Safe, Healthy, Connected People Commission

6/8/2021 - Minutes I. Call to Order Members Present: Courtney Blasius, Mary Hussmann, Thomas Renner, Katherine Lowe City Staff Present: Ray Coffey, Rick Hebert, Nate Eddy, Jenny Hill T Guests Present: Rep Hal Colston, Elizabeth Wood, Kim Jordan Call to Order by: Mary Hussmann F Meeting Start Time: 6:36 PM Minutes Recorded by: Thomas Renner II. Public Comment A None III. Approve Previous Meeting Minutes R Minutes approved Motion by: Thomas Renner Second: Courtney Blasius D IV. City Council Liaison Update Hal gave an update on the city manager search, the hiring committee has narrowed the selection to 9 candidates out of 20, hoping to interview up to 6 and narrow to top 3 for final interviews. Approved Mallets Bay Avenue Champlain Housing Trust project a 20 unit affordable housing complex. Governor vetoed status change for all population voting, Hal says legislature will try to override the veto. Nate asked about groundbreaking timeline for Butternut Station project, Ray informed the group that the week of July 12 is when groundbreaking will occur. V. City and Department Updates Ray - Pool has been dominant in workload, opening events last Friday at the pool. 300 people through the weekend, capacity is at 75 a time. 1.5 hr is max people can stay in pool. VT after school grant for 75k dollars for summer teen employment. Through funds through school, July and August camps are being finalized. Mary asked about leaking in the pool, Ray said it has been taken care of. Thomas asked how many pool passes have been sold, Jenny said 200 Rick - Police department strategic plan and projects are being assessed. Hoping to wrap up the strategic plan by August. 2 of 3 candidates have completed everything, 1 of the candidates is pausing his hiring process, that candidate likely won't make the September class but hopefully February. 1 current officer will be out indefinitely. Down 4 people on the patrol division. Rick concerned about burnout. John - Halfway through classes for 4 new hires. Summer interns have started, getting ready for the teen employment folks to come on board. Conversation continues with St Mikes's and Colchester, Chief at Colchester is transitioning out to a new job.  February. 1 current officer will be out indefinitely. Down 4 people on the patrol division. Rick concerned about burnout. John - Halfway through classes for 4 new hires. Summer interns have started, getting ready for the teen employment folks to come on board. Conversation continues with St Mikes's and Colchester, Chief at Colchester is transitioning out to a new job. VI. Appoint Secretary Thomas Renner was appointed secretary. VII. Review State Mandated Body-Worn Camera Policy for Police T Mary highlighted the body camera document attached in minutes, document is intended to inform the council of the changes happening at the State level. Rick went over the document and explained its nature to the commission. Rick states he tries to write policies on what you should do and not what you shouldn’t do. Rick then went over the changes. Mary asked what an F example of one of the clauses that would allow police staff to review a video, Rick gave an example that if you arrived immediately and were shot and then weren’t able to recall you could review video. Mary asked if the officers were satisfied with the revisions, Rick said the officers are torn over not being able to view the video. Rick explained that the cameras have a buffer, it's always recording, when you hit to activate, the new camera will back up 30 seconds, this new A 30-second buffer gives some of the officer's concern. Use of force and internal affairs policies will be brought in July. VIII. O’Brien Center Space Discussion with Winooski Mutual Aid R The three members introduced themselves. Grants received through VT food-bank, CSA program, diaper distributions, more food delivery requests, pop up free markets, and expanding their work on what makes a community a community. How can void be filled by North End Studios departure? In process of collecting data to see what people would be interested in seeing in the O'Brien Community Center. Kim went over the different responses that have been received to their survey so far. Thomas asked what the intention of the survey was, for the org to D make a recommendation or for the information most picked to become the use of the space. Nate shared that there is a tool library at the library already and also asked about how the survey has been received and made accessible. Hillary explained that they are openly pursuing multiple ways to gather more responses. Elizabeth spoke about wanting to include students, they have been given a separate survey, Elizabeth went over the student's survey. Rep Hal Colston wanted to comment on how to build on assets and said that Champlain College is a good resource to use. A forum either virtual or hybrid would be a great way to get the real intentions of the community known. Mary asked if the decision lies with the city and not the commission. Ray explained that we need to rent out that space due to the financing and that the commission can consider what would go into that spot, but that the city council needs to weigh any program that wouldn’t be bringing in money. Mary stated she thinks the forum would be really crucial, even if it slows the process down. Ray wants City Council updates on the 21st. Ray stated that he would like to partner with WMA as the City is short on resources of time. Hal wonders if Yasamin Gordon can be a partner in this in order to free up Ray. With no more questions for WMA, Ray stated that he thinks WMA should look into filling part of that space as they have no place for storage. IX. Adjourn Motion by: Mary Second: Thomas