City Council

Winooski City Council Meeting Monday, November 15, 2021 Attend online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88271350011 Attend by phone: 1 646 558 8656 Webinar ID: 882 7135 0011 Attend in-person: Winooski City Hall (27 West Allen Street, masks & 6' distancing required) 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. Pledge of Allegiance III. Agenda Review IV. Public Comment V. Consent Agenda a. Approval: Liquor Control and City Council Minutes of 11/01/2021 b. Approval: Accounts Payable Warrant as of 11/12/2021 and Payroll Warrant for period 10/17/21-10/30/21 c. Approval: Grants Policy and Scholarship Policy VI. Council Reports VII. City Updates VIII. Regular Items a. Discussion/Approval: Downtown Winooski Local Option Tax Request – H Carrington b. Discussion: Goal Update: Housing – H Carrington c. Discussion/Approval: All Resident Voting Implementation Update –C Barrett & Y Gordon d. Approval: Fundraising Policy – A Aldieri e. Approval: City Manager Search Firm Recommendation – Council Subcommittee IX. Executive Session a. Executive Session Pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (3) the appointment or employment or evaluation of a public officer or employee (City Manager Hiring Process Discussion) Executive Session if necessary b. Executive Session Pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (1) (F) confidential attorney-client communications made for the purpose of providing professional legal services to the body; c. Executive Session Pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (1) (a) contracts; Lot 9 X. Adjourn  MINUTES The Mayor called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Deputy Mayor Colston led the Pledge of Allegiance. Members Present: Mayor Kristine Lott Councilors: Michael Myers, Bryn Oakleaf, Hal Colston, James Duncan Officers Present: Wendy Harrison, Interim City Manager; Carol Barrett, City Clerk; Angela Aldieri, Finance Director; Heather Carrington, Community and Economic Development Officer; Yasamin Gordon, Equity Director; Ray Coffey, Community Services Director; Jon Rauscher, Public Works Director; Eric Vorwald, Planning & Zoning Manager; Phoebe Townsend, Human Resources Manager Others Present: Robert Millar, Housing Commission Chair; Laura Wade, Meredith Bay-Tyack, Seth Leonard, Elizabeth Wood, Steven Berbeco, Suzanne Blain III. Agenda Review – None IV. Public Comment – Elizabeth Wood is a teacher of 2nd and 3rd grade multi-lingual learners at JFK Elementary and she is an organizer with Winooski Mutual Aid. I work very closely with families outside the classroom and recognizing the systems of support that exist for them are not meeting their needs. They have sub-standard living and they are blamed for infestations. She is asking to please treat housing as a human right. The Mayor thanked her for bringing more detail to the discussion. V. Consent Agenda a. Approval: Liquor Control and City Council Minutes of 11/01/2021 MOTION by Councilor Oakleaf seconded by Councilor Myers to approve the Liquor Control and City Council Minutes of 11/01/2021 as presented. Voted and passed 3-0-1 Councilor Colston abstained. b. Approval: Accounts Payable Warrant as of 11/12/2021 and Payroll Warrant for period 10/17/21-10/30/21 MOTION by Councilor Duncan seconded by Councilor Oakleaf to approve the Accounts Payable Warrant as of 11/12/2021 and Payroll Warrant for period 10/17/21-10/30/21 as presented. Voted and passed 3-0-1 Councilor Colston abstained. c. Approval: Grants Policy and Scholarship Policy MOTION by Councilor Oakleaf seconded by Councilor Duncan to approve the Grants Policy and Scholarship Policy as presented. Voted and passed 3-0-1 Councilor Colston abstained. VI. Council Reports Councilor Myers – none Councilor Colston – said he attended the joint commission meeting between Safe Healthy Connected People Commission, Municipal Infrastructure Commission and the Finance Commission. This was a first time meeting to have an opportunity to review the capital plan. Councilor Duncan – completed participation in the Multi-Stake Holder Group with the school. He said the final report is forthcoming and will be in the Superintendent’s hands to move forward. Councilor Oakleaf – said the next infrastructure committee meeting will be in December and we are working on setting a date and time. We continue to hear from the community for the need of stripping. Mayor Lott – said in our October meeting we did an introduction to ARPA funding. After conversations with staff, we are going to pause on doing that outreach until town meeting day from now until then and let our staff and we focus on All Resident voting. Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission hosted an equity summit with folks from around the county and some of our staff were there as well. I also joined our Equity Director and Interim City Manager in meeting with a Grass Roots multi-lingual group along with community members. VII. City Updates The City Manager gave the following update: COVID is not slowing down and we continue to work remotely when possible and to require masks at City Hall. Taxes are due today—payments left in the drop box tonight are considered on time. If it is here before 7:30 or if you make an online payment before 7:30am tomorrow, that payment will be considered on time. Road resurfacing work at Hood, Russell and Hawthorne is complete as is the project on Weaver at the City Hall entrance. Centennial Update The Legacy Campaign is focusing on Winooski's people, places, and traditions. The Centennial Celebration Committee is planning a weeklong series of events beginning March 7th, 2022, which will include photo exhibits. One of the photo exhibits will feature 100 community members of Winooski - we had a photo session at the School District today, and another planned at the Senior Center later this week. Stop by our free and open to all photo session this Thursday, November 18th, from noon - 3 PM in Rotary Park to have your photo taken. To learn more about the Centennial Celebration, visit legacy.winooskivt.gov. Parking Meeting The Regional Planning Commission will host the 4th Advisory Committee meeting for the Parking Inventory, Analysis, and Management Plan on Wednesday, November 17th beginning at 6:00 pm. This meeting will include a discussion of the draft recommendations for inclusion in the plan before the final draft is prepared and forwarded to City Council. Information about the meeting, including the draft plan can be found on the project page hosted on the CCRPC’s website. Next City Clerk I am very happy to announce that Jenny Willingham has accepted the City Clerk position for the City of Winooski. Jenny brings 20 years of experience in Vermont Towns, most recently as the Assistant Town Clerk II for the Town of Essex, VT. She also held Assistant Town Clerk positions in the towns of Milton and Stowe. In addition to her extensive municipal experience, Jenny brings a passion for inclusive customer service and is excited to support Winooski’s All Resident Voting charter change. Jenny will start on December 6 so she and Carol will have time to work together and Carol can share as much of her 40 years of experience as is humanly possible. VIII. Regular Items a. Discussion/Approval: Downtown Winooski Local Option Tax Request – H Carrington Ms. Carrington gave an overview of the previous meeting and the City Council had requested further information from the organization. Ms. Bay-Tyack provided the Downtown Winooski plan for business membership, membership fee structure, full budget and list of funding sources besides City-based revenue and historical budgets. The attached MOU for next fiscal year expires June 30, 2022. City staff has also provided documentation as requested. See attached MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Colston to approve the Downtown Winooski Local Option Tax request as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. b. Discussion: Goal Update: Housing – H Carrington Ms. Carrington said this is the first update for this year. She would like to preface Elizabeth Woods’s concerns about housing. I want to be clear that what we are discussing here is strictly reporting on the priorities that were set for this year. There are much bigger housing discussion to be had. I agree with many things that Elizabeth mentioned and those are things that we are discussing at the Housing Commission. I invite you to attend the Housing commission meeting. Ms. Carrington presented the Council with a memo, which goes over the priorities for this year. • Identify potential funding streams for the Housing Trust Fund  • Evaluate effectiveness of Housing Trust Fund in addressing Master Plan housing goals, and identify areas for policy changes • Implement Champlain Housing Trust development agreement and support construction of Butternut Station • Update Public Building Registry Ordinance • Evaluate Housing quality in Winooski (defined as health and safety of housing) • Assist Housing commission policy work Lengthy discussion ensued concerning the housing quality, rental registry, housing trust fund. We are also waiting for our equity audit and the next steps to develop a focus group. Ms. Blaine owner of a few properties has concern about the process. She feels there is a disconnect between Planning Commission goals, City Council goals and the DRB. Ms. Carrington said we are in discussion with the Housing Commission and the Planning Commission for Great neighborhood. c. Discussion/Approval: All Resident voting Implementation Update – C Barrett & Y Gordon The City Clerk updated the Council on all-Resident voting. She said we have drafted a new version of the All Resident Voter application. Our Attorney is reviewing the application. She also contacted the Secretary of State’s Office to see where they had their ballots translated and have reached out to the company but has not received a response yet. Ms. Gordon said there were some revisions made to the outline. We are targeting locations to advertise the video that was made. Some of the locations would be the O’Brien Community Center, City Hall, and the School. Mr. Sarne said this is also on our website. Ms. Gordon also said that we would like to have the first page of the newsletter dedicated to the All Resident Voter. See attached outline. MOTION by Councilor Duncan seconded by Councilor Holston to approve the updated outline for All Resident Voting as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. The Mayor called a recess at 7:46 p.m. and meeting reconvened at 7:51 p.m. d. Approval: Fundraising Policy – A Aldieri Ms. Aldieri said based on Council discussion at the November 1st meeting the Fundraising Policy has been updated to only require Council authorization for fundraising efforts being led by City Staff. The recommendation that members of the public fundraising on behalf of the City contact staff has been added but it is not a requirement for acceptance of funds. Lastly, a public acknowledgement of large gifts at a City Council meeting has been added. MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Duncan to approve the Fundraising Policy as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. e. Approval: City Manager Search Firm Recommendation – Council Subcommittee The Mayor said at our last meeting we looked at four different search firm proposals brought forward by staff. We discussed them and came to a consensus on one GOVHR, and then decided to go ahead an interview the search firms. Councilor Duncan, Yasamin Gordon, Equity Director; Phoebe Townsend, Human Resource Manager; Wendy Harrison, Interim City Manager participated in those interviews. We met with MRI and they said they did not have the capacity, met with GOVHR, Alliance, PoliHire who withdrew from consideration. We also reached out to another firm that recently filled the Manager position in Brattleboro; however, they also did not have the capacity to the search at this time. We shared a memo from a previous meeting, which rather outlined the previous process. We shared that with them along with a set of questions to just guide a conversation. We have warned an Executive Session here to have a discussion to what we have learned and how those interviews went. MOTION by Councilor Duncan seconded by Councilor Myers to go into Executive Session at 7:55 p.m. Pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (3) the appointment or employment or evaluation of a public officer or employee (City Manager Hiring Process) as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. MOTION by Councilor Duncan seconded by Councilor Oakleaf to invite the Wendy Harrison, Interim City Manager, Yasamin Gordon, Equity Director and Phoebe Townsend, Human Resources Manager into Executive Session as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. The meeting reconvened at 8:00 p.m. MOTION by Councilor Duncan seconded by Councilor Colston to authorize staff to contract with GOVHR for our search firm and should that not work out to be able to contract with Alliance as a secondary option as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. IX. Executive Session a. Executive Session Pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (1) (3) the appointment or employment or evaluation of a public officer or employee (City Manager hiring Process Discussion) Executive Session if necessary b. Executive Session Pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (1) (F) confidential attorney-client communications made for the purpose of providing professional legal services to the body; MOTION by Councilor Colston seconded by Councilor Duncan to go into Executive Session at 8:10 p.m. pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (1) (F) confidential attorney-client communications made for the purpose of providing professional legal services to the body; as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. MOTION by Councilor Duncan seconded by Councilor Oakleaf to invite Wendy Harrison, Interim City Manager and Robert DiPalma, City Attorney into Executive Session as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. The meeting reconvened at 9:10 p.m. Our Attorney recommends the following Resolution: Resolved, that the Council hereby appoints Mayor Kristine Lott and Interim City Manager Wendy Harrison to serve as a Litigation Committee to provide guidance and direction to counsel on interim steps in the lawsuit brought against the City in connection with the All-Resident Voting Charter provision. The Committee is authorized to make decisions concerning the litigation and direct counsel in furtherance of those decisions, reserving to the full Council all major decisions concerning the litigation, including any decision to settle the litigation. Resolved, that the Council hereby ratifies and approves the filing of the motion to dismiss presently on file with the Court, and all steps taken thus far incident thereto. Resolved, that the Council hereby authorizes counsel to grant an extension of time, to January 7, 2022, for the plaintiffs to file a response to the City’s motion to dismiss. MOTION by Councilor Oakleaf seconded by Councilor Duncan to approve the three Resolutions as presented. Voted and passed 4-1. Councilor Myers voted no. c. Executive Session Pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (1) (a) contracts; Lot 9 MOTION by Councilor Oakleaf seconded by Councilor Duncan to go into Executive Session at 9:30 p.m. Pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (1) (a) contracts; Lot 9 as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. MOTION by Councilor Duncan seconded by Councilor Colston to invite Interim City Manager Wendy Harrison, Public Works Director Jon Rauscher; Eric Vorwald, Planning and Zoning Manager and City Attorney Robert DiPalma into Executive Session. Voted and passed 4-0. X. Adjourn MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Colston to adjourn City Council meeting at 9:48 p.m. Voted and passed 4-0. ATTEST: _______________________ City Clerk