 Hi friends, Janae would be procure with some exciting news. Town meeting day elections for mayor, city council and more will be using ranked choice voting and all polling to voters get to participate. Unfamiliar with ranked choice voting? Keep watching or visit the link below. Ranked choice voting is a simple way to let voters rank candidates in order of preference. First, second, third, and so on. If your vote can't help your first choice win, it counts to your second choice instead. Here's how it works. If one candidate gets over 50% of everyone's first choice votes, they win and the election is over. However, if no candidate reaches a majority, the candidate with the fewest first choice votes is eliminated and their supporters votes will count towards their second choice. This process continues until one candidate reaches over 50% of the vote. Ranked choice voting is an easy way to give voters more voice, more choice, and makes for a stronger democracy. Learn more about ranked choice or try it out for yourself at betterballotvermont.org slash BTV 2024. Hello and thank you for tuning in to Town Meeting TV's ongoing coverage of Town Meeting Day 2024. My name's Bobby Lucia. This program is part of a series of forums that we host in advance of Town Meeting Day. So on March 5th, Town Meeting TV hosts forums with all candidates and covers the questions that you will see on your ballot, introducing you to community decision makers and connecting you with the issues that shape your local community. You can find all of our forums at cctv.org slash 2024 and you can see these programs and more on our YouTube channel as well as on Comcast and Burlington Telecom. And you can call in with your questions tonight at 802-862-3966, more about that in a moment. On tonight's program we will hear from two candidates running for Ward 6, the Ward 6 seat on the Burlington City Council. That's right, right? That's right. And those two candidates are Will Anderson and Becca Brown-McNight. Thank you so much for joining us, guys. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Awesome. So we've prepared a list of questions for each of you and you'll have 90 seconds to respond to each question. If you're in tuning in live, we also welcome your questions at 802-862-3966. If you call in, we will do our best to prioritize your question, though we will screen questions to ensure that no questions are repeated and we ask that you share when you call in your name, where you live and that your question be directed to all or both of the candidates here. So let's get started with one minute opening statements and we'll start with Will Anderson, your opening statement, 60 seconds. Thank you. Well, thanks for having me here again at Town Meeting TV. As I've mentioned before, I think this is just one of the many institutions that makes Burlington the capital for local democracy, you know, around the country, around the world. And that's a big part of why I love it here and why I want to represent our award on the City Council. I think that Burlington is my favorite city I've ever lived in. I love the environment. I love the people. I love the culture. I love the institutions. But I think that we as a people living here, especially those of us, you know, that work and get by paycheck to paycheck are facing undue economic pressure that we can mitigate with our municipal policy. I think that we need to grow as a city, increase our housing supply. I think that we need to have new initiatives to become more ecologically friendly within our region. And I think we need to do more to be safe as a city, to have a better police force that can adequately respond to all calls for distress. And you know, in those situations where there's drugs and mental illness involved, be able to respond in a way that's appropriate. Great. Thank you so much, Will. Becca, your opening statement, 60 seconds. Great. Thanks for having me. So I'm running for City Council because I love Burlington. I love living here. I've always wanted to live here. And now that I do, I wake up feeling so lucky to be in Burlington. I am stepping up to run because for the past decade, I have felt that my voice, the voice of a mom with young kids, has not been represented on the City Council. I hope to bring a new perspective to help create a brighter future for our city. I want to address public safety, the housing and affordability crisis, and harness our collective enthusiasm for the natural world to take real action on climate change. If I have the chance to serve as a counselor, Burlington can expect to see the same skills that I've honed over my career. And expertise in financial analysis, communication, and an understanding of human behavior. We are not at a time when we need blind ideology in our city government. We need counselors who can handle the city with care. We need folks ready to roll up their sleeves, make compromises, and who can handle the tough choices that come with city government. That's the kind of counselor I want to be, and I hope to earn your vote. Thanks. Thank you both so much. So we'll jump into the questions, and the first question will be about city finances. So do you support the proposed public safety tax increase on the ballot for the city this year? Yes or no? And what experience do you bring to the overall financial management of the city? And we'll start with you, Becca. Great. Yeah. So I want to start by saying I acknowledge we have a real affordability issue here in Burlington, and I don't think we can solve our problems by continuing to raise taxes on our residents. Taxes are still reeling from the property tax increase a few years ago, and there's just a limit to what our citizens can afford in their monthly budgets. That said, I do support the proposed public safety tax increase. It has been five years since we had a municipal tax increase on the ballot, and we need these funds to make the important investments in our public safety systems. As we all know, this is a really critical time for those systems, and we need to fund them. In terms of what I bring to the city's financial management, I have an MBA and 15 years experience in managing multi-million dollar budgets for my clients as well as running my own business. I understand that budgets are finite and that we need to think creatively to get the most out of our tax dollars. Thanks. Thank you so much, Becca. Will, your response? I'm also in support of the public safety tax surcharge because I think that we need to be investing rapidly in the bonuses and the salaries required to attract law enforcement officers to our city and rebuild our police force. I also, I agree with Becca that we need to be conscious about the tax increases that we're imposing on our residents, but I believe that our strategy should be to realign our tax system so that's more fair. I think that owners of multi-family properties, non-overoccupied properties, should be paying a higher share for that tax, much like the state homestead and non-homestead rate, and I also think that we should consider introducing an income sensitivity element, whether through a rebate program to the property tax or through the introduction of some kind of income tax on Burlington, keeping in mind that Burlington's income has dramatically ballooned post-pandemic era by some $200 million. We should be conscious of that when looking at revenue sources going forward. These are the kind of things that I look at in my day job with the state administration, where I work as an analyst for fiscal policy in the Scott administration in Montpelier. I've been doing this for two budget cycles now and previously worked in public finance both with the communications union districts and with USDA Rural Development. I have a sense for how public finance works, for how responsible fiscal policy leads to a good society and a good government. I think that the progressive movement should have fiscal conservatism in the front of our minds when making fiscal policy. The difference for me is whether we can change the tax system so that's more fair and people are paying what's appropriate for them, given the resources they have and the resources available to them. Great. Thank you both so much for those responses. Our next question, we're sticking with the theme of finance and we're moving on to the school budget. This year, Burlington School District administrators have proposed a $119.6 million school budget resulting in a tax rate, a tax impact of 13.97%. So do you support this budget, yes or no? And why or why not? And we'll start with Will Anderson. Well, let's start by saying that a lot is up in the air with the school budget just based on what happens on the state level. Ways and means and house appropriations are considering changes at Act 127. I could have serious implications for this budget and there's going to be some uncertainty as to whether this budget as presented is what we'll actually be facing for the coming fiscal year. That being said, I trust in the folks who constructed this budget and I want to support our schools and our teachers as fully as possible. So I would support the property tax increases associated with this as difficult as it will be for many Burlington taxpayers. But again, I think that the real solution here is that we need to look at a property tax reform. We need to look at how we can introduce an element of income sensitivity and we need to look at how we can make this fair for people that don't own, that don't live in the buildings that they own. They're collecting rent and passive income on these buildings, but they're not paying a higher property tax rate than folks who live in their own home, you know, single family homeowners. So as a city counselor, these kind of tax reforms are what I'd be really looking for in order to make this more fair in light of the increased need for resources. So again, I support the idea of paying more, of making sure our teachers have the resources that they need, the students have the resources that they need, but in the end, it's going to be a reform of the system that makes sure that everyone's paying their fair share. Great. Thank you so much, Will. Becca Brown-McNight, your response about the school budget. Yes. So I agree. We are in a tricky situation with the school district budget because of the Act 127 legislation. And so I think as we look at both this year and moving forward, it's going to be critical for city counselors and the mayor's office to work really closely with our lawmakers in Montpelier to make sure that we don't get budget changes here in Burlington that come out of the blue and that also originate outside of Burlington. I don't think that's fair and I don't think that's right. So I know they're working furiously down in Montpelier to try to fix some of these unintended consequences, and I'm really glad to hear that, but there's certainly more work to do, and this is something we really need to watch closely as it unfolds over the next few years. I do support the school budget increase. As a mom with two little kids in our public school system, I see the value of investing in our schools and in our teachers and our administration every single day. I also see how spread thin our teachers are, but also the incredibly inspiring work that they do, and they're really building the future of our city. So I will always stand with teachers and with students in advocating for what they need. Thanks. Great. Thank you both so much for those comments on the school budget. It looks like we have a call here. Is that correct? Okay, so we have a caller with a question, so I'm going to bring them on the line. Hello there, caller. Can you tell us your name and where you're calling from? Maybe try it one more time. Hello there. Can you tell us your name and where you're calling from? My name is Stephanie and I'm calling from Burlington. Great. Stephanie, can you tell us your question for both candidates? Sure. My question is, I just wanted to know what both candidates thought. Thoughts are on making changes to the proposed neighborhood code to ensure that landlords with the history of code enforcement violations being unable to expand on their properties. Great. Thank you so much for your call and we'll start with you, Becca Brown- McKnight, on that question. Thank you. That's a great question. The neighborhood code is such an important piece of the government that's coming through the council right now, so I'm glad you asked. So first of all, I want to say, I think the neighborhood code is something we really need here in Burlington. It is designed to both get us up to speed with some new state regulations on zoning and also to allow for more density and more housing to be built in the city, which overall I think is just what we need. However, given that this is our first major zoning change in, I think, half a century or more, we can't rush this. And we can't just ram it through the city council because we're about to have a change of the guard, so to speak. We need to deal with important issues. I have spoken to constituents about their concerns where landlords with many previous infractions, code violations will just be allowed to continue building on their properties with no consideration of their previous impact on their neighbors. This is something I think we need to be talking about and to look into, along with the added stress that the neighborhood code and new development might put on our sewage systems, as well as wastewater runoff. So I don't have the answers to how we should address all these just yet, but I do think we need to make sure that they are accounted for and that the citizens of Burlington have answers to these questions before we pass the neighborhood code. Thank you. Thank you so much, Becca. Will Anderson, your thoughts on the neighborhood code? Yes, I'm also in support of the neighborhood code. As I've said to many constituents, I think it's a good step in the right direction because Burlington needs to grow in order to accommodate the demand that our economy and their institutions create. People want to live here. A lot of people want to live here. A lot of people have roots here, and that means that our housing market has become tighter and tighter. But I agree with a lot of the concerns that the questioner and Becca brought up, which are that I want to make sure that our public works are not constrained by new development. And I also want to make sure that landlords who have committed violations are held accountable for those in advance of being able to expand on their properties. I'm not saying that I want to restrict anyone from building more in Burlington. Again, I really think that we should be a real city where our supply of housing meets our demand. But the code enforcement violations have gone on for far too long and far too great. Landlords have had a free run of their buildings and their tenants. And I think that they really need to be held accountable. We need to give our code enforcement more teeth and use those teeth, especially on the financial front. We're tight for revenue. I think the landlords that have been violating are the first source that I would look to. And I agree with Becca that neighborhood code should not be rushed, especially with regard to making sure that landlords are held accountable before we go ahead and allow them to start building more buildings where they could potentially be committing more violations. I think the safety of tenants is really the top priority and the economic factors are the underlying foundation of what we're trying to achieve. Thank you so much. Both of you for your responses on that. Our next question is a question about direct democracy in Burlington. So the city council recently decided against putting two proposed questions on the town meeting day ballot, one on police oversight and another calling for an apartheid free community. So the question is, do you support the council's decision to prevent these questions from reaching the ballot? And when is direct democracy an appropriate method of decision making? And we'll start with Will Anderson on this question. Well, I'll say that if I was on the council, I would not have voted to keep these items off the ballot. I think that Burlington really suffers from not having a town meeting day. And although this mayor city council model is proven to be an effective one, the fact that we do allow questions to go on the ballot is really an asset to our city. And that when citizens have more say in their government, that leads to increasing their standard of living. This isn't to say that I necessarily agreed with both of these initiatives in their entirety. I think I agreed with them both in principle, but would have had significant modifications had I been the sole drafter. But I think it's good when questions go on the ballot. And it's really the Vermont way for citizens to be able to weigh in. So as a counselor, I would not have supported keeping these items off the ballot. In fact, I would have supported them going on and potentially other initiatives going on. I think that direct democracy is a good thing. It's been proven that the more democratic a place is, in general, with the right protections, the standard of living in that place tends to go up. I think that's a principle that's what made Burlington as great as it is and one that we should continue to replicate and grow in the future. OK, thank you, Will. And Becca, your thoughts on direct democracy and these ballot questions. Yeah, thank you. So before diving into the question, I just want to first be clear that I support freedom for the Palestinian people. And I stand against the violence in Gaza. I have been making calls to my federal representatives to ask them to fight for a ceasefire, and I will continue to do that. I also stand firmly against anti-Semitism and the violence of Hamas. But here's the thing. My personal opinion as a city counselor, a potential city counselor, should not factor in to a decision to put a particular ballot a particular item on the ballot. Actually, if we're talking about the Vermont way, the Vermont State Supreme Court has actually ruled that city councils across the state should use their judgment to assess the impact of any ballot measure on the community with a special regard to the common good. If a ballot measure runs counter to the common good or may cause harm to certain members of that community, counselors need to exercise their judgment and prevent it from making onto the ballot. As far as I understand, in this case, the city counselors here were hearing frightening examples of harm and hate being caused by this ballot measure, even just the discussion of it, to community members on both sides of the issue. I think this is actually an example of how checks and balances work in our democracy, and it shows why it's important to elect people who have a demonstrated history of exercising good judgment. If I had been a counselor at the time, I would have done more work up front to get both sides of the issue at the table and come up with ballot language that did not cause harm to members of the community. Thank you. Thank you both so much for your responses to that question. Our next question is about addiction and the opioid crisis. So the question is, where do you differ from other candidates in your proposed approach to the opioid crisis and what are the most important initiatives the city can undertake to address this crisis? And we'll start with Becca Brown-McNight. Thanks. So our addiction and opioid crisis is just heartbreaking and has touched so many of our lives, mine included. I have watched friends and family members struggle with addiction, and I've seen how difficult it is to get the consistent care that's really needed for recovery. We need to approach this issue with compassion and treat it like the illness that it is. In terms of where I might differ from other candidates, I will try to approach this issue not only medically but also analytically. Currently, our systems are so fractured that we just don't have a clear sense of the steps and the paths that lead to recovery or the programs that work best for prevention. And even where we do know those steps, they're happening in different places and they're not connected enough. I would propose that we take the time to work with experts and map these things out and then identify the key moments along that path to both addiction and to recovery where we do have solutions, where we know what works and put our focus and invest our dollars in those pieces of the puzzle. I'm particularly interested in looking at prevention measures as well as safe injection sites. I'll stop there for now. Thank you so much, Becca. Will Anderson, your thoughts on the opioid crisis? Sure, well, I'm not sure that I differ substantially from any particular candidate in my approach, including Ms. Brown-McKnight. I think that the drugs have gotten so powerful that we don't have the resources in place to deal with them, especially not us, the city of 42,000 people. The state needs to commit to more inpatient treatment facilities where people can go when they're addicted and receive the treatment they need to get on the right track. I don't think that prison is the solution for that. I don't think that leaving people on the street is the solution for that. I also don't think that the city of Burlington has the capability to start providing that, but I do think that we can shape our response in a way that makes as conducive as possible to aiding in those efforts. For one, we need more recovery residences. The number one thing that leads to relapse is being in proximity or association with people that are taking part in enabling behaviors or other people that are using. And recovery residences have been proven again and again to be Vermont's greatest asset in getting people on a long-term track to recovery. We have very few in Burlington. Most of them have shut down. And I think that we should be working with the Champlain Housing Trust with the Housing Finance Agency to open more of these places where people can live on a subsidized rent and know that they're not gonna be able to interact with these enabling behaviors. The same goes for the pod community with regard to housing and the homeless. I think that if we're gonna expand the pod community model going forward, we should have it with recovery in mind and keeping these enabling behaviors out of the communities we're supporting. Thank you both so much. Our next question is about policing in Burlington. So what does effective policing look like in Burlington? And should the council or the mayor have the authority to discipline officers? And we'll start with Will Anderson on this question. Well, as for the first part, effective policing, I'd like to see a police department that can respond effectively and thoroughly to every call. We're hearing from so many constituents that their calls are not being effectively answered that when they are picked up, there's not enough officers available to send. We know that there's not enough officers on patrol either just to act as a deterrent in key areas around the city, especially downtown. So I think an effective police force is one that has enough staff, enough resources to accomplish that. As for the oversight question, I do think that the police force would be well served by additional community oversight. There was a lot of people in this city, especially people that are not white and are not wealthy, that are treated completely differently by the police. I don't think that's fair. And frankly, I think it's really dangerous based on the examples that have happened in the past. So I would like to see some measures of community oversight be implemented if I were on the city council. However, I'm not gonna go as far to say that I think it's the city council and the mayor that should be directly doing that discipline. I like the idea of the police commission having their authority expanded. I like the idea of an in new independent body being created that could have this authority. But the key is really that that be created in conjunction in collaboration with the police department because when we attempted to, the last time the city council attempted major police oversight reforms, it led to a huge rapid attrition of police officers that we're still trying to recover from today. So I do think it's important. I'm not sure I would go about it to exactly the way that this question was phrased. I'd like to see some kind of independent body established in collaboration with the police department. Thank you so much, Will. Becca Brown-McNight, your thoughts on policing. Thanks. So I see policing as an example in the government where two things can be true. We need to support our police officers and give them a sense that the community has their back. We need to rebuild our police force and frankly, I think we need to do it faster than the plans that I have seen for that. And at the same time, as Will was referencing, our police force is not immune to the systemic challenges of racism and policing that we have seen repeat over and over again across the country. We all need to work together to improve that and I know I'm a person who can be a bridge builder to work towards that change and have the tough conversations that we need to have. I also agree on needing to see an improvement in what I would call the citizen service side of the police. When people call, they need to get help right away. They don't need to get directed to an online form. And finally, I think we're asking too much of our police. I think we're on the right track with the CSOs and the CSLs that we've been adding to the city. They've been doing a great job of handling our nonviolent issues and mental health crises when they're there. And I would like to see continued investment in that and also analysis of some of the new programs that we've implemented to make sure they are working effectively. On accountability, I will also say I don't think it is appropriate for elected officials who campaign every two years or three years like the city council and the mayor's office to discipline police officers. However, we do need some form of transparent accountability and I know that's in the works. It's expected to be on the ballot this summer or this fall and I'm excited to add my voice to that and to see what we can come up with collaboratively. Thank you. Thank you both so much. I think we have time for just one more question. And so that question will be about racial justice. So the question is the city declared racism a public health emergency in 2020. What will you do as a city councilor to address systemic racism in city hall and across the city generally? And we'll start with Becca. Great, thank you. I also see racism as a public health emergency. It is important to me to be a strong ally to people of color while also recognizing that since I am not a member of that group, it's extra important that I listen and make sure that I decenter my own lived experiences, that I include people of color in conversations and plans of our government and that I ensure not only that they are listened to but that their input is acted upon because I think that last step is sometimes what we see missing. These values of mine also apply to the LGBTQ community and any other marginalized groups. I believe being a city where a diverse set of voices and perspectives is encouraged, makes us stronger and makes Burlington a better place to live. As a councilor, I will not hesitate to stand up against racism or any other type of hate and I will encourage equity in everything we do. Thanks. Great, thank you so much Becca. Will Anderson. Well, I really appreciate those comments Becca and I would try to espouse them as well as a city councilor keeping in mind that racism is a public health emergency. We can see it in the numbers and we can see it very easily when we talk to people who are not white that they're living in a different reality with the systems that we've created. But the approach that I would take to trying to solve racism as a public health issue is more of addressing poverty itself. I think that we need to look at how much people are paying in rent, how much people are paying to actually live here to really get at the root of poverty in Burlington. So as I've discussed many times before, if I'm elected to the city council I will pursue a rapid rent stabilization program which I see based on the evidence as being the best way that we can immediately press back against poverty for the long term. Generational poverty I think is really a big part of what's contributing to racial inequity in the United States and in Burlington and that we have real policies that will push back against the generational poverty and start shifting that into generational wealth and doing that by addressing the rent which is the biggest source of poverty that people in Burlington are facing today. It'll be the real effective solution in the long term. We can talk about race and we can talk about equity and we can enact it and we can include it and we can get input that for the policies. But at the core, we need to look at poverty and say why are some people paying so much money in rent when they could be creating generational wealth. Thank you, Will. So that's all the questions that we have time for. I'm gonna wrap things up with a quick opportunity for 30 second closing statements and we'll start with you, Will Anderson, your closing statement for the seconds. I wanna be your city counselor because I think that Burlington can be a leader for a sustainable future. We're doing really well. We have a great renewable energy program, public transit, infrastructure. If not adequate, it's in place and we're really a leader for cities around the country. I'd like to continue that trend so that we have an outsize impact on emerging crises that we're facing. Poverty, climate, social injustice, I think they're all linked. Burlington is already a leader. I'd like to take us even further, increase the standard of living for people here and set an example for the rest of the country. Thank you so much, Will Anderson. Becca Brown, McKnight, your closing statement. 30 seconds. Thank you. So I'll use this last 30 seconds to talk about all of you watching and to put out a call for action and engagement. The challenges we are facing are not easy. They cannot be solved by one arm of city government alone. It is really going to take all of us. I urge you to vote, to take the time, to get to know your representatives, to be in touch with them and to ask how you can contribute to the success of our city. There are so many ways that everyone can participate and be valuable and not all of them require a massive time commitment. I'm here to help you figure that out and I hope to earn your vote. Thank you. Thank you both so much for joining us tonight for your thoughtful responses to these questions and thank you for tuning into town meeting TV. Our ongoing coverage of town meeting day 2024 will bring you in connection with local candidates, allow you to understand the budgets and ballot questions that you'll see on election day. You can find this and many more forums at cctv.org slash 2024 or on our town meeting TV YouTube channel. And of course, don't forget to vote. On March 5th, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. You can contact your local clerk to find out how to obtain a ballot. I believe in Burlington the ballots have been sent out or will be sent out this week. So be aware of that in your mail. Thank you so much for watching, sharing town meeting TV. So long.