City Council

Winooski City Council Remote and In-Person Meeting Monday, January 10, 2022 at 6 PM Attend online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84364849328 Attend by phone: 1 646 558 8656 Attend in person: Winooski City Hall (27 West Allen St - masks & 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 1/3/2022 b. Approval: Accounts Payable Warrant as of 1/6/2022 VI. Council Reports VII. City Updates VIII. Regular Items a. Discussion: Green Mountain Transit Budget Presentation – J Moore b. Discussion: Public Safety Budget Presentation – Chief Audy, Chief Hebert. c. Discussion: Fire Truck Bond Resolution – A Aldieri d. Discussion/Approval: Review and Extension of Mask Mandate Resolution – W Harrison e. Approval: Interim Manager Agreement Renewal – A Aldieri, P Townsend IX. Adjourn MINUTES The Mayor called the meeting to order at 6:01 pm. Deputy Mayor Colston led the Pledge of Allegiance. Members Present: Mayor Kristine Lott Councilors: Hal Colston, James Duncan, Michael Myers, Bryn Oakleaf Officers Present: Wendy Harrison, Interim City Manager; Angela Aldieri, Finance Director; Heather Carrington, Community and Economic Development Officer ; Paul Sarne, Communications Manager; Eric Vorwald, Planning & Zoning Manager; John Audy, Fire Chief; Rick Hebert, Police Chief; Jon Rauscher, Public Works Director; Phoebe Townsend, Human Resources Director; James Charkalis, Police Lieutenant; Brian Palmer, Fire Marshall; Jenny Willingham, City Clerk Others Present: Town Meeting TV, Michael Arnold III. Agenda Review- None IV. Public Comment- None V. Consent Agenda a. Approval: City Council Minutes of 1/3/2022 b. Approval: Accounts Payable Warrant as of 1/6/2022 MOTION by Councilor Colston and seconded by Councilor Duncan to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. VI. Council Reports Councilor Duncan - None Councilor Oakleaf- She announced the Municipal Infrastructure Commission will be losing 2 Members and a campaign has begun to recruit interested candidates. They are looking to return to a regular Schedule of the 3rd Thursday of each month. Councilor Colston- None Councilor Myers- Announced he will not seek re-election. He stated it was a honor to serve the community of Winooski and a community he holds dear to his heart. Mayor Lott- Announced 2 remaining openings for City Council VII. City Updates Interim City Manager Harrison gave the following update: • Provided an election overview process to date. All Resident Voter Registration Form is available on our web-site. Everyone registering for the 1st time can visit the Clerk’s Office or On March 1, 2022 at the polling location. A pamphlet is in the process of being drafted along with an election timeline. • Senior Center has been distributing meals on Wednesday. Previously, the number of meals was an average of 110 but the number of meals distributed most recently was 126 meals.  • Currently, the Senior Center is offering limited programs and distributing masks with the meals. The AARP annual tax assistance program will begin in February and end on April 15th. Last year between 500-600 people benefited from this program. VIII. Regular items a. Discussion: Green Mountain Transit Budget Presentation- J Moore Mayor Lott introduced Jon Moore, General Manager of GMT along with Austin Davis, representative from Winooski, and Jon Moore shared an overview of the FY’23 assessment for the 8 municipalities served by GM. The assessment for Winooski is $237,000. He provided an overview of the information for the calculation of the increase. Board packets contained documents relating to the Assessment. The vast amount of the increase was created by the ADA, a Federally-mandated program to provide transportation services for people who cannot ride the traditional Fixed-rate route service for a variety of reasons. The increase for the ADA was 32% ($29,000) was based on usage. Mr. Moore provided potential other sources of revenue that would have positive impact on the ADA program. A few of these mentioned sources would be a central call center to manage ADA & GMT. This option is being explored by the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission. In addition, the Board has potentially identified cost savings measures such as smaller lower-cost public vehicles as well as exploring statewide transit funding. Currently, GMT is identifying additional savings to prevent such a large increase in the future. There is a downward trend in ridership due to in part to the pandemic, scheduled changes along with the lost cost of fuel prices. Mayor Lott expressed the willingness to participate in conversations about different funding structures at local and state level. He also discussed a pilot program of “Microtransit,” an UBER like service that has the ability to combine trips with 1 vehicle. The convenience of this model has a high potential to increase ridership particularly with ADA & SSTA riders. GMT is continuing to explore additional funding sources so as prevent such a large increase in the future. b. Discussion: Public Safety Budget Presentation- Chief Hebert & Chief Audy 1. Chief Hebert provided a Budget Presentation outline for the upcoming budget along with initiatives and training plans for the Police Department. Discussion ensued over the presentation. Lieutenant Charkalis presented statistics for the past year concerning the Police Department along with caretaking success stories within the community. 2. Chief Audy provided a Budget Presentation for the upcoming budget In his presentation were the proposed initiatives for his department. The staff was restructured with the addition of full-time Fire Marshall, Bruce Palmer. Discussion ensued over the budget along with staffing limitations. Chief Audy provided an overview of the need of a replacement Aerial Fire Truck. c. Discussion: Fire Truck Bond Resolution- A Aldieri If the City wants to use a bond to finance an aerial fire truck, the Resolution would need to be approved by the voters at the Annual Meeting. Discussion ensued over Financing options along with the timeline for delivery of the new aerial fire truck. d. Discussion/Approval: Review and Extension of Mask Mandate Resolution-W Harrison Interim City Manager Harrison reviewed the current mask mandate resolution and the need to Extend to February 19th. MOTION by Councilor Oakleaf seconded by Councilor Colston to approve the extension of the mask mandate to February 19th. Voted and passed 4-0 e. Approval: Interim Manager Agreement Renewal- A Aldieri & P Townsend P. Townsend provided a summary to extend the current agreement for the Interim Manager. MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Duncan to approve the Interim Manager Agreement as presented. Voted and passed 4-0 IX. Adjourn MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Oakleaf to adjourn at 9:30 pm. Voted and Passed 4-0 ATTEST: ___________________________ City Clerk