 We're starting. Good afternoon everybody. Welcome to Montpellier City Hall for the two forums we have today Sponsored by the Montpellier Roadery Club. I'm Joe Schochat one of the organizers for the Roadery Club in the first session here We have the three candidates for mayor Carlton Anderson Dan Jones and Jack McCullough. I want to thank Orca for their generosity and telecasting this event It'll be available live now and later on YouTube I want to thank the bridge for being our co-sponsor and collaborator and I want to thank the city of Montpellier for the use of their nice space With that our moderator for this afternoon's forums is Cassandra Hemingway. Cassandra has been in Vermont since 1994 she's unfortunately not a native so we can't claim her but she came to Vermont and she worked for a number of years for the for the distinguished Hardwood Gazette, which is one of our very best weeklies in the state. She worked in Montpellier in the Central Vermont region for a period of time with the Central Vermont Solid Waste District and recently she has recently Now is with the bridge where she was recently elevated to editor-in-chief. So Cassandra is going to be our moderator and I will turn it over to you. Thank you. Thank you very much Joe and thanks again to the Rotary Club This is a great service to the community to provide a way for folks to hear from the candidates Not going to take too much time Before we introduce our candidates, but I do want to just go over the format for everybody This is a forum. It's not a debate So each candidate will be asked the same question and they'll each be given the same amount of time to answer It will be 90 second answer times and we have a timekeeper here who will keep folks on track I may have to if it goes over I may have to cut you off. So I mean give you a heads up ahead of time I will be introducing candidates in order alphabetical order by last name, but after that I'll refer to everybody by your first name And they'll each have 90 seconds for a introductory Comment we'll get to hear a little bit about them and why they're running So let's get into it. We'll start with Carlton Anderson. Carlton is a truck driver a poet He works in software He's been in the central Vermont area for about 21 years and I'd love to hear more about you Carlton Hi, thank you. I'd if you'd like to come in I I won't I certainly won't okay So my name is Carlton Anderson Like Sandra said, I moved to the valley 21 years ago After the august blackout that occurred I was looking for simplicity and also a way of life that Vermont met for me I worked as sugar bush for 10 years during the transition with wind from american ski company Also, I've been to the bluetooth If those of you know who that know what that is. That's an inside thing for ski bumps I am a software person my father worked for IBM for 48 years So they've always been in my life. I've been able to pick them up and put them down Um and have not always wrote the waves of What the internet serves? So i'm just asking for an opportunity to Be your mayor I've understood the infrastructure Being a truck driver. I understand The fact that Montpellier is 8,004 people There are some things that we do have to Be cognizant of Being that it is the state capital However, trucking across the country and falling in love with it the amber waves of green I'm sorry the purple mountains of majesty and the amber waves of green It's true and Thank you says stop Thank you carlton Dan jones is a another candidate for mayor Dan is uh has been a montpellier resident for 15 years. He's the founder of sustainable montpellier He spearheaded the my ride and the 2016 sustainable montpellier design competition Dan tell us why you're running Well, thanks kasandra that gave me a little bit of leg up on the resume I'm running this year again. I tried it last year Because a number of the issues that I tried to bring up last year have not been resolved and to some degree have gotten worse So I believe that it is time that our city begins to deal with Some of the critical issues that are now facing us. We can begin to see them already this spring in the middle of winter Where we can expect 60 degrees on town meeting day where we've had two One almost flood and one devastating flood in the past year so climate change economic change And political change is going to be a hallmark of our future And if we don't start making the kind of public presentation Preparations that are going to be required to meet that we're going to be failing our citizens because we won't have the capacity to actually Move into this threatened future with any kind of strength or resolve So I am hoping that uh in this contest today We can begin to start talking about the kind of challenges that the city faces what we have realistically to be able to do What we can't realistically do and where we can find other resources to help in what we're going to do So I think this is a exciting time to try and make shifts in town. I'm running against the status quo I'm not running against the people because I think the status quo has not been serving us well recently And I think it's time to begin to shift our ideas and our approach to the future. Thank you Thank you dan And jack mccullough. He's our current mayor. He's the incumbent candidate Been mayor for a year served on city council for I don't want to get this wrong. Is it five years? Five years a mental health law project And sorry an attorney at the mental health law project and jack has been in town since 1983 jack Tell us more about yourself and why you're running Thank you As we sit here in february we're faced with both challenges and opportunities And if we meet both of those effectively we can look forward to a healthier and more Prosperous capital city our number one challenge, of course is to continue to work on flood recovery The city will must and will continue to work with residents and businesses to assure that their futures are secure Our next challenge and opportunity is to move forward with housing and specifically housing development on country club road Last week the council approved the next steps on in this process And I intend to move forward with what is clearly the best option for major housing development for our city Third we must continue to address the infrastructure Issues that have faced our city We've fully fund funded the capital plan and next year's budget so that we can continue road repairs and maintenance In addition last week the council unanimously approved A plan that will resolve most the most vulnerable water mains Within 10 years and within our current budgeting policies Finally fiscal responsibility This year's budget fully funds our capital plan retains the fire department at full strength and holds our budget increase below the rate of inflation It was not easy to achieve this and it is involved in painful cuts, but working with city leaders We were able to do that And I hope to talk about some of these issues as we go forward today Thank you jack and that's a great segue into my first question for the three of you And as an aside the way i'll be Calling on each of you as i'll start again in alphabetical order and then I I have a system for changing up who goes first so Everybody gets a different chance to be first and last in the question. So Let's talk about infrastructure How can we deal with our deteriorating infrastructure and also hold down property taxes carlton And also hold down property taxes very interesting. Um, well, you know, I I tend to look at things as a poet And that happens in a way where you have to look at it in a micro and macro Outcome and view Um 700,000 miles trucking around the country When I think of infrastructure, I think of all the cities that I I saw That were causing traffic jams that you can't even imagine But they were doing it And so infrastructure here in montpelier specifically It's a it's a mic. It's a macro issue. Um, you know, we can't fix montpelier by itself Uh, and so it it will provide it will be Something that we're going to have to really think about on a level where We look within but we also find the synergistic opportunities To save money and also headache with other communities that have done it before us We're answering a lot of questions or Attempting to answer a lot of questions In a way where there are things that have been already done For other people And so when when you say infrastructure, I I feel like I There's a lot to that. I don't want to promise any carrots Because that can happen however It's a matter of willpower And also finding as usual other streams of revenue So that we're not taxing our people Thank you carlton Dan, how do you propose um dealing with our infrastructure and keeping property taxes Down or at a minimal increase and how many 90 seconds? Okay, um I was delighted to see that there was actually some motion on the issue of the water system in the city council last week We started a group called a resilient montpelier About a year and a half ago specifically with one of the goals was to start paying attention to our failing water system So i'm happy to see that's had some effect over time. So I will congratulate us When you look at the system, however, it's still and what they're proposing is still a very narrow frame Which I do do not want to stop anything. I think it's wonderful But what I understand from others is that there is a lot of potential resources with federal and state resources That we have not and we've failed to tap into one of the Ways that I've learned about this is by talking to mr. Negi who had been the engineer with department of environmental conservation last year who said The city had failed to even come to them where they could actually have helped find water resource money So it turns out that we uh, we have failed in the ability to go looking for the resources And to really figure out what it means because when you talk about roads Well, you can't do the roads until you've done the water system because you're gonna have to dig up the water and sewer pipes You uh, you're gonna have to live with the bad roads for longer We don't really have a system that's going forward with the kind of speed and dynamics that I think is required And so uh, I think it's finding those resources from elsewhere It's going to be the key to holding the taxes down on this because it's a big number It's been estimated somewhere around 80 million dollars. And so I think we have to pay attention to it in a big way Thank you, dan Jack, uh, why don't you talk about how we can address infrastructure and property taxes? Sure infrastructure is one of the things that we hear about for on city council all the time because Everybody drives on the roads. Everybody knows how it affects them and It Road repairs road conditions are are kind of like fireworks What you see Is a direct function of the money that you put into the system And what we've done this year For the first time since before the pandemic is to fully fund our capital plan and that's important and Nobody on council even considered Cutting that because people recognize how important it is We will continue to do that and we probably could Could stand to expand the capital plan, but It's a matter of how do you balance that again can understand is perhaps we have to make better use of the staff in other words my my feeling is that like You know in our administrative personnel We could have more time being spent trying to find the serious money That could be found in the feds for the infrastructure I believe we have to spend more time with our administrative staff Figuring out what are the things that are actual priorities because the city manager establishes the priorities I think what this has to happen now is that the council has to be a lot more closely Focused on what the priorities are rather than in broad terms, but in much more specific terms And I think our council is capable of it I think there's a lot of good people But that's where we have to make those decisions So the rather than saying I will cut this and this and this right now I would rather say what are we how are we looking at that together with the council? How do we make those priorities and how are those then established with the administration? This is not going to be easy stuff There's a lot of sacred cows that have to be maintained in the city in terms of various programs And so determining which is going to go and which is not going to go Is a difficult public discussion. It is not going to be just deliberately say oh, we'll cut this and this So that's where I stand Thank you jack a couple of points first is that You should keep those signs for council meetings too first We need to Recognize and everyone in the city needs to recognize that The budget problems that we had this year and and last year too We had another no new programs budget last year, but the budget that we're facing with was not a one-year thing it's We got through 2023 and the flooding, but we can expect that things will be tight for A few years into the future. We were not treating our this year's budget as a one time Get through it and return to normal budget this year second The sad fact is that we have already cut staff and we had a hiring freeze For most of the time since since the flood In the proposed budget We've had to cut staffing that that people really value for instance the americor workers and the Montpelier youth conservation core workers in the wreck department or wreck parks department, sorry and We've already cut made other cuts we're making cuts within administration and We have restricted made cuts in in budgeted overtime of city staff um I don't think we have people in the city government who are sitting around doing nothing or not Productively contributing to the operations and well-being of the city And so I hope to avoid staff cuts Okay, thank you jack um So as mayor um What leadership would I skipped carlton. I apologize. Thank you for sitting there so calmly. Well, I just Approach a lot of looked at and decided from a very privileged perch and you know if you know struggle and no triumph and recognize how to survive in a way that is productive and meaningful It translates into what we're trying to do here As far as you know, I um It feels like a gotcha question, but I'm just going to be honest with you. Um, you know, I can't tell you right now Who would cut who who we would cut who we not whether that is an issue is or whether that is a You know something that I'm sorry. It's a hot button a button issue within uh, Montpelier because our you know our jobs are very important to us and um You know, I can tell you that I've looked at a lot of the lines a lot of the grand list I've looked at the school board. Um as well, even though I don't have children And you know and I have no I wouldn't have any say in the school board. Um, there there's some excess um From a focal granularity standpoint that we would have to educate each other to understand and What I bring to this is ultra transparency It just it won't be cut for and no one know why And and it'll be clearly defined without bumper stops Thank you Carlton um our next question is um As mayor what leadership would you provide to the homeless issue in Montpelier? And we'll start this one with jack Thank you. This is uh one of the One of the top priorities of the city council for this year and it will continue to be so we have have to recognize that Anyone living in the city is a member of our community whether they Have permanent housing or not um We have been working from year to year on with the Agencies that provide services, you know, this is not something that the city of Montpelier can figure. Well, we're going to open up a new city staffed program But the city has been working for the last few years with the Good Samaritan Haven and another way to To provide housing or shelter For our homeless citizens. We need to continue to do that and we need to improve that because What we've been doing is looking year to year Where are we going to put people this year? What's going to happen after that? We really need to have a permanent Shelter location somewhere in the city preferably downtown in walking Distance to other facilities and services and so I know there are discussions going on About that and we need to continue to make that a reality Thank you Carlton On this issue I'm I'm the only one up here who has and continued to experience unhoused insecurity I've been guilty of making Being poor looked very good Because I've come from upper middle class However, I have been home insecure since I was 17 As we often know It's do as I say not as I do and so therefore it's the highway Or my way not or you know what I'm saying and I and I chose to be a truck driver after being a Software and snowboarding You know person I'm a normal person and what I'm what I'm seeing is There it we're making Montpelier Asheville, North Carolina We're making it Sedona, Arizona And we're making Barry the bedroom community For the working and underprivileged and that should not be I want to I want to live here. I want everyone to be able to prosper here And I want everyone to understand that money Used responsibly Is not a negative thing Thank you Carlton Dan Okay, this is probably the most intractable problem that we face right now because As the economy implodes where fewer and fewer people can afford the housing that's available because Incomes are not keeping up with costs. We have an expansion constant expansion in the homeless population They come to Montpelier because services are available Um, so if you can imagine like a funnel From our whole region that if there's any people with problems, they flow into Montpelier They don't stay in Cabot or Callas or Worcester because there are no services there Okay, so Montpelier then has to take on a role of providing services and help and aid to this population without any benefit of support from either the Surrounding towns or even much of the state and I think that's one of the real Catastrophes of the whole homeless thing is that our state is failing to step up to the plate And help with the homeless problem of providing the services I believe that it is time to start recommitting ourselves to finding more services more I'm sorry more resources that can be brought to the situation and that isn't going to happen just out of our tax Base we have to find other ways of doing it finally Okay, and quite simply I do think that the city could afford to put in a couple of public restrooms on state street And I think that it's something that would make lives of the homeless in town a lot easier So I am a supporter of that and would like to even see more in that regard. Thank you. Thank you, Dan Um, and this is kind of a follow-up question. Um What is your position on co-locating a homeless shelter at the berry street recreation center? um I'll leave it at that and um, we'll start with jack for this question. Oh, did I just I was first last time? Oh, I'm sorry. We'll start with carlton Rolling with the bunches um You know, there's there's there's so many buzzwords going on in my mind as far as this is concerned because it's such a hot bed Issue yet. It's a nimby thing And you know, we we we have the rec center Which is is adequate, but what happens to the ping pong players? um, what what happens to pickleball players You know, no one really, you know, within the recreation those people will deem that important that they still have that area Or that place to recreate I'd have to really talk to a lot of people. I feel um Expert at what's going on more Because with confluence park being uh, what it is, you know, if we build anything at confluence park downstreet may like May not like it because of the deck would impede on the view of the people of downstreet yet if we if we think If we need something immediate, um, you know, some of the issues are are just It's willpower. Um, you know, one of the things I believe is we should move Uh, confluence park out to Uh, on the past where the water, uh, our water works is and build what I call Decency depots As a truck driver, there's there's showers all over the country that can withstand the anger of a truck driver And the loneliness of a truck driver. And so therefore we have options Thank you Carlton, um Dan I understand the impetus behind it. I also understand that our community really needs the recreation capacity downtown So this becomes an area where I think we need a more vigorous public debate On the issue because we have not, you know, we're sort of assigning things But a lot of people are saying this is awful. This is awful Right now because we have an emergency. I don't think we have any choice But to use the lower part of the old recreation center for Homeless shelter at the moment because we're being overwhelmed by it and as they end the motel program We're going to be more flooded with people This is you know, there's no nice answer to this thing I think we have Now experienced also and this is where I've tried to bring this up initially A period in which we have declining revenues for all of us Okay, people are complaining about the taxes because they no longer see the taxes coming The money coming into their own pockets each year that they have in the past So now we've got to figure out. Well, what can we afford in town? You know, what services can we afford? What do we have to look at more broadly? I think we've been taking on too much stuff We've every year have been basically checking off every item on the budget List of the town meeting rather than asking some hard questions about what we're choosing or not And so it is a question not just of what we do with the recreation center But it's a question of what we're doing with all of our resources Going forward in order to provide the greatest good for the number of our citizens Thank you very much jack. Thank you, you know Taking two of our most challenging questions and saying well, we're going to bundle them in one ball Doesn't doesn't make addressing either one of them easier Clearly the recreation center the way it is needs a significant amount of work and We haven't addressed whether we're going to keep that as permanent recreation or Put a permanent recreation center somewhere else similarly As I as we were just talking about services and shelter for homeless people Is uh is something that has eluded us so far and Creating a temporary location in the recreation center Is an attractive idea because it's temporary But I've heard many people who are active users of the rec center saying that Please don't do it. It's the uses are incompatible and in particular having people having to clear out every day and Whether there's going to be friction between the users of both of those centers Makes me think it's not A good long-term solution, but we'll Hear from from the public plenty of times before a decision is made Okay, thank you jack um, okay, so Let's talk about housing a little bit and um What tell me about your position on developing country club road property And we will start with dan um Well, I think they've done a lot of expensive planning on it So I guess there is the city commitment to doing it as quickly as possible I don't see any developers lining up to want to look at the property So I think it may be a very expensive red herring that we've dragged across the citizens I don't personally I was not in favor of purchasing it in the first place. So I think we're stuck with it now But I would rather not sink any more money into it at the moment because I don't think there's anybody going to show up in this environment and this Economy who's going to want to put the money in the city's going to have to put at least five million in just to run A road and a water and sewer up there. So it's not like it's a free option even if Somebody wanted to do it Okay, so we've basically boxed ourselves in with that particular choice You know of our real estate investment And so You know, I think it'll go back back and forth between people in terms of what we're supposed to do with country club road Like I said, I would just as soon see it Be allowed to Lay there as a nice recreation site for a while until we see whether the economy improves My guess is we actually have to look more close down and on state street and in the pit For housing options rather than trying to stick at three miles out of town Thank you jack Housing for as long as I've lived here has been a real issue And I've looked at various places and thinking well when I moved here I would drive by save its pasture every every day when the When the speed votes were parked along the road and I thought That would be a great place for housing and what we found over the years is that a housing strategy of waiting for people who Own big tracts of land to put housing on those Tracks of land Hasn't worked. We don't have the housing that has been talked about on savings pasture for many years and What We've seen not only in Montpelier not only in vermont, but across the country Is that the kind of housing development we need Is not going to be provided solely by the private sector and we need Public intervention in the market in order to make it happen. And that's why I was so enthusiastic about Country club road we just this just last week we unanimously Voted to move forward on the plan to Uh, which is laid out by our housing development office, which is develop the zoning zoning move from there to The growth center designation expansion and then move to tick tiff development so that we can Attract private partners Thank you jack Carlton You know when I worked at vermont state employee credit union 15 years ago, uh, the transit center was just a The land was just a piece of land that people were Discussing with The landowner And there were opinions. I didn't always I wasn't always privy to the opinions But as like I said, you always have to understand as a poet I feel things and I say that to say Some of the things that the mayor spoke about savings farms also, you know I'll put even more on it. I'm hesitant to name drop because I I know The culture of our of our our town and and just human nature, you know, we often can Be clouded by the individuals and so I'll say that we're growing in a way where we're competing against these private Landowners in a way where it's not healthy To ignore them And it's it's best for the greater good if we have a conversation and bring them into the conversation Because without them, we're going to have difficulty. There's a particular landowner that I spoke to for six hours It was expensive And he owns 516 acres in and around Montpelier including the land the mayor speaks of Without talking to him At least for five minutes Nothing's going to get done And I know this because I talked to him. Thank you Carlton. Thank you Okay, let's switch gears and um, I'd like to hear from each candidate about how you propose we prepare Or currently are preparing for future flooding Um, and we'll start with jack for this question. Oh, oh did I Hear up Okay, sorry. I didn't didn't want to step on anyone's toes One thing we know for sure is that uh, Just like the 1927 flood and the 1992 flood and the 2011 flood Last year's flood isn't going to be the last one we ever have And and we need to be prepared for that After the flood we moved quickly to establish the Montpelier commission on recovery and resilience to Work on on the big issues to to address how we can restore downtown get downtown to To a safe uh, and flood proof Setting and how we can work on other issues just last week Uh, I recognize people in the room who were at the public forum that the resilience commission Held and I thought it was very encouraging that That this commission which Is going to have to work not only Within the city of Montpelier but with our neighboring Communities and with the state government and the federal government to address All those issues. What are we going to do to keep Flood waters out of downtown? Well, we're making steps on some of those processes already like the plan to Use uh home farm way for uh for flood Flood absorption, but it's it's going to take a lot including hardening flood hardening of downtown Thank you jack Carlton, how do you propose we deal with future flooding in montpelier? We have so many master plans on our website that I don't have to do anything other than Put everything in one place for us to Vigorously have a discussion Understanding that action is immediate After the discussion. We've had so many talks. I've watched orcas since 2016 I was also here for the flood. I was in in the valley. Excuse me for the flood in in uh for iran I came here because I was working in in at the vermont state employee credit union and montpelier is my my This is my my capital our capital. I've seen the devastation over and over and over it again I've watched i'm sorry. I've read i've gone to the library and read The history of montpelier This we know what to do. It's just a matter of having the willpower to ultimately finally do it and so the discussions are Just that discussions and we finally really need to for the sake of the future Get going with something because we have all the plans pick one Thank you dan I think if you ask the merchants downtown people on state street on elm street Uh, they will agree that the city had no response to the flood immediately We had a complete failure of our emergency response plan. It may be a plan on paper, but it was certainly not Activated in the streets where were the cops helping people get out of their houses early where were the warnings? We knew two days ahead of time. This was going to be a major event Okay, I so my first priority if uh elected mayor will be to start on creating a new Emergency response plan that deals with the situation as we have it now Who's assigned to do what how do we rehearse it at least once every few months? Who's going to do what when? Okay, that's just the start next we have to start looking at our land use options because we are not going to get out of the flood plain Uh as uh the december almost flood told us i'll be back Okay, we are going to have uh more and more floods more often as climate change takes over Okay, we have uh failed to even consider that we have to start talking with the state How are we going to reuse the land in order to the best effect? Should we be moving helping to figure out how to move our downtown? Up into higher ground so that it's not as subject to uh being destroyed. These are big questions Yes, I agree the climate commission helps I thought they're actually their work on an emergency response plan was notable and I want to talk with them more As far as the other stuff I think we have a long way to go in the planning and I look forward to uh helping to lead that effort Thank you Okay, uh, I got everybody right Okay Okay, thanks Next question is do you see the need to increase the diversity of those who are serving in city government? Both staff members and elected leadership And if so what steps need to be taken to include more women by poc folks and people from different income backgrounds? And we'll start with carlton I mean that's not a question Yes What we should do about it is believe that Anyone that doesn't look like the people you're used to in power Can do the job too And what I've coined that as is cognitive diversity and so Yes What we should do and also we should be attracting we should make it we should be making Making it comfortable Uh for individuals. I've lived here for 21 years. I've I've worked in various jobs where it has been Not comfortable this This is a cry for help at this point from the citizens of Montpelier that I am someone who should be thought of as You know a contributor and people who look like me You know It's a given that women. I mean, you know, I'm I'm I'm part of the marginalized So if I speak for all of the marginalized without ego Because I understand the power of minds Given the chance to contribute to problems can solve problems. I went to a conference last week called sea change and it's creative minds and artists putting their minds together to creatively help solve Very difficult issues sea change Thank you Dan, how would you speak about diversity Well, one thing is I'd like to congratulate carlton for stepping up and Running from air because it changes the The face just of what we've got As an on offer to the city Yes, I think we can have a more robust Minority hiring program within the city government so that we have more variety of faces That people interact with as they are coming to the city I think this actually then goes down into the issue with schools of You know, what are we teaching? Where are we encouraging people to come along as opposed to saying well, gee, they haven't shown up So why aren't they doing anything? We haven't really valued those voices because well, we're the widest state in the country We we we haven't had to and because of that. We've allowed ourselves to kind of sink into a sort of comfortable Demise Where we're we're not actually looking at this. So it's a good question. I don't have an immediate answer But I would like to see I would like to appear for the high school before others To talk about well who's out here who'd like to get involved because we don't have any Real priority for people in their lives to serve in government because it's a basically thankless and doesn't pay anything So, uh, you know, how are we going to make a change in those who are going to represent us if we don't make some effort to actually, uh, recruit them and educate them Thank you jack The answer is clearly yes. I think it was a proud moment for Montpelier A few years ago when the majority of our mayor and council were women It was a proud moment from uh, Montpelier a few years ago when we hired the first black police chief in the state of vermont and The commitment is there. We we need to do more to make that happen. We have Created a committee committee the social and economic justice advisory committee that has, uh Come forward with a number of proposals to make To attract Diverse volunteers to our commissions and and committees One of those has been or what in the past year Was to offer stipends for people whose economic Circumstances might be a barrier to serving on planning commission, uh, or any of the other Commissions that we have unfortunately in this year's budget. We had to cut that because we were so tight on budget I think we Before the flood came one of my plans for for this past year was to embark on a much more recruiting to to all our boards and commissions and Then the flood kind of got in the way and took up a lot of our time But that's one of the things that I would plan to do In the coming year as mayor Thank you. Please may I follow up? 30 seconds You know this this is near and dear to my heart And it no one's looking for a handout Um At least from my perspective What what I'm and I can only speak for myself. Although I'm speaking for the macro What is needed is a a more comfortable environment for BIPOC and The for the BIPOC community to Work it's never been the job that was difficult for me. It was the personalities That I worked with so I invite you to go to I Am v vermont.com I am vermont too and just understand the voices that are saying the same thing. I am. Thank you. Thank you carlton. Thank you um I um was wondering if we do have any questions from the audience and anybody Um Did not let folks know I'm sorry, we are asking folks to write this down and I apologize that I wasn't more clear about that in the very beginning Um, while people are writing down any questions you might have for the candidates I'll I'll go on with one more um As mayor Would you encourage or stay neutral in an exploration of a school district merger or de merger? Um, if it appears fiscally and educationally benefit beneficial and um, as I'm sure many folks here are aware the question is being asked because There is conversation going on about shutting down rocksbury village school. Um, I realize that's a school board issue Um, we are looking at a 20 to 24 percent property tax increase directly related to the schools So, um, I guess I'm asking if there is a role for city leadership in that conversation And what do you envision it to be? Um, and we are starting with dan for this question Uh under the law at the moment, there isn't a role. Unfortunately, uh, you know, there is this clear bright line between the school committee and the um City council, uh, the the city administration, which is not to be breached under from uh, from outlaw I think it's a bad law, but that's the way it is. Uh, personally, I think we should be looking intensively emerging with you 32 as rapidly as possible Move up to the high school, uh, because uh, it's above the floodplain if nothing else and has much better facilities Um, we are in a situation in which we are also victims of the state rules, which we're done with the best intentions but are not actually Serving the need for uh, our community so that I'm hearing a lot of people saying I'm not sure I can afford to Live in Montpellier any longer with the level the taxes are going up so there's a real fear and destruction that's going on within our community in terms of the Roxbury school I was talking my friend ken jones who used to be on the school committee on uh on this and he said If you look at the situation up at elmore, which has one of the most cost efficient schools in the uh state, okay They take their special needs student and send them down to uh, morrisville, uh, which they could do at, uh Roxbury as well and the second thing is we do not need a principal in Uh, Roxbury we can have one of the teachers act as a principal that will cut the costs of mass Mentally just by getting rid of the special uh services and uh getting rid of the administration overhang So that's where I think we have to go Thank you dan jack I've heard the discussion of course we all have and and the issues are very complicated. Uh, it's I I think the uh, we've got two different governmental bodies We've got the city of montpelier and we have the montpelier, uh, Roxbury public schools and I think It's very hard to say at the city council of the city of montpelier should be telling the other body what to do um, particularly when both What we would be talking about doing essentially is Talking to the much smaller community of Roxbury and telling them to close your school down when we know how Strongly feel people feel about their schools um, I've always been interested in In the idea of merging with the u32 district, but I think anyone who thinks that we can do that with the The current physical plant without building another school somewhere for For the people that are going to be Mushed into the two districts is kidding themselves because that's not going to happen but for all for all those reasons And how complicated the uh, the issues are I I don't see that the The city council should should be doing that. It's it's enough for us to do The big job we're doing on city council, and I'm not going to tell this school board what to do Thank you jack I got involved in what you were saying. I apologize. I tried to be fair honest. Thanks Carlton Thank goodness. We're not burlington high school, huh? anyway, so I I tend the school board Meetings. I have no children. I've never been married And but but I do deem it important To attend so I can understand things I as a person who lives in the community and Talks to everyone You know, I I I hear The issues from the human perspective and you know Roxbury never made any sense to me once I dug into it I just felt like northfield might I should have absorbed it but I can understand why we did And it was a boom for Roxbury itself as a citizen, but we were we we got absorbed into something that You know, we we really we can't afford any of this stuff We're all we we were buying things prior the pandemic prior prior to two floods And also thinking that, you know, everything was going to be Okay status quo If we just keep going with the path that's that's kind of where we are right now We're at a point now Where Roxbury the the citizens of Roxbury need to be drawn in and considered not as an afterthought It needs to have our full attention so that we can actually do something about the situation With all the schools involved if we're going to make if we're I'm done. Thank you Carlton. That's time. Thank you. Okay. We have a couple questions from the audience Are you open to switching to a strong mayor system? And if so why and as a Just a brief explanation Um And please correct me if I'm wrong the strong mayor system would mean Um, I mean the questioner could correct me too that we're the the mayor has More of the roles and responsibilities that we currently pay a city manager for Am I is that accurate question ask her? So, okay, I'm not hearing from that person That's okay, um Let's just stick with the question Are you open to switching to a strong mayor system? And if so why and we're starting with didn't we Carlton no This mayor the mayor we could When we roll the tape we'll see this Okay I think that the the city manager system that we have has Has served the city of Montpelier very well Over the years what we have if you look across the state There are only two cities in the whole state that have a strong mayor system Burlington and Rutland and I don't think that they do appreciably better than uh than Montpelier does if any If anything, I think we compare very well with them if all the rest of our cities and Incidentally all of our school districts in the state essentially have a system of elected leadership and a professional Manager to to run the system. I think it works. Well, I I think that the idea of finding Montpelier residents willing to Who have the skill set to take on a full-time job as as mayor And and then budgeting for that job I don't think is realistic Thank you jack Carlton I think it's realistic and I The city council or city manager position and I'll just say his name bill frazier Is the elephant in the room? In a lot of rooms that I I'm in I'm running for mayor as well because there's a lot of times We get caught up in the pageantry and the fluff of everything and not realizing what the single most important thing is for the mayor Is breaking the ties and We need somebody who doesn't have the History with some of the legacy issues And do the hard thing I I'm I'm used to not being liked Um, and so I'm not concerned with that. I'm also used to being held under a microscope Uh, so I'm not I'm not concerned with that um, and so You know my purpose of running is to bring the two-thirds that didn't pay attention To the table because we all need to pay attention And so, you know, it's it's just it this is about action it's it's not about talking points and As I speak you either feel it Or you don't But you certainly feel the urgency of what our community needs to do. Thank you carlton. That's time Dan I would very much like to explore it with the community. I I think it is there's a lot of Strong points for the idea of a stronger mayor I think we can find a way of actually having a strong mayor And a strong manager who are entitled to work together Problem is with all of the power only flowing to the city manager And the mayor being given a ceremonial post and the city council actually Being only required to rubber stamp what the city manager gives us. I don't think that started serving the city well of late I think we have had You know, and I'll put this in kind of geeky terms. We've had a Economy that has been going up for the past 70 years In that we haven't really noticed when there's been extra money required. And so the oh, I can add this Administrative post so I can add this person because it makes my life easier if you're the administrator Okay, the citizens say, okay. Well, that's just what it is now as we're seeing the economy going the other direction A lot of us are feeling like oh my we have to do something different So here is where I think we have to explore a new version Which is something I've been looking at this which combines the role of a stronger mayor And a city manager who does the day-to-day administration Because if we don't we're going to end up with this bifurcation that doesn't serve the city well And it increasingly puts the city manager and the city council at odds rather than making one unit Thank you, dan So we're just about done with our forum But we do have one more audience question and I'd like to put it to the group do folks want to oh two more Do folks want to go on for uh I'll have to do one. I don't think we have time for two more But one more question from the audience before we wrap up. Oh, yeah. Oh, sure. Okay I'm a nine-time marathoner, so I'm We're gonna need a break because we have the city council district one forum coming right up Okay, um, so we'll pick one. I'll just randomly. I don't know how to be random. I'll just pick the one that came Okay, this question says the ballot is so complicated this year Can you comment on what you recommend we look at and what you recommend we consider? I'm not sure How you could do that Um, try the other one. Okay. I apologize to the question asker. I just don't think that's something that They can answer in a forum. Um Okay, this question is did you attend the meeting of the homelessness task force? Um, and I'm going to assume that means the most recent Oh, um during during the previous election the homelessness task force, um, which I'm a member of invited the mayoral candidates to Come and meet with us because one of the candidates have had asked to come and meet with us in any interest of fairness We asked to all candidates Come and meet with the homelessness task force Okay, I I need to wrap it up into a question. I'm sorry to talk to you So the question the um the the question the question is of the candidates who ran last year Who attended the that meeting with the homelessness task force? Oh, I I apologize. I I don't think that's a fair question because They're not all the same candidates. Um, so I apologize about that But I think um that ends our forum for today And I thank you all for running Um, I would like to give you bridge and the rotary club for sponsoring this. It was an important function So uh appreciation to all of you. Thank you And I will give you each another 90 seconds for any follow-up comments Anything you wanted to say that you didn't get an opportunity or any statements you might have for your voters and Who are we starting with now? I lost you're gonna go How about we start with dan? Okay, thank you One of the um Gorillas in the room that is not being talked about is the relationship with the state We are the uh states Capital city and yet if we have another major flood We are not going to be showing off our city to the best regard for a long time I think rather than waiting for some kind of pilot payments and lieu of taxes from the state We have to open up a discussion with our state with our administration with our legislature about What is the role of your capital city? I think we have to relook at our relation to the state because they take up over half of the downtown real estate Okay, and yet they are not paying anywhere close to their fair share Okay, if we want to do things that actually have to do with uh attention to services the state has to be involved We want to do housing. There are places at the pit There's places on the old parking lot down near uh bailey avenue where housing could go in in town walkable And that it is something where I think we need a new vision of how we're going to do things in the city That isn't just going on with the way things were so that's where I would start I wanted to leave that as an idea that uh redefining our relationship with the state would become one of my priorities if elected Along with the other services that we have to keep maintaining Thank you dan jack Thank you We've made it through 2023. We're about to Adopt a budget and elect a mayor and council for 2024. And where are we now? We have a chance to decide that 2003 will 23 will go down in history not just as a year of the flood But as the year that we began to make progress facing many of our cities that needs Housing roads water system physical stability in 2023 to 2024 we made progress on all of these areas Look at this at this council strategic plan as Determined by the council infrastructure housing future resilience economic prosperity future your public health and safety Not a vanity project in the bunch Throughout the year while we were recovering from the flood. We were also doing the hard stuff Keeping our city government going Working through the consequences and appeals from arising from the city-wide reappraisal Moving forward on housing infrastructure and other initiatives vital to our city's future 2024 will continue in this line We've already scheduled deep dives into every one of the elements of our Strategic plan. So in the next several months each month, we'll have a meeting city council meeting that will Be addressed to those issues one of those issues In the next budget year the council will be prepared to guide our whole city government to meet our goals I should also point out that For as long as I've been in Montpelier people have said well Things would be great if we just could squeeze more money out of the state if we could get the state to Pay their fair share in fact the formula for the payment in lieu of taxes program is to tax the state based on The city's tax rate and based on the market value of the properties state owned properties within the city so thinking that we're going to magically get more money out of the state and And save our budget that way is is unfortunately There's no Pie in the sky that we're going to get out of that I agree with I Thank the rotary and the bridge for carrying this out. I think rotary is a great organization and I'm glad to see it continues to be a vital organization for our city. Thank you. Thank you jack Carlton What was the question? This is your chance to make a final statement and bring up anything that you might have wanted to talk about that you didn't get a chance to Address the voters one more time. So I want I want to reiterate that this is a cry for help not just for me but for other people who are watching and listening to discussions that feel as if We're invisible What i'm showing you right now are these are the final notices of my apartment I have a landlord who sends me so much paper Given that I've worked in northern power systems and boss thermal technology I don't understand why a phone call can't be made But that's okay so Given that I have experienced some issues with marginalization to a point where my transition from truck driving after the flood into walkable employment has been stymied I've reached out to down street And because I've wanted to anticipate possibly finding other homes housing So sent from down street in the mail A packet to fill out In my right mind It's difficult for me to understand this So I can only imagine what this would be like for other people in their right mind or not in their right mind to fill this packet out and so We need to really start looking at the issues from a bottom up or trickle up perspective because There's so many things that are being missed On a granular level for even myself The difference is I can see it Calculate it and then describe it to others Thank you Carlton and thank you to all the candidates Voting is on march 5th at City Hall And early voting has already started. There is a lot of information On the city website about how to vote Please get out there and vote Thank you