City Council

City of Winooski 27 West Allen Street Winooski Vermont 05404 Vermont’s Opportunity City 802 655 6410 winooskivt.gov Winooski City Council - Special Meeting Monday, March 31, 2025 at 6 PM Attend in person: Winooski City Hall (27 W Allen St) Attend online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84364849328 Attend by phone: 1 646 558 8656 Webinar ID: 843 6484 9328 Members Present: Mayor Kristine Lott; Deputy Mayor Thomas Renner; Councilor Aurora Hurd; Councilor Bryn Oakleaf and Councilor Charles Judge Officers Present: Elaine Wang, City Manager; Paul Sarne, Communications Director; Angela Aldieri, Finance Director; Ray Coffey, Community Services Director; Jenny Willingham, City Clerk and Adam Hoffnung- Warantz, Assistant City Clerk Others Present: George Bergin, Laura Wade, Melissa Corbin and Gwendolyn Heaghney I. Call to Order at 6:01 PM II. Agenda Review Minutes: None Motion: None III. Public Comment Minutes: None IV. Consent Agenda A. Approval: City Council and Liquor Control Board Meeting Minutes of March 17, 2025 B. Approval: Accounts Payable Warrant March 27, 2025 Minutes: None Motion: Motion by Councilor Hurd. Seconded by Councilor Judge to approve the Consent Agenda. Voted and passed 4-0. V. Council Reports Mayor Kristine Lott: None.  City of Winooski 27 West Allen Street Winooski Vermont 05404 Vermont’s Opportunity City 802 655 6410 winooskivt.gov Deputy Mayor Thomas Renner: SHCP Met and the next meeting will be April 8th. At the last meeting the commission discussed the Thrive Director coming on board, they have started remotely and have already begun summer planning. Registration for summer programs and pool passes is live! As a result of some the environmental findings at the O'Brien center, the new sale date as a result looks like July. The commission dedicated some time to discuss the groups they will host over the next few months, those groups will be, Winooski Partnership for Prevention, the Library Committee, and the West Allen Park design team. Councilor Aurora Hurd: None Councilor Bryn Oakleaf: None Councilor Charles Judge: The Joint Inclusionary Zoning Meeting included ways to incentivize developers to build larger units. The next Joint Meeting will be April 22 at 6:30 PM. VI. City Updates Elaine Wang, City Manager, provided the following updates: International Transgender Day of Visibility Today is the International Transgender Day of Visibility! Community members are encouraged to visit our website or various outreach channels to view the inspirational resolution unanimously passed by the Winooski City Council earlier this month. Main Street Construction teams are back on site and work is resuming! If you haven’t yet, please sign up for the weekly construction updates at winooskivt.gov/mainstreet. The update that went out on March 28 includes all of the important details about construction activities, parking restrictions, detours, and more. A new multilingual update with important project information is also available in 15 languages. Dog License Reminder Reminder: All dogs owned in the City of Winooski must be registered with the City Clerk on or before April 1 (tomorrow) of each year per State and City laws. To get started, stop by the City Clerk's Office at Winooski City Hall on 27 West Allen Street (Monday - Friday, 8 AM - 4 PM). Volunteer Youth Soccer Coaches Needed Winooski Recreation and Parks are currently looking for Coach and Assistant Coach volunteers to support the 2025 Vermont Patriots Soccer season. If you know someone who is interested, please visit winooskivt.gov/volunteer.  City of Winooski 27 West Allen Street Winooski Vermont 05404 Vermont’s Opportunity City 802 655 6410 winooskivt.gov VII. Regular Items A. Downtown Winooski Funding Request and Sustainability Plan - Elaine Wang, City Manager Minutes: Discussion ensued from Downtown Winooski Director Melissa Corbin and the Downtown Winooski Chair Laura Wade and Downtown Winooski Treasurer George Bergin regarding the proposed requests of $50,000. Downtown Winooski provided extensive reporting of their finances. It was discovered that the organization was expecting a deficit in the tens of thousands of dollars in 2025. They have been exploring ways to fill the gap. They came to the decision that it was not possible. One of the contributing factors was two sponsors that had withdrawn funding. Downtown Winooski provides much value to the community coordinating events, boosting businesses, acts as a liaison between businesses and the city and provides advice to businesses. They currently regained their non-profit status and their current financial plan is not feasible without long-term investments, otherwise we will lose events and benefits for Downtown Winooski. The Board has explored many options and tried to expand on business sponsorship and membership. The City is going to explore potential options for funding. Motion: None VIII. Adjourn Motion: A motion to adjourn was made by Councilor Oakleaf. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Renner to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 7:05 PM. Attest: ________________________________________ Adam Hoffnung-Warantz, Assistant City Clerk