 We're going to start right one minute late is all Hey Nancy So that and I are both rookies at this, but I am on the steering committee name now My name is Karen long and I'm gonna we're gonna trade off with facilitating the meetings and Thank you for coming. This was sort of a last-ditch effort that we really want to hear from our counselors So we decided it was really worth having an August meeting And as it was we had people knocking at the door. So we actually have three presentations now like Yeah, we have three presentations to quick ones and then the superintendent is coming So there's a lot of interest and a lot of action going on right now. So I think that's great So we'll start with speak out. Let's start here with Richard. I was saying tonight I wish I had his humor to let get us through this, but I'll try Richard was our devoted steering committee person for many years, but he can still Hello, my name is Adam roof I live on Pearl Street, and I am the city counselor representing Ward 8 Good evening. I'm Sharon busher. I live on East Avenue, and I'm the Ward 1 city counselor Hi, I'm Jack Hansen. I live on Pearl Street. I'm the East District City counselor Yeah, hi, Tony Reddington. I live in Ward 2. I'm visiting as a steering committee member of wards 2 and 3 and Live on none the what will be the greatest street in Burlington North and South Windows G avenues Sophie quest chase Street Gene Hopkins East Ave co-housing Hi, I'm Keith Pillsbury. I live on University Terrace. I'm the Ward 8 school commissioner Hannah Carpino Cedar Joe Spidella work with UVM and I live in Ward 3 I'm Liv Penya. I live in Ward 1 and I am a member of the steering committee Linda Rizvi and all Ward 8 and also a member of the steering committee Hi, I'm Carol Livingston. I live in Ward 1 also a member of the steering committee Hi, I'm Cindy Cook. I live on East Avenue, and I'm also on the steering committee. We stick together So in case you guys get you And I'm Jonathan Chavez local. I'm in Ward 1 and I'm also on the steering committee and if I can Ask everybody this microphone is for channel 17. So it doesn't amplify So talk into it, but talk loudly for everybody in the room to hear. Thank you Thank you Nancy Kirby Ward 1. Thank you Jason Suffolle Colchester Ave and old East End neighbors Brian Sewell Loomis Street Ward 1 Caitlin Halper at Loomis Street Ward 1 Rebecca Thompson, I live in Ward 2 and I'm here to talk about a program Michael Long Henry Street Ward 1 So we have 10 minutes now to have speak out Which is for you to make any announcements that you'd like and then we will also have an extended time with our city Counselors to ask them questions. So tonight we're hoping to have a lot of back and forth with people But does anyone have any speak out time anything any announcements? How about the bright green shirt? I like that Here I'll give you your announcement Okay, so with the old East End neighbors and several other people were throwing a party at Schmanzka Park on Friday September 13th from 4 to 7 and it's get to know people in your neighborhood party There was kind of one last October Based on Schmanzka doing some new work on the park and kind of having an opening of that So there's a Nash Place neighbors UVM student life Campus kitchen the old East End neighbors all kind of thought that this would be a nice thing to do and so we're gonna have Campus kitchens gonna throw in some food UVM is gonna bring some games some food and some tents There's a new staircase there from Vermont Youth Conservation Corps. So they'll be there and then Burlington Parks and Rec will also be there to have the barn open so that you can go in and view it It's not technically for use But so you can view it and it's in the process of trying to be reopened We'll have more details coming out. But if anyone else wants to help participate with that we have a Couple people that are kind of working to drive all of that but the the main details are coming out soon And so we hope everyone comes out from the neighborhood the new students all the people that live here the new people at Bayberry and Come down and just enjoy the the new park and get to know your neighbors for a good time. All right, thanks The date is Friday September 13th from 4 to 7 p.m. And it'll be at Schmanzka Park and you know was welcome for anyone to come down and Get to know your neighbors Thanks Sure Yeah, I just want to speak briefly again Tony ready as again. I'm on the ward 2 3 steering committee and we took August off And I hope that when we start September We meet the day after your regular meeting the second Thursday ours is the second Thursday of the month We have a community dinner that starts at 5 30. That's free It's an incredible dinner and then of course even better is our Like almost as good as yours here at Karen our npa 2 3 I just wanted to stop by briefly to talk about The Pine Street coalition. We haven't been back for a while We I think that There's also a new we obviously are seeking a new environmental impact statement process a new basically start a new design from scratch And we have now moved to the US district court and we're hopeful that we will be successful there and We will have a community driven design process of a Street that people can love here in the city The last effort the last public hearing was held in 2006 a few years ago There's a nice picture in Today's seven days that talks about the pit and we sort of look at the Current design for the parkway is very much the big hole in the south end and We right now have one injury per week If you're either about after you know bicyclists in the city We have two car occupant injuries Safety is important and all the safety aspects of the of the parkway Were never discussed and none of the current best practices are used An example would be that for example, you would expect to find a sidewalk spend 47 million dollars You expect to find a sidewalk no sidewalks in the Pines in the parkway you would expect to find A the the other piece that's really bad Is the disconnection of the south end from Hanifords if you've been down there at all now that's already closed off for construction Make a long story short. There are there are a few flyers on the table You could help by signing our petition online and if you have questions Just give us just contact us and check out our website. Thank you. Thank you Jason forgot to say he's got more t-shirts safe Colchester Avenue for all We're all people and we all need to be safe and we are having bike lanes up and down All of the hill of Colchester He's got he's got more t-shirts great Nancy Could you hand that to Nancy? Thank you Speaking of safe Colchester Avenue I'm really happy it's paved The lane is incorrect And in the past two weeks seven vehicles Parked cars have been hit and two accidents One was a drunk driver Coming too fast and another one avoided hitting An a rabbit and hit two parked cars And um, I almost got hit pulling into my driveway With a car trying to pull around where the bus stop is So yeah, it's a nice smooth pavement, but it's become a speedway And I'm about ready to throw rotten eggs at cars going too fast. So something's got to be done Oh, you want to Okay, and Jonathan also had something for Jared or maybe it's the same So I wanted to make sure that people knew that they were invited to the update of the bhs btc Construction update will be tomorrow night the third thursday of every month during this construction and the Period of about next two and a half to three years. We'll be doing it every Third thursday at 5 30 to nine at burlington high school cafeteria Tomorrow night, I believe we're going to be talking about The phasing of the project and we're going to start to look at some of the Schematic design, which uh, we are expecting whiting turner the Major contractor to come back to us within a week with uh, whether our our preliminary design Will be able to fit the budget that we have for this project. So We've we've designed it and now we have to see if we can if the product of the budget will afford it Now we'll be what we'll be talking about in the next couple of times at these meetings Okay, so we do we're running out of time again, of course Which is good. Maybe we need more for speak out. I like to hear from people. I'll be quick Um, living off colchester avenue. I'm just echoing. Um, nancy's concern about people speeding. It's lovely And clean and but people are moving pretty fast Wondering if the bike lanes are going to help slow it down or be more dangerous The other thing is much more minor. I was out there with my hand side this morning Doing the greenway and I'm just curious about who's in charge of the greenway Besides a 68 year old neighbor with a hand tool Good question Okay Sharon had asked so this is jaret speaking even though it's me So I think jaret called a number of people as he usually does so He once again And I share this like jaret are incredibly frustrated with the fact that transportation is focused on bicycles cars and never the pedestrian And I was on the two committee and I thought I made a few inroads getting pedestrians focused on But now I'm not there. And so once again, it's bicycles bicycles bicycles cars Not people and people need and there needs to be attention. So jaret once again feels very strongly that Signs need to be posted on colchester avenue saying 25 miles an hour to remind people about the speed And that there really needs to be a relook at some of the pedestrian crossings to make sure that they're marked correctly and I'll stop there I have some ideas, but that's city council stuff. So thank you So we might have richardus our last and then maybe we can do more Another part well as there is a Wellington police department officer with us so welcome Jared and mark porter and I went to police commission a couple of years ago And asked about traffic enforcement when there were manifestly documented As Nancy said speedways And the chief said of that time We prefer not to do traffic enforcement because it's a bad experience for the driver And that's I thought that was the idea but I I wonder if the police officer would care to address that because There's seldom if ever any traffic enforcement in the city bicycles motorbikes cars trucks police vehicles buses I was pulled over a few weeks ago. So they're doing something they got They got a hold of me Hi, my name is is john mirad i'm the deputy chief of operations And i'm actually going to be speaking at the next meeting here on on some of these topics But i'm i'm happy to very quickly talk about it It traffic enforcement does still occur and what we have seen over the the past A couple years with regard to data is that crashes with injury have decreased crashes Overall have have trended slightly up but are largely stable A lot of that has to do with other kinds of Developments that includes really specifically the work that was done on north avenue Restructuring that and and there was a lot of very strong data and a very Disproportionate decrease seen there owing to road changes however I believe that some of that traffic The the crash with axe excuse me crashes with injuries decrease Is nevertheless attributable to officer enforcement But it's officer enforcement that is now focusing on on more egregious kinds of driving conduct And the chief is correct. There has been a dialing back of overall stop enforcement That's partly because stops are no longer The department has made it clear to officers that that stops are for the sake of for example Interdiction are are not a priority for the department Stops with regard to traffic behavior remain important especially when that traffic behavior is as I said egregious or dangerous And certainly I'm fully aware in in npa meetings like this one or others that I go to that It remains something that people want. Uh, I live in the city I know people go too fast on the road where I live and I I appreciate the desire for Enforcement on stop signs and on speed limits on city streets I appreciate the need for or desire for enforcement with regard to bikes and that's both sides of the equation That's the pedestrians. That's the bicyclists and that's the vehicles around the bicyclists I believe that we're still trying to work out as a department how to make that happen without Emphasizing or overemphasizing enforcement And if to the extent that we can create changes without that and in collaboration with other parts of the city and and road development, etc That is something that I think the department's going to continue to explore That does not mean that we have Abdicated our responsibility to maintain road safety I don't know if that's sufficient for you, but And and I I'll have data that goes beyond these I mean this anecdote or this I'll bring A report with me that really does demonstrate the numbers for it. Thank you very much So I know the most challenging part will be to stay on time with this We do have Rebecca Thompson from the library That is up next so welcome And share your Actually, I guess give you this Hi, everyone. Um, my name is Rebecca Thompson. I'm from the Fletcher free library I'm here to talk about a new volunteer program. We have called the early literacy outreach program It's a volunteer program that's focused on bringing early learning enrichment to home child cares in burlington I've identified 20 home child cares that are in need of services and I currently have seven volunteers who are out Leading story time every week with groups of children in these home child cares And we're currently recruiting for our second round of volunteers And our training date for that will be on september 7th at the library Our volunteers are trained in leading story time at a home child care and provided with everything they need to Have story time with books with songs with activities And create a really special connection with children and providers and families throughout the city So I do have some flyers that I will leave over on the table over there if anyone's interested We have a page on the website, which is fletcher free dot org And it's under the kids section of the website if anyone's interested and my contact information is on here If anyone would like to ask any questions right now, I'm happy to talk more about the program Oh September 7th from 10 to 2 p.m They go directly to home child cares who are often not able to transport the children they have So each volunteer is placed at a home child care throughout the city They are on a database. I don't have them at the moment. Um, it's Person, you know each volunteer is placed with one and they visit the same one each week Jonathan That you're supposed to tell me thank you Sorry, oh me Becca, maybe could you just talk a little bit about how you the process by which you chose the The centers that you chose for this Sure, so there's a quality rating system for home child cares and center-based child care It goes from zero to five and it's called the star program and There are certain funding opportunities that are available only to centers that are four or five stars They're considered high quality by the state And so centers that are zero to three star rated are not eligible for certain opportunities And enrichment activities that we feel Are really important and so the library's role is is offering these Opportunities to centers that wouldn't otherwise have the the chance to access them Our program reaches zero to three star centers, so they are not considered high quality Very good mark So who's who's evaluating these programs again? Did you say it was the state? It's a state run program It's a voluntary program at the moment. So Each center fills out information sheet Let me restate that so you said there was an evaluation that was taking place to rate these programs from zero to five So is is that a state initiative? It's a state run program, but it's voluntary. Okay. All right. Thank you Very good Thank you You might be right back on time again And I do have live helping me and helping you With these little time cards So especially when we have the longer presentations She's gonna throw up her two minute and then our 30 second, which means wrap it up It's kind of hard on speak out like sometimes we might need it for that too, but we did good So now it is time for our Noble city counselors I guess give you guys Both maybe I should well, maybe not because we're gonna have a lot of questions. So this is going to be Short brief Brief update. That's a good idea. I'll give you this one. Yeah, brief update from you folks and then we We hope to use this time to really have some questions because we often don't get to Really hear a lot. We have a usually like a 20 minute span so There you go Great. Um, I can start. So yeah, I'm jack and the east district city counselor Um And I guess I'll speak to the resolution that I brought so we had We only had one meeting in july it was on I believe the 15th, but we just had Um, our first august meeting on monday. Oh, sorry. We just had our first august meeting on monday And because we had taken a four week Break it was a pretty heavy agenda But we didn't get through it all and and one of the big items was A resolution that I had brought forward around it relates to the f-35s It's around the basing of a nuclear weapons delivery system at the airport I could really go down the rabbit hole on this This has obviously been an issue for a long time and the vermont state senate passed a resolution this year around this nuclear component of the of the discussion and Um The city of wanouski in south burlington their city councils also passed resolutions and this is in response to Information around the potential for upgrading f-35s to become nuclear capable So there's there's been plenty of mixed messages on Whether or not the f-35s that are slated to come to burlington next month Would Be upgraded or not. I think there's there's a lot of Evidence on either side of that But this is a precautionary way to ensure that we're at least taking the stance as a community that we Absolutely would oppose that and and don't want to host a nuclear weapon delivery system at the airport So that was the purpose of the resolution It passed unanimously there were there was an amendment made to it as well that passed And the amendment spoke to you know wishing This was an amendment by a council president right around Wishing you know safe safe trips when when the f-35s come and Also getting the ball rolling on noise mitigation issues So I think i'll leave it at that for now, but that was the biggest item or the one that we spent the most time On monday, and i'm happy to answer any questions about That item and i'll let i'll let them speak To other stuff before we open it up and have more of a conversation So, um, hi um I've been really immersed in a number of of initiatives that are going on one is the A rewrite of an ordinance that deals with inclusionary zoning for affordability And i've been i've been part of that process and i've been tracking it I've been going to all the planning commission meetings and it's now come back from planning to the ordinance committee and councilor ruff and I are both on ordinance with the chair of his chip mason, so um, I just want people to be aware of that those meetings are um Are posted and I encourage people if you have strong feelings about inclusionary zoning to follow along with that The ordinance um deals with any number of aspects um around it Um, so that's one thing. Um, the other thing that happened I'm glad that I heard you all you all got your communication about the use of enhanced funds for the npa I had I printed it out to make sure that that our npa knew about how to document those funds and that's good Um, but the other important thing that will impact our entire community is that we had a Presentation on reappraisal which is coming to our neighborhood soon and so um that presentation was um I want to say that there will be two different groups here one One group it's going to be looking at the commercial properties Uh, and the other group is going to be looking at residential And the intent is and I met with the appraiser on tuesday after the Presentation to just kind of hone in on what I I felt was necessary for the community to keep you all informed um I suggested that they'd on the website. There would be a like a A bullet a page that would talk about what constitutes A commercial property and the approach that's going to be used And some other factoids and for residential the same What constitutes residue residential and the approach and other factoids for residential There won't be people are not going to come and do onsite inspections However, if the property sold within the last three years, they're going to come and visit you If indeed you did significant improvements to your property, they most likely will come and visit you You can also request that they come and visit you So those criteria will be on this page that um that they're going to work on They also plan to come to every npa and the way they're going to roll that out is that they will Talk to the steering committee And before they actually they're going to take divide this the community up in In sections so when they're going to come towards one and eight They're going to come to the npa in advance and offer information and give it a chance for residents to have a question and answer period But they'll do that in each section But what I encouraged them to do was before that just so that everyone had some basic core information was to get That basic info that I just described about Commercial and residential out to all the npa's at the beginning of the process and then When they actually come so everyone will feel somewhat informed and you won't be feeling well I heard more four and seven. They've got all this information. Where what about us? So I really feel like um, there will be a good approach to it and I wanted to highlight that for all of you This is a big deal You know, ideally you're at a hundred percent of market value. We're at about 77 percent of market value So there will be some changes as you know So um, that's what I want to speak to and I'll pass it on to adam I'm going to leave most of my time for for questions because that's the main point of tonight, but I did want to share something um, non-conservative but important to me, um It's about Lyme disease and I just want to point out that right now Lyme disease is something that More so than in years past for whatever. I'm actually not sure why so I'm not the scientist here, but Get checked if you don't feel well check yourself have a partner check you Um, my mother just got diagnosed with with Lyme disease and it's something that we're dealing with now and I want to use my platform here in other places just to remind people Check yourself and check others because it is a it's a nasty disease and it's highly preventable And it's more so preventable if you do contract it early on So if you start to feel like you're in a marathon, but you didn't run a marathon Go and get checked out and with that I'll stop and leave folks time for questions Who has questions for the counselors Hey guys For share and just a couple things One if you could explain what inclusionary zoning is And then what you mentioned a website is that on the city or is that a separate? website that's going to be established by the appraisers or What there you mentioned the inclusionary zoning? I'm just wondering what that is And you mentioned a website where you ask the appraisers to define what commercial and residential means What website are you referring to and just so that we can have it in the minutes for people to Get that information So the website will be the city website under the department would be you know The assessor's office, but it's not very I mean there's nothing there yet But that's where you will find that information Do you want to come back to that the ordinance? There's a definition that I could read but There is not Okay, so it's a it is a method So when you when development is proposed There are criteria To try to create units that are affordable And so The affordability is if indeed it depends on So inclusionary zoning percentages, let me just it's complicated So it's about 15 percent of of units that are developed So if you're going to develop a project 15 percent of them have to be Less than 139 percent of median income So it's an attempt to make some units affordable for People in our community And it's an also an attempt to integrate Individuals so that you don't have just high-end development So you would have a mix of incomes in development So on and any development like Cambrian rise the one out on north avenue um, that's got 700 and some odd units and um I don't remember the number we all met with with Eric ferrell But I don't remember the the number of units because his percentage because of different criterias higher It's about 25 percent of the units are actually affordable and um Oftentimes the way developers meet that affordability Is they'll partner with Champlain housing trust and they will create Either you buildings that are separate but within the development that are affordable units or They will sometimes integrate those units into a bigger building So the inclusionary zoning ordinance What what they looked at was a number of of issues one was the fact that Some developers in in some of these scenarios if you don't want to build the units Within the project you could build them elsewhere And so that They recognized like in some and some sections of the city if we're really trying to Integrate make every make our community diverse socioeconomically diverse you don't want sections of the city that have high-end housing To say no, I'm not going to build affordable units. I'm going to put them in Wards one and eight. I'm not going to put them in ward six I'm picking on ward six is high-end that they're not all high-end. But anyways, let's just say that um So they identified that if if 51 percent of the households are Above this median income you can't you cannot um Put the units elsewhere you have to put them within the project So but if you're in a community if you're in the old north end where where the Median income is lower than you could actually build these units off-site in another section of the city No, this is proposed. These are changes. Um, the changes also have to do with Let me just think about it percentage. Um, there used to be um, it it's a very It's a huge ordinance. So um, and I wasn't prepared to I can do a better job by really being prepared to talk about other aspects of it, but um Let me just think about some other things I want to share with you. Um I don't know if adam Going up in the beginning And I think that citizens spoke up They were going to have like the crummy units the ones that yes don't not I went to every zoning meeting But they were going to and even people started calling it the poor door Remember and this is in the beginning they didn't they weren't allowed to do it because a lot of citizens protested that those inclusionary units needed to be within the whole 14 story development In the housing part not just the crummy ones that had no window Or whatever they had to be and you know and it evolved so that that it did not end up being that way at the end But I do remember that that had to do with the inclusion inclusionary zoning law That the developer actually was going to to um To make them crummy units. I think there were there were Yeah, I don't believe it was that extreme. I think that there was there was always concern When you have a mix of of incomes To make sure that the affordable units are integrated fairly into the development and so I think We are always very cautious and we want a safeguard to make sure that people No matter what your means have the same quality unit That someone else is is having access to and I think that really is that's the intent of this also Inclusionary units are are the same quality as the other units also. There's no differentiation really It's the affordability One of the sticking points for us was the fact that there is a perception that because you don't have a lot of money That you would Not have a car But there are people who actually Are on fixed incomes who qualify for affordable units who actually like work out in williston at walmart So the parking component and whether you had to pay for parking and how that adds to the cost of housing We really didn't solve that problem what the planning and we and Just so you know The city council cd and r committee and the ordinance committee bumped it to the planning commission because we couldn't solve that and the planning commission Ran around and tried to solve it and couldn't either what they did say though was that Just because you're in an affordable unit. So so the number of parking Places are impacted by The affordable units. So you don't have to provide cars for those units. So that so the Environment for parking is less But the people that live in all the units whether they're the affordable ones or not Have the same access to parking So that was the way they tried to deal with it as far as the price There was really no way to we there was a con conversation around Trying to see whether should we should we put it as part of the Overall cost of a unit, but then how would you do that? Because it's not really housing. It's parking not everybody has a car. And so we that's the best we could do So i'm going to stop now because I could eat up the entire hour with this Sorry Richard Uh city place was mentioned. So I hope to some sometime during this we will hear about city place Get a city councillors update, but that's not my question. My question is I'm sorry. I wasn't able to go to the city council meeting because I would have Spoken as a staunch supporter of the f-35s and the And the nuclear deterrent, etc Not desirable, but I would have spoken in favor of it one thing That's a separate argument obviously debate But one thing that when I spoke about it Eight years ago whenever it was I repriezed something that Daniel Patrick Moynihan who was a senator for new york used to publish a document every year of the Money that came into each state from the federal government And the money that went out and Excuse me unusually among high tax states Vermont was a net receiver of federal largesse Um, so my question to the city councillors is if We lost the f-35 mission What thoughts do you have about? Because that money is going to go somewhere some the mission is going to go somewhere Someone is going to be the beneficiary economic beneficiary if if we are the loser So what are your ideas for making up that economic deficit? Thanks Darn, that's a good question. Um So two things so the question is how would we come up with the deficit? I think you have responsibility if you if you yeah, we don't want that government money. Yeah Uh, what are we going to do to? Maintain yeah living or the quality of life I think it's uh, it's a it's a it's a good question to ask But it's also an opportunity to recognize that that's not a reality that we're going to face In the sense that the planes it is an inevitable it's a fact It's an inevitability they are coming and I think that was an important next month and they're going to come two at a time Um every month until I think what is the number 18? Is that what it is? Yeah Um, so four or against the f-35s. That's not the question the question is how would we be able to Backfill that loss and I think the the fair answer is we wouldn't be we just wouldn't be able to Um, you know that that money Knowing also that that money's unique for the airport majority of the majority of the money that we get from having that this base here Isn't that benefit from a from a one-to-one basis to the airport mostly the the overflow benefit mostly occurs from the The jobs and the families that that are employed by By that mission. So that's the spillover I don't think I don't have the the hard number like the full dollar amount that we get from the various I think there are multiple federal agencies that we get funding from It's in the tens of millions and and the alternative would be Um, I don't try to raise it through some other Revenue stream, which would be unrealistic from a from a tax burden standpoint. So and beyond that I think A lot of the reason why we're allowed the reason we can fund and be a burlington international airport Is because of all the infrastructure that we're able to have because We're a base. That's how I understand it. And so beyond just losing the the mission and the jobs We would also have the added difficulty of maintaining the the flights that we have now from a commercial basis and maybe also to a um A commercial on the both the commercial basis as a as a passenger also commercial for for cargo and that such so Um, I guess it would be interesting to to map out all the economic impacts Both on both ways, but that's my best guess on like the back of the envelope math If they're going to have a question and you just kind of give me that then I'll be on cue to give you that So I'm going to I'm going to be very brief and pass it to jack. So um I supported the resolution about the um making sure that they the planes don't or in opposition to nuclear capability for the planes but um As far as the f 35 and the fact that we What they what Having that base There as part of the airport they provide a lot of in-kind services also as far as um Being there in case there's a fire or an emergency with a plane with a plane crash So I I wouldn't even be able to enumerate all of the things that would disappear If indeed their mission and all of that money went away and they and there was this void now um I think that it would be it would be such an economic hit to our region That we would really find ourselves really floundering trying to figure out How to work with our representatives in washington to figure out what could be done But make um, I think richard, you're absolutely right. I don't have an answer. I think that um Whether you like having a military base or not, I think that was certainly part of what was contemplated by our representatives in dc So Well, yeah, I mean I can just speak briefly I think they they spoke to what would happen if they weren't coming but It is extremely Likely that they are coming. I don't think this resolution is going to make the air force change their mind Well, it's not under our control It's it's not on it's It's not under our control though. I mean, it's up to the federal government Team is at the airport now planning for the event for mid september. So yeah, I think We have to be clear with people that the planes are coming whether you want them or not they are coming Okay, I mean, I I think we we're living under trump. Okay, so You know, you could give something a hundred percent certainty from the federal government I don't think I would do that, but I think it's extremely likely that they will come I'm just not giving that hundred percent to Donald Trump's air force. We also don't want to be giving folks false hope I feel that a lot of phone calls and emails Over the weekend on monday And I was the one who had to break the news to people that this was not an opportunity to To stop the planes from coming and I totally agree and Appreciate why the resolution came forward and I voted for it on all the basis is for what what the resolution was But for folks out there who still believe that there's a chance to To enact change and and prevent them from coming I do think we need to start getting real with folks and saying that I'll you know, I'll meet you halfway. I will say 99.5 percent. They're coming. So I'll meet you there. I'll go 98 You know, that's what that's what one of the compromise looks like I just want to make sure that people aren't hearing that it's not it's it's maybe likely that they're not coming It's it is they're coming Sorry, go ahead and I was trying to speak to it That's where I know I'll put this away from me So In the event the 98 percent 99 percent likely event that they're coming We we do have a real and and again they spoke to the question if they didn't come Which I think is extremely unlikely But we do have a question to figure out that I think is Is relevant in the community and there's been a lot of articles about this recently But how are we going to pay for the noise mitigation that will be necessary that still Is a problem that is not solved that we need to figure out So I want to just kind of pivot from that question to A very real question under this reality, which is what we need to figure out as a community So there there is money from the federal government to deal with Soundproofing, you know initially the the proposal was eliminating or taking down houses, which was I didn't like at all Anyways, that phase is over now. It's soundproofing But that money there is money from the federal government that that is coming for Homes that are in certain zones Okay Azure is about that 35 no Okay, is this about that 35? Yeah, let's stick on this a minute I do have a question about about about city city place and and that is Leaves jack out because he wasn't there when this project was being Proposed and and approved but but I'd like to know What were the what were the major mistakes that you guys feel were made and how can we avoid them In the future so recently we heard about our bond rating going up and that's great But conspicuously absent in the in the kind of public discussion has been What went wrong with you know the pit happens? City hole and so forth and I think it's important to to kind of own up to what went wrong And and and to be clear about what people are going to do What our leaders are going to do to ensure that mistakes of this kind don't occur in the future So I don't I don't have points. Um, I just have that um I think that okay, so What would we do differently? Um, I think every time you um make a decision and then um You get to reflect on it. There are things that you learn from it. What would we have done differently? I think Perhaps some people would have chosen to take It's tricky still to speak about some of the things that are in executive session and and Michael this really bothers me because I feel like I'm a cloak and dagger But I think different. I think people would have made different decisions. Um At certain key points in our process initially going into it. I think everybody Felt that there was a project that whether you supported the project height or not but the The combination of what it was going to bring downtown with commercial space retail and and residential Everybody felt like that was what our downtown needed. So I don't think there would have been any difference there um Would we have along the way? Had built in more checks With the developer perhaps. I think maybe that really is one of the things that we would have done Um differently. Um, I think you know communication is always key And I think that communication on a more regular and frequent basis more direct communication With the council. I think would have been an improvement also That those are the things that I can really share with you. Um As far as what went wrong for the Developer along the way things happened cost got cost rose And they had to rethink their project and that built in some delays I don't know if any one of us could have anticipated some of the things that happened in our economy um And so that requires really having a crystal ball and I and I don't think any one of us do But certainly um, there were some things I as a city councilor see I could have done differently to make that communication clearer make me better informed so that when I Got an update that I asked the right questions and understood exactly where we were so That's what I can tell you I've thought about this A lot and I think that if I could go back the one thing that I would do would would would force ourselves to have the conversation In the context of macy's Of the of what the the former macy's building. Um, yeah All right, you asked for what I Would I would have done well the one the main the primary thing that I would have done differently I would because I think this is realistic Would have forced the conversation at least anecdotally to have a discussion with The developer around what would happen if macy's were close Because they were giving us every single signal possible that they were going to close It was obvious they were going out and and that's the main thing that I wish that I did and I'll own up to that Because if we were having the conversation then in context of macy's In many ways to be having the conversation that we are now And we would have been able to envision the the programming and the the scale and scope and massing In the programming as they call it the mix between residential commercial and office Though we would have been able to realize that With more space this way you don't need as much space this way And I think that's the primary piece that I would have would have thought of now There are some other items that I think we're we're kind of required Would have required a crystal ball, but they're either just as important to recognize to understand how we've gotten to where we are today And so in addition to that macy's piece coming in After we did a lot of the the scoping and ideation around what the project will look like Um, I think that I I wish that we had known that don sinx was going to get bought out by brookfield Who's just a it's just a different beast brookfield operates a lot differently in many respects, I would say that they operate better Then than don sinx. I think shiarm would agree having worked with don as well But they're not perfect, right? They're bigger than don so they move a little bit slower They're bigger than don so they have more lawyers Who cause things to go slower? So that would have been one also and this is said without judgment To the suitors but one thing that I did not contemplate Was that once this project got go once it was green lit It was met with a a lawsuit that lasted I think it was eight or nine months or something Again without judgment to that lawsuit That was a a delay where nothing was happening On the site and then coupled with that sooner after when deconstruction happened They found asbestos and that added another couple of months So call it really the first year What was the timeline because I've been I've been trying to find out It was a few months because the lawsuit resulted in a settlement that was Brokered by peter clevelle and that allowed the project to go forward So I'll say a few months. Maybe maybe I mean, yeah, it was it was it was a short period of time No, no, no, no, no four months for asbestos. No, I think I don't know tony. Do you know I think it might have been a month Again, not judgment. Oh, how about this? I'll make it really I'm just I'm just saying that there was not there was not any serious delay as a result of that lawsuit None there was a 500 There was no serious delay as a result of the lawsuit there was uh The lawsuit that was settled in order to allow the project to go forward Time for when the lawsuit was filed to when it was settled I don't either I don't know the exact the exact numbers but to suggest that it's nine months is a gross exaggeration I mean, that's like by by by lack of many words of magnitude It'd be fantastic if we could find out how long that it would be easy to find out That would be I'll let you know that'd be great. So with the lawsuit plus the asbestos There was some even if you want to call it on a combined matter Several months. Again. I'm just giving some context here. I'm not attacking. I couldn't say it any different No judgment to the suitors But there was a lawsuit that did add a wrinkle to this and they did come I guess what i'm saying adam is that what i'm saying is that The project was not viable And I would like someone in the city to recognize that they approved a project that was not viable And this is this is at a huge cost to the city of burlington as a result of the the poor judgment That they exercised and the lack of due diligence despite repeated claims of doing due diligence So i'm just looking for if I make a mistake I'll acknowledge that mistake and I think that's what people should do when they make mistakes I don't see any of that what I what I see instead is people before it was all about Um, it was all about you know public-private partnership and now it's like, oh, no, that's private development not my problem I don't think that's been set once Excuse me, but I mean is there an opportunity for me to finish my comment about city place? Absolutely because that would be that would be great because I think what's important to recognize Is that there was due diligence done? And michael if you could sit down and I would I've invited people to do this including folks in this room To sit to excuse me. May I can because I was quiet with your state with your statement What would be interesting is to look at what we knew then and point direct To to some specific things that and i'll leave jack out of this But what your city counselors had information in front of us and we made a decision based on that information Right. I I I can't be more clear about this that there are the made the contributing factors that led to where we are today We're only identifiable through a crystal ball And if you're if you feel different about that I want to look at the at the facts of the matter in the details And identify exactly where you think there was a mistake because I will own up to mistakes My mistake was not forcing the conversation around macy's that was a gross mistake michael But the notion that somehow we were to expect that donald trump would be elected on the same night that this community voted In favor to approve the tiff financing and the zoning law overlay If we were to have been able to anticipate that we would have maybe Have been able to have guessed that global markets that did impact the bids for this project Which were estimated during the early 2000 and mid 2016 time period, which was a different world folks Again, this is not me trying to validate my vote I'm trying to be frank upfront and honest about the true dynamics of what has led to this issue The truest issue with this is that the bids came in 10 15 20 higher than they should have been Right and that is only that is only related to global market shifts Because there were internal reviews and you might not trust the city They were and I can't I can't convince you to trust me. I can't It was the internal review of the city It was the external review that we brought in our development professionals Looked at us in the in the in our eyes and told us that this was a viable project Based on the financial global markets that we were assuming As well as the developers assessments. And so with that try out of input I'm confident in my decision. I would make it again if I had to go back If I knew what I knew now, we would do things differently, of course Of course we would but the notion that we were going to Anticipate that Macy's was going to get sold and bought up and brought as part of this the notion that we were going to know that Brookfield was going to take over Don Sinek's stake I'm kind of glad that happened and the notion that we were going to know that that Don Sinek Donald Trump was going to throw our global markets into a bit of a Topsy-Turvy state and our bidders were going to be 30 higher than they were supposed to be I wish I I wish I could have known I wish I could say I made a mistake and that I knew that was going to happen Damn it. I wish I could but there was no way for us to know that no way So I know I'm probably not supposed to speak up, but I just want to say I guess for me the biggest problem is that well one I didn't know that Don Sinek's was bought out. I thought he's 49 and Brookfield is 51 But he's still in there. Okay. That's what I thought so he was not been bought out. I just wonder is that new news but The money the the my biggest problem is that in basic 101, you know Doing an addition on your house. You do not tear down something until you have the money in place and I have two People that were you know, they're retired now But they were contractors and I all along kept talking to them one lives in Idaho one lives in North Carolina family members And I'm like there's no bonding on this like there was no money And so to me that's the part about the viable project and yes And don't forget PC walked off the job. It wasn't that do you remember this? I mean PC walked off the job That's why nothing started happening. I mean so it to me the biggest problem was there was no money to Do the project and as the city Like you said and we should have not let anything be torn down until We knew there was money We knew that something else was going to go up Because now we all have a big hole in the ground and it is costing us money So that's the problem. We are totally losing on that Does anyone else want to speak up on this or something else? Jonathan? Yeah, I was actually I was actually going to talk about The appraisal Sharon that you brought up But I was going to make a little rant about city place in the meanwhile. I want to make that rant But before I do I want to say that I'm I'm really not a big believer in placing blame What I'm a believer in is learning and doing something differently next time So it's it's wonderful to reflect and it's wonderful to mea culpa But the really important thing to do is to is to and it may be too early for it But to get a group of people together Do a do some serious problem solving on this and make sure the same thing doesn't happen again That's that's what matters doesn't really matter. Who did what in the past what matters is not doing it again okay, so let me if I can just get back to the appraisal because because um You mentioned communication and to me communication is absolutely the most important piece of all of this And the reason why I was going to raise city place was because my understanding is that the city is having daily conversations With brookfield on on what's going on. We heard this at a city council meeting sometime in the past Daily and it's 15 or 20 days since that started I think the city Should be telling the public what's going on in those conversations doesn't have to be a lot of detail But it's like radio silence right now I asked this I asked city hall if they could do if they could present something on a regular basis The response was brookfield will talk about this. It's not brookfield's job to talk about it We don't you don't work for brookfield you work for us The mayor doesn't work for brookfield the mayor works for us You need to communicate What's going on that's really important and that's where I get back to the appraisal Um, I'm very excited about the appraisal by the way, and I'm a I'm a real believer in real appraisal because I'm a real believer in In equity because the real what people what people worry most about in my opinion Is that they're somehow being cheated because their next door neighbors paying less tax than they are equity is the most important thing in a city The the present I saw part of the presentation at least the presentation started with a cartoon That showed what people fear most about reappraisals and there were half a dozen things the first one was my taxes are going to go up and I was disappointed that the presentation didn't address any of those things and and in retrospect It's probably not the appraisers job to answer those fears But it is the city's job to answer those fears I'm I'm on the board of assessors. I I I work very closely with john vickery. We get along great I urge him to make sure there's a good communication plan with the city Uh with with the public I would urge you to work on a communication plan because that's what it's all about There has to be a strong communication plan now as it goes forward And when the when the when the figures come out and then everybody will feel comfortable about it But it's got to be it's got to be a real act of communication plan And and it's got to be thought of as a plan somebody has to own it and work on it And there's my two cents. Thank you very much. Thank you The day after I heard on the 13th. I met with john and said it's about communication and and so So I agree with you I agree that the city as a whole needs the communication Communication is key for any topic whether it's city place or whether it's reappraisal or whether it's the f35 Whatever communication is key. And so I'm doing the best I can with the reappraisal to make that happen I and um I feel like I work for the city now. I mean In all honesty, I'm spending a tremendous amount of time in city hall and and It's fine But you know, I I can't cover it all because I just can't but I do Meet with departments and try to make sure that people get the information they need as far as city place I would like to say Sharon busher's you know resident of city of burlington feels as frustrated as all other residents in this room that Maybe The city is getting communication daily communications But this city counselor has heard nothing and so I came tonight thinking What am I going to answer if you ask me? What's an update on city place because I know nothing And we were told and we asked for have to have weekly updates And we have not had those so um Before this meeting adam and I briefly talked and we're on the same page that we need To get those updates. This is ridiculous. You know, even if it's to say Whatever whatever that you know, this hasn't happened But this is where we're at just to restate Maybe where you're at and we haven't had any movement on this Why we'd like to know and as much of that should happen at the beginning of each city council meeting I mean, we don't have many of those And an open session as much as as it can happen Because all of you want to know the same thing too. Where are we? Where are we now? We're not really losing money But we are delaying our downtown and we do worry we do watchdog when all of you talk about You know, what's going on? I worry too. Um, we had this plan about downtown and uh transportation and uh The business community and dpw working with a transportation plan for downtown and for the holiday season and How important it was I stated to have free parking downtown because we have some stores down there We want to make sure they succeed. We do measure their success We try to evaluate how we're doing, but I mean, I'm worried just like all of you I will this when is the when is the bottom going to drop out? It hasn't dropped out. I know you're all worried It hasn't dropped out. It's still a project that is to the best of my knowledge Is a viable project that has been significantly delayed And I need just like all of you need to know When are we going to see some activity? Once we know when they begin They'll then be able to tell us What the anticipated timeline is but before they begin They're not willing to give any kind of detail like that So I I share your frustration as a resident I I feel like I know all of you see me as failing you. I'm not trying to fail you I'm really trying to keep you in the know But I'm having difficulty getting the information myself So Sharon, is there is there a way that your constituents can help you get that information? Why can't we we'd like Brookfield to come to this meeting next? I think they have nothing to report Yeah, that's right because they don't know anything because they're not telling you We would like I know you want to have them and I think it would be really important to have them come Well, I just read the newspaper that they were last I read in the newspaper They were going to the npa's and so that they had gone to ward two three. They went to ward six So I was hoping we could get them here because Moreau was saying that also that they were going to all the npa's but we never saw them So that's why I had asked if our city councilors because vet told me that karen paul is the one that set it up for them So that happened, you know right when Brookfield kind of took over for dawn and that was and and then you know People went on summer vacation. I see basically however Um You certainly we certainly can make that happen We'd like to be able to have them be able to say something to you right as opposed to if you've watched the public the meetings And you've seen the interaction I think all three of us will agree that you don't really learn much from the interaction right now So is it early then to ask for them? Maybe well, I don't know Okay, maybe they'll be activity soon Thanks, I mean I'd be happy to I'd be happy to ask them Because I think it's a good opportunity to get them in front of us and at least try to push them and try to Have some type of dialogue It might be limited what they can say But I at least Want to know whatever they're willing to share if that's of interest to people So I feel like we can invite them to for next month unless people want to wait But I'd rather get them in the hot seat sooner than later personally So so will will vocal and and chelsea zeal bomb are the two names that may sound familiar um what I what I May or may not be able to share I don't know these days the lawyers will get me if I'm wrong but um They are planning to grow their their team And I don't know much more than that. I do I do know that they're planning to grow That team so that they can have more folks here locally either permanently or Something permanently. I don't know like I do know that they're intending to grow their team and when I talked to them last I did say I'd said two things Well, I said a lot of things I said you kind of have two problems, right? You have a you have a construction problem You also have a communications problem, right on the construction side. That's what you do well It seems you're the biggest in the world. You must be good at it You're not doing a great job on the pr side of things And use your at very least use your city counselors to help you with that And so I told them you got to come to the mpa's. I know you made some tours They wanted to they they pulled back frankly because that last update the city council. They gave us it was kind of I will swore it wasn't it was kind of thin And they it was no update It was an it was an update list update and they got flack for it as they should have and I think Where they're I actually can to a degree you can appreciate this. They don't want to give an update Again, unless they have something to update us on and so if they were to come back and say the update is we have no update I'm probably gonna throw something at them, right? And I know they don't want to do that So they've been asked they have committed They said they will come I'm hoping for here for september or october when they have A substantive update to give and hopefully then it's not just those two who aren't In burlington very often and I do think we need someone Who is here locally if not permanently a whole bunch of time if not from here are here at least has familiarity with the With the area because I do think that Like like john said communication is really Half the battle here they have and it's an easier problem to fix Shoot I said look take a full page ad out in seven days and introduce yourself to the community That would go a long way Don't even update anything on the project just introduce yourself and people in burlington tend to respond well to that More of an update would be nice, but you got to be seen I have a question about that. Do you think that the size of brookfield might may be making City place less of a priority for them Do you see how hard it is to hear? Do you think that the size of brookfield is making Our city place less of a priority for them They've got a lot of irons in the fire a lot of money on the line elsewhere. I'm sure So Could we be a very low priority for them? And is there anything Anything we can do to Encourage them Commit in the pit already So there are there are a few like a four. I don't know how Tends of billions surrounding our for for their overall budget. That's for sure. I haven't gotten that sense Well, that'd be fair, right Whatever if they're they're probably building some skyscraper and koala and pour or something that's probably a higher Grass tax probably higher on the list of priorities, but I don't think they only have one priority list I know that the Their director of construction is focused on this. They are not ignoring it They are doing work and frankly a lot of them we kind of glaze over it, but Um, I didn't get to it. This is an important piece Dog sex is still involved in the project So a lot of work a lot of dancing had to happen to get him to take the back seat Right. So having him be a 49 partner in the project still did not mean that he still wasn't driving the ship in a lot of work had to go in to to take him off the The steering wheel, I know ships don't have steering wheels, but Um, that was a that was a big a big lift and that was a major update That frankly got lost because of that silly delay that happened. We had that monday night Executive session and then tuesday that there was remember like that comment in the hallway that happened And that spooked everyone we didn't get that darn update until later that later that week Because that was lost that now don sinx not just as a 49 partner, but also not driving the ship anymore And I think that's good So I want to answer your question by I as I was walking over here. I was beginning to think that I I do believe we're not a priority for them. That's my gut and I think that it's because They don't have a dedicated person here and they need a dedicated person And so they can tell me that we're a priority and they have told me we're a priority But just like I can tell you something you want me to prove it. You want me to show you I want them to show me show me We're a priority by by being here by communicating regularly and by Showing taking some small steps towards beginning the project That's what shows that we're a priority and so I agree somewhat with you that I think we are small fish And you know, I I'm concerned about that We are just about out of time with the city council. Do you still have your f-35 comment you'd like to make? Oh, yeah the f-35 I was I was just wanting to make a comment on the I think this is really due diligence conversation I know we're having a conversation right now about something that's already happened And it's very important, but something's getting ready to happen and here's an opportunity to get in front of it. So, um It occurs. I'm a retired army vet. Okay, so I just want to let you know I'm retired army officers And I also know that I understand the presence Of the military here in vermont and have a lot of respect for it quite frankly Okay, and I think that um It's important to understand that the the air force is not the only folks here The army folks are here as well Um As much as I think it's unfortunate that we're viewing this as a revenue issue Because it seems like we always get ourselves In a little bit of a pinch when we start looking at our moral issues as revenue issues So I'd like to just state that Because At some point or another it shouldn't matter if it's a revenue issue if it's a real moral issue Okay And I think the the other thing is is that um I'd like to see some numbers, you know, I'd like to I'd like to see some spitball and and what does it look like You know, what does what does it look like if the air force Changes their mission? Um, or if or if they didn't have a mission here What does that look like in in terms of dollars and cents if if you're concerned about dollars and cents um and um and also Um to what extent in this we can take this the answer to this question You know, maybe in a continuance of this conversation in another meeting or offline after this meeting But what is the conversations that you're having at the statewide level about this because it seems like you've You've made a symbolic vote and you've resided to the fact that the vote really meant nothing And um the question is is, you know, are we really are you are we having conversations? Are you having conversations at at the statewide level on the um The prospect of the air force, um moving out moving moving the f-35 mission out Uh, and are you having real conversations with our uh our delegation our congressional delegation as well? um Not just to affect change to the extent that what would occur next month But there's a month after next and there's a year after this and there are five and ten and 20 years later Okay, so that's that's the uh the thought process that I have on the 35s. Thanks So We really are supposed to go on now to your presentation. Uh, do you did you forget? So do you do you want to answer from that or I mean I feel like I mean in all fairness, I think they should have an opportunity to say something. Okay, and I'll just cut back on my presentation Okay, that's necessary. I'll try to take two quick points. Um, 30 seconds Geez All right, ready Go um the first vote I I thought about this and maybe you could speak to this But the first vote I think the city council took Related to f-35s was five years ago from monday So there was a lot of stuff that happened leading up to monday and conversations with state and feds did happen as well Also as part of that resolution that was passed on monday. There was a report Uh, that was asked to be done to get back to the city council from the airport Around that noise mitigation effort So we will be seeing some numbers on a going forward basis with how the process is going on that front Are you cutting me out? He's on he's on show right now. He's setting up so Really quickly on the brookfield thing. I think another reason off of what um, the other counselors had just said I think getting him in front of here in front of us sooner than later to Put them on the spot in terms of their commitment to burlington and Maybe they don't have an update, but at least we can press them on what their commitments are what their plans are going forward Will they continue to be communicative and hit them on that that pr side so to speak as counselor roof said, um, but on the f-35s. Yeah, I think What all we can do is is push The the state and federal level and that's that was the intention of the resolution in part if you look at At the actual resolve causes of the resolution It is that we're requesting that the congressional Delegation the mayor the governor inform the acting u.s. Secretary of defense that the city of burlington strongly opposes blah blah blah so I mean that is the idea is to be pushing at the state level and Using that to push up to the federal level Yeah, and so I'm just going to tell him mark that oops. He's walking with adam So mark so as as adam stated, you know this the f-35 conversation started quite a while ago And so a lot of the constituencies that you reference state and then federal as far as our reps weighed in early on And we're very clear about What it meant to the community what it meant not only economically, but what it meant For our ability to be the kind of state we wanted to be and so Um There's a lot of history there and we'd have to go back and look at it all in order to actually answer some of these questions Yeah, that's um Is there any volume coming out of there We'll try we'll try it. Well, it doesn't make any difference. I mean, we'll we'll figure it out No, it's fine. Uh, who's this guy doing on here? I just I just clicked the first video on youtube What do we got Jonas brothers? Did you No, no, no, you just need to uh Okay, I dance Here get rid of that. Yeah, okay Uh, and you want to get to your powerpoint? Yeah, I had right there one second Okay, great. Thank you And we'll see and if that if that video works it does it if it doesn't that's great We're not gonna really even talk about that Okay, thanks. So mark. I'm award one and I think I know mostly everybody in the room I want to give a shout out to john. Thanks for showing up. Good to see you Also the city consulers and y'all I see you back there as well and the rest of you live Thanks for hooking us up and getting me in I'm going to tell you very briefly a couple things about Something that's planning some most of you know that I'm with justice for all racial justice organization in the area and we're also running a The racial justice alliance which is a policy based organization It's doing a lot of stuff at the statewide level as well as we're working with the city council too So we stumbled across some history and we found out that down in Hampton What's going on right now? This is the there's a 400 400 year commemoration You probably saw the president went down to Hampton about a week or so ago in and to participate in activities in that commemoration As we all know our first government was formed in jamestown and down in that area In the house of burgess and so forth Also, what was going on during that time in 16 19 in late august about 20 africans stepped off a ship called The white lion that ported at a place called comfort point which is now referred to as hampton virginia That plate those 20 african-american those 20 africans at that time Were skilled africans cultured africans africans who had skills such as blacksmiths irrigation Other types of skills and then I think part part of that it's going to come out In the presentation on on the event what I came to tell you about is just the event itself is it's on the 24th What we decided to do is is to kind of mirror what's going on in hampton and and to begin begin a In a tradition of having this event on an annual basis here and we're calling it african landing vermont We came across some research that was done with the commission that was stood up There was some legislation that was passed last year, which is why this slide is up A legislation that was passed last year to to create a commission a 400 year commission to to provide technical assistance as well as to to assist in in the Planning activities across the the united states so they weren't funded So what we're doing is is we're we're swinging by a bootstrap So what we decided to do and I put out some of these Presentation some of these slides to some folks And you can you can take it with you if you want to or put it up or throw it away or use it for something else But what what what we're doing is is we're kind of get just trying to get the word out So what I came to tell you is is all about this I have a really brief video to show you to kind of summarize this in a little bit better If if we can get the sound up on it I will if not then you can probably just go and google it and find a find a video yourself and you can figure it out Um, I got a I've got a card that has afts on it I'm going to put it right here because I'm just going to be the last thing I do Is um, but I just wanted to share with you some of the sponsors really quickly because I thought you might be interested um The Episcopals of Vermont are our major sponsors also the city of Burlington I just wanted to let you know that twin craft and been been in jerry's chimed in and Disability rights Burlington Vermont schools. Thank you y'all. Um as well as uh uvm Um The vice president of equity and and uh hr that that office there Then there's a number of private donations that have also come in so i'm encouraging you as well to assist us with this If you can please We um, oh i was i'm not supposed to ask yet. That's on that card. So those are some of the folks um that have um Asked that have agreed to help out or tell you a little bit a little bit about some of the line up dancers singing food singing and food and food and drumming and and fun But what what we're going to do is is also we have a a um A speaker lined up as well and we're kind of trying to still get that figured out So we're keeping it a little bit of a surprise, but i'm not quite sure if it's going to work But we'll see We're doing all of this we're bootstrapping all of this everything. We're just just it's words literally flying by the seats of our pants It is exciting. It's exhilarating. But it's also very stressful. Um, so um, please help We're going to put up a facility for volunteers up on our website So if you can if you can help us out in any way hands feet hearts minds all of those things We really need your support at in any capacity whatsoever supporters volunteers Our communications we're going to be we have began the process of tweeting of uh, facebooking of instagramming um Sharon's looking at me like what? And and um, so there's a lot of communications that's going on we're email blasting this as well So if you happen to stumble across something pass it along just pass it along because it helps. It helps a lot. Um There is a facility that we had we intended on just allowing it to be free And just have folks just come and but then we said, whoa, whoa, we won't know the capacity So then we went and tried to put up a a little um event, right? You know what I mean and try to track everything So it's free, but it's on event, right? So it's really complicated and didn't it's on facebook And there's an event on facebook and it's just it's a mess Okay, so go out sign up any way you can try to give us an idea that you're coming and that leads to the next Point which is please be present. This is an event that is for All of us. Okay. It's about our history. It's about all of our history. It's not just about The africans who came here to the united states. It's about, you know Who we became as a nation and who we became as a world as a as a result of it? Okay So please please be present, okay And and bring your friend with you bring your housemate with you and bring the people across the street that you don't like With you And and then finally sponsors sponsors sponsors sponsors I'm going to try to pull this thing up in just a second, but Sponsors are incredibly important. I just I just named off a few of them I don't see anybody reaching for their checkbook. So I don't think I've done very well here, but think about it So if you just go out to the website and I'm going to give well, it's right here There's the website if you can go out to the website if you can go out to you could if you if you'd care to volunteer Before we get the facility up on the website just send an email Excuse me to that to that email address And somebody will respond to you because they will not let you get away if you want if you want to volunteer You will never ever get away ever again No, I mean you will use your help this time and we may contact you next year is what I meant to say So you'll find us on um You see the you see the web address, okay Follow us though follow us on facebook follow us on twitter follow us on instagram as well Follow us on facebook twitter and instagram I'm going to forego this the uh the video in the interest of time because we've we've gotten behind because That hole in the ground is really important. Thank you for your attention. Bye. Thank you very much so Okay, one question from Sharon busher If you come the question is is she comes to the event? Will she find out where point comfort is? Yes, you will not only that nobody in this room will ever know Can you see down there? One more 30 second question and because I saw I think I saw your finger go up is that no You didn't have a question. Okay, so we're done. Are we done? Everybody clear? Are we good? Thank you so much I don't know I can plausible deniability Which one testing one two three Is this the right one there's three of them here? No, this is it. That's good unless you want a cord Hmm All right, can I start welcome. Yes. Thank you very much I'm y'all banger I think I've seen most of your faces before throughout the course of my tenure. Happy summer And I'm glad to see everyone out engaged during august You know, I've been saying happy summer to people and people are like, it's not over yet Especially our our staff who are coming back And I'm thankful to have this opportunity to come and share with you Some of the great things that has happened in our district We've had some really good support from the community the last few years in terms of supporting our budgets And supporting our bonds to build high schools and other things So wanted to take the opportunity to go out and start sharing in terms of the work that that's happening And every year I do a year in review Of some highlights for the for the board so the board can kind of see from different perspectives in terms of what's What's happened and this year after that I was kind of reflecting back because I'm actually entering my fifth year Here in Burlington and I was like wow. Oh my goodness time has flown by and started reflecting back when I first arrived and You know, like most things, you know, when I got into the role here at Burlington I thought I was new what I was getting into but there was some nice little surprises, right that so when I So one thing we found out what there was actually a deficit in our budget You know, I thought it was just some challenges We've had a number of leadership turn over in a short period of time. So I had some instability around that There were there were racial tensions Among students and staff and And there were some real issues that we had to address and deal with there were some structural things You know a finance department in our human resources Department as well too, but we quickly got back to work And some of you were probably a part of our community engagement process when we did our strategic planning And we did a large consultation It got lots of good feedback and got to understand a little bit better what the The needs and wants of Burlington And that gave us our strategic plan goals, which is sustainable finance and facilities Equal climate culture and inclusive teaching and learning, right? So I was kind of reflecting back and saying, okay. Well, you know what? We actually have moved the the rock up the hill a little bit So that gives you a little bit of context for those of you who I didn't meet when I first came Where I'm coming from and I'm I'm really proud and happy to be Sharing this after fourth my fourth year and entering our fifth year And I think this is going to be one of our best years ever because we've been able to Put some structures and processes in some of the logistical things and we're now shifting the organization Around really the level of engagement sort of in the classroom Engagement and working with our board to set up some structures and to have high achievement for all students So let me share with you. It's a quite a long presentation. So I'm not going to Go through everything, but I wanted to give you a flavor and if you're interested Go on to our our site You can go on to the superintendent go superintendent And it's one of the first things right on the board website on their superintendent page You can click on it and you can peruse through it Page by page it's good night reading if you want to get to sleep stuff like that, but I'll endeavor to try to just Expand that a little bit otherwise we'd be here for several hours And this is quite a challenge because we do get a lot of submissions from all our staff and students in terms of The wonderful things they've done and it's hard Not to include everyone right because people feel like oh well we did this this was so amazing and you know Say yeah, it is but it can only be a thousand pages. So We can't go on so here we go. Let me see if I can get this You can skip that. This is what I kind of talked about this a little bit in terms of our three main goal areas And fortunately for us when we developed this and this came from the feedback from our community And we established these big rocks I call them and then the agency came out with Their priorities for us and we found that it really aligns with what we're doing So we're like You know so our inclusive teaching and learning aligned with the academic proficiency Personalized high quality in the safe healthy schools aligned with our equitable climate culture initiatives And our investment and priorities around our sustainable finance and facilities. So that was a great alignment And we're like great We did all that work and we can report back to the agency of education And they can see the alignment of what they're pushing as a as a state that burlington is writing line with Where we're going as well I'll skip that So I've kind of chunked it under the um the three goal areas. Um, so No, yeah, so it's where it's in this fourth year and it's been very successful um Every year we get a whole cadre of graduates Of parents who are engaging in learning and it's a great modeling for our students to see their parents are learning And the majority of the parents that engage in our newcomer parents And it's great to see that they've come to the country and they want to find the tools to be successful themselves And how they can engage and help their students in school and there's lots of research I won't go into it that shows a connexus in the nexus between parents learning and engaging in the system And supporting their students. So um, if you want more information around this go to our website And there's more, uh information around there improved communication I won't go through that, but uh, I think mark was just talking about facebook Instagram and all and all the other areas and and so we've uh, Really engaged in trying to get information out and we've got many many many followers in all different sites sort of Learning about what's happening in our system And that's a vast improvement from what we had several years ago And those who've been following you've noticed that our website has changed over the last couple years in terms of Being able to provide information to the public as readily as possible Um, let's skip that Early education. So early ed is is critically important. We know that every dollar we spend at the early ages It's $10 at the top end We we still keep a focus on the early ed and we've got a great curriculum director around early education We've got a number of sites and there are tremendous initiatives that are happening to support These learners as they enter into our system And if you look at the data you can see students who are engaged in preschool and in these programs Versus students who don't have those opportunities. There is a gap when they start school And so, you know, we want to continue to build the capacity in these programs. So All students in burlington who wish to can be part of these programs as well Technical center, this is probably the best kept secret in education around here, uh, btc People know that we have an aviation program And we have airplanes we have a fbi plane. We've got all kinds of, um, innovative practical initiatives for students we get From the private sector people calling our tech center asking for Students to be employed in aviation and we can't supply them enough. They're like, oh, we need this many And so I would encourage you to actually check out the tech center It's uh, we've won many grants and awards around initiatives and to promote The tech center. There's some amazing things going out there and in terms of employability There are so many jobs out there that need the skills that you can You you can acquire through these tech centers that students aren't quite aware of and we're trying to do a better job Working without high school to create our schedule. So our students can take more advantage of it It's open regionally. So we get students from all over the region But our our kids in burlington have direct access to it Here's some of the uh, celebrating success. Um One of the slides up there. I didn't spend that much time on it But as we're moving forward now when we're really focusing on our academic agenda What the phrase I've been talking about is closing the gap While raising the bar Right, that's the achievement bar. So that means we have a number of vulnerable or Usually identify students who are in the gap. They're underperforming. We have the kids at the top So we want to employ strategies that we can close that gap But at the same time we want to raise the bar for everyone. So those kids that are getting 85 90 We want them to excel and be enriched and we want these other kids to kind of catch up and close the gap so here's an example of Many of our students who are thriving And are getting excellence in the different uh, different spheres and if you take a look at the um The bhs scholar bowl state championships there. Um, those those are all girls team And they kicked butt Yeah Right, so some more some some more, um, uh identifiable sort of notable students who've gotten National we've been recognized nationally and across the state for our student achievement So no one can say that Burlington students are not, um going above the bar here Okay, actually before I we've had national scholars the last, uh three years and presidential scholars Every year from Burlington and now the one year I believe we had there were Uh six or seven presidential scholars throughout the country and three of them were from Burlington How amazing is that? Right, uh, so English language learners. We have a great English language learner program and we're continuously Developing strategies to integrate more. Um Last year we started this app That's able to do translations and start communicating with parents. Everyone has a phone now So we're trying to hook into that technology to be able to communicate with our Parents and our communities at every level to uh to find success for them Okay And these are just some highlights of uh, some of our Staff who've had been recognized throughout the course of the year. We've got, you know, national principles of a year awards to, um Substitute teacher of the year for the state so, you know, our staff are really stepping up And providing great service for our students and also being recognized both at the state level and at the national level as well When you talk about innovation Burlington certainly is innovation There's a city and lake semester program and what's really unique about this program that it's kind of It's kind of grassroots because it started with a couple of community members a couple of staff They came they had a proposal We sent them back so we couldn't do that. They went out and got grants They developed the program and now we've got this amazing program That our students engage in learning in the city And I know that uh, they had an audience with uh, with the mayor last year and they were talking about the Their equity data their equity report and gave them input and many of the students got really engaged around changing their careers and and All kinds of I had an opportunity to uh To go to their closing at the end of the year to hear About their successes and it was amazing and one of the questions I asked the students is, you know, what makes you successful here? Then when you had classes in the classroom in the building the school because they're not housed in the school They go around the city and they have a spot downtown as well too And they talked about the engagement and the learning style was different So you had students who were who were poor performers or a high achieving You had high achieving students who now really found their niche and were connected to different avenues of Of career paths that they never even considered. So, um, we hope to continue that program and to look at other ways of innovating we've had lots of Communication from other jurisdictions who are interested in trying to replicate Um, there's so if they come knocking on your door if you're a business person or you're you're working in communities somewhere Please open your doors to these students and give them an opportunity to learn about what you do Uh, continue our curriculum innovation this cart this food cart here that was um Developed by students and there's a number of them in the schools And so now they they they they use use that as lessons and they actually get to actually prepare food on it as well too And i'm talking elementary kids not the even not the high school kids. So it's lots of good innovative, uh initiatives happening Um, I talked about we implemented our achievement gap strategy. So We want to aggressively look at what we can do To address the challenges for our vulnerable students And to do that you have to keep an eye on the prize And so we had to dedicate special staff who were doing research They were we had a team go away to harvard last summer And spend the summer with a number of districts across the country inspect with instructors there They came back and we hired some special staff They're doing some data analysis and come up with strategies that are going to help our students in terms of Closing the gap. So so we're really excited about that and look forward to, um progress in this arena And here's some examples of work that's happened already. I really like this part because I see the picture in the corner Dig into the data. That's one of our, um teachers and instructional instructional coach and they had work with a group of teachers around, um Formative assessments in terms of using data to change your practice to support students And they were doing a bit of a celebration. I like that because I really like cake So, uh, I like to show show up for those opportunities And um, I thought that was really a fun way for them to celebrate with their students and with their staff in terms of You can make the change if you add the right strategy and you put the effort Um forward, right? I wish I had time to go into detail about all of these, but I know that we're only here for Right, so you can see lots of professional development for our staff In terms of how to we can't just tell the staff we need to close the gap We have to give them the resources and supports to do that and I thank Burlington For supporting our budgets that gives us the opportunity to hire the appropriate staff and also the professional development that's needed to support these learners Okay, sustainable fines I won't spend too much time on this because you're probably seeing a lot of propaganda around this prior to the Boats and things we want to thank Burlington for supporting the re-envisioning of Burlington high school And we'll be embarking on a on a 21st century learning space Which is going to be amazing and this is also tagged with btc technical center So you can imagine the infusion of the technology center and the high school We're going to have double gyms drama centers the arts music Everything it's going to be a beautiful site. It's going to be an engaging place for our students to learn for the next 50 60 years Right, so that's going to be an amazing thing That's it's not only going to be a building but it's actually going to change instruction Because the design that we're working on is is is helping um Our teams and departments in how they plan together and work together And also using maker spaces in terms of how we give instruction and supports And those of you who've actually been to Burlington high school if you've been to the science labs Anyone been to the science labs? They're not appropriate for 21st century for sure one first of all um The spaces are not enough for to fit the right size classrooms and the equipment is not up to date So we're going to get out the chance to bring our kids Give them the resources they need and and be able to strive forward We have a capital plan. We have a 10-year capital plan That's working on not just the high school, but all of our schools are in the plan And um, we're we're doing that. So if you're drive by mainstream, you might have seen edmunds being worked on all summer Right, so it's not going to be totally done But by uh, when school starts is the major part of it's done If you ever get a chance actually to go in go in and take a look at the The new cafeteria and the new gymnasium that's been that's been designed there And there's an area there that used to be called the dungeon And now it's a beautiful space and there's light coming through and the kids are loving it. So, uh, take the opportunity to To go and see that if you can Oh, here's some photo. I forgot we had some photos so you can see this calf This part was just a basement You know about a year ago and now look at it. It's beautiful There's a window on the left lights coming the our food services staff are really loving us right now because all that equipment It's brand new new ovens, you know new cookware ventilation and you can see the uh The uh, the the order spot here is nice and spacious for students to walk by get their food and uh go forward right so It's exciting stuff All right, um just once again just to thank you around the budget so you know that in the last, um We moved from a deficit to having surplus in our budgets And every year we've been able to take that money and reinvest it back in our students and also bring down the tax Um to bring down the tax rate and i'm hoping that you know, we're going to be Uh, physically restrained enough that we'll be able to continue to do that and reinvest the money that burlington has supported us um the last Five years Any time for like a question? Uh, yep, uh, I still have another another section, but I'll just I'll shoot through really quick So the last section was equitable, uh climate and culture Um restorative practices maybe you might have heard this phrase before restorative practices rp Sometimes people say and we are restorative practices district So we are on a mission to train and educate all our educators as well of our students in terms of how to use Restorative practices and restorative practice is a strategy and approach To keep students and staff feel included and to repair harm when they're in situation and to problem solving critical critical things So our teachers are getting trained You'll go to some of our schools and some classes start every class now with a restorative circle And teachers report back that it's really changed the environment of the class and students feel safe And the relationships they have and then you can get deeper into the work and they feel that level of support So we're ongoing there was and we had um, even over the summer there was training. We continue that work as well too You can see this photo here. We're really taking this seriously. We had over 400 employees For one day at bronze high school. We did a lot of training a lot of work and we all interacted And uh went out went back to our schools the next day to try to implement some of these strategies there um Always in the focus in terms of the equity lens one of the things we've tried to highlight in terms of Around black history month is not just doing the work in that month That the work continues on and many of our schools have engaged our staff to come into our schools And work with the students and talk to them about their own experiences And I had an opportunity to do that as well too. And that's some of the best Experiences I have as a superintendent is uh, the little one, but they ask you tough questions Those those ones sometimes And we had our second annual beyond black history month as a community event. You can see this the The show of support people come out. We have food. We have Some literature that share we have entertainment. We have students performances. It's a really fun event Look for it this year. If you're available, please come. It's free Come enjoy and share with us about learning around black history and civil rights During that time Facilities again, we've been highlighted in some really good articles around our equity initiatives and this particular news article was around the gender-neutral washrooms and the work we were doing When the schools and that was really proud to see how far we've come with that And of course we always like oh teacher appreciation. Well, I'll skip that There's a bunch of graphics there what we did on teacher appreciation, but it disappeared on me somehow Um, so I'll stop there so you can have we can have some time for some questions if people would like and um, thank you for listening so well And uh Not throwing tomatoes or anything There's a lot of people here that have kids that are high school graduates from bhs. We have three Linda Yeah Does anybody have any questions That's great Y'all thank you so much for coming and I really appreciate your your work and how you've transformed our our biggest school System in the state I was wondering a couple things number one. Could you please come back and and provide us an update on The racial equity piece alone by itself. It's just that important I think it is and I don't think there's a lot of folks around the table who probably probably would disagree And and the other is a is a question is is have you have you met the racial equity director since she's been in this state? I go on to our site for a preview before I come back We do a report every year called the equity data report And that report actually looks at uh, race social socioeconomic status and other pieces There's a lots of information in there that you can learn about what we've been doing So I would love the opportunity to come back and talk about Um direction we're going with that and the work that we're doing and our struggles and challenges Uh around that as well too Okay You touched on it. So this was great and informative for me. Um Karen was referencing. I have two children that obviously are adults and graduated from bhs One of them was a real challenge for you The other one not so much but anyways, um, I I just um I wanted to know If you could just briefly say Where you think your biggest challenges right now these were all successes and you know goals and you've attained a lot of things But obviously there are must be some other things that you feel you either haven't completely accomplished Or goals that you didn't identify here that need to be now addressed this coming fiscal year Uh, good question the I would say without a doubt and I'm not saying this off the top of my head because we actually did Uh survey to students to parents and to our staff one of the biggest challenges We have is social emotional wellness and that's impacted Everyone is so much level. So that means the type of special ed supports We need social work supports guidance supports clinical supports. How do we do that to And we've got kids who come in with trauma, you know All kinds of experiences and you can't get to learning Then that so one of the challenges that we have that we haven't been able to get there yet is to create a structure that we have the Levels of tears interventions, you know, we got the universal for everyone and we have the next Next leadiest and then the most neediest and how do we do that in an effective way? And still keep people's dignity in terms of being able to recognize they have challenges around that The other thing I would say is the biggest challenge is and we're kind of moving on to that is around Our school improvement plans. We have school improvement plans and the strategies around achievement to To be able to identify the high yield strategies And to be able to have the time to train all our staff And then get the appropriate data to say this is our baseline And then be able to measure it over course of time because then I can say oh, okay We did this we did this and it worked or didn't work. Let's not spend money on that Let's not put resources. So that's where that's where we're at right now and so I feel good about where we're starting and I do one of the slides I showed you we have a Achievement gap lead and a data systems. So that those people are starting that work And so we haven't been able to get to that work because we've done the structure And processes pieces now we're getting to that work So looking forward to trying to get to that founded and we've got some great staff Who are doing those things in their classrooms and doing something So we want to pull some of those strategies from them and be able to consolidate and have a system approach to it so I would say the answer would be no The answer is always no. I don't think there's enough resources. So the strategy that I take is How do we do some things differently? To accommodate and at the same time. Yeah, look for some more resources if we we can but I mean adding more more dollars sometimes not always the You know about quality So we're trying to balance that you know not trying to just go out and say we need more of these Just trying to think about it and be strategic about it. Okay. Yeah, we do need more of those Now let's add that and let's do that But I have to say that our board and the community have been very supportive when we've been asking For more resources to say, yeah, we need that they ask the tough questions. Why do you need to how do you You know, what's it going to do and that's good. So I'm certain that we'll be having some asked during our budget cycle around addressing those needs Coming forward Do we want to take one more question? We are at nine oh one One quick Thanks. Yeah, thanks very much for the presentation do you ever Try to Not you personally, but the the district try to quantify The value of the high school so that you can Put successes and and positive trend positive or negative. I guess but positive trends. Hopefully in some sort of Use marks word economic context So that you you can Quite sure what the word is but Articulately, I guess Show at budget time What the value of the high school and all the work that you're doing is To the to the community at large, but could be graduation rates. It could be crime coming down It could be all sorts of positive things or You know what the trends are and the the the bigger social picture Yeah, I'll try to be I'll probably be quick with it. Um Good question. Yeah, you know, we have attempted to do that in different ways And I don't think we've found an elegant solution for a holistic approach. There are certain Initiatives and programs. We've been able to to make a direct correlation because one thing that happens in education Um, there's often not a one-to-one relationship, right? You think okay, you add for instance, I'll give you a good example restorative practices We've instituted restorative practices we reduce our instructional our suspensions and Students are more in class than out of school Can we attribute? Everything to restorative practices. I would say not right. There might be other elements That are in there and we've partnered with uh uvm and other um institutions with our research team to try to figure out ways how we can You know do the assessment to put some value on it, but it is challenging. I know when I first came um, we try to do that because we were um Because we were really trying to balance the budget and trying to figure out. Okay, what's economical and we did do some of those analysis, but Um, I didn't totally trust it all because it's there are so many other variables that you don't consider So it's not a direct, but it is challenging But some programs we can't do that, but for the high school overall um I know you can do a ratio in terms of how many students and what we pay and And work out and get a number of it and do a formula with the achievement But doesn't give you what's in between Right, so it is challenging But um, that would be good if I could have something clear like that and people can say You're investing this and this is what you're going to get and make those guarantees that would be uh If you get any idea feeling what he's doing that, please let me know because that would be great Thank you so much That's great Thank you. So good night everybody. Thank you for coming and Next month we definitely we Clarified the officers coming. He said he'll come back for a half hour. So bring your questions About traffic and whatever else Excuse me housing Yeah Thank you