City Council

City of Winooski 27 West Allen Street Winooski Vermont 05404 Vermont’s Opportunity City 802 655 6410 winooskivt.gov Winooski City Council Meeting Monday, January 9, 2022, at 6 PM Attend online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84364849328 Attend by phone: 1 646 558 8656 Webinar ID: 843 6484 9328 Attend in person: Winooski City Hall (27 West Allen Street) I. Call to Order II. Agenda Review III. Public Comment IV. Consent Agenda a. Approval: Accounts Payable Warrant 1.4.23 b. Approval: Subsequent to Payout Warrant October & November 2022 V. Council Reports VI. City Updates VII. Regular Items a. Discussion/Approval: Town Meeting TV Trustee Appointment – P Sarne, Communications Director/Mayor K Lott b. Discussion: Exit 16 Diverging Diamond Interchange Presentation-J Rauscher, Director of Public Works/ Mike LaCroix, Vermont Agency of Transportation c. Discussion: Strategic Vision Area Goal Update-Municipal Infrastructure-J Rauscher, Director of Public Works d. Discussion/Approval: Brownfields Revitalization Grant Application-J Rauscher, Director of Public Works e. Discussion: FY24 Budget Presentation-Public Safety-J Audy, Fire Chief/R Hebert, Chief of Police/Lt. J Charkalis f. Discussion: American Rescue Plan Act Community Survey Results-P Sarne, Communications Director/E Wang, City Manager VIII. Adjourn  Minutes The Mayor called the meeting to order at 6:02 pm. Members Present: Mayor Lott Deputy Mayor Duncan Councilors: Bryn Oakleaf, Thomas Renner, and Aurora Hurd Officer’s Present: Elaine Wang, City Manager; Paul Sarne, Communications Director; Angela Aldieri, Finance Director; John Audy, Fire Chief; Bruce Palmer, Fire Marshall; John Spittle, Battalion Chief; Rick Hebert, Police Chief; Lt. James Charkalis; Jon Rauscher, Public Works Director; Eric Vorwald, Planning/Zoning Manager; Jenny Willingham, City Clerk; Ray Coffey, Community Services Director; Angel Lane, Assistant City Clerk Other’s Present: Chris Lavlette, Ryan Brigante, Michael LaCroix, Annabelle Dally, Matthew Smith, Marielle Matthews, Jess Wingall, Felipe, Town Meeting TV II. Agenda Review - None III. Public Comment - None IV. Consent Agenda a. Approval: Accounts Payable Warrant 1.4.23 b. Approval: Subsequent to Payout Warrant October & November 2022 MOTION: by Councilor Renner second by Councilor Oakleaf to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. V. Councilor Reports Councilor Renner – None Councilor Duncan – None Mayor Lott – The State Legislature has seated committee chairs, so Mayor Lott was able to present the City’s Legislative Priorities. Mayor Lott also met with Marielle Matthews from Winooski Partnership for Prevention. A meeting with two Winooski high school teachers took place to discuss student collaboration. Councilor Oakleaf – Shared that the next Municipal Infrastructure Commission meeting will be held next Thursday 1/19 at the Pool’s community room. Councilor Oakleaf invited all interested residents to attend. There will not be a hybrid option for this meeting. Councilor Hurd – Councilor Hurd shared the next Safe, Healthy, Connected People Commission will not meet until 2/23. On 1/12 at 6 pm there will be a special meeting of the Inclusion & Belonging Commission via Zoom. VI. City Updates – City Manager E Wang shared the following items with the Council. As you know, we’re continuing the Fiscal Year 2024 budget meetings tonight! Community members are encouraged to get engaged in the process. The public safety budgets will be presented later tonight. Next Monday, January 17, Council will discuss any changes. January 23 they will vote on the budget Winooski voters will vote on for March 7, 2023. If you would like to share your input, please do so by January 23. You may contact staff at 802 655 6410 / budget@winooskivt.gov. City Councilors may be reached by email, first initial, last name, @winooskivt.gov. You can find their contact information on the city council page of the website. Paul, please drop all the contact info in the chat. If you need COVID-19 Test kits, they are available for free at City Hall, the library, and the Senior Center during regular hours. If you are interested in running for local office on Town Meeting Day, note the deadline to file paperwork is 5pm on Monday January 30. There are two City Council seats up for election and 3 School District seats up for election. The two City Council seats are for 2 year terms, The School District seats are the Treasurer for a 3 year term, and two School District Trustee seats, one for a 3 year term and the other for a 2 year term. To appear on the ballot, you must be a Winooski resident and file a Consent of Candidate form, and a petition with a minimum of 30 signatures, to the City Clerk’s Office, again by 5pm January 30. If you have any questions about this, contact the City Clerk’s Office at 655-6410, clerk@winooskivt.gov, or come into City Hall at 27 W Allen St. VII. Regular Items a. Discussion/Approval: Town Meeting TV Trustee Appointment – P Sarne, Communications Director/Mayor K Lott Matthew Smith, a Winooski resident, expressed enthusiastic interest in representing Winooski as a Town Meeting TV trustee. Following the interview of Mr. Smith, Mayor Lott shared Mr. Smith’s commitment to the public process and his resident engagement as well as his experience in public media make him an excellent candidate for this position. Mr. Smith took a moment to introduce himself and expressed his excitement for this new role. MOTION: by Councilor Duncan second by Councilor Oakleaf to approve the Town Meeting TV Trustee appointment of Matthew Smith as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. b. Discussion: Exit 16 Diverging Diamond Interchange Presentation-J Rauscher, Director of Public Works/ Mike LaCroix, Vermont Agency of Transportation Michael LaCroix of VTRANS presented the update of the 1-89 Exit 16 Diverging Diamond Interchange Project. The presentation was a PowerPoint which is included in this packet. Following the presentation there was a time for Q&A. A few of the concerns brought forth by Council are lighting of the area especially under the bridges, pedestrian and bike walkways and stripping concerns. These were addressed by Mr. LaCroix. Council thank the VTRANs team for the update. c. Discussion: Strategic Vision Area Goal Update-Municipal Infrastructure-J Rauscher, Director of Public Works Jon Rauscher, Director of Public Works presented the second goal update for the municipal infrastructure. After review of the memo, there was some discussion. d. Discussion/Approval: Brownfields Revitalization Grant Application-J Rauscher, Director of Public Works Jon Rauscher presented this grant application. Mr. Rauscher is seeking approval to authorize acceptance of a revised Brownfields grant to support the necessary remediation work associated with the Lot 7D development project. There are no additional costs above our existing development agreement. Some discussion ensued. MOTION: by Councilor Oakleaf second by Councilor Renner to approve the Brownfields Revitalization Grant Application as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. e. Discussion: FY24 Budget Presentation-Public Safety-J Audy, Fire Chief/R Hebert, Chief of Police/Lt. J Charkalis John Audy, Fire Chief, Bruce Palmer, Fire Marshall and John Spittle, Battalion Chief were present to share the PowerPoint FY24 Budget presentation for Public Safety specifically the Fire Department. Chief Audy worked through the presentation, which is available in this packet, stopping to address any questions as they came up. There was some discussion. The Council thanked Chief Audy for his presentation and time. Police Chief R Hebert and Lt. J Charkalis shared the presentation for the Police Department. This PowerPoint presentation is also included in this packet. There was much discussion and many questions. Chief Hebert spent much time addressing the concerns expressed. The Council again thanked the Police Department for this presentation and their service. The Mayor called for a 5-minute recess at 08:22 pm. The meeting reconvened at 08:29 pm Following the two presentations, Councilor Hurd expressed a desire to have staff present a 5% budget to include the retention of the Equity Director, Youth interventionist and new DEI outreach positions. Councilor Hurd stated making whatever cuts that could make this possible. Councilor Hurd suggested the City pulling out of the Regional Dispatch and to cut the Dispatch Admin position to keep the Equity Director, Youth Interventionist and DEI outreach positions this next year. Mayor Lott reminded Councilor Hurd that the voters had requested regional dispatch and we could not walk away from this plan. Mayor Lott requested from staff a list of all the future needs for the next 5-10 years. Mayor Lott mentioned the water mains that will need replacing as an example. MOTION: by Councilor Renner second by Councilor Duncan to request staff prepare a list of future needs for Council to review at the next meeting. Voted and passed 4-0. f. Discussion: American Rescue Plan Act Community Survey Results-P Sarne, Communications Director/E Wang, City Manager Paul Sarne, Communications Director shared the results of the survey. Some discussion ensued. The general conclusion was that the results were not at all surprising. Manager Wang shared how the questions fit the City’s vision goals. Manager Wang also thanked Paul Sarne for his efforts in mastery of a new skill set. VIII. Adjourn MOTION: by Councilor Duncan second by Councilor Renner to adjourn the City Council Meeting at 10:30 pm. Voted and passed 4-0. ATTEST:_____________________________________________________ Angel Lane, Assistant City Clerk