 really excited about that potential and bringing you back a lease to sign in the future. Finally, as you know, we're doing a ton of hiring, a lot of hiring at the moment. We are still looking for equipment operators. So if anyone out there has a CDL and wants to come plow streets with us, visit our website. We're doing the final communication interviews next week, the first round of public works director interviews this week, and the planning and zoning manager first round interviews next week as well. So as I mentioned at previous meetings, we're getting great applicants and are really pleased with the potential. Those are my updates. Thank you. Awesome. So I think probably the first and biggest question is how has Ray been as an office neighbor? Everything about him is true, right? That's an insightful comment. Nice catch. Great. Welcome. Okay. So with that, we'll move on to council reports. I've started this way a bunch of times. Yeah, I think mine's the same as last time. I don't have any updates from the public safety commission. We meet next week. So Tuesday we'll be meeting, but we had to skip our last meeting because we didn't have a quorum. So nothing emerging from there. Well, thank you. I have nothing to say after this meeting. We had a number one, I will give an update that the review between that's going to be between Nicole and I on the treasurer process is behind, and it's through no fault of anyone except for me. I'll take that one. So we'll keep that moving, though, and look forward to bring that back. We had targeted bringing something back in early September. We are not making that deadline, but remaining in contact with Jim in regards to carrying on duties. So look forward to that coming. We did hold the first housing commission meeting, which I think went really well. Again, you guys have seen all the tremendous people who are participating, but I just want to give a big shout out to Heather for really pulling the other tremendous group of people. I was joking before it's anything, but just a group of one body is really sharp minds at the table and a really great kickoff. And there was a little silence when they looked at the aggressive work plan, but that's good. I think they're capable enough to it. And then just an update. We continue to meet with other communities and towns just because we haven't had this on the engine as a formal item in regards to airport. I've had a couple of meetings with the city of Burlington, and there were a few towns that have taken the issue up now are waiting on responses formally from Essex, Williston, Shelburn, and Colchester. I expect some votes to be rolling out on that relatively soon. And then I think the last update is Mayor's Coalition meeting held and that group continues to push forward on a number of items. And one thing I think you'll see publicized in the next few weeks is a climate summit at Champlain College that I think is targeted right now for November 8th or 12th. It's going to be an all day event where municipalities are going to have an opportunity to go in and speak to some climate professionals about obtainable goals and achievable goals that cities and communities can target towards reducing carbon footprints and making a good environmental impact. So that's one item that I'm excited to come from that. And also want to note that the group is undertaking the development of a proactive economic development platform. And I would really welcome any thoughts from the Manuski community and beyond too in terms of what we think we should be fighting for from a legislative standpoint for months economic future. So lock on on there. Okay, we'll move on to our regular items. We'll take tonight's agenda in the order it was presented. So first up tonight we have approval of the appointment of Lauren Sampson to the library committee. Welcome. Thank you. So I will first of all say thank you to Lauren for coming twice for this. I will confess to some vacation brain leading up to the last meeting and her wrong date in her email. So she very graciously has returned. It's just great. I think as you saw from her application which is a tremendous current volunteer work, you know, rape reviews from the library folks that I've spoken to. So I don't want to steal your thunder but I'll let you talk a little bit answer questions about why you're interested. I thought you were just a big fan of government and showing up to meetings. But I, you know, thanks for your thoughtful statement on why you applied. It's always great when it starts with I love reading books. So great start. But any other kind of gaps you want to fill on and what inspired you to volunteer for the committee? So I'm in the process of kind of filling out my volunteer portfolio. So I do some stuff with the community justice center and with other organizations which emerge and with a lot of change makers but this is sort of a really opportunity to be really concentrated in something that I both really care about and something sort of very local, very personal, very sort of person to person. And so it seemed like a great opportunity and something that'd be a good fit for the skills that I've been lucky enough to cultivate. That's awesome. Anybody ever heard of a merge before? Thank you very much. Are you in the class this year? That's great. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much for your willingness to step up and bring all that you offer to the table for the committee. That's awesome. Any questions from council? I think so. Thank you. Are you available to name all teams in terms of your fundraiser team name? I love that. Trivia team. That's really great. Thank you for your interest in volunteering and contributing to the community. Of course. Any questions or comments from public for council? Let's complete that process. Okay, so seeing and hearing none, I entertain a motion for the appointment of Lauren Sampson to the library committee. Motion by Nicole, second by Eric. Any further discussion? Hearing and seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Thanks for coming back. Of course. You can come back next week, two weeks without two. It's meeting every two weeks. It's always interesting. Okay, next up we have approval of resolution statement from the city reaffirming Manuski's welcoming city status. I regret that Brian Sweeney could not be here today, unfortunately, at a conflict. This was really Brian's baby. And I simply helped put some language around what he expressed in the previous meeting and ran language through by him. But this is something Brian felt strongly and expressed strongly during last council meeting that the city should do and asked us to consider a resolution and believed that after some draft work that this captured the purpose of what he was trying to achieve. So what you have is a statement from city council reaffirming the welcoming city status for the city of Manuski. It's largely reflective given it was in everybody's package of, I think, a sense and a feeling that the communities wanted to proactively put out where a community that's gone out of its way to be welcoming in a community that's worked really hard to not just have that vibe put out there, but have it be the reality on the ground. And that's just a reflection of the people who live here most importantly, as the government should be, and as our actions should be. So this is not the sanctuary city conversation. This is not. No. I was not here for the last meeting, so I just thought, well, we've taken a real different turn here. So this is just a statement in response more to the recent events in Charlottesville. Yes. Thank you. Yes, you're welcome. Thank you to Councillor Sweeney. Any questions or concerns? I'll give it a read as has been our practice, except for when they're really, really, really long. So statement from the city council reaffirming welcoming city status. The city of Manuski is Vermont's most diverse community. Our community diversity is not accidental, is built from the historical foundation of the community that's welcomed several generations of new community members from all across the world. In the most recent decade, Manuski has welcomed new Americans from the nearly 60 million people worldwide that are displaced by violence, political strife for natural disaster and forced to become refugees. The residents of our community have consistently embodied the character of a welcomed community and the city's government have followed their lead in formalizing that status through actions and resolutions. As our nation experiences a period of highly polarized and vulnerable social tension, Manuski City Council remains resolved to continue celebrating our diversity, acknowledging the value it brings to each member of our community regardless of background. We are proud to represent a citizenry that has chosen to have gatherings that support principles of peace, understanding community building. The City Council also wishes to express the City of Manuski sees no place in our community for expression of hatred towards our residents, divisive social enterprise, or efforts to malign any group based on their identity and background. Most recently exemplified by the White Nationalists and Neo-Nazi groups who gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia and the Manuski City Council considers it imperative that communities like ours across the country affirmatively and immediately stand up against the un-American and anti-democratic actions of such race-based hate groups. As elected officials, we do everything in our power to continue promoting an environment where the spirit of being a welcoming city is fostered in support and leaving no room for the roots of division and hate to take hold. As stated by the City of Manuski Council, on this day, Tuesday, September 5th, 2017, any questions, comments, concerns from the Council? Any questions, concerns, comments from the public? So seeing and hearing none, I entertain a motion for approval of the State Work from the City Council reaffirming Manuski's welcoming city status. Motion by Nicole Second by Eric. Any further discussion? Hearing is seen done. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. And those opposed, motion carries. All right. Item C, approval of that permit, the October Manuski Wednesdays in the Rotary Day. Okay, so this is kind of a back by popular demand. As you know, we've been having Manuski Wednesdays throughout the summer. That was done by an administrative permit because we expected it would be under 200 people. We have been exceeding 200 people, so this comes before you for your approval. Alicia Finley has requested, the Parks and Recreation Department has requested that we do one more Manuski Wednesday in October, and that would be October 4th, I believe, yes. Wednesday, October 4th from 6 to 8 p.m. I don't know if we have a band yet for that. No, not yet. Okay. Oh, we do. Okay, good, good. Fair enough. I'm sure it will be an excellent band. So I am requesting your approval of this event. Not a lot to talk about. Well done, well executed. It's been a great event, great feedback, so great job. Thank you all very much for your tremendous work to make this happen. To utilize the space that has long been crying to be utilized. Any questions, concerns for Heather or Jesse from Council? Any questions or concerns from the public in regards to the permit for Manuski Wednesdays extended in October? All right, so singing and hearing none, I entertain a motion for approval of the event permit for October. Manuski Wednesdays in the Rotary. Motion by Eric, second by Nicole. Any further discussion? Hearing and seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. And those opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, item D discussion update on Thrive Director. So while Ray and Kersti are coming up, when we talked about the Promise Community's grant back probably in May, there was some question about, as the grant cycled out, the family, children and family programs manager position. So we want to come back to you in an update on where that's in. So I'll kind of lay broad groundwork and then probably defer detail questions to Kirsti who really is the brains of our early childhood operation. But again, as folks know here, through the Promise Community's grant, we were able to partially fund Kirsti's position two thirds of that since the beginning of that grant cycle. So about six months ago, roughly when that funding started to flow. And that's funding that's slated to run through December of this year, December 17. So that's allowed Kirsti to not be engaged with Thrive. So we've had a fantastic staff person on point up there, Jeremy Beauregard, who unfortunately is leaving the area, he's moving down to Maryland. So we are sad to see him depart. Did a tremendous job running that program and building connections in short order with families and really did really fantastic work with kids and families. So we were at the point where we had to make a decision. Do we fill that temporary role for what in essence was going to be three months of programming? Or do we sort of preemptively move back to the situation where Kirsti's position sort of shares duties between managing Thrive direct service program and doing the sort of community level systems level work that she's been able to really exclusively focus on with her position funded through the grant. So after a lot of communication back and forth, Kirsti and I felt it made the most sense for us to sort of shift back early, largely given where we are in the project, Promise Communities project, and also given some of the good work that happened early leading into the Thrive afterschool session. We did a lot of work while Jeremy was still here this summer on the administrative side. So try to spell out those details through the memo here and I guess would open up for questions or anything here for me all kind of what questions or concerns might you have about that strategy or where we're going. Yeah, I mean given this was a point that came up at a number of juncture. It came up at a number of times during the Promise Community Grant acceptance. We really appreciate bringing this back because it represents a pretty significant difference between what we talked about that point in time versus the way things are going to look going forward. So I'll open it up for Council. Well first I just want to say congratulations and thank you for the work on the star again in another star. I think that is a huge benefit to families and community. So thank you. I mean my preference is to defer to your expertise and say if you believe that you can manage what's required of both programs then I'm not going to argue with that. I guess could you provide us with a little bit more information around what's involved with Promise Communities at this point in time. I feel like this provided a pretty good overview of how Thrive is being attended to but a little bit less in terms of what's required in terms of that grant process. Yeah so where we're at at this point is we had several subgroup committees that were meeting to set up the next steps and we're now sort of past the point where those groups are needing to meet as frequently. We're very much into those next steps so the good news is most things at this point are in maintenance mode so we've already written all of our documents, our grant applications, and our RFP which was posted on the website today and we already wrote our evaluation plan with the state evaluators. So at this point it's like quarterly check-in reports, the quarterly reports for the evaluation itself, and then following through the steps with the RFP and the subgrants and that's a lot of like things that will happen at the regular steering committee meetings. So a lot of that seems to have worked out in a way that and I think you know just historically for folks in Eric for you not having necessarily been as through as many budgets, two-thirds of Kirstie's position traditionally has been paid out of the Thrive budget and that has pulled her into ratio at points in that program and she's had a very hands-on approach as a director of that program. You know I think in an ideal world given what the success we've seen in a short amount of time with promised communities funding I think it would be fantastic looking forward to be you know trying to free up more of her time to be doing that systems level and community organizing work around early childhood with that said that's not where we are that funding isn't there and so I think we're adjusting accordingly but you know I think we will continue to keep a near to the street and look at ways to you know shift her back into that space if we can and certainly not at the expense of program quality with Thrive but again I just think we saw just the tip of the iceberg I think through promised communities so far and I think there's a lot of work around early childhood that can continue at a community and systems level maintaining organization between stakeholders you know building stronger partnerships with service providers home providers I think those are things that you're looking at new program development and what that looks like what are the niches out there so there's work to do but it's all work that can be slid to a back burner without detrimental impact to families at this point right I mean I think that the conversation is yeah what role should the city be playing in those conversations there's this other I do also want to just thank Jeremy publicly I thought he did a really tremendous job and as someone who is active Thrive participant he was on site most days and I think was really driving some curricula you know things that were happening within the program if Chrissy's not gonna if you're not going to be there all the time how does that work in terms of are there other staff folks that are prepared to step in and perform that function that Jeremy was playing on site every day yeah and so for the next few weeks at least I am going to be there every day and there's going to be a lot of that time spent with staff to work out exactly what our structure is going to be this year we've done a lot of that work already um so a lot of that is going to be laid out and then measured throughout the year using all the evaluation tools that we use anyway and our expectation is three of the five days during the week Chrissy will be on site and if not in ratio pretty directly involved with program so it will not be every day like Jeremy but it'll still be the majority of the week and again early in the year we expect it'll be five days and so what what's is this setting us up for a different discussion in December and January in terms of budgeting and staffing yeah I mean I think I think it's a discussion that's that's out there you know I think again we've seen the value of that resource being freed up for Chrissy's time so so yeah I mean I think it's a conversation we should at least explore understanding you know as I will do the constraints on budgets but I also think we'll do our work on our end looking at grants and other non-municipal resources that are out there so we are we are working to with the school right now looking at some potential partnership opportunities moving forward in the after school arena in particular so I think that's those conversations are pretty early in process but you know I'd say stay tuned there too we're we're doing some work on our end to to try to move those discussions forward because that's the other pieces that so and this is going to end up in fund balance I mean this action is going to create some form I mean the way that I'm tracking the budgetary impact in terms of I mean we're essentially going to have a vacancy sorts in terms of what we set aside no because Jeremy's position and the resources that went towards that were in essence the equivalent of the two-thirds of Chrissy's time so we're we're really the grand money goes away and everything sort of but so it's really pretty budget neutral okay at this point so you put the 20 percent in there in terms in the 50 population in terms of the three-star rating and again this is getting ahead of way ahead of the car but do we have projections on what the financial impact of that three-star rating is it's a crude way to look at it and I'm very aware of that but I'm just being realistic in terms of understanding again what the next conversation is going to look like um I haven't done that math yet to be honest it's not that's beyond my brain it's better for all of us if I don't try um but that's easy to get from Angela and two stars I mean just to compare two stars is 10 percent right three stars is 20 percent so the bonus that we're seeing that again sounds like a crude term but um the bonuses that we're seeing for subsidy um eligible families is doubling in a sense so that's that's helpful for sure um you know in terms of what that looks like you know figure 20 percent on a 70 dollar week for for part-time care was 135 for full-time care 140 so you know that's what 28 bucks for a full-time it gives 26 for full-time 14 for a per-time yeah so that starts to compound and again about half of our population right now give or take is subsidy eligible in any given year so it definitely can start to to escalate but I think too we've you know as we know we've made some decisions programmatically in recent years to increase salaries for our support staff and so that has whittled away at balances or overages in that program and brought us pretty much to zero so there's not a lot of padding in the existing budget to play with so this starts to give us a little bit of that potentially moving forward but I want to I want to give it a year and a cycle to sort of play out before we start giving away the farm there because I think again we just we haven't been a three star program for a full year yet and want to see what that looks like before we start committing that funding okay and you know just a reminder for folks at home community services programs in general are half self-sufficient in terms of the program provided off of either grants or the very meager pay for services or reimbursements that we do get so that's why that conversation discussion is frankly important because with the limit about the staff they're really working hard to stretch it as far as possible and have no doubt too that that's helpful and you know not just from the quality of work obviously doing to gain the three star rating but from a sustainability perspective yeah any questions no questions but I do really appreciate the focus of program quality I think a lot of those bigger macro discussions and the work outside as well is super critical but if we're not providing quality programs that enable us to also go do that work impactfully it's moved so thank you for that perspective I agree to appreciate this any questions concerns from the public to us so that's a it's a good question it's a complicated question so in terms of the funding pools that are available you know in terms of the YMC services that we're operating within Winooski those are pretty different funding pools than what we would access for early childhood they have a pretty robust early childhood program in Burlington that will continue so so I'd say their departure from Winooski doesn't really change the financial landscape for us we haven't done a lot of grant seeking around Thrive because it is a program that's driven by registration funding so you know families pay to have their children there or receive support from the state so we haven't been in a position to need to pull in supplemental grant support there and we've kept our rates extremely low and still been able to operate so our rates are set at the state base rate so we don't charge any more than the very lowest rate that the state sets for healthcare the other question would be what about the large semi-large companies around us some companies in other communities in states work with local child care and they get a discount and they will contribute towards community child care so their staff will work and have their children close and you thought of that perspective yeah so another great question so as as it relates to our after school program we've run pretty much a capacity for the last four or five years just based on the number of staff and the amount of space we have at the school so we haven't had a strong need to go out and do a lot of recruitment of kids I think the other as we look at early childhood work as you heard earlier or maybe you came in after this update but there's a RFP out on the street today for a child care center at the O'Brien Center that's going to be for preschool age students and that's certainly a place where we would hope for an operator to start to build those relationships with local businesses and have parents who work in town be able to bring their kid to child care I have two little ones at home and believe me I know that it's it is there's a huge need out there in Chippin County so yeah and part of what we've done is bring in the Promise Community Grant which has added $200,000 in assistance to help us start a cart help support the establishment of a child care facility in addition to really fostering a broader community conversation about what that looks like from an overall strategic what early child care looks like from an overall community strategic level so good thinking being done there good pushing but great questions thank you very much any other questions comments concerns from the public seeing and hearing none we were greatly appreciative of the update thank you very much I had an E approval of the Chittin County Regional Planning Commission unified planning work a program grant application study of stormwater work in the Pine Grove Terrace neighborhood so unfortunately John's not here John Cho is not here tonight so you will be working tomorrow night for the work on Main Street this is a grant application to CCRPC for their annual work plan that's with the unified planning work program that's the annual rounds of funding that they give to municipalities this is specifically around designing a stormwater solution for the Pine Grove Terrace neighborhood and that's specifically the Morehouse Brook Watershed which is one of the areas that have been identified for us as needing improvement as part of our coming wastewater permit the idea of this grant is that CCRPC will pay stone environmental to design this stormwater solution for us get it shovel ready and get it to a point where we can go to v-trans and other funding sources to actually fund the construction of this improvement but we need to do the design before we're ready to get to that application so there is a match we intend and have the ability to use some of our in-kind staff time that we will contribute to this effort as match and then we do have some dollars set aside in the stormwater professional services line as well for match of this effort okay great that was a question I had because it's got 20 non-federal cash then it can sound like it can't be transferable but given the three to five thousand dollars that's not a huge amount of money to come up with so figured there was some budget we'll go for it you know great we've been talking about Morehouse for many years in terms of addressing it so um questions comments from council in regards to the grant application any questions or concerns from the public great so seeing and hearing none here it goes I would entertain an approval for the chintney county council planning commission unified planning work program grant application study for stormwater work in the pine grove terrace neighborhood application motion by Eric second by Nicole and for the discussion seeing and hearing none all those in favor please say hi hi and those opposed motion carries thanks for being resourceful item f approval of the reaffirmed assignment of reserves to operating expenses so these next two are hopefully quick and a little bit of housekeeping so this one is um in during f y 17 you allocated part of the f y 16 surplus to operating expenses per our charter we are with those laps at the end of the at the end of the fiscal year so to continue that allocation we need to you need to approve that vote so with this item we are asking you to approve $89,650 of what will become f y 17 reserves to these ongoing operating costs and specifically on page three you'll see the breakdown of what was originally assigned what was expended in f y 17 and what we're asking you to carry over so that's funding for the marketing and branding the remainder of the marketing and branding effort the tree city us a match and the economic development consultant funding right and we'll just remind people that they can find um in december january and february city council minutes and recordings you can find a very robust conversation discussion in regards to the list um that was addressed with fund balance from last year where the funds were sourced from and all the thinking behind why each of these items was prioritized as a spending item uh because we will probably not rehash that here unless somebody really wants to no okay so seeing and hearing excuse me any other comments questions concerns any comments questions concerns from the public great look at the abject error there were a few a few hours spent on this list and the item so um but thank you for keeping this in in compliance with the charter it's a good place to be okay um so seeing and hearing no additional comments um I would entertain a motion for approval for the reaffirmation of assignment or reserves operating expenses so motion by Nicole second by Eric and for the discussion seeing and hearing that all is in favor please say aye aye and those opposed motion carries um item g approval of the ACH positive paid program vendors uh so again this is um a financial process to keep us in compliance and actually this is an added control that will protect our fiscal health um so easy age transactions as you likely know are when um entities are allowed to go into your checking your savings account and withdraw money um currently that is enabled through our system to be very tight in our procedures what we are recommending is that you actually approve TD bank has a free program that allows that if you approve a specific list of vendors to have access to that type of transfer they will only allow those vendors to do that transfer so any other vendor that tries to come in and do an ACCH transaction we will be notified of that currently that's not in place um so we are asking you to approve this list attached tonight um and these are really our vendors that we work with on a um bi-weekly basis so our payroll vendor our covert ministry administration vendor um health equity which is part of our um health benefits package john hancock our pension benefits package um TD bank um budget services people who manage our debt and the my rec administrator credit card services so again this is really an added fiscal control that will protect um our bank holdings great well and increasingly important is we golly i mean we just got online payroll three years ago um but there's been some amazing work done to automate automate a number of these services and that's great but great to see that we're also keeping it organized and above board so we're protecting people too and our staff questions or concerns from council uh logistically what's the process by which we would if we needed to add a new vendor to the list that have to come back before council yes we would bring that back other questions concerns from council any questions or concerns from the public so seeing and hearing none i did retain a motion for approval of the ACH which is automated clearing house uh positive pay program vendors automatic transactions second motion by eric second by the coal any further discussion seeing hearing none all those in favor please say aye and those oppose pardon me aye motion carries sorry i usually don't vote so it's uh i have to we'll carry call that all right okay so for item h we're a discussion of the memorandum of understanding between the city when you see in the when you see incorporated school district for 2017 and 18 so as you know we're being in a joint session with the school committee next week to hopefully approve this memorandum of understanding so because we will be asking you to take a vote next week i wanted to put it before you for discussion in case there was anything in here you wanted to see change before that date just a high level overview this mo is very similar to the mo that was approved last year that we have been operating under including the payment back to the city the student school resource officer position the obligations around plowing and maintenance etc there are three new additions that i wanted to call your attention to one we've had we in consultation with the superintendent these edits were all made with his approval we've added a statement around our cooperative efforts around master plan our municipal master planning process the economic development strategic planning process and branding and marketing one of the things we're hearing through those last two and anticipate being part of the master planning process is the importance in of our school district in recruiting new businesses and our and our identity and as a very small community we have really unique opportunity to work in lock steps we wanted to codify that in this mo that the school would participate in those processes second edition is shot the superintendent was just appointed to the housing commission we think that's a really strong partnership really strong voice so we want to recognize that in this document as well and then the third is the last on the third page which talks about our shared interest in maintaining the community's affordability and our and our administrative interest in continually cooperating around long-term capital planning and to that end we've had some conversations around professional development for the council and the school committee around the finance the municipal finance tools that are available to do large-scale capital projects so again this interest in reviewing those tools together and thinking about how we jointly do significant capital projects to protect the affordability of the community so those are the three changes we've added but otherwise it's very close to the mo use in past years with some warning changes so really i don't need a vote tonight i just want to put it out there in case there was any feedback before i asked for your vote next week yeah this is uh this is something that the city when you see has not always had um i don't want to call it a luxury because it's really hopefully the way you would expect your community your school and your government from the municipal standpoint to interact but it hasn't frankly always been the case in one of the key that there was a real spirit of cooperation but we're now getting to where it's been about a decade of really good cooperation and really good teamwork and recognition that we're serving the same community we serve the same same tax base but beyond just those financial pieces that there's a real spirit of collaboration that's exciting and i i think a lot of ways from from what i see uh although not as involved as others with the way school districts function pretty unique in terms of the level of communication and thoughtful coordination while also retaining an appropriate distance when it comes to budgetary matters so excited to see this excited to see the additions think they're totally appropriate and make a lot of sense and really appreciate the school's effort again to come together around this effort to champion the same causes and also show a real spirit of willingness to work together to make sure the community is getting everything that they need so and i mean that again the Thrive program that was up here there's just there's no better example i was thinking about that before this there's no better example to have on the agenda than the Thrive program which is a city-run program that's housed in in the school and ensures that you know once three o'clock bell rings is that what time kids still get out these days that education doesn't stop there and the city's part of that solution and then similarly to have Sean show up at our housing commission meeting and show that you know once a kid leaves the school building the school still cares and still cares about the environment that child's walking into so it works both ways and that's a spirit we should all be proud of so and kudos to jessie for helping graph this and ray too and to to get to i think i should open up for comments but a really great really great memorandum of understanding yes i i appreciate the three new pieces the only i'm unable to attend that meeting because tonight the board of directors meets i just want to you you said something about on the last point working together on long-term capital projects i just want to just be really clear that that's a coordination conversation that's not a joint capital project because right are prohibited from doing that yes so i think so in some uh and there are good reasons for it but in some ways we can't do all the collaboration we would like to do because there are some limitations in terms of crossing funding streams um but i think uh continually communicate and cooperate is as good as long as everybody at that meeting understands that that there's not it's not intended to suggest that they're you know the school district and the city would be working on the pool right funding the pool project together you do no i think it's a good i and correct the spirit that i i take it as to and you know maybe the wording is it feels a little close but is that if there's an understanding that um there's bonding taking place that we all have to the reality says we have to keep in mind what everybody's asking the same taxpayer for right around those capital projects and understand that there's some communication around what types of asks are going to be going to the community when and we've very clearly in the past there was actually a proposal to do a joint budget meeting which was very quickly next and for wise reasons because it's not appropriate for the decisions to be directly impacting each other but from a correlative scale and from a cooperative scale that communication keeping tabs i think is the spirit but that's a really good clarification i appreciate that i love the mo you um and really um what the vein you hit on um i really appreciated and would look to continue for us all to look at offered two opportunities for how we can increase those appropriate collaborations um what you know like the examples of thrive for shan being on the housing commission the more we can get um the city and the school uh involved in the work like not looking at things like they are so siloed um is really critical so i love that we've made really positive movement in that direction and would love you know encourage us all to continue to look for opportunities to do so which um leads me to my next comment which is um for the past three years now uh myself the city manager have put ourselves out there in the at the talent show um in terms of seeing and providing preschool entertainment and she played in another band that's so just just want to go ahead and start shining for some participation from city council is a good demonstration of the world to participate in the uh the talent show be careful what you wish for um i'll open it up to for questions comments concerns from the public in regards to the school and uh city uh mou uh this again will be um considered on a special joint meeting on september the 13th as well we've got uh formal considerations before them great so and i'm sorry just so we folks know um it's our turn to visit them wait no it's their turn to visit us isn't it uh we are my understanding is we are visiting them because it's their regular meeting night so we will actually join them at their regular meeting and then we will even they will continue great so we'll tell them we'll approve as long as they promise to come here twice great so given this is an item up for vote um tonight we'll be reviewed on the 13th um we'll close that i don't move on for discussion okay i i discussion uh approval letters of intent for the former ymca space so um as you know the ymca vacated um the space the orang community center um this summer and ray has been working um to fill the space we have two letters of intent letters of interest um on the table that were sent to you um in a confidential communication as they do involve um documents that are not subject to public records law at this point um my recommend so what our goal is tonight is to outline for you kind of conceptually the two proposals and get your feedback on the community values the priorities of the community for the use of that space um and then potentially consider uh a vote to authorize myself or raid to enter into negotiations on a final document that would be brought to you for um approval um in the interest of making sure you understand what's before you and allowing you to have a discussion with members who are here tonight um i would recommend that you go into a brief executive session so we can talk through the two letters of an intent and then come back and have the values conversation in open session and discussion with the public great uh so we have a recommendation um in regards from the city manager uh to consider executive session uh to review letters of intent for the formal YMCA space that's located at the O'Brien community center in Muskie um are there any concerns i'm gonna just ask if there's any public questions before we do that first but any concerns about that potential motion from council okay any questions or concerns from the public so what council will do in this case is take uh river parties uh were advised to uh take a look at the letters of potential intent consider them it's a good time to remind you too that there is the opportunity for the council to take an approval action tonight um any discussion that takes place in executive sessions just that it's discussion any formal action from council comes back out and any votes are held in public and discussed in public too so this will not be your last opportunity to comment on this conversation but it looks like we are heading towards the consideration of executive session so any questions or concerns in regards to that process anything you've heard so far okay and just a reminder to build off of what Jesse intended or noted parties when they put in letters of intent like this it's really akin to contract negotiations frankly so it's not advantageous for those parties nor the city to conduct those in public and that's why those conversations are not held initially in public until a vote is made okay so i would entertain a motion to enter into executive session pursuant to vsa 3132 for the negotiation of real estate purchase and or lease options and under the city manager's recommendation can you please identify the parties that you would want to come into executive sessions with us myself and ready coffee great second motion by eric second my Nicole any further discussion singing hearing none all those in favor please say i i those opposed motion carries council and executive session regarding for any action okay we will reopen the city council meeting again council is just coming out of executive session in regards to negotiation of real estate purchase and or lease options there's a memo from in the public package that sort of outlines the how we got here story in terms of for interest brian community senator lost what we would consider an anchor tenant in one of the largest spaces in the ymca a couple months ago as a reminder to how why and with what efforts the community senator was built for community senator was constructed based largely off of public donations and a lot of round work from the wanooski residents to create a public space that offered an opportunity for community or actions to take place to ensure that we had a building that in the absence of private investment and potentially in in the private market not dictating that services should be here that there be services in our community an opportunity for those in a space that was centrally located and also gave leases that frankly were were fair to people and maybe not always that market in some cases which is something that we've certainly struggled with from the financial perspective from year to year but has been beneficial to the community one big concern as we've gone forward with considerations of what's going to happen next with that space is trying to continue to uphold that spirit and trying very hard to ensure that we're still living up to that promise that the the taxpayers and the people who live here prescribed to so long ago so we've at each turn tried to ensure that it's a space that's open interactive for the community and that community members have an opportunity to use the full back to their services being there to balance those two things so we've got we've got noted in our memo that there are two interested parties one that is interested the uvm medical center and doing them an aquatic physical therapy center which is currently was co-located with ymc currently operates still the space and we also have an option from private entity that runs snap fitness franchise branch locally that's looking to expand also the new ski you know i think as we look at it everybody have a chance to see their piece both are really interesting opportunities both provide the community with some level of service we have a long-term partner it's been tremendously beneficial in the university that it's an incredibly invaluable relation to participate in one that i know we see as being important going forward in the future around housing around the way our demographics are shifting but also around service provision and then we also have an opportunity frankly to replace something for the public that has been of keen interest from our population something that we've received feedback on surveys is really missing from this community which is an opportunity for a gym facility to exist as well in light of that i'm certainly supportive and i think we'll have an opportunity for for the other counselors to speak as well in really asking that we we push back to staff and ask that you re-engage with parties to try to resolution includes cohabitation the thinking and reason and rationing behind that not siding with with one proposal over the other is you've really got the benefit of a medical opportunity for the community and a service that we understand is deeply beneficial the partner that we recognize we've had a long sustained relationship with at the same time we have a very very important public space that has done that for a long time has history of servicing the public and really anybody who can walk through the door granted there can be membership fees just the same as there were at the ymca level but provided a more broad and general public benefit it's a hard balance to strike in a really impossible you know line of action to draw on on values on that but i think the councils will in that building so far has been to really try to balance that and i think it would be a shame to have to have either opportunity lost so i guess we're going to strongly recommend that that be the pursuit of negotiations and the two you have the opportunity to pursue those any questions or comments you guys want to make in regards to negotiations or direction or provide i think you know that that's a direction that i support i think it's consistent with our vision statement which i really like having right here when we talk about insurers that are spaces have that um vibrancy but also that we're actively creating spaces for community to engage in healthy activities and connect with one another um i do think it's really important that we continue to operate or have a tenant that operates a service that is accessible to all members of the community and at the same time preserves the resource that we have and it's a it's a um symbiotic relationship that last 10 years and i don't see any reason why um that can't that shouldn't be able to continue so i agree i don't think it should be one at the expense of the other that both are consistent with service reasons as i think we have you know the word community is right in the title of the o'Brien community center um and i think that that's really valuable not in just how the public is able to access the services or spaces within that building but also how um how relationships are conducted between tenants in the building and uh with us as the as the city uh responsible for that building so i think that that value really um is at the core of what the direction we're looking towards as a council any questions in terms in terms of direction from a staff perspective any questions concerns from the public great and want to give you know strong acknowledgement thank you for all your work thanks to all the parties who've put a lot of thought and time into this too uh no it's not an easy process and know that we're kind of saying okay go back a little bit and have have more conversations and appreciate everybody's willingness to do that uh and and being respectful i think as we stayed here that trying very hard to make sure that that building represents the the community vision that we're striving for and i think in that spirit i just want to take a moment to acknowledge ester lots who's been working on the city's behalf as a broker but i think it's fair to say this has not been your standard commercial real estate arrangement and so her patience with me and process and you know as i joke with her the touchy feely stuff has been really appreciated and so i know it's been a long process but i think we're moving towards event so the city's behalf thank you ester and thanks to representation the university of vermont too who came to see me to appreciate your time thank you okay so with that there's no action to be taken since there's not um anything formal being entered into so uh folks at home pretty much you know gotta wrap up of what was discussed during the executive session and what the path forward looks like thank you all very much item j we have approval appointment of a voting delegate to the vermont league of cities and towns annual business meeting so as members of vlct um we are allowed to appoint my mind as the official voting member at i want to bring this to you to see if any of you are interested in attending and being the voting delegate or whether you would like town fair is great if people have not been before it's a wonderful opportunity to meet your counterparts across the state and there's lots of learning opportunities and seminars and vendors and whatnot i think for people to attend if they are interested i can't help out i think i'm going to be there as a vendor so um i love it yeah so this is always what's a terrific opportunity with somebody coming in from the outside historically we have just said city manager uh makes sense that's the expectation is that person is in their professional status has had a grip on some of the media solution are and for instance falls some of the legislative pushes um we've kind of automatically done that but there's certainly an opportunity if somebody feels really compelled and feels motivated to do that that we could send somebody else um and you know when's it when's it's due by wednesday september the 27th so if somebody tonight or beyond or the gentleman at home thinking about it you know we could certainly move to make an appointment if just you would be willing on the staff side or if somebody wanted to think about it and say hey i want a minute to explore it we could also table this and have it considered for the next meeting too i've seen an issue with that that's fine i personally feel very confident and comfortable with jessie representatives there i'll probably be there at the day of just to see if that sounds appropriate to me okay i can't speak for the brides well just i i will be there um the really past we in montpellier we had councils counselors go is one of the primary things you're voting on is the the vlc the vermont league of cities and towns policy positions which one could argue are better set by the policy makers of the state than the managers although i'm familiar with what your policy directions are and what we need as a city i certainly can play that role so delegated happy to do it but if somebody else has an interest from a policy standpoint that's pride with me as well just do we know what the resolutions are that they're going to be voting on this this year and i mean one way to promote that is just to say we will set aside some time to talk about them and provide you with some direction and raise gump that's exactly what we did and we actually got two items put on municipal tax of the parking garage taxation and we what else did we get added for vlc t last year we got taxation of municipal parking garages because we sent you with a couple marching orders town fair that was the big one yeah there's something else small that we at least augmented and had an impact on but we sent the marching orders with the person i mean i guess we could still do that too but anybody with trauma feelings or interest i'm having no point just needed to be the delegate and i'd like to talk about what the what's going to be town fair that sounds like the point to see baker the delegate to the town fair motion by the coal second by erick and for the discussion here in sign language please say i i and those opposed motion can grace i'm going to stop we did not get to do a quick public comment any public comment concerns okay thank you jesse have a blast can i delegate that i think i think you can delegate the delegate okay item k approval the city manager six month review process so my six month anniversary is next week which is awesome um in my contract um there's a provision about a performance evaluation we had a team just recently said our policy priorities and strategies for the year which will be which my hope is will become the annual evaluation but given that this is a new relationship and my new relationship with all of you and with our staff and our leadership team i'm interested in some kind of learning organization continuous quality improvement an opportunity to hear immediate feedback about my management style how things are going on a day to day basis that's outside of the overall delivery the overall delivery of the priorities we've set um so what you have before you is a memo that outlines my recommendation for um what this kind of quick down and dirty um initial review would look like which is three key questions um and those are in your memo um what am i doing well and how i manage what you wish i was doing certainly in my management um and what else would you like the manager and council to know um so if you approve this process what julia our hr manager will do is put that into a quick survey monkey poll we'll send it out to the leadership team and the city council um will aggregate those responses so names won't be identified but the full words will be retained um and then we'll provide that in a report to the council and the and to me um and then we'll meet in executive session at our first meeting in october to review that together that is my proposal okay and i have talked with the leadership team about it and they are willing to participate and i have talked to julie and she is willing to do the technical pieces so we we discussed this kind of at length during contract negotiations etc that's the city has had a i will say um efficiency in this area in the past in regards to a really open process uh between council and manager and think that this is very refreshing and very transparent and is a great opportunity personally for you two to hear some of those things but i commend you for it um and think that it's um it it says a lot that somebody's interested in engaging in this process at that level um and appreciate your proactedness towards it thank you it's also something that we promise to do um you know contractually and i think it is really important that we uphold that because it's one of those things that frankly can be easy not to do once people get comfortable and time starts going by and other believe or not other possibilities i also feel strong that you we certainly owe an investment of ourselves to this process as well and um we'll really reap benefits from those up front and all those conversations happening on a consistent basis and i appreciate the personalization of the questions yeah any questions concerns or no agree with you hold on it whole heartedly yes i think it's really good some companies now my company if you don't get a review you can write your own yeah that's the essential we have yeah so i think it's a really uh sort of respectful yeah thank you i think it's a man i'm curious you know with other employees you have a six-month probationary period during which you're reviewed and because of my employment situation where the council is slightly different my fear is that we get to the end and there's something somebody's been holding that i could have easily addressed right and let's let's course correct that now so we all can be as effective um and enjoy our jobs and contribute to a new ski and make things stronger as possible in a you know kind of curious open way great uh other questions comments to turn to the public i just want to say that kudos to jessie for doing this i think that it is indicative of uh turning open process that you use across the board in this community and see that feedback wanooski way it's beautiful to hear that because the wanooski way is awesome i mean that that's absolutely true and i don't mean to drag up the skeletons but that's that is but that's that's because of the people who are here and who are working here and doing that work so that's that's why it's different um and why it is what it is which is great okay um so with that i would entertain a motion for approval of the city manager six-month review process motion by eric second by the coal any further discussion here in seeing none of those in favor please say aye those opposed motion carries uh for the rest of this evening's agenda we have two items on both are recommended for executive first we have executive session in regards to labor negotiation agreements with employees that specifically ask me which is which is the again in relation to union negotiations that's the all good grief i can't do the ask me acronym anymore but the union that represents the public works department and we also have scheduled potential executive session in regards to pending litigation um and that's in relation to the wanooski hotel group llc um just a note for the executive session related to ask me we'll have full attendance um if there's going to be an executive session on the legal action in relation to the wanooski hotel llc i can open that i cannot i would be reused out from that issue as i have been for quite some time on anything related to that item so as a reminder both of these items are on this evening and are on this executive session for review and therefore are not subject to action uh the council would enter an executive session and would come out only to adjourn uh there would be no uh further action take this evening jesse that's okay i'd like to bring rey into the executive session the second executive session i'll never forget to ask okay are we doing two separate executive like are we doing single motion for both and you're just going to leave yeah yeah exactly so i mean do you need to yeah and i'll recuse out and we'll i'll be right here in present for adjournment any questions or concerns and again one is related to a contract a union negotiation union negotiation contract that would be unfit for the city to discuss in the public would put this at disadvantage and the others relate to legal matters that i again could put the city at substantial risk if conducted in public any questions or concerns from the public and again we will resume only to adjourn this will conclude tonight's regular business okay so seeing here now that i entertain uh motion in an executive session bringing with us jesse baker and rey kaufi in regards to the two matters listed in the agenda can you see none if we say aye aye and those opposed motion carries