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, April 21, 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; Councilor Charles Judge; Councilor Aurora Hurd; Councilor Bryn Oakleaf Officers Present: Elaine Wang, City Manager; Angela Aldieri, Finance Director; Paul Sarne, Communications Director; Ravi Venkataraman, Director of City Planning; Jenny Willingham, City Clerk; Adam Hoffnung- Warantz, Assistant City Clerk Others Present: Melissa Corbin, Executive Director, Downtown Winooski; Kim Hier; Jason Weinstein I. Call to Order at 6:01 PM II. Agenda Review III. Public Comment IV. Consent Agenda A. Approval: City Council and Liquor Control Board Meeting Minutes of April 7, 2025 B. Approval: Payroll Warrant March 30 - April 12, 2025 C. Approval: Accounts Payable Warrants April 9 and April 16, 2025 D. Approval: Frontline Workers Appreciation Month Proclamation E. Approval: Arbor Day Proclamation F. Approval: Downtown Winooski Payment Schedule through June 30, 2026 Motion: Motion to approve Consent Agenda by Councilor Judge and seconded by Councilor Hurd. Motion carried 3-0. V. Council Reports Mayor Kristine Lott: The Finance Commission did not have a quorum, so they were unable to meet. Their review of the Small Business Loan program will move to the next meeting May 13. The Planning Commission will meet with the Housing Commission tomorrow at 6 PM for a joint meeting with a presentation from the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission on Act 181 and Future Land Use Maps, which includes draft housing targets for Winooski. Councilor Aurora Hurd: Inclusion and Belonging Commission met twice last week. The first was a special meeting on Monday the 14th to discuss the City’s current Community Engagement Plan. This led to a discussion on how the I&B Commission may best help this, as well as assist with the City’s goals to bring people together to create better inclusion. The commission shared many thoughts and began a discussion on whether the I&B Commission should work with partners to run an event, specifically around inclusion.  City of Winooski 27 West Allen Street Winooski Vermont 05404 Vermont’s Opportunity City 802 655 6410 winooskivt.gov The regular I&B Commission meeting was on April 17th and began with wrapping up the discussion on the commission running an event. This was unanimously agreed, and a separate committee will be formed with commission members and other community stakeholders, such as the city, downtown Winooski, and the Working Communities Challenge core team. The commission also received an update and details about the Working Communities Challenge: What it means and what goals it is working on. Much of what was shared parallels what is included in the economic vitality update. This presentation and the discussion of the event took up much of the meeting, so all items were moved to the next Commission meeting, which will be on second Thursday of June, the 12th, to avoid conflict with Juneteenth events. Councilor Bryn Oakleaf: Chittenden Solid Waste District met on April 16 and the CSWD Board of Commissioners approved a $10 Solid Waste Management Fee increase to aid in covering costs for land acquisition for the new Material Recycling Facility. In addition, Green Up Day is Saturday, May 3. Councilor Oakleaf recommends that people should get their bags ahead of time at City Hall or meet at the Senior Center from 9 AM to 1 PM to gather your trash bags and share where you plan to focus your litter clean up efforts. The Municipal Infrastructure Commission met on April 17 and the agenda covered the marketing campaign “Temporary Routes Mosaic” to aide Main Street businesses as we move into a second construction season. Main Street Construction updates were reviewed for Commissioners. The Winooski Alliance for Active Transportation regarding East Spring Street’s temporary bike line project was also discussed but is currently stalled with the city; there are aspirations to continue discussions later next spring/summer. In addition, The Council’s FY26 strategies and priorities retreat is May 15. The Commissioners terms will end in June and the process to stay on was discussed. Finally, the next MIC meeting is May 14 at 6:30 PM in the Community Room at the Pool. Councilor Charles Judge: None. VI. City Updates Elaine Wang, City Manager, provided the following updates: O’Brien Community Center: As previously announced, the transfer of O’Brien Community Center to the Champlain Housing Trust is moving along. An exciting opportunity to renovate the building is underway, with a focus on expanding the library, health center, dental office, and community spaces. A short delay was caused by environmental cleanup, but work is going well - the renovation team is finalizing designs and planning a phased construction schedule. More fundraising is needed and underway, and we continue to monitor the ever-changing federal funding landscape. While the design of the building spaces and designs are complete, community members interested in getting engaged in the process can provide feedback about the aesthetic features of the library (such as furniture, art, etc.). As of last month, the plan is to start renovating the library in January. Residents and visitors interested in renting space at the O’Brien Center should call or email Arbai Muhina at the Champlain Housing Trust: Arbai.Muhina@champlainhousingtrust.org | 802 881 9599  City of Winooski 27 West Allen Street Winooski Vermont 05404 Vermont’s Opportunity City 802 655 6410 winooskivt.gov VII. Regular Items A. Discussion/Approval: Public Hearing for New Public Rights-of-Way (Roads) Consideration - Ravi Venkataraman, Director of City Planning Minutes: The Director of City Planning spoke about the project on Lot 7D (located along Abenaki Way on the property south of Vermont Community College), two new public rights-of-way are proposed. One is a new proposed public street between Lot 7D and Vermont Community College; and the other is an extension of Winooski Falls Way east of Abenaki way. He advised the council that a public hearing is needed to consider the rights of way. The City Council opened a public hearing at 6:15 PM and closed the public hearing at 6:16 PM. Motion: None B. Discussion/Approval: Commissioning of a Survey for New Public Rights-of-Way (Roads) - Ravi Venkataraman, Director of City Planning Minutes: With the approval of the New Public Rights-of-Way, the City Council must commission a survey of the proposed public rights-of-way. Within 60 days of the public hearing, the City Council will provide their order laying out the public street with a report of their findings and the survey to the City Clerk to record. Motion: Motion to approve the survey by Councilor Judge and seconded by Councilor Hurd. Motion carried 3-0. C. Discussion/Approval: New Roadway Names - Ravi Venkataraman, Director of City Planning Minutes: For the new public street between Lot 7D and Vermont Community College, the City Council must establish a road name. Under 19 V.S.A. §304(a)(17), City Council has the authority to name public roads. The project developers have recommended the name “Community Way” to give respect to the Community College of Vermont. In addition, the name “Winooski Falls Way” would also need to be approved by City Council for the extension of the road because this is a new public roadway. These road names have been cleared by the police and fire departments, ensuring that the name would not affect emergency response, pursuant to state E911 standards. E911 standards ensure that addresses, including road names, are findable by emergency responders. The road names can be considered and approved by resolution when Council approves the layout of the public rights-of-way. Both road names will be incorporated in the survey. Motion: Motion to approve by Councilor Judge and seconded by Councilor Oakleaf. Motion carried 3-0. D. Discussion/Approval: Whether to Pause on Accepting Winooski Small Business Loan Program Applications Minutes: The City Manager discussed the January 21, 2025, City Council meeting, where the Council voted to ask the Finance Commission to review the Small Business Loan program and bring recommendations to the City Council. The Commission has not completed its review. Since that time, staff have received two new inquires for small business loans. In the absence of a Community and Economic Development Officer, the City Manager provides the initial overview to potential applicants. After this overview, one applicant decided not to apply. The second applicant is scheduled for their overview this week.  City of Winooski 27 West Allen Street Winooski Vermont 05404 Vermont’s Opportunity City 802 655 6410 winooskivt.gov The current available balance is $43,270.45. With the current 3 open loans, we owe monthly payments of $1542.40. Not considering repayments, these current fees will deplete this balance in 28 months. Given that we have not identified any guaranteed sources to replenish the fund, it is recommended that Council not consider any more applications before Council has review a recommendation from the Finance Commission, which is anticipated to happen before more funding is identified. Motion: A motion to pause by Councilor Oakleaf and seconded by Councilor Hurd. Motion carried 3-0. E. Discussion: Strategic Vision Goal Updates - All, Economic Vitality Minutes: City Manager Elaine Wang updated City Council on the following Policy Priorities and Strategies updates: A-1: Continue integrating equity considerations into all aspects of staffing and operations, including revisiting scope of Equity Director role. Regarding the Equity Director role, Council adopted and voters approved the City Manager proposal to include in the FY26 budget a Winooski contribution of $25,000 to a shared Equity Policy Advisor that would be employed by the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC). The position would work with their Equity and Community Engagement Coordinator, and specialize in providing support, guidance, and best practices to contributing municipalities. One other municipality, Essex Junction, had this contribution adopted by their voters. The City Manager and CCRPC Executive Director agreed the next step would be to try to convene the original six municipalities to discuss options. If a good option to get the role established during FY26 is not agreed upon, the City Manager will discuss with the City Leadership Team how to spend the funds in a way that advances equity. A-2: Develop and implement inclusive community engagement plan for staff. No change from the September 3, 2024 report. A-3: Continue work on a Language Access process. The Communications Director has made significant progress on a draft Language Access Procedure to be used internally by City staff. The draft currently outlines: • How languages will be selected, based on annually updated data from the Winooski School District. Although this does leave out households without school-aged children, it is still the city’s most comprehensive source of evolving language and demographic data. • How “I Speak Cards” will be integrated into all municipal locations with open public hours. o Will require partnering with an on-demand interpretation service provider via smartphone (audio for spoken languages, video for ASL) – vendors and cost are under consideration o Also requires list of staff at each location to be trained on the process • Solutions for requesting interpretation and/or written translation for planned events or projects (lists our current solutions, including AALV, USCRI, Language Link, State Refugee Office (RISP Net), and Vermont Language Justice Project) • Current MOU with the Winooski School District Multilingual Liaisons and how to request their partnership  City of Winooski 27 West Allen Street Winooski Vermont 05404 Vermont’s Opportunity City 802 655 6410 winooskivt.gov • Current inventory of “Vital Documents” by department (department-identified lists of vital documents already being translated, and ones to budget for moving forward). This list is still being developed. o Includes definition of what a vital document is, the custom “threshold analysis” for language selection, and how to request translation of non-vital documents • Annual review schedule: a schedule outline will show who reviews the document and when, considering: the current list of languages spoken at the Winooski School District, and input per the capacity of the Winooski School District Multilingual Liaisons, the Inclusion and Belonging Commission, the Municipal Language Access Network, and the Vermont Language Justice Project • Department resources and referential notes – a section dedicated to special relationships, known community connections, existing multilingual-focused programs, and more. Progress in the next quarter will likely slow again due to recent staff turnover requiring the Communications Director to temporarily take on tasks that will eventually be transferred back, and other prioritized initiatives, especially the Main Street Revitalization business support campaign. A-4: Conduct staffing audit (including skills matrix) to assess current capacity After requesting proposals for a comprehensive audit and receiving no bids, staff selected a local firm, Acrisure, to provide project scoping services. Acrisure conducted a discovery meeting with the staff Leadership Team to identify processes and pain points. Based on that, Acrisure, the City Manager and Human Resources Director concluded that identifying some shorter term improvements would be a useful next step. A working group of Leadership Team members has agreed to meet. The HR Director has scoped initial work for the group. A meeting needs to be scheduled for a period when members have enough bandwidth. City Manager Wang presented updates in regard to Policy Priorities and Strategies: Economic Vitality - EV-1: Explore and advance ways to support businesses impacted by Main St construction. After extensive consultations with local stakeholders, potential funders, and other communities that have gone through similar challenges, we concluded the best support we can provide is a collective marketing campaign, which includes wayfinding in terms of what businesses are open and where to park for them. This is in part due to the lack of public funding that can go directly to businesses, and in part the hesitation of businesses to be the recipients of donations. Accordingly, the City applied for and received a $25,000 grant from the Vermont Community Foundation for a multi-media marketing campaign. Winooski-based firm LONDONmiddlebury was selected. The City, Downtown Winooski, and Winooski Working Communities Challenge meet with LONDONmiddlebury weekly to develop and implement plans. A business-only Open House was held on March 24, so that businesses could ask questions of the project team: the Public Works Director, City Engineer and Main Street Revitalization Project Manager, the City’s contracted Construction Inspector for the project, project contractor representatives, including the site supervisor and his supervisor, and the project’s Public Information Officer (from contractor WSP). Business support team members were also there to facilitate conversations, share draft plans for marketing and wayfinding, and get input and interest from businesses on those plans: the three project leads from LONDONmiddlebury, the City Communications Director, Downtown Winooski’s Executive Director and Board Chair, the Initiative Director from the Winooski Working Communities Challenge, and the City Manager. The  City of Winooski 27 West Allen Street Winooski Vermont 05404 Vermont’s Opportunity City 802 655 6410 winooskivt.gov latter group with the Public Information Officer conducted extensive outreach to ensure businesses knew about the opportunity. Of note, the Winooski WCC Initiative Director and City Manager spoke face-to-face with 31 of the estimated 45 Main St businesses to poll them on best times of day for, and preferred communication methods about, the event. Thirteen attended. As there has been some interest in loans if the terms were favorable, the City Manager has discussed with Opportunities Credit Union how to make use of the Winooski Small Business Loan Fund. However, City Council has concerns about that program generally and has asked the Finance Commission to review it. The Finance Commission received an overview at the last meeting they held, March 11, 2025. Quorum was not reached for the last scheduled meeting where they would have discussed it. Their next scheduled meeting is May 13, 2025. EV-2: Implement specific initiatives identified as part of the Working Communities Challenge Grant Objectives The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (“Boston Fed”) funds 6 Working Community Challenge Initiatives in Vermont. The goal of Winooski’s Working Communities Challenge (WCC) initiative is to build cross-sectoral collaborations to enhance economic opportunity by advancing equity, especially for our New American residents. City partner The Family Room hosts the Initiative Director, Ruth Steinmetz, for this initiative. Ruth facilitates a local Core Team of New Americans that directs the projects for the Winooski WCC. The focus areas for the Winooski WCC are housing, entrepreneurship support, youth support, and collective (statewide) voice, each of which has a working group comprised of Core Team and non-Core Team members. In the last quarter: • Ruth successfully made the case for the Winooski WCC to be among the initiatives to receive a portion of the remaining funds. The City will receive $180,000 between the original endpoint of the program of February 2025 and the new one of September 2026. • Youth support: Significant progress was made on a mentorship program at the Winooski School District, led by Patrice Lumumba in recruiting and training mentors of color from area higher education institutions. • Entrepreneurship support: o Ruth has been very active in supporting Main St businesses owned by people of color as part of the Main St business support team, as discussed above. o The Team has also identified a gap in support for New American business owners: insufficient support during various processes required when starting and maintaining a business. Ruth worked on a grant proposal with the Vermont Professionals of Color Network to M&T Bank Foundation to address this gap. The proposal was not awarded. • Collective voice: o With the Southern Vermont WCC and other partners, Winooski WCC advocated for a statewide Office of New Americans at the State Legislature. o With the Windham NAACP and other partners, Ruth has worked on accelerating accreditation of international professionals, with a current focus on international medical graduates. Through a survey they have identified and interviewed over 20 people in this situation and have been strategizing on testimony by some of them to the State Legislature.  City of Winooski 27 West Allen Street Winooski Vermont 05404 Vermont’s Opportunity City 802 655 6410 winooskivt.gov City Manager Elaine Wang updated on staff activities to promote equity: City Council’s Policy Priorities and Strategies for 2024-2025 (FY25) include the strategy: “Continue integrating equity considerations into all aspects of staffing and operations, including revisiting scope of Equity Director role.” This memo is part of the quarterly reporting on progress against all of the Policy Priorities and Strategies. The last update I provided at a City Council meeting on staff activities to promote equity was on December 2, 2024. Staff activities fit into the following equity areas: • Accessibility (built environment, financial opportunity, food, programs, communications) • Voice • Welcoming/Belonging • Miscellaneous • Awareness They range in permanence: • One-time – Unlikely to have permanent effects on its own: one-off training or events, or programs of limited duration. • Mid-range: Planning for infrastructure changes, practices that have not been required by a procedure or policy, but are ongoing and more or less consistently done. • Longer-lasting – infrastructure changes, procedures, policies, or programs with a budget. Examples since the last update in each category are listed below. This list includes ongoing activities that were included in previous updates. Some ongoing activities missed in previous updates are also listed but not underlined. Underlined items are new as of the last quarterly update. Accessibility • Continued to administer budget outreach input ‘vote with your $100’ activity with members of Council, at Winooski mosque, four Winooski Housing Authority facilities, at two Farmer’s Markets and Halloween in Winooski to expand resident input on the City budget. • Exit poll at town meeting day to determine where community is looking for information and ensure we are providing it where needed. • Documenting procedures around parking voids and late fee waivers for consistency and avoiding bias in how those decisions are made based on the customer or employee processing the transaction. • Initiating multilingual materials (15 languages) for water main breaks and boil water notices • City Manager serves on Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission Equity Advisory Committee to learn and build connections in the community. Often an opportunity to provide information about how local government works and connect people to other City staff. Also a learning opportunity; a member pointed out that stipends to community members to provide equity expertise had been $50 for many years, leading to.. • …Increased Working Community Challenge Core Team stipends to $75 per meeting. • Improving/adding sidewalks; current efforts include planning for Burlington-Winooski Bridge; construction on Main Street, and replacing sidewalk panels along streets with particularly bad conditions.  City of Winooski 27 West Allen Street Winooski Vermont 05404 Vermont’s Opportunity City 802 655 6410 winooskivt.gov • Improved access to recreation program registration by reserving half of the seats for paper registrations and in-person support for registering. • Scholarships are easy to apply for to access recreation programs (no documentation requirement; any registration prompts whether a scholarship is wanted). • Staff from the Winooski Memorial Library bring materials, programs, and library card registration opportunities to multiple places in the community. • Pay for interpretation and translation services for City events, including outreach and advisory events, and elections. • Host a free meal site for youth at the Myers Memorial Pool during the summer months. • Host free vegetable pick up site at Winooski Memorial Library, provided by the Intervale. • Visit with Winooski School District classes to support civics education and encourage election worker employment. • As a member of Municipal Language Access Network, participate in listserv and informational meetings to inform our language access efforts. • Maintain and make use of community representation and contact spreadsheet to better track and coordinate our engagement efforts. • With Council and community support, have dedicated line striping and more sidewalk funds budgeted since FY25. • Provide language and other access to construction information for Main St Revitalization project. • Take extra time when there is a barrier to accessing service or information, whether it be language, mental health status, or other. • Developed and continually amend Housing Trust Fund to increase supply of and access to affordable housing. • Implementing Council-adopted Short Term Rental Regulations to limit further erosion of long term rental availability. • Set hearing date for Inclusionary zoning ordinance and replacement regulations with Planning and Housing Commissions. Inclusionary zoning is where developments over a certain number of units are required to include affordable units. Replacement regulations retain multi-bedroom units. Voice • College student (and Winooski High School graduate)-initiated internship for community engagement, including review of public materials for accessibility (budget presentation, annual report), engaging businesses re youth summer employment opportunities, data-gathering initiative to understand barriers to Muslim girls starting or continuing sports. • Continuing to support Inclusion and Belonging Commission. • Continuing to pilot stipends for Commissioners (Inclusion and Belonging) to support more diverse participation on Commissions. • Engaging people traditionally left out of City processes. • Initiative Director for Winooski Working Communities Challenge grant project continuing to  City of Winooski 27 West Allen Street Winooski Vermont 05404 Vermont’s Opportunity City 802 655 6410 winooskivt.gov engage Core Team comprised of New Americans to further develop projects related to multi- generational housing, youth support, entrepreneurship support, and statewide advocacy. Miscellaneous • Included $25,000 contribution to a shared municipal Equity Policy Advisor to be hosted by the CCRPC in the FY26 budget, adopted by Council and approved by Winooski voters. • Police department partners with Howard Center's Community Outreach team to connect people to social supports who are involved in an interaction with the police department. • Participating in IDEAL Vermont (State Office of Racial Equity-led municipal learning cohort). • Implementing collaborative approach to equitable housing needs assessment, a grant project funded by Vermont’s Agency of Commerce and Community Development. • With Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles launch of blue envelope program for drivers on the autism spectrum, police department trained on the program. Welcoming/Belonging • Implementing new District Liaison Officer model in partnership with the Winooski School District, per the recommendation of the Safety and Security Multi Stakeholder Study Group in response to Demand #3 of the Winooski Students for Antiracism in 2021. • Equal Employment Opportunity statement at the top of job postings (not the bottom, as has been common). • Some staff list pronouns in email signatures. • Advertise jobs on Vermont Professionals of Color Jobs Board when they meet their criteria. Awareness • None this quarter. VIII. Executive Session Pursuant to 1 V.S.A. § 313 which exempts from public inspection, (a) (1) (A) contracts Minutes: After discussion, an executive session was not required. IX. Regular Items A. Discussion/Approval: City Manager Contract Minutes: The City Manager’s contract for the renewal of three years, dated before the next Town Meeting Day, is up for approval by the City Council. The language for changing the start day has changed to ensure new potential City Councilors have an opportunity to meet with the City Manager after Town Meeting Day. Motion: A motion to approve was made by Councilor Hurd, seconded by Councilor Judge. The motion carries 3-0.  City of Winooski 27 West Allen Street Winooski Vermont 05404 Vermont’s Opportunity City 802 655 6410 winooskivt.gov X. Adjourn Motion: Motion to adjourn was made by Councilor Oakleaf, seconded by Councilor Judge. Motion carried 3-0. The meeting adjourned at 6:28 PM. Attest: ____________________________________________ Adam Hoffnung-Warantz, Assistant City Clerk