Safe, Healthy, Connected People Commission

4/13/2021 - Minutes I. Call to Order Members Present: Mary Hussman, Courtney Blasius, Paul Rabidoux City Staff Present: Ray Coffey, Hal Colston, Rick Hebert, John Audy, Gwennie Talbot, Nate Eddy, Jenny Hill, Molly Schneider, Kate Nicoletti Guests Present: Amelie Thurston, Travis Smith, Kat Wohlers Call to Order by: Mary Hussman Meeting Start Time: 6:35 PM Minutes Recorded by: Molly Schneider II. Public Comment None III. Approve Previous Meeting Minutes Decision: Approved Motion by: Courtney Blasius Second: Paul Rabidoux IV. City Council Liaison Update Hal Colston: This is the return of Hal as he used to be a part of the commission. An update on the Winooski Charter bill: Hal sponsored it, introduced it to the house operations committee and it was well received, with the exception of the home rule clause section. Very controversial and for the sake of the other proposals it was removed in order to push through the rest of the bill which included the all resident voting. Concerns on whether it was fair but it has passed through the house and is now with the Senate. Can’t assume the Senate will pass it but Kesha Ram is a strong supporter of the proposition so Hal will be working hard to make sure it passes. Our City Manager Jessie Baker is moving on. Last night was the first meeting of the search committee. Everyone was orientated to the process and they established a timeline. In June we will begin interviewing and making recommendations. Nate Eddy to Hal Colston: Will the search go out Nationally? Hal Colston: HR Director Phoebe Townsend and Mayor Lott are working on it. Lists will go through a National Network. The committee focused on where we see Winooski as a city down the road. They also discussed skills and competencies for potential managers and put up ideas. Next step is for Phoebe to put together a job description. Mary Hussman to Hal Colston: Do you envision having an interim manager? Hal Colston: Yes, HR Director and Public Works Manager will be sharing that role. Jon Rauscher has stepped in in the past and he brings experience and Phoebe Townsend as well, we will be in good hands.  Mary Hussman to Hal Colston: Do you envision having an interim manager? Hal Colston: Yes, HR Director and Public Works Manager will be sharing that role. Jon Rauscher has stepped in in the past and he brings experience and Phoebe Townsend as well, we will be in good hands. V. City and Department Updates Chief Hebert: Continuing hiring process, currently have 2 open positions, anticipating a third, have 3 scheduled to do entrance testing, all 4 candidates are POC, looking forward to diversifying. Paul Rabidoux to Chief Hebert: Any candidates Winooski residents? Chief Hebert: One candidate is a Chiropractor, another is a Somali resident, the first interview went really well, he is moving on to the second round, the last gentleman went to St. Mikes, living in Florida currently and is in the air force, other candidate is a corrections officer in MA. Ray Coffey: Big and exciting news! As a department having a lot of discussions about reopening. Looking at April and May as a time to ease back into smaller in person meetings and outdoor programming. Looking towards June when the pool opens we can look at a more formalized opening. Masks and distancing will stick around, but beginning of June we will see a normalized slate of programming, etc. Giving team kudos for all the hard work. Lots of pressure from the community, but we are pulling through. Very Excited to be at this point! Over the coming weeks more and more will be coming out through city communication channels, so stay tuned. We are in pretty advanced conversations about using American Rescue Plan funding, a significant amount of money may be coming that will provide a lot of opportunities for low cost and free programming. Hoping to have an official approval item on Monday for City council. Still working through administrative stuff between school and the Agency of Education. Things on the ticket like looking at expansion of capacity of THRIVE, expanded swim lessons, water safety programs, spring and fall partnerships with the school. Hopeful in reconstituting the Summer Teen Employment Program. Huge set of program ideas when it comes to summer camps, etc. Last but not least, kudos to the community gardens and Gwennie Talbot and her hard work, and to Jenny Hill, Molly Schneider and Kate Nicoletti. Lots of great work going around the Vermont Patriots Soccer Program, grew the program by 50% from last year. Chief Audy: With COVID we continue to have huddles with the state and local partners. Trying to put sound advice out there, we are not through COVID, everyone should continue to mask up and distance. Testing continues and everyone should look at getting vaccinated. If you have questions please reach out. Development wise, E Allen Project is online to occupy in September, 215 Main Street will get final inspections, Bellevue and Main project is continuing. Other projects will become clear, most projects around housing. Still dealing with COVID, it's been a long year, we are at 95% vaccinated at the fire department. Just hired 4 people, 3 winooski residents, it has been a couple of years since we have been able to bring in Winooski residents. Paul Rabidoux to Chief Audy: What was the training recently? Chief Audy: We conducted training recently simulating smoke in a building. Trained 36 firefighters in small groups of 10 at a time. VI. Commission Recruitment Update Mary Hussman: We interviewed and selected 3 new commission members. Thomas Renner, Katherine Lowe and Dallas Wheatley. Dallas and Thomas will be regular members and Katherine will serve as an alternate. Variety of different strengths and perspectives. These recommendations will go to City council next week to be officially appointed. Welcome Thomas! VII. Myers Memorial Pool 2021 Season Opening Update  Katherine Lowe and Dallas Wheatley. Dallas and Thomas will be regular members and Katherine will serve as an alternate. Variety of different strengths and perspectives. These recommendations will go to City council next week to be officially appointed. Welcome Thomas! VII. Myers Memorial Pool 2021 Season Opening Update Ray Coffey: Pool getting filled wednesday and then the 26th they will come back and get the filters and pipes going. Facility will be up and running by the first week of May. Jenny Hill is working on partnerships with the school which includes programming around water safety and swim lessons. Pass sales are moving along and we are halfway to the sales goal and confident we will meet those goals. A lease has been entered with Little City Creemee, which will operate out of the concession stands. Jenny Hill: June 6th pool will open to the public and will stay open until labor day. The night before June 6th will host a grand opening for the first 40 pass purchasers. Jenny shares an excel sheet of programming and pool schedule. We will be partnering with the YMCA to put on swim lessons but the city will manage booking and controlling pods. YMCA will run Camp Splash Program which offers free 3 day swim lesson courses. Senior access on Friday mornings. Schedule includes Camp rentals which entails THRIVE and other entities like burlington camp groups. Very open to changing the schedule as needed. Looking into developing a large pass group policy, upside great revenue to put toward scholarships. Hal Colston to Jenny Hill: Are all of the kinds of passes still available? Jenny Hill: Yes. And there will be reservation slots during open swim to manage capacity. But there will still be a large walk in capacity. Right now pool capacity it is at 75 max. VIII. Community Police Survey Discussion Amelie Thurston: Resident of Winooski since 2007. Backstory or Community Police Survey: In the aftermath of George Floyd, Amelie as a concerned mother and resident felt the need to reach out to other community members to start dialogue of perceptions of Winooski Police. No strong feelings, not a lot of exposure to WPD, but want people in Winooski to feel as safe as possible. Made an FPF post about engaging in dialogue about this. Group started off large and has simmered to a core group of 5. Thought about an oversight committee, but then they went to Rick’s presentation to this commission. Last survey was done in 2017 by Winooski police, so they decided to develop another survey. Did research on other cities and towns, got feedback from the commission and honed in on what they are trying to understand from their community. Now they are looking into next steps, disseminating, reviewing and then acting on data. Came to the commission for input and dialogue. She is joined by Kat Wohlers and Travis Smith. Their goal is to present a survey that is very neutral. We have a unique community, no assumptions about how the community feels about anything. Want the survey to provide the community with an avenue to share their thoughts. Mary Hussman to Commission: What is the procedure for when a citizen group wants to do a survey about city services? Chief Hebert: Not aware this has ever happened, but is all for hearing from the residents. That’s how we grow and can do our jobs better. Envisioned that the commission would be the cities shepherd to work with the group and then bring the work back to leadership. Believes survey can be shared through FPF, can be plugged into Survey Monkey? Maybe talk to the school about translating through the liaisons. Short answer I don’t know, long answer wants to do it correctly. Hal Colston: Granted that there isn't much precedent, I would think that collaboration with the department and the department head is important. That is where the convo should start. Chief Hebert: Commission and Citizen group will get better data if the police are not directly Short answer I don’t know, long answer wants to do it correctly. Hal Colston: Granted that there isn't much precedent, I would think that collaboration with the department and the department head is important. That is where the convo should start. Chief Hebert: Commission and Citizen group will get better data if the police are not directly involved. Mary Hussman to Amelie Thurston: They should develop a name, you all will collect the data and then together with the commission we can go over the findings. Amelie Thurston: Looking to the city for collaboration with their group. Looking into how we can reach the most folks. Interested in using the city’s resources. What resources are in place and how can the city support us, who we can connect with whether it is the school. Questions about if we should mail surveys or is electronic better? Looking for guidance. What to do with the results? Working with the commission is a great place to make those decisions. Ray Coffey to Amelie Thurston: Can offer our department as a resource. Mary Hussman to Community Group: This version is much more compacted. Does this version reflect what you are looking for? Are these questions appropriate? Any concerns about the questions? Hal Colston to Mary Hussman: I wonder if it could be useful if anyone has immediate feedback? Offers his feedback: Question #2: I would be curious to know if they answer no, why? Give them space to identify trends in answers. I understand the rationale for open ended questions, but would examples be helpful? Might strengthen responses if they can get the jist, like for question#10. Jenny Hill to Community Group: Having options makes data more trackable. Measure progress and growth. Paul Rabidoux: Question #4, believes there has to be a police officer to make an assessment they should always be the first responder. Question #9 and #10 are negative and imply that folks don’t feel safe or don’t have good relationships with WPD. Would like questions to remain much more neutral. Like, do you feel safe? Do you have a good relationship with WPD? Then if answering no, leave room for elaborating. Amelie Thurston to Paul Rabidoux: Definitely want to remain neutral so thankful for feedback. Hal Colston: Question #4 is a very interesting question and very interested in the data. Would tell me our residents have competence in what they need in the moment, could be interesting information who do people think of, how do we shift the culture of policing as of today. Kat Wohlers: Excited about that question, and how we can track the data over time. Gwennie Talbot to Community Group: Do you have someone who is equipped and an expert in this work to evaluate the data of the survey? Kat Wohler and Travis Smith to Gwennie Talbot: No plan as of yet. More in stages of learning, see what data we collect and then collaboratively work with WPD and the community to see how we move forward. Hal Colston: Suggests exploring the Vermont Criminal Justice Council, they head up all of the training and onboarding for all new officers. Majority citizens on their council. In conclusion Mary Hussman and Courtney Blasius will follow up with the Community group to fine tune the survey and work on getting it out into the community.  Hal Colston: Suggests exploring the Vermont Criminal Justice Council, they head up all of the training and onboarding for all new officers. Majority citizens on their council. In conclusion Mary Hussman and Courtney Blasius will follow up with the Community group to fine tune the survey and work on getting it out into the community. Chief Hebert: In reassurance, very open to this survey but want to emphasize that the WPD is doing the work currently. Mentioned that 20-40% of the call volume is related to Mental Health. They respond to mental health crises and bring their community outreach team. Once the situation is deemed safe the outreach team takes it from there and connects the caller to resources. A lot of the work is already being done, but as far as a survey it needs to not come from the police department in order to be effective. The questions they came up with are great and we have a lot to learn from the stories that can be shared through it. IX. Adjourn Motion by:Paul Rabidoux Second: Courtney Blasius Meeting End Time: 7:58 PM