 Welcome, welcome to ongoing town meeting, television coverage of elections for our area. We are here today to have a candidate forum with three candidates for two city council seats in Essex Junction. Essex Junction's a little different from a lot of our area in that they have their annual meeting on April 11th in the city. That's been going on for quite some time. This is not new. And for those of you who are just new to this April 10th, there will be an informational meeting. I believe we're live streaming that as well. Where will the informational meeting be held? Online, online, only online this year. Thank you so much. I'm gonna start this off by a quick disclosure that I am the co-director of CCTV and CCTV board chair is Elaine Haney. We are just letting folks know all the questions that folks see here have been prepared and everybody has seen in advance. And so we will get right into it. So we're gonna start with opening statements from folks. And since we don't have an incumbent because both of all of these folks are filling are vying for the two seats that are being left by Dan Karen and George Tyler. We will start if we can just down here with Marcus Serta and then we'll make our way up the table. And so just a one minute opening statement and then we'll get into questions. Thank you so much for the time. I really do appreciate it. I've been in Essex Junction for a little over 15 years. I have felt very fortunate to be a Vermont resident for over 20, nearly 26 years. But I first moved to Essex Junction as a renter in order to have the opportunity to send my daughter to Essex High School. She is a Essex High School graduate. I'm really, I feel very fortunate that she had that opportunity in education. During that particular time, I fell in love with this community. I have remained in this community and when the decision came down for my wife and I by our first home together, we found a home in Essex Junction. And we're so proud that we could be a part of what's happening in the city. I have participated in the discussion around merger and separation. The hope was bringing the community together. I think it did that. I think there was a lot of energy there, but I have seen a decline in that energy and I'm hoping that me being in this race will help encourage that energy to return. One thing I also wanna mention is the fact that I was also the host of a little show called The Morning Drive with Marcus Kurt with former Burlington City Councilor Kurt Wright. And during that opportunity, it really gave me a lot of opportunity to talk about the local issues, get involved with the community. And it gives me a very public record on being able to ask in-depth questions and get into those issues. Great, thanks so much. And Elaine. Thank you. I love Essex Junction and being a part of how it's evolved. I'm running for city council because I see so much potential in our new city. I will bring my passion for our community, my vision for our future and leadership to the table. I want to work with volunteers to create more arts, more green spaces and gathering spaces for community people. I want to support local businesses and make our community more attractive by creating a downtown organization. I want to ensure that projects comply with costs and minimize disruption and fit in with the city's vision for ourselves. I support maintaining a vibrant senior center, a robust rec department and a well-resourced public works department. I will work to keep our city on budget and plan for the future with affordability as the top priority. I will work to make our community more accessible and inclusive. I was so proud that day in July when we celebrated our independence. Together, we made that happen. And it's that pride and that energy that are still with me and make me want to be a part of city council. Great, thanks so much. A lot of people in the community know me as the cannabis candidate or the weed guy. However, I am, it's part of who I am but I am so much more than that. I've had a 40 year history in Essex Junction with business experience in several areas. I delivered the Burlington Free Press in Essex Junction and it taught me the principles of business while also the discipline necessary to wake up at the crack of dawn every morning with no excuses. For 20 years, I ran in my own skydiving business as an instructor, coach, and jump master. I was entrusted with the lives of thousands of my students. My extensive training allowed me to be certified by the FAA to pack emergency parachutes, one of an elite few. I sincerely appreciate the dedication of those who served on the council before me. As a newcomer, this is an opportunity for me to have a shot at a seat. I was asked to become a skydiving instructor because of my passion, drive, and skills were noteworthy. In the same regard, members of the community have asked me to step up and run for city council to represent their voices. If I'm elected, I'll bring creative critical thinking and a fresh perspective. Thank you. Great, thanks so much. And thank you all for your opening statements. Now when we do this, we send out prepared questions and we do have the lines open for callers and that is at 802-862-3966. So we prioritize comments and questions from the public and I'm gonna start cause we did receive one via email from someone who's not able to call in due to work. And this has to do with, at a recent city council, there was some, they alleged that there was some laughing, mocking and joking about a request to change the annual hearing date to avoid a religious holiday conflict. And I, not having read that meeting or seen that meeting, I don't know much more about it. The question is, what do you feel about mocking constituents in general and specifically in areas of equity, diversity and inclusion? And if anyone else wants to add any shed any light on this question, if you're familiar with this, that would be helpful. So I'll give you each maybe about a minute and a half to respond to this and that would be great. And we will start actually with Elaine as we're gonna go in a rotating order that way. Elaine, thank you. Sure, I was not at that meeting so I don't know the circumstances behind the what happened that night but I do know that the annual meeting was scheduled on Passover and which was an oversight which we, the city council needs to be very careful and the staff needs to be very careful that when they're scheduling this meeting they're not overlapping on any religious holidays or really important days that our residents observe. So I know that there's a ballot item right now that asks the voters to approve allowing the city council to set the date and I think that's a good idea but the city council has to be mindful of the religious preferences of the residents and make sure that they're not scheduling a meeting on a holy day. Thanks. Jason, would you like to weigh in on this question? I think it's perfectly acceptable to change the date of a meeting to accommodate any religious holiday and I think it should be done in the future as well. Great and anything about the mocking of constituents? Well, I'm not religious personally myself but both of my children have been raised Jewish and that's not anything I would tolerate or think is inappropriate in any manner. All right, thanks so much. Marcus. I have to agree with both Elaine and Jason on this one. I did attend that meeting. I don't recall that specific moment so I can't speak to any laughing that I heard. What I did hear from the council though was definitely an apology and acknowledgement that they did not do that process correctly the first time. They did correct it by changing that date. They now use an interfaith calendar when they look and consider those kinds of conflicts or need to consider those kinds of conflicts. So I think they're taking the appropriate measure they need to in order to adjust and then for the future not have those kinds of conflicts happen. So yeah, again, as I said, mocking of any religion of any reason from I think is inappropriate but at the same time, I will give this one to the city council for having made the adjustment. Thanks so much. All right, and so a reminder to folks if you're watching at home, again, 802-862-3966, you're welcome to call. You're watching us either on Comcast 10807, Burlington Telecom 217 or our YouTube channel at youtube.com backslash town meeting TV. And we're gonna jump into this budget question and this is gonna be a little bit of a mouthful. I could just ask you, do you support the budget or not? But I want to make sure folks follow along with the details of this. So will you be supporting the Essex Junction City budget as outlined in article one on the ballot? Shall the voters approve an annual general fund budget in the amount of 11,421,171 dollars for fiscal year of July 1st, 2023 to June 30th, 2024, 10,420,986 dollars of which is to be levied in taxes against the city grant list. And I also welcome you in the spirit of opening the doors to democracy to help educate voters on what some of these things mean. So you're welcome to just say whether you support it or don't support it, maybe talk a little bit about why. And we're gonna start with you, Jason. You have two minutes on this. As it is, I will be voting no on the budget as it is outlined. There are many things I agree with but there's a few open holds that need to be filled before I would vote yes. Before separation, voters were promised a six to 8% tax decrease before separation. I don't respect the fact that separation was sold under false pretenses. That's not fair government and it's not, and the people responsible should have to answer for it. Essex town was subjected to the exact same parameters of separation that we were. Separation, hiring positions, COVID, skyrocketing, fuel prices, inflation. Somehow the town of Essex was able to predict and deliver a 22% increase in their taxes. I'm a science guy and I appreciate numbers and facts. The lack of transparency I find is very concerning. There is a adult program director that is slated for employment. However, there's no job description and there needs to be more information regarding that before I vote yes. Great, and if you know the percentage, what is the percentage increase on this budget? We have a 0.4% increase that was adjusted from 1.4% at the 08 March City Council meeting. Great, all right, thanks so much. And Marcus, to you, supporting the budget or not and help us understand this. So I will be supporting the budget. I do agree with Jason. I'm disappointed that we did not see the decreases that were discussed during separation. But I can't ignore the fact that inflation has changed that whole game. That was something that could not have been predicted back when the mock budget had been created. There are some additional positions that are also on this budget. And while I do recognize that some of those positions have not been fully vetted in regard to, here is their job description, I think looking at those particular positions, those are still out for discussion. But by having them on the budget, it gives us the opportunity to not have to wait two years potentially to put those positions and those programs into play. It gives us the opportunity to continue the community discussion. And if the community decides through that community discussion to not move that forward, we won't. But if they do, we will have the ability and flexibility to make that a particular adjustment. I think that there are ways to improve the budgetary process. I have budgetary experience. I think there are ways to use metrics and other systems in order to make understanding the budget and developing a budget easier. I would like to bring that experience to bear on the city council. Thanks so much. I do support the budget and I'm proud of the city staff and the hard work that they put into it. It's important to remember that the savings we realized from separation had to be used to reinstate the services and the staff that the village used to have before we started consolidating with the town many years ago. We had to build back up. So this budget accounts for many costs that used to be paid with Essex Junction tax dollars through the town. Things like stormwater, green mountain transit, Wynoski Valley Park District, all sorts of things like that. And now those costs have to be paid directly by the city. So on top of that, there has been a significant and unexpected increase in the Essex Rescue budget, as well as significant health care increases for staff. And then the eight to 10% inflation rate that has hit all of us has hit the city just as hard. So it's not the savings that many were hoping for, but I appreciate the city staff and the council's creativity in coming up with additional savings so that the increase was reduced to 0.4% from 1.4%. And for folks, if you're interested in knowing more about this, Tom Meeting TV did do this week earlier a budget overview with city officials. So you're welcome to tune in and watch that and understand a little bit more about the Essex Junction budget that you'll be voting on on April 8th, 11th. April 11th. We're gonna move on to the question of articles. And I also wanna remind you all that if you wanna have a moment to interact with each other, you can rebut one another's questions, you get a 30 second rebuttal. So you can interact as well. So articles, there are a few other articles on the ballot, articles two and three, Amanda City member conflict of interest prohibition, notably striking the prohibition on council members for employment in the city for one year, articles four and five, move the election of moderator and setting up the date to the council. Do you support these why or where not? So again, educate us a little bit about maybe the background, the history and why you support or don't these articles. And Marcus, we'll start with you. So I do support these changes. You know, first off, talking about the conflict of interest, it, the evidence was apparent from the conflict between our charter and state statute in regard to a health officer. We ended up in a situation where we did not have a health officer, state statute requires that we have one and that fell upon the chair of the board. But our charter doesn't allow for that. So this needs to be changed in order to align itself with state statute. I would like to see however us discuss there is one line that is being omitted and it needs to be omitted because of the example I just gave. But we, I think we should talk about whether or not an elected official should have the opportunity to take employment immediately following their service. I believe that the line that's in there requires a one year gap. I think we as a community should talk about whether or not that something like that is appropriate or some new language that would make that work better. Great. Thank you. I think the line strikes that one year. Correct. Prohibition, right? Great. All right, and Elaine. So Marcus said it very well and explained the reasoning behind aligning our charter with state statute to accommodate for that kind of scenario. So I'll just address the part about the gap in the one year gap. So there are many, many municipalities in Vermont who have hired or do or hire as a practice elected and formerly elected officials to serve on an interim or a permanent basis in various positions. And in fact, S-exjunction is one of the only towns in Vermont that does not allow that. So I think this is more bringing S-exjunction into alignment with just general practice. And there are a lot of very talented and knowledgeable public officials who could also do a good job as those employees. So I think removing that requirement is helpful to the municipality when they need to fill a position. And I just, you have a couple seconds left. Did you want to say anything about the moderator and setting of the date to the council? Sure, so we moved our budget approval process and all of our election process to Australian ballot a while ago. So there really isn't a need for an elected moderator to moderate floor debate at this point. And since we're also moving the ability to set the date for the meeting to the city council, I think it just makes sense that those adjustments are being made to accommodate our new practice. Great, Marcus, do you have anything pressing to say on that? No, Elaine said that perfectly. I agree there because we need the flexibility now that it's an informational meeting and the date change that we need that flexibility to assign it. Great, thanks. And Jason, on to you with these questions. Well, we have three points to address with these articles. I disagree with two of them and I agree with one. Great. As far as the moderator goes, I feel that taking away the rights of the voters to elect a moderator is chipping away at the rights of the citizens. In fact, at the meeting where this was brought up, a constituent emphatically argued against changing it. And he brought up a really good point that small changes that occur over time, we start here and in 30 years from now, we have a drastically different system. So I don't feel it's democratic to take away a choice from the voters. In terms of the gap period, I think that that policy was put in place for a very good reason so that there wasn't a revolving door or any conflicts of interest. So I don't agree with that either. As far as the date goes, I'm all for changing the dates and accommodating everybody's schedules. This makes sense. Thanks so much. Thanks for explaining that. We do have a call from a viewer. And so be patient with me while I push the button on this and hope we connect to you. Hello, are you on the online? Hello. Hi, could you turn your TV down in the background? That's helpful, we can hear ourselves. Hi, welcome. If you wanna just tell us your name and or your question and remember all questions are addressed to all the candidates sitting at the table. Thanks. Hello. Can you hear us? I can. Hi, my name is, hi, my name's Brian and I live in Essex. This question was, I was told that my questions were supposed to be directed to all the candidates, but this was mostly a question for Mr. Struthers. He stated in his campaign announcement that his decision to run was based partly on the city's reaction to him having a dozen ducks in his backyard to fertilize his cannabis plant. And as he learned that the city only allows five chickens and there's no provision for ducks. My understanding is that the city only found out about this because of your neighbors were complaining. I was curious what you are doing to address those concerns of your neighbors and how you could do so without having a conflict of interest there. Thanks so much. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna, thanks so much. I'm gonna hang up and again take this. I'm happy to address it, but I don't know if that's something I can talk about since the other candidates can hear. Absolutely, we can address it and I think everybody else can talk about how you resolve conflicts with your neighbors in a community context. I think that would be great. Sure. So we'll start with, you know what? I'm actually gonna follow our procedure and we're gonna start with Marcus and we're gonna address how you address conflicts with your neighbors in a community and specifically maybe a community like Essex. Yeah, I feel very fortunate in my neighborhood. I know my neighbors pretty well. We have a block party every year that helps bring us together. So we're in constant communication. I go to the dog park and interact with my neighbors there. I have learned through my experience of being a radio host of talking about these kinds of issues that there is always an opportunity to ask questions. There's always an opportunity to listen and there's always an opportunity to have dialogue and I have found common ground almost every time. There are some things that I have some neighbors that will always disagree with me on and that's fine but I will always work with them and communicate with them in a way that respects their opinion as well as hopefully they will hear mine and we can try to find again a way to move forward. So I hope that we can all be good neighbors. Thanks so much, Elaine. And do you have any ducks or chickens? No, no, I have one dog, two cats, love them all. Awesome, great. I don't have chickens either. I live in a condo neighborhood so we have an HOA which would prevent that from happening but I do have a dog that occasionally is kind of loud and my neighbors have complained about that and so really it's for me, solving conflicts with neighbors is about give and take and sometimes you have to give and sometimes they have to give and it's compromised but overall what I wanna see is happy neighbors all around. So I definitely believe in building relationships with neighbors and step by step. Sometimes it takes a long time to get to know a neighbor who might even live like two doors down and you've only met them a few times but you come together for various reasons and working together to make sure that everybody has their needs met especially if you may not realize that the thing that's going on in your home is really onerous or really upsetting to your neighbor and then you find it out and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, how can I fix this? With also explaining, well, this is why I do this and so maybe you can understand why I'm doing this but it involves a lot of compromise and a lot of respect for both parties and a lot of being willing to just work things out. And full disclosure, I do have chickens, so. Jason. Well, yes, initially the complaint was for an odor complaint. I would have been happy to address this with my neighbors personally but not everybody wants to address things in person and they avoid conflict maybe. So that is completely their right to do so. I received a letter from the town saying that it had come to their attention that I was raising ducks and they would appreciate my cooperation in getting rid of them. I contacted Terry Haas and asked if there was anything I could do. She said I could apply for a variance and that's what brought me before the council in the first place and I'm actually appreciative of it because I'm here today now because of it. So the council initially denied my application for a variance. When I, after the meeting, I brought up the fact that section 17 to 02 of the municipal code clearly states that all agricultural processes are exempt from these municipal codes. And when I brought that up to the town manager Regina, she told me that the city didn't feel what they were doing, what I was doing was considered agriculture. At that point I contacted the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and I have a point of contact there. I explained the situation and the Agency of Agriculture told me that what I could do, and I have done so, I've applied to become a farm less than four acres. If the Agency of Agriculture accepts my application to become a farm, the city will no longer be able to tell me what I can or cannot do in terms of my animals because state law supersedes municipal codes. So if the Agency of Agriculture says denies my application, I'll happily acquiesce and get rid of my ducks. Otherwise, I'm doing my diligence to make sure I follow all the rules. We are talking about following the rules here and that's what I'm doing. Thanks so much. And I'm sure constituents can reach out to all of you to talk about all of these things in greater detail. So we're gonna move on to the next question and I just wanna apologize. I think I messed up the order on the last run. So just in full, again, all the everything out there. It's fun to be human. I'm not sure I noticed. Yeah. So Article 7, shall the voters authorize a planning loan through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund for a project in the Water Price Enter Fund to complete a service line inventory and lead service line replacement plan or lead service line, not lead. Lead, is it lead? Is it not lead? Okay, great. In an amount not to exceed $433,700 to be financed over a period not to exceed 10 years. So please explain this article and tell us if you support it or not and we're gonna start with the lean. Okay. This is a clean water project that directly impacts public health and safety so I absolutely support it. And basically it means the city would take out a loan to start a project to count and inspect all of our water lines to find out if any of them are made of lead and if they are, it would require us to prioritize replacing them. Simple as that. Great, thanks so much. Jason, moving on to you. I am all for getting the lead out. Yeah, yeah, excellent. It's federally mandated. If we need to take a loan out for it, I'm all for it. Great, thanks. I agree, it's a federal mandate. We have to do it. Our only other option is to say no to it and that full amount will be dumped onto the next general budget. Do we wanna pay this in one big lump sum take away from other projects in the city or do we wanna get this no interest loan that the first payment happens in five years and we could pay it off in 10? I think this is the smart way to go, so I support this. All right, that was gonna be my next question. What if it gets voted down? So thank you for answering that in advance. This next one about legislative initiatives. So the Vermont legislative season is underway. What are some? And just, I wanna just, and let me finish reading this. The Vermont legislative season is underway. What are some important initiatives to the community of Essex Junction that you'll be tracking and supporting as part of your work as a city council member? And I just wanna say the reason that I am taking time to read these questions and you see them on the screen is because you can also watch this. We chaptermark these so you can jump to the question of your choice quickly and watch that part. And we're gonna start with Jason on this question. Well, two things I'm watching are the affordable heat standard. Quickly, I think it's expensive and it's not gonna reduce carbon that much. S100, it's requiring municipalities to have high density housing. So in other words, no single family homes and it's gonna require up to four homes per acre. This I don't like because the state is dictating what the city can do in terms of zoning and I think it's better for municipalities in this case to judge their own situations. So we'll move on to Marcus. No problem. So one of the bills that I'm watching very closely is S56, this is the child care bill. Essex Junction over the years has continually put resources and our Rexon Parks Department very strongly behind taking care of kids in our community. We have one of the best child care after school programs in the county, let alone the state. It is looked upon as a leader in trying to take care of kids during that awkward time of parents having to work and kids needing care. And we have always been at the forefront of that. We should continue to be that as a community and watching this bill, I'm gonna see how this bill supports the efforts that we're doing here locally. Great, thanks so much. Emily. I am concerned about housing costs and I'm also concerned about how some of the legislatures proposed fixes to the housing crisis might impact us. And like Jason, I am watching the large housing bill that's going through the state house right now to see if the recommended changes to local zoning rules pass. I'm not entirely certain that it's a requirement that there are no more single family houses anywhere. I'm not sure that's accurate, but I have mixed feelings like Jason does about this because having the state dictate zoning regulations to municipalities gives me concern regarding local control. But however, I think Essex Junction's land development code and comprehensive plan already address density and direct us to build in high density areas already. So I don't know that the new rules if they pass will have the same impact on Essex Junction as they would on other municipalities. But I'm still gonna watch that bill because I'm concerned. Great, and do any of you avail yourselves of the online opportunity to participate in the legislature, watching committee hearings? How Senate? I watch a lot. I haven't testified online before, but it's a wonderful resource to have the state house online. Again, with my experience, especially on WVMT and doing the morning show and talking about these local issues, I kind of got addicted to watching them and because you really start to understand a little bit more about what is going into and the discussions and a lot of behind the scenes that I think a lot of people don't take into account when these bills are being proposed and discussed and worked through. So yeah, no, I watch a lot of it. Well, I do watch some of it. I mostly concentrate on Essex Junction, especially since my political aspirations are quite novel. And I'm a hometown boy and I really want to concentrate on Essex. Thanks. So housing, we're gonna jump into housing next and we're gonna start with you, Marcus. Does Essex Junction have a housing crisis? What do you see as the nature of housing and Essex Junction and how to meet the need for safe and affordable housing? And I'll say that I agree with the concerns that I hear from Jason and Elaine on the housing bill, but yes, we do have a housing crisis, but our housing crisis is not just our own. This is a statewide problem. It's a nationwide problem. But how do we fix that? In our community, I have to recognize that we're a little less than five square miles. There isn't a lot of land that we can use to just build homes on. But I do want to see more opportunities for single family homes. I do want to see more opportunities for affordable housing. When I say that, I mean affordable to everyone and accessible to those in low income situations. So we need to have a variety. That variety will allow for a complex and interesting community. And I think it will really help develop us in the long term in a much more sustainable way. So yes, we need to put some time there. And one of the things that I do want to discuss as a city counselor would be talking about our height restrictions actually in the city right now. If we're going to look for opportunities to build more housing, we might want to have that discussion and it's going to be a difficult discussion about whether or not we can exceed the four story limit we currently have in the city. Great, thank you Elaine. So S-Extension families like families across Vermont are struggling to find affordable housing. And we are one of the fastest growing communities in Vermont. And with all of the apartment buildings that we have right now and the ones coming in the future, you would think that we have enough housing for everyone. But these apartments are renting out before the buildings are even completed. And single family home prices are too high for young families, young professionals and empty nesters. So we need all those apartments and we need to make sure homeowners have options like accessory dwelling units where folks can build a single apartment or add a single apartment to their home as some residents in S-Extension have done. And these can add affordable housing to a community without increasing density and they have the added benefit of offsetting some property taxes. Our housing commission is working on some excellent ideas for supporting residents right now in our tight inexpensive housing market. Ideas like ADA compliance and weatherization loans and low interest renovation loans. Those are things that the city can consider to help residents live more affordably. So I'm looking forward to hearing the housing commission's ideas and recommendations and I would work with them to implement some of them if I were on city council. Great, thank you, Jason. Well, as Marcus mentioned, not only is there a housing crisis in Vermont but it is nationwide. I'd have to look at how much the population of S-Extension is actually increasing. I think one thing we need to really look at is to the regulation of short-term rentals. But Vermont has one of the highest percentage of vacation homes. 18% of the homes are second homes, vacation homes and that is second only to Maine and they are known as vacation land. So I think that levy attacks on out-of-state second homes will be advantageous for us. I think what we really need to look at is how the real estate market skyrocketed through COVID that we're going to be reassessed soon and as the market writes itself, we need to focus on that and make sure that our budgets don't price out all the people that are already living here. Thank you so much. So we have about eight minutes left or so so I'm gonna actually kind of consolidate some of these questions. I'm gonna save the love of S-Extension for the last one because that's kind of the most fun. So I'm gonna skip down to the development and change questions since we're talking about housing and where do you see as the most important locations in S-Extension that need redevelopment? How are you gonna address that on the city council? Does S-Extension have a downtown city center? And we are gonna start with you, Jason. For sure, the five corners is the nucleus of S-Extension. I think that the area where development is most important is gonna be the Crescent connector. That plan will turn the five corners into the four corners. It's going to reduce the time. People have to sit at the traffic light. It's gonna increase the flow of traffic. And as much as I love the city, I do avoid the five corners because it is sometimes not very fun to sit in traffic and try to get through there. And I think we really need to improve flow. Thanks so much, Marcus. One of the reasons why I enjoyed the neighborhood that I live in in S-Extension was because it gave me accessibility to all the other communities and all the things that I love to do without going through five corners. But now we have got a lot of businesses and other things going on in five corners that attract me to bring me to five corners. And I'm really happy about that. But looking at the area, while I recognize the fact that there's development happening at five corners, I think one of the things that we should look at closely is Pearl Street. That particular corridor right now is built at a time when strip malls were the fad, the thing. It is one of our main arteries to get into our city. And I think that with a look at, and probably working with developers again on styling and things that we could do to improve the look and feel of that area with businesses that will attract more people because that is a rich area of commerce for the city. Whether it's bringing in a full service grocery store into the community or some other restaurants, other types of businesses that will really attract and build up and make a new the Pearl Street corridor. I think that would be great. Thank you, Elaine. I want to see the five corners area, which is our city center thrive. Excited that with the Crescent Connector, we will be breaking ground this summer and we'll be building the first new road in our downtown in decades. With this new road will come more apartments and more first floor retail space. So I want to see that area filled with new small businesses, sidewalks and green spaces. So our residents have an attractive and walkable downtown. And I want to start a downtown organization to support all of our local businesses. And I believe the city council should take the lead on that. We also have the funding now to renovate our train station thanks to Senator Leahy. And along with that renovation will be a significant road rebuilding and waterline changes. So on railroad avenue. So Essex Junction is the busiest transportation hub in the state. And with its high usage, we need to ensure our infrastructure can withstand that heavy use. And with all the new people moving into Essex Junction, we also have to work on parking for residents and visitors. So I think the city council may have to consider using economic development funds to form some public private partnerships to create more parking options. And all of this development is happening in our little downtown. So Essex Junction is less than five square miles. And it's important that we keep the development in areas that are already dense and that we can maintain our residential areas and our green spaces. And lastly, the most important aspect of our community and all the development that's going on is community input. And I really think the city needs to do a better job engaging residents on what they want our downtown to look like and what's most important to them. And as a city councilor, I would work really hard to communicate with residents regularly about development issues. Great, thanks. I do have one point I'd like to add. Yeah, go ahead. While the city is developing, one thing I'd really, really like to see is the city become more amenable to walking and biking, to not only to reduce carbon footprint, but just to make the city more accessible to everybody. Great, thank you. So we have three questions that we're not gonna get to. One is on language access and supporting the diverse number of languages that folks speak in the community, especially as it pertains to participating in local democracy. One has to do with public safety and one has to do with climate change and how you're gonna use rural. So we missed some big issues here. And I'm gonna just invite you all to take one minute if one of these really rose to the top that you wanna answer. I just wanna give you a chance to put that on the table and we are gonna start with you, Marcus, on that. And it doesn't mean it's your favorite. I know that, but thanks. No, I do wanna make sure that I talk about public safety. Public safety is extremely important to me. And so I think while I admire what the Essex Police Department has done, we are contracted with the town for these services. We need to make sure that we are getting our fair service from that particular contract. So we need to work with them on that. I also wanna make sure that the Essex PD has the resources and training to do not just a good job, but to do an outstanding job and to do it fairly and justly with our community. One of the things that I will be supporting and is soon to be put before the city council is a plan for a community advisory board. This board has been developed with Chief Hogue and Essex Best. This collaboration of creating this advisory board, I think it's gonna do an amazing job of creating community development between the Essex PD and the city. And I will fully support that effort. Great, thanks. And Elaine. So there is literally nothing more important than making sure that every resident in our community is healthy and safe. And doing so with our police department in as responsible and equitable way, as equitable as possible. And I agree with all the things that Marcus was saying, it's very important for us to make sure that Essex Junction is at the table with all of the decisions that are being made by the town police department. But I also see the Essex Police Department dealing with far more calls than they have the capacity to deal with. We have an increase in speeding. We have lots of noise violations. We have lots of theft in our community. And we also have things like psychiatric crises, substance use issues, and domestic violence. And so I see the police being asked to enforce our laws but also to provide social services that they're not necessarily trained to provide or that have the capacity to provide. So when I was a member of the Village Trustees and the Essex Select Board, we worked with the Howard Center and the police department to have social workers come right out on calls for non-criminal issues. I really think that's a great program. I support it and I wanna expand it. Mainly because I think that our safety net, our social safety net and human services in Essex Junction is weak and I would like to have more social services brought into the city. Thanks so much. And Jason. Just to touch on language, of course, we wanna make Essex a place that is welcoming to all in order to do that. I would need some more data and possibly a study on exactly what language is. Oh, pause everything. Yep, good, nope. What language is? Yep, that's okay, it happens here. What languages we need to concentrate on? Like I said, I'm fiscally conservative and before I spend money, I wanna make sure that we wanna know how big the problem is, what the appropriate amount of money to spend on it is and do the taxpayer support it. In terms of public safety, the city of Essex Junction has no police department. The town owns the police station. We have a 12-year contract with the town. We pay four services of protection. So we have a 12-year timeframe to figure out some creative and new ideas. We could do something on the lines of offering bonds to the residents to buy the police station. The town could mortgage a police station to us. There are a lot of different things that we could do. And especially since we have 12 years to plan for it, if we start saving money for it now, we can make some really positive change. Great, thanks. And thanks for being patient with me getting you to wrap up a little quicker. We'll end now with closing statements and the question about what do you love about Essex? So, our Essex Junction. Why do you love, and I come from Essex Junction, so I get to make that mistake over and over again. So what do you love about Essex Junction? Why do you live there? What's your favorite spot and why you're running? And then we'll be out and we are gonna start, I think, with Elaine on this question. How much time do we have for this? Let's give it about a minute. You got it, okay. So I truly love how, this is a great question, it's always my favorite one. I truly love how our community comes together to celebrate, to share, and to play. And my family has created wonderful memories over the years from our Memorial Day Parade, which Marcus and I have been emceeing. And our Fourth of July celebration, gather at the table. All of my kids have done Little League and the Little League Parade is one of my favorite things that we do every year. Our farmer's market was amazing and I really hope we can do something to bring that back. And the volunteerism that blossomed out of our decision to separate was like, just made me so proud. So almost every day, you can find me walking around in the woods behind my house or at the Whitcomb Farm, which is a wonderful resource for folks to hike in. The community garden in West Street, I go there every year, even though I can't always have the time to garden there. I just go look at all the wonderful vegetables and plants. The library, the park, our wonderful downtown, our gathering places like Nest and Boxcar Bakery and Martons. And I've planted deep roots in our little city. I've run a bookstore here. I've served as an elected leader and a volunteer. And I've proud of all the things that we've all accomplished together. And so I wanna continue my service by running for city council. And I hope that folks will vote for me. Thank you. Thanks, Elaine and Jason. Well, not only am I a native to Vermont, but I'm a native to Essex Junction. I'm a product of the excellent school system. I live here, I work here, and I love everything about it. As a child, I would frequent tip-top news mostly because of Panny Candy. I would go to the Central Beverage to and from school and I rode my bike every day to the Maple Street Park to go swimming. These days, I go to my physical therapists in Essex. They send me to Fleet Feet to get special shoes for my back. I go to the Asian Mart for eclectic food to shop for. I go for everyday items at Max Market. I take my kids to Maple Street Park, Stevens Park. It was a great place to grow up and spend my childhood. And I'm proud to say that I was able to raise my children here. Thanks so much. And Marcus. Thank you. I need like five minutes for this particular question. Because I love so much about Essex Junction. I mean, food usually comes first and foremost to my mind, whether it's grabbing a dozen donuts before doing a show in the morning, or at quality bake shop, or grabbing a croissant over a big boxcar, or going to more tons for a sandwich, or getting some spicy food over at Red Panda. I love the food that's happening in Essex Junction. And I look forward to more coming into the city. I do want to talk about Maple Street Park, because it is such a key piece of the city. And one of the things that I love most is the holidays. They like that place up. They decorate it for the holidays. Nothing better to walk your kids through that park during that time of year. I walked my dog through it this year. It was quite an adventure. We had a great time. And you know, I, like I said earlier, I participated at the dog park. There's just so much going on in the city that I absolutely enjoy. And I do want to one quick shout thanks to the Essex Junction Fire Department at Halloween for coming out, driving through the neighborhoods, passing out candy. It was amazing. That's awesome. Love that. And if people want more information, go to CERTA4EJ.org. I would love to connect with you. Great, CERTA4EJ.org, Elaine. Elaine4EJ.com. Great. JasonSterothers.com. Great, awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you all for participating tonight. If you can't feel at home, there's a lot of great energy here. Volunteers who are stepping up to serve your community. I'm at the wrong camera. There we are. And thanks for watching. This is townmeetingTV. You can watch us again at youtube.com, backslash townmeetingTV or at ch17.tv. And we will see you on April 11th at the polls in Essex Junction at the Expo Center for the Shambling Valley Expo. That's where voting is gonna be. Great. Thanks all folks.