTION by Councilor Oakleaf seconded by Councilor Duncan to approve the position description as presented. Voted and passed 3-0. h. Discussion: Financial Assistance Policies – A Aldieri Grants Policy Ms. Aldieri said these are the last three of the financial policies that are going to be brought to Council. We are calling this our Financial Assistance Section of our Policy manual. Ms. Aldieri presented the grants policy, is very much the same as the policy that exist today with one change, and is increasing the threshold for grants that need to come to Council. Previously that amount was $2500.00, there were some comments given during our strategies and priorities session, and that the dollar amount is a little low. We were having a lot of lower dollar amounts come to Council and Council did not feel they needed to be brought to them. We increased that to the same level of our fixed asset limit. Therefore, it is $5000.00 and that the only change to that policy other clarifying language. The Mayor said the Finance Commission reviewed this and there was no discussion. Scholarship Policy Ms. Aldieri said this policy has changed dramatically from the last time council saw it. The previous version of this policy was focused on the Community Services Dept. I have broaden the scope of this policy so that it can be applied to any area of the City were we could potentially create a scholarship program. The Community Service Scholarship procedure are already in existence. Council approved them and they outlined everything previously included in this policy around theCommunity Services Scholarship. This actual policy was discussed with the Finance Commission and Safe Healthy Connected People Commission as well. The Mayor said there was some healthy discussion about the ability to expand the scholarships. Fundraising Policy Ms. Aldieri said this an entirely new policy to the City. This policy is intended to provide guidance surrounding what types of fundraising can be done by the City and to provide guidance to third party groups that want to fundraise on behalf of the City. It requires any fundraising to come to the Council for approval so we can add legitimacy tothe fundraising efforts that are being done by third parties to prevent potential fraud being executed in the City’s name. It will also give guidelines about what types of contribution we will accept so there is no undue influence from donations. We can decline any contributions that we feel violates City values under this policy. The Council also reviewed this. Councilor Myers concerns were would this be under the current ongoing fundraising for example the Kenneth R. Myers Pool. Ms. Aldieri said that it is so that the City is aware of fundraising efforts that are going on in the name of the City so that we know what funding is going to be coming and so that we can plan the use of that funding in the future. Councilor Duncan said the goals of this are worthwhile. I think it is going to be good in many ways. I do see it creating a whole round of approvals and reducing flexibility in a small community. How do we deal with short-term request, Ms. Aldieri said this was intended for targeted solicitation donations so something like a bake sale can be made as a donation, unsolicited to the City because that is a voluntary basis where you are acquiring exchange for your money. This is more of calling up a business and saying we would like you to sponsor something. We want to make sure that anybody who is doing that, naming the City as beneficiary that the City is aware that is going on, and those we have authorized that type of outreach. She also said there is an allowance in the policy for unsolicited donations up to 5000.00 and these do not have to go to Council. Councilor Duncan said he would like to have something similar to grants in orderto have the ability to provide administrative approval with a potential to post-hoc discussion of Council. Ms. Aldieri said we have very little fundraising done on behalf of the City right now. Councilor Oakleaf asked if there are any are municipalities in Vermont that have similar policies in place. Ms. Aldieri said there was none but was able to take in from mostly from New York and colleges. Mayor Lott was curious if the $5000.00 is too low of a threshold. Ms. Aldieri said the only donation that we received over $5000 is the Myers pool donation. Mayor Lott also said this feels like two different scenarios of unsolicited versus solicited. Ms. Aldieri said this policy started out as guidance for staff fundraising, but at the Commission level they were the ones that expanded it and it should be all fundraising. Ms. Aldieri said she could revise this policy by having it governed by staff, this is something we should control through policy and staff solicitations and then cover reporting to Council of any donations that are received from outside entity that have done fundraising on behalf of the City. Mayor Lott said she would be on board with that. Ms. Aldieri said we could put it in the fundraising policy that we do reserve the right to decline donation where we feel the values are not in line with those of the City. Remove that hurdle to have to come to Council in order to do fundraising; we do not want to discourage kids who want to get involved. Councilor Oakleaf to encourage fundraiser/donor to come to Council acknowledge their gift to the City. Mayor Lott said we will bring this back as a draft to the next meeting and that the Scholarship and Grant Policy can go under the consent agenda. MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Duncan to adjourn the City Council meeting at 8:35 p.m. Voted and passed 3-0. ATTEST__________________________ City Clerk