 This is a benefit. It starts on time. It'll be interesting. Can you see the look on everyone's face? The doors were locked. I ran into Rich's office and, like, reached the doors. It's like... Was that just now? The doors were locked? No, when I was heading in. My cyclist here doesn't get any better. Will does? I might get hotter, but I don't know if it gets better. The thermometer at home said 95 degrees. I think it would be bad for you. I hope not much. Well, today's low of 69, and tomorrow's a high of 69, so it might happen at midnight. We're going to take care of that. I'm willing to grant another three years, but not forever. I don't want to. I'm going to speak to you. I feel that the hardship was really... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Good evening. Would everyone please join with me and restrain the Pledge of Allegiance. Good evening and welcome to another City Council meeting. Convenient meeting at 7. 16. First item on the agenda is the agenda. Councillor Naudel, for an amendment to the agenda. Yes, President Wright, I move to amend and adopt the agenda as follows. First to note the written material for Consent Item 3.31, which is a communication from the mayor about the Library Commission appointment with the action to waive the reading except the communication and place it on the file per the mayor's office. Note also written material and title change for Consent Agenda Item 3.32, a communication from the city assessor regarding pending citywide reappraisal with the action to waive the reading except the communication and place it on file per CAO Anderson. There's more on that item in a bit. And then remove this item from the Consent Agenda and place it on deliberative as Item 4.06 per Councillor Pine. Add to the Consent Agenda Item 3.36, a communication from Sean Beckett, a member of the Conservation Board, regarding his resignation with the Consent Action to waive it, accept it, place on file, advertise the vacancy, and send a letter of appreciation to him thanking him for his time served on the Conservation Board. Add Consent Item 3.37, a communication from Chapin Spencer and Laura Wheelock, DPW, and Kirsten Miriam and Shapiro Cito regarding Bank and Cherry Street improvements, the Consent Action to waive it, accept it, and file it per Chief of Staff, Riddell. Add to the Consent Agenda Item 3.38, a communication from the Clerk Treasurer's Office regarding May 14, 2018 openings, Burlington City Boards and Commissions with the Consent Action to waive it, accept it, and file it. Add Councillors Shannon, Nodell, and Mason to Agenda Item 4.04, resolution referral to Charter Change Committee concerning City Funding of Capital Improvements for Church Street Marketplace, Council Roof per Council Roof. Add to the Agenda Item 4.05, which is a deliberative item, appointment and approval of Mural Task Force Committee members with the action to appoint Patrick Brown, Terry Melloncoff, Jen Berger, Thomas Carroll, Gary DeCarolis, Brian Sullivan, and Wei Wei Wang as members of the Mural Task Force, and respectfully request that the administration send an email to Task Force members, these Task Force members, notifying them of their appointment, thanking them for being willing to serve, include the applications of the appointed members, and asking for interest in serving as Chair, and request also City staff to send a thank you email to applicants who were not selected, per Council President Wright, per Councillor Shannon. Finally, add to the Agenda Item 9.02, a communication from Eileen Blackwood, our City Attorney regarding Burlington Telecom, Public Utility Commission, Intervenor Status, Ruling, Oral, with an Expected Executive Session, per City Attorney Blackwood. Thank you, Councillor Nodell. We have the amended Agenda. Is there a second to that? Seconded by Councillor Bush, are there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favour of the Agenda, as amended, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? We have our Agenda. And now we are going to recess, now that we have that recess, our regular City Council meeting, and move into the Liquor Control Commission meeting. So I will open up the Liquor Control Commission meeting at 7.20, and recognize Chairman Deane. Thank you, Commissioner Wright. I'd like to move to accept and adopt the Agenda. Seconded by Councillor Roof, any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favour of the Agenda, as we say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Proceed, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Now a motion on the Consent Agenda. I move to amend and adopt the Consent Agenda, taking the actions as indicated. Seconded by Commissioner Roof, all those in any discussion, all those in favour of taking the actions as indicated in the Consent Agenda, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? We have approved the Consent Agenda. Back to you, Commissioner Deane. Thank you, Commissioner Wright. I'm asked the indulgence to move 3.01 and 3.02 together. First class bar and liquor license and an outside consumption permit for La Boca wood-fired pizzeria. Hearing no objection from the commission, we will proceed that way. Item 3.01, I move the approval of the 2018-2019 first class restaurant bar and liquor license application and the outside consumption permit application for FUOCO Group LLC doing business as La Boca wood-fired pizzeria, 1127 North Avenue, Suite 32 contingent upon fire-martial approval with all standard conditions. Seconded by Commissioner Roof. Any questions or concerns by the commission? Hearing none, all those in favour of approval of those two motions, please say aye. Item 3.01 and 3.02, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? We have approved both of those. Thank you, Commissioner Wright. Similar indulgence on 3.03 and 3.04 to move those together. Again, hearing no objection from the city council, that will be the order. Item 3.03 and 3.04, a first class restaurant bar and liquor license application and an outside consumption permit application for Chuck-sized enterprises LLC doing business as Taco Gordo, 208-210 North Winooski Avenue with the following conditions, all city permits need to be closed out contingent upon fire-martial approval with all standard conditions. Moved by Commissioner Dean, seconded by Commissioner Roof. Councillor, Commissioner Buscher. Thank you very much. Just one quick question. Regarding the outside consumption permit, I'm not really familiar with, I mean I know where this is, but there are residents around there and is it 10 o'clock okay to have that, has there been an outside consumption permit that went to 10 p.m. in that vicinity and is there any concerns for neighbours? Commissioner Dean. Thank you. So to that question, there has not been, this is the location of the current redemption centre for bottles right there, so taking over that space, turning it into a restaurant and then that small triangular space that is the intersection of North Winooski Avenue and Union Street becomes no longer a parking area, but it's a place for people to sit and enjoy. We felt as though it was a very, and again, I was not able to be at this meeting and it was cherished by my fellow Commissioner Roof and I don't believe there were any issues raised in that meeting, but I would ask him to respond if he aligned. Commissioner Roof. There were no issues raised. Thank you, Commissioner Roof. Councillor Buscher. I'm satisfied. Okay. With that, any further questions by the Commission? Hearing none, all those in favour of approval of these two items, 3.03 and 3.04, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, that passes unanimously. Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn by Commissioner Dean, seconded by Commissioner Roof. All those in favour of adjournment, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? We have adjourned the City Control Commission and that pushes us back to the, we will now reconvene the regular meeting of the City Council at 726. And so it's just a little bit early, but we will open item number two is the public forum. So we will open the public forum. I only have two people signed up. If anyone else would like to, now we have three. If anyone else would like to speak in public forum, there are sheets over here on the table. If you want to sign up, please bring them over to Lori over here in the clerk's office. She'll bring them to me. You have a time, three minutes to speak tonight and you will have a light system that will let you know when the red light goes off, you have to conclude your remarks. So we'll open the public forum tonight with Joanna Grossman. It's about to be followed by Christine McConnell. Good evening and welcome. Thank you. And please pull the microphone right in so we can all hear. Can you hear me now? That's better. So my name is Joanna Grossman and I'm award five resident and I wanted to talk to you guys a little bit about the Burlington School District Capital Plan and some concerns that I have about it. So as you know in 2016, the voters passed the deferred maintenance bond, which was intended for school repairs. So as you may also be aware, currently the school district is using a large portion of that money to build two new buildings and between one and three roads. The buildings will house new district offices and two preschools. So there was no mention of new construction anywhere in the ballot language and there was no mention of anything like that in any of the publicity that the district used to promote encouraging voters to vote for that either. So my concern is that that isn't really a valid use of that municipal bond and you guys issue the bond so the buck kind of stops with you guys. So I'm aware that the district's lawyer has approved this as you know, has given his legal opinion that it's okay but that isn't the same as a judge saying it's okay. That's just one lawyer's opinion and we've talked to quite a few lawyers by we I mean a lot of district parents who are very concerned about this. We've talked to a few lawyers who disagree and going further than that, legality is not the same as morality and I really want to hit this point home. Whether it's legal or not is kind of a moot point because the voters thought their money was going to be spent on school repairs and it's being spent on something else and that's a violation of public trust and that is going to further erode the relationship that the district has with the community and that the community has with future bonds like the BHS bond and I'm pretty concerned about that. Another thing that concerns me about it is that these two new buildings are going to be for preschools and preschools are important and they shouldn't be tucked away in some bond that was meant for repairs. They should have their own bond. They should have their day in the sun so that the community and the experts in the area can really weigh in and say hey like that's really important. We want to talk about that. We want to learn more about that. The whole underpinning for the motivation for the new buildings is this idea of swing space so that while the district is doing school repairs, we need to create space for kids who are displaced so the goal is that the new buildings will be built and the district offices and all the district preschools will move into the new buildings. I reality will be vacated and then these kids who are displaced will be kind of warehoused in that swing space and even district staff have admitted that that hasn't really been thought through and I have a lot of concerns about that as a parent. I kind of feel like I don't want my kid to be educated in a place that doesn't have access to arts, BE, counseling, school nurse, principal, response teams, special ed, interventionists, library and school community. I ran out of time. If you have a sentence or two left you can finish that. I just really hope, I guess I'm just asking you, the city, the mayor, the agencies, you've all been really instrumental in deescalating tensions between the district and the community at large in the past, especially with the strike. I'm asking you to think about helping us as a community make that happen again so that it's a workable solution for everybody. I'm not trying to be combative or it's not an us versus then. I really just want everyone to find a really strong community engagement plan together. Thank you so much for your time and service. Thank you very much. Next up is Christine McConnell to be followed by Donna Walters and Monique Fordham together. Good evening. Welcome. Hi, thank you for having me. I was just saying to Joanna the last time I was here was probably about 15 years ago when the skate park was being discussed and we had great results there. And I'm hoping we'll have the same results here. So I am from Ward 5 and I would like to also speak about the Burlington School District's capital plan. I'm really thankful we're about to invest all this money considering the culture of education right now and how people are protesting and not getting paid the wages they deserve. But I'm concerned about the fiduciary responsibility that this city has to our students and to our community. We voted for a capital bond that was $19 million and the original estimate for Ira Allen was $3.25 million. The current plans that include two new buildings are over $8 million. That is $5 million more. More than double. And I want to just say I am not against preschool. I care a lot about preschool. I have two kids. I have gone through the pain of being on waiting lists and trying to get my kids in somewhere. The issue is that we have a capacity problem certainly but we also have 44 providers in the city in addition to the Burlington School District. And when we think about the numbers of students that we are currently serving according to the agency of education we have roughly 450 students currently being served in early education preschool. So that is roughly 3 to 5. 5 year old summer in kindergarten. And I want to understand if we are going to build two new buildings and significantly change campuses and communities like not even just the parents and the students but building roads, creating new environments and experiences for the residents that live there. I would like to know why we are doing that. And so when we talk about enrollment numbers and enrollment numbers are not going up, our population is not going up. What is happening is because Universal Pre-K is more people are aware of it now, there are more people enrolling. But that doesn't mean we are going to have more kindergartners through fifth grade. It means more people are accessing what we need. And I would just say too, I know the mayor had initiated a report in 2015. We had something like, I am going to forget the number now, but 1,000 children, Burlington residents, who are of the age of 0 to 3 and only 371 spots for care. So we have a capacity issue and if we are going from 8 classrooms that we currently have administered by the district to 10 classrooms, I want to know what is the enrollment increase by people, by individuals? What is the programming increase? Are we going to serve more full time needs? I would like to know the answers to some of those before we engage in spending $5 million. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. McConnell. Donna Walters and Monique Fordham are up next to be followed by the final speaker, Marianne Cornell. Good evening, Ms. Fordham. Ms. Walters, welcome. Donna Walters. We'll give them since there's two people speaking in additional three. We are representing the Park Green. So we were notified on Friday, actually, we received a bunch of documents in preparation for the meeting on Wednesday when the ad hoc committee is meeting to discuss saving some trees and adding more shade on the hardscape in City Hall Park. And so it was such a large amount of people that were upset about the large number of trees that were going to be cut. We were expecting to save maybe half the trees that you were planning on cutting. That would have been maybe 16 or so trees. From the initial read that we took from the documents that we received on Friday, we're just surprised. The three options combined will save three or four trees and plant two trees. It's not even close to what we were expecting. It's a really dismal start. I'm just hoping that the City has another dozen trees up their sleeve because three or four trees is just not going to cut it. Thank you. I'd just like to obviously echo Ms. Walters' comments. And I realize, you know, we have an extremely first of all, I just want to be heartfeltly thankful to the Council for passing that resolution to give us another opportunity to find a way that we can respond to, frankly, from what I've seen is pretty much of a massive outpouring of people who are willing to call, write, show up and speak and say, no, we want some trees in our park. We don't want it to be denuded of trees. And I don't feel like that's such a radical, you know, negative position to take. And from the beginning, and I've said this before and I'll say it as many times as I have to, we've always come forward and said, let's work together. We don't want to be confrontational about this, but this plan just basically gets rid of too many trees. It's not going to be any shade. It's going to be mostly pavement. And we have other options for performance spaces to act like we don't have any, just isn't reflective of reality. We have huge performance spaces down by the waterfront. We have entertainment going on, you know, constantly right outside here on Main Street and Church Street. It's not like there are no places to have any kind of public events. But a green space in the center of a park provides a valuable service. It's not just an entertainment venue. It's a park. Parks have a deep tradition. They provide all sorts of benefits. The most scientific of them being the fact that they cool the city down. I mean, I was out today. This is kind of like our first warm day. It got pretty hot out there. I was looking for some shade after walking around for a while. So I think, you know, we came from this from a position at the beginning that this we looked at this plan. This plan is not a particularly complicated plan in terms of its layout and design. It's still keeping with a semi-central feature with radiating paths. I think that I've seen enough landscape architecture in my day to see that it's not that difficult to kind of work around some of the actual benefits and ecosystem services, if you will, that already exist in the park. So we didn't think that we would be met with such a tremendous backlash of opposition. I mean, for crying out loud, the Burlington Business Association put out a thing saying it's an activist alert and that opening up this process to talk about saving some trees would be going against the rule of law. I mean, this is overkill. We want to come to a compromise. We can save from trees. Trees are good. And they help with stormwater reduction. You really don't have to peruse too much literature to see that trees are in a very important part of environmental planning because of those systems that they provide. Cutting them all down is actually going to worsen some problems and really not provide the things that people enjoy now. I really hope that we can find more of a compromise. And I really didn't think it was going to be this difficult. So when we received the three options that the city put forward that we were supposed to be discussing and selecting upon, frankly, I just have to say it really felt like having someone thumbing their nose at you. When all three options combined would only save three or four trees, that just doesn't feel like a good faith effort. And I'm really hoping that on Wednesday we can see a little movement in that direction. And the over 200 people that wrote and spoke are going to be thankful to have a compromise. And I really think that this design as much as a designer may like it, if it's being funded by the taxpayers, there ought to be some taxpayer input to try to save some freaking trees. I really think we can do this and I think it could be a win-win. That's all we've ever wanted from the beginning. So we look forward to Wednesday. We're going to do our best to negotiate and hope that we can get some movement on this. And once again, thank you for passing the resolution to give us an opportunity to look at this again. Thank you, Ms. Fordham and Ms. Walters, and not opening a dialogue, but just let you know that we will be meeting Wednesday and we will be meeting in good faith. Mary Ann Cornell, the final speaker in public forum tonight. Good evening. Welcome. Pull the microphone right just so we can make sure. I know you guys are voting tonight on whether Superintendent Yal Bang can have his residents outside the district and I highly disagree with that because any decision he makes is not going to affect his kids. It's going to affect all of the kids in Burlington and especially low-income kids. And you guys just cut a whole bunch of AP classes from the school, a whole bunch of other stuff and I don't think it's fair. Any decision that he make should ostensibly affect his children as well as ours. And I don't think that's fair and I really disagree with it. All right. Thank you, Ms. Cornell. Appreciate that and with that, we will close tonight's public forum. Thank you all for coming out to speak and item number three is the consent agenda and I'll look to Councillor Nodell for a motion. Yes, President Wright, I moved to adopt the consent agenda as amended and to take the actions indicated. Moved by Councillor Nodell, seconded by Councillor Bushard to adopt the consent agenda as amended and take the actions indicated. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor of that motion, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? And with that we have passed the consent agenda unanimously and taking the actions indicated in each item. I am now going to, before moving back to the deliberative agenda I'm going to recess the regular city council meeting and go to, we'll go to the Board of Tax Abatement meeting and then to Mayor, City Council with Mayor presiding. So turn over the Board of Tax Abatement meeting to Mr. Mayor. Great. Thank you, President Wright. I'll call to order the Board of Tax Abatement at 742 and the first item on the agenda is the agenda. Is there a motion regarding the agenda? Councillor Bushard. I'll move to adopt the consent agenda. I mean excuse me, I'll move to adopt the agenda. Excellent. Second. Thank you Councillor Bushard. Thank you President Wright. Any discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. And now we are ready for a motion on the consent agenda. Councillor Bushard. Shall I try again? Thank you Mr. Mayor. I'd like to move to adopt the consent agenda and take the actions indicated. Thank you. Is there a second? Seconded by President Wright. Any discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. And that brings us to 3.01 which is the request for abatement of taxes from Timothy Amir. Are we ready for a motion here? Councillor Shannon. I move to refer the matter to the Board of Tax Abatement for its consideration and recommendation. Thank you. Is there a second? Seconded by Councillor Bushard. Discussion? Okay. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. And without objection we will adjourn the Board of Abatement of Taxes at 7.43. And now we will. Thank you Mr. Vickery. We will go should I just proceed right in the President Wright to the City Council with Mayor Presiding? Yes, Mr. Mayor. Excellent. I'll convene the City Council with Mayor Presiding at 7.44 and welcome motion on the agenda. Councillor Nodale. Mayor, I'll move adoption of the agenda as presented. Thank you. Is there a second? Seconded by Councillor Hartnett. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. We have an agenda and this brings us to item 2.01 which is a resolution granting renewal of Charter 130 hardship exemption to the school superintendent. Yeah, I'll bang. Councillor Nodale. Thank you Mayor. I'd like to move adoption of this resolution, wave the reading and request the floor after a second. Okay. Thank you Councillor Nodale. Seconded by Councillor Hartnett and the floor is yours Councillor Nodale. Thank you very much Mayor. So the City Charter has some language that says that certain department heads and directors in the City are required to be legal voters of Burlington and they're expected to become legal voters after a year of their initial appointment. Also we have the Charter and our rules provide for a process by which the City Council with Mayor presiding that is this body can consider and grant requests for extensions of that period of time to become a legal voter if we find a personal hardship. We have received a request from the chair of the school board, Claire Wolan, really very happy that she can be here with us tonight. A request on behalf of the school board to request a further extension of the hardship that this council extended to Dr. O'Bang three years ago and which is expiring and it is now timely to consider a further extension and we received this request. The language of the resolution just so we are all very clear that if this resolution passes and I very much hope that it will, it would extend the requirement to be a legal voter for as long as Dr. O'Bang holds the position of superintendent he must submit to the City 8 Human Resources Department an annual form certifying that the hardship continues and he must continue to live in the residence that he owns as of the date that we extend this. The basis, these personal hardships must be explained. We need to understand and the council over the years I have considered many many of these and each case is unique and requires the council to consider the fullness of the request before us. Now we have tried to put down and codify in language some of the reasons why hardship requests are extended and this request does fall under one of those cases and it's the case that says applies to appointees who currently reside out in Chittenden County and who certify that becoming a legal voter of Burlington would present a personal hardship for them. Now this is language that we have applied to other department heads and it is a reasonable case. Now it always comes when we are curing requests. Other department heads who have come to our body have and have certified that you know I own a home outside of Burlington that in Chittenden County and I'm certifying that it will be a personal hardship for me to move into Burlington at this time and I have always believed individuals who come and say I have a personal hardship and I am going to believe this superintendent who is coming to us backed up by the school board backed up by the chair of the school board to say that is a hardship. Now it always comes down to a judgment call because although we have tried to codify the cases under which hardships can be granted there is also a provision in our policy that says you use your judgment and if you think that it is in the best interest of the city and that it is a reasonable request given the totality of the circumstances the city council with mayor presiding is our job to make those judgments. Now as I consider where we are in the city of Burlington where the schools are what the school department has been through that we are now in a period of reconciliation, of healing, of transition to new leadership and new leadership really starting to rebuild their relationship. And when I ask myself a big picture if this council votes no and I really strongly believe that that would be the wrong thing for this body to do what would that really accomplish and what it would accomplish is sending us right back into turmoil into uncertainty it would do nothing good for Burlington schools, for Burlington students, for Burlington teachers, for Burlington school staff for Burlington parents for the city of Burlington you can't make a case that that is the right call for Burlington. And so tonight I hope that this body will strongly support this hardship request. Thank you mayor. Thank you councillor Noodle. Further discussion? Councillor Shannon. Thank you Mr Mayor. So we have a request before us to grant a waiver on the residency requirement or not residency but rather the requirement to be a voter based on the fact that Mr. Obang works long days in the city regularly presents to Burlington schools is connected by phone, email, text and social media and if this is the standard by which we apply our requirement I don't see how anybody would be required to actually live in the city all of our of our department heads work very hard, work very long hours, are very dedicated to our community and are available to us. So I think the argument is that the purpose of this requirement can be met in some other way other than actually being a resident and I don't believe that that's true. When we granted this initially I do agree with much of what councillor Noodle said we have to review each case individually and we have come up with some rules that cannot we can't envision every possible scenario that's going to come before us and I think that that's what happened three years ago in 2015 when we were presented with somebody who could not become a Burlington voter because he could not instantly become a Burlington citizen which is a requirement of being a voter but at the time that we granted this waiver, Mr. Obang was moving he was not commuting here from Canada where he lived we knew that he would be moving to the community and we were assured that he would move to Burlington and with that it was very reasonable to give a waiver on the requirement to be a voter but Mr. Obang did not choose to buy a home in Burlington he chose to buy a home in South Burlington and I think if he had come to us at the time and made a case for why he was not buying a home in Burlington we could have judged the merits of that at the time but now the only need for this waiver is by not meeting the criteria that was set in the previous waiver and I don't know if President Wright if Mr. Obang would like to come and explain Mr. Mayor if Mr. Obang would like to explain what happened between the previous waiver being granted with the expectation stated in that waiver that he would become a Burlington resident and not becoming a Burlington resident and now faced with the choice that we have now I'd be happy to entertain that but I think that that's his choice if you choose to allow it. My apologies Dr. Obang Mr. Obang you'd be welcome here at the table if you'd like to respond to the questions first of all thank you for at least taking the opportunity to review this case I know that these are not difficult challenges and it takes a lot of thought and sort of precision in terms of thinking of what's to come forward and I remember you referenced in 2015 so I'm going to take you a little bit back when I initially came to Burlington to apply for the position and went through the process and then I was in Canada and I was asked if I would accept the process and receive the documentation around the position. There was no mention of residency and that's not a practice that we have in Ontario in terms of residency so it was a surprise to me when I arrived here and I was actually here when I heard about the expectation around residency I was not party to the initial documentation that came to the board I would say the previous board at the time did not share the information with me immediately and I wasn't aware of what was transpiring and by the time that I had found out about it the documentation had been sent forward and that's what was placed forward and I know there were a couple of items that were requirements one was the actual physical residency but the other is in terms of being a voter you must be a qualified citizen which would mean for me being a citizen of the country in order to matriculate to have that access which I do not have and I can't sustain that within the next you have to be presiding in the country at least five years before you even start that process so I beg your forgiveness on the sort of the order of operations that happened but I was not familiar with the expectations until the city had probably dealt with it prior to and I was not aware of the severity of it or the actions that need to be taken at that time May I ask a question? Let's keep it succinct if we can Councillor Shannon go ahead I have a presentation from then chair Mark Porter on April 16th that says Dr. Obeng intends to establish his residency in Burlington and to work assiduously on securing his work visa and US citizenship so it seems that there had been discussions between you and either Mr. Porter or the board about establishing residency that was conveyed to us prior to our resolution was that not the case? Was there not discussion about this? Actually no I had never met Mr. Porter at that point so I dealt with my contract with the then existing chair Holiday which was in March and that's when I signed my contract and then the transition came in terms of the new board members and I had not met the board chair or the clerk at that point at this point I was receiving communications across the border in terms of what was transpiring so I wasn't really sure exactly what was happening. I didn't even raise this as a concern because it wasn't raised to me that this was a major concern or something that I had to address in terms of it was not until much later that I found out about that expectation and then the board proceeded. Did you know prior to purchasing your house that there was a requirement to be a resident of did you know that we had voted on a waiver for becoming a voter of Burlington and that being a voter of Burlington requires being a resident prior to purchasing your house? As I said it wasn't shared with me the expectation to that extent and I had been here in February starting the housing process and been looking prior to that even from when I initially found out that I would be offered the positions. And when did you buy your house? Councillor Shannon if you have further questions if you can direct them through the chair I'd like to know when the house was purchased. Councillor Shannon can you advise what do we have substantial additional questions here? Superintendent Obang do you aware of the date of the house purchase at this point? Well there's quite a process to it. There are a number of opportunities that my family were engaging where we were under contract with a number of homes and that process the contract we're under contract long story we're under contract with a specific home for a period of time and expecting that would be our home and then at the last minute we had to shift to purchase a home so it was months in different homes going through that process from and at that point there was no expectation around purchasing a home in Burlington or if I even had that opportunity. Okay thank you Superintendent Obang. Councillor Hargan. Thank you. I think we all knew this was coming before us and I think it's unfortunate that Councillors that have questions did not reach out to Dr. Obang and get those questions answered before tonight's meeting. I think it would have been very helpful in this process rather than the wait to tonight but I would like to thank the school board chair who has put out a letter in support of the council granting the waiver at a conversation with that chair early on even before she was elected and said that she was eager to get to work on the school board and work with Dr. Obang and I think she has come forward in good faith and I think Councillor Nodell has put this better than any of us could. Given everything that we've been through over the last few years and given where we are in this community and the temperature in our district and our schools this would be a great turning point to turn the page right to welcome everybody aboard we talk about people moving to Burlington and enrollments down if we continue to put the Burlington school district on the front page of the free press we will continue to see our enrollment go down no question about that this is the opportunity to turn the page this is an opportunity for this city council who has done it many times under many circumstances for many department heads to grant waivers under all different circumstances and to draw a line in the sand tonight to say that we're going to get righteous about this we're going to set the example tonight if you want to say we need to have a conversation about department heads residents that's fine well we can have that conversation but to say we're going to draw a line in the sand tonight and we're not going to grant waiver based on this hardship compared to other hardships now there's been two counselors here that have been very consistent since I've been on the board and I respect that and they've been that way but that's not the way this body has worked the rest of the way so I would hope that we would grant this waiver it's bigger than this it's actually even bigger than the charter because this is about our district this is about our kids this is about one of the best districts in the state of Vermont who has the best teachers the best administrator the best principals and we've been through hell with it and it's time to get them off the front page of the paper it's time to move forward it's time to get come together in this community and start talking about how great our schools are and that conversation hasn't happened in a long time and it needs to start and tonight would be a great way to do it thank you thank you Councillor Hardnett are there any other counselors who wish to speak Councillor Tracy thank you Mayor Weinberger I just want to speak I do appreciate the sentiments expressed by both counselors Nodell and Hardnett and I do appreciate Councillor Hartnett recognizing the consistency that I've brought to this issue over time I see Director McKay smiling there in the corner I'm glad to see you smiling because Director McKay came to the city with incredibly with an incredible resume but nevertheless wanted to continue to live outside the city of Burlington and I said no I'm not willing to do that in another circumstance on July or on June 6 2016 when both Mr. Rustin again who had done great work for the city as well as Mr. Lunderville who was and continues to do great work for this for BED you know both of them came to them saying essentially the same thing they wanted to live continue to live outside the city of Burlington and I felt that it was that I wanted to hold them to the same standard that I had held other people to throughout this process and so when presented with this situation it does not feel fair given my previous votes on this issue to then extend a hardship in this in this particular instance so I feel a need to remain consistent so that I'm fair to everybody across the board and that that fairness is founded on my my sincere belief that you know living in Burlington is not a hardship it is in fact a privilege and that people should live in the city of Burlington because I think there's something to be said for feeling our pleasure and our pain you know by living directly in the community and feeling the weight of the decisions that you make day in and day out so thank you very much and I will not be supporting this motion. Councillor Tracy thank you Councillor Busher and then Councillor Paul. Does anyone else like to be? Thank you. You know when we first started down the discussion about hardship it was more narrow really defined and it was defined more as for those individuals who had children in schools and how the impact on the family or the children uprooting them what that would do and then we broadened it. I don't know if you have children in schools but I'd be willing to continue granting a hardship but only if that's the scenario to me that makes sense and at the end of that juncture when they're out of school then to me that's the time where the decision needs to be made of whether you invest in the community or not so I've always felt that made some sense I didn't want to disrupt people I think we as a community let you down or somehow or other there was not good communication that started us down that path and I'm not going to point fingers at how what happened there but it wasn't ideal and ideally you would have found a house in Burlington but that's over so for me I could support granting this hardship for another three years or until your children if you have children in school until they were out of high school. That's more consistent with what I've done and how I feel about this so and I appreciate all the work you do and what you bring to our community this has to do with the policy and how we apply it not you the individual thank you. Councillor Paul. I'm sorry I have a point of order I'm just hoping that we might be able to take a five minute break I apologize I was late I drove up from Boston and I got here as quickly as I could I have a couple of things that I wanted to inquire about and I'm hoping that we might be able to take a five minute break. I'm happy to grant a five minute recess let's try to reconvene in five minutes okay the meeting is back in session Councillor Paul you did not wish to be in the queue to speak you simply just wanted a point of order okay so we will go to Councillor Pine continue discussion thank you I did a quick tally today just to give us a little perspective on department heads there's there's roughly 21 or 22 depending on how you count department heads nine of them don't live in Burlington I think we just should be up front about that with ourselves and with our constituents for various reasons we decided that waivers were granted I have a 28 year affiliation with this city either as a city council or a city employee and I think dozens dozens of department heads have been able to get this waiver this is a little different because it's a it's a waiver of the charter requirement that the superintendent be a registered voter of the city we had department heads driving from Rutland, Vermont commuting figuring out how to balance that we had a department head from Hanover New Hampshire who would come to work and figure out how to balance that and make himself available we were able to find it in our hearts to say you know what it's best for our city to grant these waivers and ask you tonight to dig in deep and say is what's best for Burlington to fight this fight and have this be a divided vote with the exception of those counselors who never grant waivers and I understand what Councillor Hartnett said and I agree with him I think we have to look at what's best for our community what's best to heal this community really what's best for our future our children and I think our superintendent deserves our support tonight and I hope we will get everyone to support that who doesn't normally vote for waivers and has in the past many times Councillor Wright. Thank you Mr Mayor as others have said so I'll be trying to be brief here we have a history here I think that we have approved a number of these waivers each case is different this one is a little different than other ones but I certainly am not prepared to make a change today I do think that I've been consistent as well and in a different way in granting the waivers as long as they fit within a rationale that we have set up for these hardships and I think this one does fit the rationale in terms of the person who spoke to us a little earlier in public forum about this issue saying seeming to indicate some actions that we had taken just be clear you're talking about the school board not the city council and we have had superintendents also that in recent history have not lived in Burlington so I think that Dr. Obang is doing a good job and I will support this Councillor Jang. Thank you Mayor so what I want to say is basically how we all should be thanking Dr. Superintendent Yao Obang. I don't think that I have a conflict because I work for the Burlington School District I've been there since 2008 I've been in leadership since 2010 and I know that the climate currently in our district is excellent. We are going in the right way and also I witness currently the new changes in the school board. We just need to take the time and appreciate the hard work and appreciate the great results that are coming out of our Burlington School District Yao Obang, our superintendent if he doesn't live here, if he cannot vote I don't think that right now at this point where we are we have that leadership who understand we will have that leadership who understand and also be able to build and strengthen the current climate that is existing in Burlington. I am not an outsider I've been around I've been in but since Yao Obang came to Burlington, Burlington School District we have been seeing excellent and wonderful result. I have never heard of a superintendent who would say let's raise a bar for those who are doing well. We always been focusing on making sure the ELL families and their children can succeed but he came with a different mindset. Kids who live here, who were born here, raise here how do we make sure we support also those. I never heard of that during my five, ten years in the Burlington School District. I will be voting this, I'll be supporting it but I'm just asking you one thing, we need to look into school choice. Maybe your children Mr Yao are not residing in Burlington but they should be able to at least come and witness the decision you've made for the Burlington Schools. The kids if they still in high school I think they are able to be able to come here and if you're buying a house, you want it in Burlington, I can become realtor for you. But thank you for all you do and wonderful. Thank you Councillor Jang, Councillor Paul. And thank you for indulging me with the break for a couple of minutes. So it seems as though I think we've all sort of acknowledged that there probably were some missteps made in the very beginning. Clearly when you accepted the position there should have been probably much more dialogue. We can't go back there. Clearly there were things that if we had it to do over again probably would have been done a little bit differently. But here we are now. So as far as a few people have noted their consistency on this issue with one exception and that exception was Bob Rustin I have consistently voted against waivers. I voted in favor of the one for Bob Rustin because he was made it clear that he was retiring in one year. It would have been a significant hardship not only economically but also personally and given what was going on with his wife at the time there were a lot of extenuating circumstances and because we all knew that he had already said that he was only going to be here for one more year. I was willing to make that exception. There have been others that I did not make and they were not easy to not make but I felt that it was important to live by the ordinance. I admire those people that have done that consistently as well as the ones that have done consistently on the other way. The reality is that sometimes there are times where you shouldn't just do something consistently for consistency's sake but there are to me two extenuating circumstances one of them was a conversation that I had with Dr. Obang about three years ago right after he started and it was in his office. I won't go into all the details it was a private conversation but I think there are other circumstances that exist beyond what may be on paper and the other thing that I think is different is that there is a difference and maybe it's something that we should look at in the charter that because of the relationship between the school and the city and then to some degree being independent bodies to some degree the school board hiring the superintendent and other extenuating circumstances that make it a little bit a lot different than a CEDO director or DPW or another department head. I think there is a difference and again it's hard for me not to be consistent but I'm trying to evaluate it as a case by case kind of thing and I'm trying to not just be consistent just to be consistent. I will vote in favor of this waiver. Thank you. Chancellor Wright. Thank you and I just want to state that I would have a problem voting for this tonight had we not had the school board weigh in on this. I actually contacted Chairwoman Claire Wool a while back and asked her to come to the council with a recommendation which she has done submitted a letter to us that I know she was put before the school board and their recommendation was that we did grant this so I would not have wanted to do the take this action tonight without the school board weighing in on this. Thank you. Thank you Councillor Dean. Thank you Mayor Weinberger. I have to say that I came to tonight thinking that I would vote no on this and that was based on not having a history and understanding this issue as deeply as I've come to understand it tonight. I think the words that were provided by Councillor Nodell and Councillor Jang and Councillor Pine really gave me a much deeper understanding of what our actions history of actions as a council have been on these issues and with other people in the city so you know I feel as though we have extended this these waivers to others in other circumstances and it would be unfair to not have that be available to someone who is so critical to the success of our school system so I will be supporting the extension. Councillor Shannon. I have a point of order Councillor Jang had mentioned that he works for the Burlington school district and that he does not have a conflict and before we voted I just wanted to understand is that the position of the city attorney or is that something that Councillor Jang has the ability to kind of declare for himself or how does that work exactly? I don't believe that Councillor the fact that he is employed by the Burlington school district creates a conflict of interest for him in this situation. Thank you. Okay we have a motion second I think we're ready to go to a vote. All those in favour of the motion please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. Alright let's we'll go, we'll have a roll call. Councillor Bushor. No. Councillor Dean. Yes. Councillor Jang. Councillor Hartnett. Yes. Councillor Nodal. Yes. Councillor Paul. Yes. Councillor Pine. Yes. Councillor Roof. Yes. Councillor Shannon. No. Councillor Tracy. Councillor Wright. Yes. Mayor Weinberger. Yes. Thank you. The motion passes nine to three with one abstention for number one not present and without objection the mayor or city council presiding will be adjourned in one second. I just want to say thank you Superintendent Obang and chair Wolfe for joining us tonight and help us work through this matter. Thank you. You're adjourned. Thank you Mr. Mayor and we will read thank you Mr. Mayor and we will reconvene the regular city council meeting at 827 and dive right back into the deliberative agenda. Item 4.01 is Outdoor Entertainment Permit Application 2018-2019 for La Boca Wood Fire Pizza 1127 North Avenue. Councillor Dean. President Wright I'd ask the president's indulgence to move 4.01 and 4.02 at the same time. One in indoor entertainment permit and one in outdoor entertainment permit. It makes sense hearing no objection we will make that the order. I'd like to move the approval of the 2018-2019 indoor entertainment permit application and 2018-2019 outdoor permit application for La Boca Wood Fire Pizza 1127 North Avenue Suite 32 with all standard conditions. Moved by Councillor Dean seconded by Councillor Roof. Any discussion by the council? Questions? Hearing none all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none we have passed unanimously the indoor and outdoor entertainment permits for La Boca Wood Fire Pizza 1127 North Avenue. Thank you very much. We will now move on to item 4.03 which is a city ordinance regarding offenses and miscellaneous provisions, quality of life ordinances. I will recognize Councillor Roof to move this item. Thank you President Wright. I move that we waive the second reading and adopt the ordinance and after a second I'll ask for the floor back. Seconded by Councillor Bushard. Councillor Roof you have the floor back. Thank you again President the ordinance has had quite the long journey. After many hearings at the ordinance committee discussion here at the full council additional review from the public safety committee it has now arrived back with us here tonight. It's safe to say I believe this ordinance has received immense attention and care from the general public from community partners this council as well as the administration I believe that it is ready for action tonight and hope that the council votes in favor. As a reminder this ordinance clarifies and establishes an enforcement and waiver policy on two issues this public urination and defecation as well as public consumption of alcohol. In simple terms this ordinance calls for civil tickets to be issued for first two offenses and for additional violations that will occur within six months of the prior violations will be criminal in nature. This penalty is waived however upon the successful completion of a restorative or reparative justice program through the community justice center. This enforcement schedule is the same for both urination and defecation as well as public consumption of alcohol and the fines for these matters do differ slightly but do not exceed $100 in any single case. This ordinance change should be taken in context be taken in context of other work being done related to issues being addressed. As you can read in the public safety committee communication 325 on consent agenda for tonight that committee will be looking at things such as how we can extend the operation on a yearly basis the low barrier homeless shelter as well as bringing more bathrooms into the downtown. Furthermore you will remember a resolution that the public safety committee issued that was passed on March 12th by this council related to the reporting of how these ordinances Chapter 21 ordinance will be enforced and reported. So to conclude this ordinance change is in front of us tonight in my opinion strikes a balance between the responsibility that we have to hold both accountable those whose behavior is dangerous and disruptive to our community and our responsibility of being thoughtful and fair in how we do so. Thank you. Thank you councilor roof and I would note that chief del pozo is here this evening if anyone has any questions for the chief or certainly if the chief want to make any comments. Chief did you want to make comments? Chief del pozo thank you for being here I will go to councilor pine in a moment. Welcome chief. Thank you for having me here tonight. I just would like to echo the sentiments of councilor that this was a long journey for this these ordinances now that it's gotten warm again I had been meeting with business owners right across the street here you know their concern continues about their ability to provide safety for the customers and employees and the theme that comes up again and again is intoxication. I had a business owner say to me this person they were naming a person is fine and then he starts drinking and he does things like lick my window and lay and wait for the people coming out of the back entrance and for my employees and you know I recognize that some people are suffering from you know addiction alcoholism is a medical condition but we'd like to start with the assumption that some people do have agency and that they will respond to consequences and I think we do a decent job in the city of recognizing when situations are intractable and not just pursuing criminal recourse for its own sake so I think the compromises were well articulated and I think this will be a good tool for police officers to use and if you are present enough to engage in restorative justice then I also hope you're present enough to drink in a way that doesn't come to the attention of citizens and the police. Thank you chief. Councillor Pine. I think Councillor Pine may have a question for the chief. I think that would probably be best if I directed at the chief if that's okay. Yep proceed. The way I read the ordinance it's the first offense can be essentially clear if someone goes through the restorative justice process and it looks like the second offense maybe as well. Is that it? You get two swings basically at the process I think nothing prevents the police department from continuing to use a civil or restorative justice approach. The way I read it and the way I hope the spirit of the changes are intended or the new regime is that we have the option after the third point to start a criminal offense. Great that's actually what I was hoping because if you see some forward progress but somebody slips up you don't have to automatically say we're not going to use the restorative process anymore because you, sorry, you get two strikes and you're out. No that's right it's not a mandatory thing. Okay thank you. Thank you Councillor Pine. Councillor Busher. Yes I wanted to say that I did call City Attorney Bergman today to get clarity on the difference between the waiver penalty it's only a few dollars but in the civil the waiver penalty is $50 the penalty is $60 the waiver is $50 $75 for second offense waiver is $70 and yet with the criminal penalty it's $100 and yet this charge will be dismissed so I didn't totally understand that it's really important for us to understand that that's a very important distinction because if indeed the charge, if indeed you go through restorative justice then you, if that charge is dismissed then you won't have a criminal record and I think the point of all of this was to change behavior not to have someone labeled or burdened with another problem in their lives so what we want to do is change behavior and we worked really hard to give people the opportunity to deal with their behavior and make it right and not leave them labeled or burdened with a criminal penalty and so if the Chief did you want to speak to that at all or no? No I mean I agree that we don't necessarily want people who are committing minor infractions to go on to be labeled as criminals in my experience the vast majority of the people who engage in this conduct have already been convicted of other crimes they just think this is a minor one that they can do with impunity we're trying to alter that the goal is to find what people are responsive to some people it's treatment, some people it's restorative justice, some people it's a warning, I think other people we're hoping that there will be an education period where we say if you continue to do this you will get summoned to see a judge and if you don't see that judge you'll be brought to the judge I know I've said that for a while now and all I know is that without the incidents being down the issuance of civil tickets is down between 30 and 40% in the police department because the officers feel that what we're doing now isn't working. Thank you. Mr. Bush, your councillor Tracy, then councillor Jang, then councillor Hartnett. Thank you President Wright so may I direct a question to the Chief? Yes you may. Or councillor Roof depending on who was there but one of the issues that came up was the issue of criminality and there was an idea of adding a criminal penalty and then I was under the impression that we found out that we actually had that authority already so is this really adding a new criminal penalty or is it just stating what was already there? Great question. There was some uncertainty up front as to whether we had this ability because it resided in two places in the law and we it was like a muscle that no one had ever used so I think we're recognizing without amending the charter that is at the right term the charter that we do have that ability but the restorative justice aspect is new. That's to soften it and give us another approach. Yeah absolutely. So going off of that I think that that is really helpful and it's helpful to me because I voted against this initially with the idea of adding a criminal penalty but knowing that we're not actually doing so and in fact if we don't pass this ordinance we're actually not adding in a restorative justice piece. I think that that's crucial for me to understand because I'm very much in favor of providing alternative means especially for folks who may not have the money to pay for the ticket to go through a restorative justice process and have that opportunity to really enter into what I think are very productive conversations for our community justice center and the tremendous work that they do and so I'm very heartened to hear that we are well we're recognizing that we already had this authority that really we're trying to build in other means of compliance recognizing like you said that there are different ways that different folks respond and that just piling up tickets may not work but actually having a productive and structured conversation around the violations can be very productive. I also am heartened to hear of the conversations that have gone on around public urination and really the lack of public bathrooms in our downtown. I think that if we think about one of the reasons why a lot of that happens is that after hours in a lot of cases the nearest place to go to the bathroom would require you to purchase something to use that bathroom and I don't think that that should be the case. I think that if someone has to go about their biological business they should be able to do so in a public facility that's clean and well maintained and that there should be more than more than one of those facilities in our downtown such that people will actually be able to comply and take care of their needs in a very dignified and proper way that does not result in some of the harms that we've been seeing taking place in our downtown so really wanting us to continue to pursue that especially as we look towards the city budget and thinking about ways that we can build that in and I'm also liking the fact that this ordinance does have a community justice or a restorative justice piece built into it because I think that will lead to some productive outcomes. Thank you very much to the ordinance committee for their work on it especially being willing to entertain further conversation around the public urination piece as well as to the chief for your work in the department's work on this issue. Thank you Councillor Tracy. You understand our goal is not to generate revenue or get funds out of this. In fact that with the civil recourses it's to add a mechanism of accountability where people who do this course kind of repeatedly can be brought in front of a judge or if they elect a restorative justice apparatus to just account for what they're doing and why they're ignoring the city's attempts to get them to change their behavior. Thank you chief. Councillor Jang and then Hardin. Thank you president and I also would like to ask some question to the chief and was just wondering, you know, I like your comment when you said that if people don't respect, don't go to the judge you can bring them to the judge, right? And now what if those same people don't still go to the restorative practice services? Would you bring them there or you know what would be next if they don't respect any of this? I think the way to engage in the way to avoid the criminal penalty and the way to avoid the criminal process is to agree to the restorative process. If you don't successfully complete it then it reverts to the criminal process. And criminal practice meaning going back to the judge and maybe getting sentenced to. Yeah I don't foresee I can't speak of Vermont's judges per se but I don't foresee them imposing heavy sentences here. I think the idea that a person has to account for why he or she doesn't respect the summons literally it's a ticket, it's a summons, it's a citation to appear you know, I think that the power comes in having to account for why they ignore that. And I see the same word over and over in all of the bit of clauses and no person shall urinate or defecate, you know, in parks and places except in facilities specifically provided for the purpose. And it sounds like we don't have those facilities existing within Burlington area in all of our parks. Now will it need be better for us to waive taking action until we have those facilities exist already? And this is a question for the ordinance as well as for you. Thank you. Thank you Councillor Jang Councillor Hartnett and then the mayor. Thank you I want to thank Councillor Roof, spent a lot of time on this, a lot of patience I worked on this in public safety. I was hoping to continue to work on that in public safety in the coming year but I wasn't put back on that committee. Just a little shot President Wright. Councillor Burscher mentioned about changing behavior and I think we really try hard in a lot of areas in this city to try to change behavior. And that's how we always approach things. But we often don't ever see results or so I would like to maybe end of the summer, beginning of the fall have a report back to the council to see if this is actually working because sometimes we just do things because we think it's the right thing to do, right? And we don't know if it's result driven. And it's not with this, you know, it's with opiates, it's with everything that we are trying to change behavior and make us a better community and I think we all want that right? But I don't, I want to do things that make a difference and so I'm hoping this will, I think it will you know, I have noticed over the years that you see people in the public going to the bathroom because they have no other choice and that's unfortunate and we can address that in the city. Other times I see people coming out of bars who are very capable of using a bathroom and I think there's a big distinction there, right? And I think when we write these tickets, we use judgment and that we address that issue because I just don't think it's a homeless issue, quite honestly, being in the town town area and I hate to have that stigma ties to just a homeless issue, right? This is a bigger than a homeless issue here in Browington and so I just want to be on the record to say that everybody's on the same playing field here and I hope this works. I'd like to get a report back at the end of the summer or end of the fall somewhere where the weather turns and see if this has made a difference but I do, I would like to thank everybody involved in this. Thank you Councillor Harlan and Mr. Mayor. Thank you President Wright. We ask our police officers to a lot to do a great deal in this community. We have very high expectations for them and have really pushed them to police this city in new and different ways and I think this is an opportunity for us to show our support for officers and them with a strong vote from the City Council. Make it clear that we support them moving forward and attempting to address this issue in a new way. Appreciate that perhaps this authority was there in some form before but I think having a strong council vote showing that the leaders of this community are behind this will go a long way to signal to the officers that we have heard them is one of their major frustrations. I think over the last six years this issue I've heard from officers more than any other. The frustration they have as officers about their inability to with the current tools bring about change in what I think there's broad agreement is bad and unacceptable behavior in the downtown and they're hamstrung from doing so. I think this is a good faith attempt on our part to give them a new ability to move forward in the narrow number of cases that require this type of additional authority. So I'll be strongly supporting it. I very much appreciate the all the work that went into this over a number of months and the initial impetus for this that came from President Wright. I think it's very complimentary with the other policing, community policing, foot patrol efforts that we have brought about to try to impact the downtown and I think in many ways are working at this important step and I especially think it's an appropriate step when you recognize that it is very much balanced by the full weight of other efforts that are going on in other ways to be supportive of underprivileged communities and stakeholders in the downtown. The efforts to increase bathrooms are happening. We attempt the efforts to increase the number of cases that are going on in the downtown and in a direct way address chronic homelessness continues. I think this is an important additional tool to add to the city's tool belt. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Councillor Jang. I just wanted to bring this, maybe I ask a question and people didn't know who I asked it specifically and I want to ask it again to make a motion for us to postpone taking action until we have a full report that those facilities we're talking about in this resolution do actually exist. At least in any of the parks. Alright, Councillor Jang has made a motion to postpone action on this. Is there a second to that motion? Hearing no second, that motion fails. Chief, I just want to clarify one point. In regard to the fact that there were, there was the ability for police officers to issue these tickets with criminal penalties before but it apparently wasn't aware. Now we are codifying this with a vote tonight that not only is there a restorative justice but the police there would be consequences under these two offenses so the police may go back to issuing some tickets. Would that be correct? That's correct. Assuming, and I presume this will be the case that the city will create apparatus to then prosecute these charges so and yes. Alright, thank you Chief. I think we are ready for a vote. With that thank you very much Chief for your answers to those questions and for the great work you do and our police department does in Burlington. All those in favor of the motion to waive the second reading and adopt the ordinance please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. Once again, thank you Chief Dolpozzo. We will now move on to item 4.04 and that is a resolution by Councillor Roof in regards to the marketplace. Councillor Roof. Thank you President Wright. I move that we waive the reading and adopt the resolution and after a second please ask for the floor back. Seconded by Councillor Pine. Councillor Roof you have the floor back. Thank you again. First off I'd like to send appreciation to the Church Street Marketplace Commission for their diligence and partnership on bringing this resolution together. This resolution simply asked for a charter change excuse me. This resolution asked the charter change committee to look at article 89 section 325B of the city charter which deals with how our Church Street Marketplace Department is able to fund ongoing capital improvements such as the BRICS which are beginning to show signs of wear. This is a matter of long term budget planning and protecting against the burden of future infrastructure liabilities. Historically as many of us know we've been lucky and we benefited from federal transportation dollars to support the marketplace and in a time where those dollars are becoming more and more scarce I think it's important and responsible for us to consider how we can best look forward and ensure that our Church Street Marketplace continues to be a destination and a community asset that serves residents and visitors alike for another four decades. Thank you. Thank you Councillor Roof. Councillor Nodal. Thank you President Wright. I will be supporting this resolution. I want to thank Councillor Roof for bringing it forward. This is an item that has come up on an almost annual basis at the Board of Finance. We're working on an annual budget and we've seen this as a barrier to addressing some very pressing capital needs of the marketplace district and especially at a time that we are through the mayor's leadership and the support of the voters we are raising significant funding to address and improve the city's infrastructure and let's not let the Church Street Marketplace fall behind. We want to invest in that key asset at the same time that we're investing in other important infrastructure in the city. So thank you Councillor Roof and I hope that I trust that the Charter Change Committee I know they'll look at do a good job with this and look forward to this coming back to us ideally in time for a timely vote and so that we can start to address this problem. Thank you. Thank you Councillor Nodale. Other councillors? Hearing none I think we are ready for a vote and the vote is to send us to the Charter Change Committee with a report back by August 13th. All those in favor of the motion please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none that passes unanimously and we'll go off to the Charter Change Committee. We'll hear back by August 13th moving on to the next item which is 4.05 and that is a report on the Mural Task Force. Councillor Shannon we'll tell us what this is. Well I will make a motion to appoint Patrick Brown, Terry Melanchoff, Jen Berger, Thomas Carroll, Gary DeCarolis, Brian Sullivan, and Wei Wei Wang as members of the Mural Task Force and respectfully request that the administration send an email to selected task force members notifying them of their appointment, thanking them for being willing to serve include the applications of the appointed members and ask for interest in serving as chair and request city staff to send a thank you email to applicants who were not selected and I ask for the floor back briefly after a second. Seconded by Councillor Pye, Councillor Nodale as a member of the Task Force. As not a member of the Task Force, as member of the committee reviewing applications to go on the Task Force. Seconded by Councillor Nodale and Councillor Shannon you have the floor back. Thank you. I want to thank my fellow subcommittee members, Councillor Nodale and Councillor Jang. I think we worked very hard to reach consensus on each and every one of these appointments and we had a really good pool of candidates to choose from. We really could have gone with any of these candidates and been served very well but I appreciate the collaborative process of my fellow councillors on that subcommittee and hope that this Task Force is going to work very well together. I would ask if we did, there was a couple things we didn't do and I just want to bring the administration's attention to the fact that we didn't say exactly who are sending these notes but we left that to the administration to figure out how that would be communicated and have faith that you will do that with, do that promptly to let everybody know. We also talked about whether or not to appoint a chair to the committee because we want this committee to get up and running quickly. We decided not to make a recommendation to appoint the chair but rather ask from the applicants if they are willing to serve as chair to let the other committee members know through an email and also share their applications because this committee is going to come together presumably knowing little or nothing about each other and that will help them get to know each other a little bit and help them to select a chair as their first order of business. Thank you to all of those who applied and for the time that they spent on their applications and sharing their thoughts with us and many of them also came and presented themselves to our committee. I appreciate the interest in serving on the committee. Thank you Councillor Shannon, thank you for sharing that committee and thank you as well. We'll go to Councillor Pine. Real quick, is there a plan to deal with the staffing? All these groups need somebody from staff to keep them moving. Councillor Shannon, I think we do have staff assigned. That was in the original resolution. There are instructions and an agreement on staffing and I can't recite them exactly now but it has been considered and addressed. Thank you Councillor Pine. So just as Councillor Shannon said, again thank you for serving as chair and thank you Councillor Nodell and Councillor Jang for serving on that committee and taking prompt action so that we can move forward on that. With that, any vote to approve the seven members as presented by Councillor Shannon? All those in favour please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none that passes unanimously and we'll move on to item 4.06. This was consent item 3.32 and it's a communication from City Assessor John Vickery in regard to reassessment, reappraisal and Councillor Pine has removed this from this consent agenda put on deliberative and so I will recognize Councillor Pine and Assessor, Mr. City Assessor, come on up. I think he has a question for you. Councillor Pine. Thank you Mr. President as the newest member I wanted to make sure that I understood this process that was laid out in Mr. Vickery's memo which was quite short so I asked him to come and give us a little more background. I was a little concerned about the time frame I've been around for a couple of reappraisals. I know they take a full year but this is quite a ways out so it's dated this week and it's referring to completion in 2022 so that seemed like it was quite a runway. Absolutely fair question. So then the question follow up would be can it happen sooner? What would be the conditions that would allow it to progress at a faster pace and is there any risk to the city because we are out of compliance when we reach when we go below the 80% common level of appraisal? Regarding timing I put in the note the memo fiscal year 2022 which means that it's complete new valuations by July 1st 2021 and the way that our office looks at it is that a reappraisal is quite time consuming and it's a process. We're going to begin in July to put an RFP together and then talk to vendors and then we have an antiquated software system that's on an outdated platform and like the last reappraisal what we did was we had set that up before the reappraisal came into the city boots on the ground and started conducting the inspections. So when we hire a reappraisal company likely they'll come in to help us out with the implementation of the new software system. It's converting all the data, all the tables all the photos, all the sketches into a new software system. So they're really going to start as of next fiscal year if we get a company in but their team of people won't be coming in until the following year and also I've talked to several reappraisal companies and they're all booked out so they we may end up selecting a vendor and they may help out with the implementation but they may not be able to bring their team in for another year. So we're going to work on it immediately and the last question that you asked about what does this do with our education funding? Does it put into any kind of jeopardy? Absolutely not. The State of Vermont, the State tax department will be mandating a reappraisal and if we were to do nothing then they would have some grounds to withhold education funds. We've already started some preliminary work, thoughts and how we're going to lay this out and we want to do a great job for Burlington and we want to do it right. So I don't want to personally crunch it so that there's more errors but I'd like to lay it out in appropriate fashion with implementation of the new software and the State will recognize that. We work with them for a bit. Thank you. Just one more follow-up question which is for the council and for the public the effect of being so far below the common level of appraisal. If we were to 100% in theory would our tax rate be lower? The rate itself? Not people's taxes but the rate would be adjusted accordingly? The effect of the common level of appraisal in the education formula is really to what it does in a sense is the rate that for equity for all towns and what the rate does is just a factor that puts assessments up to market value. So it really means nothing. It's just an adjustment. So if we're at 100% of market value or values are up that rate will go up to 100% and it should be basically a neutral adjustment. I'll set Councillor Pine. Thank you. Questions? Any other questions for Mr. Vickery from Councillor Buscher? So this probably is for the administration but for you all so I think that every time people hear reappraisal they really get nervous so I'm hoping that we will set up a series of communications telling people just what we talked about tonight about when it will start and when you hope it will end and really what reappraisal means in the generic sense of what they can anticipate. And I know you can't forecast what is going to happen for different properties but I think they need to understand that. I know that people are constantly get concerned about this and we went through a period where we had sections of the city that were really out of whack with the rest of the city and we stopped moving forward with that process because then that raised questions about whether we were getting further out of whack because now one section was more in compliance and the other sections may not be. So anyways I really hope that there's good communication and it will be ongoing and I'm hoping that the mayor can have on the city website on the calendar that there can be a section on reappraisal and just with updates that people can be aware of so thank you very much. Absolutely. Anything else from the council for Mr. Vickery hearing done? Thank you very much and absent any objection from the council we will waive the reading except the communication and place it on file. Thank you Mr. Vickery. That moves us into our final stage of the meeting tonight which is item number five, a number of things but committee reports. Any committee chair who would like to speak on committee activity chairman of TUCC, Councillor Tracy. Thank you President Wright. Just want to let folks know that we have a transportation committee meeting on Wednesday May 16th at 5pm down at DPW and on the agenda we have two items, the Winooski River Bridge scoping report and alternative selection as well as the Bank and Cherry streets public improvements, a presentation of the concept designs for approval and recommendation to the full council so if you're interested in either of those issues either as a member of the council or certainly a member of the public you're welcome to attend on Wednesday. Thank you Councillor Tracy. Councillor Hartnett. Yes I want to make an announcement that the PAC meeting that was scheduled for tomorrow at 5.30 has been cancelled and it will be the following Tuesday which I'm not sure what the exact... 22nd at 5.30 the same place staffing issue with the city we haven't resolved that yet so hopefully we'll have it fixed by then so we will meet a week from Tuesday. Thank you for that update Councillor Hartnett. Other committee chairs? Councillor Nodell. President Wright I'm not a committee chair but I'm the head of a work group. Would this be the time? This is the time. So the inclusionary zoning work group it will be holding a public hearing about our recommendations and report on Monday June 11th and we have to get the room and everything but we are very close to having a report a draft report to take out to the public and then we will have a meeting the following week to discuss what we heard and then the report will come to the council so I've said to the group I'm committed to getting this off of our plates and onto the plates of the council and the mayor by the end of June. All right thank you Councillor Nodell. We are late but... We're getting there. Thank you Councillor Nodell. Councillor Busher. President Wright are you going to mention the tree committee and the meeting on Wednesday? I intend to but if you'd like to go ahead. No no I just wanted to make sure that somebody mentioned that. Thank you Councillor Busher. Other committee chairs? Hearing none we will move to general city affairs. Any councillor who wishes to speak on general city affairs? Councillor Hartnett. Thank you. I'll be brief. I forgot about the short turnaround that we have meeting next Monday night as well and I was working on a resolution and I've heard people kind of freaking out about this so I just wanted to be there's a resolution coming next Monday it does deal with residential parking it is not to ask to eliminate residential parking I am asking for an overview from the Public Works Commission on the scope of residential parking and really a bunch of different questions but I was hoping to get resolution out I'm not going to have time to get it out to everybody I will have it to the city clerk's office tomorrow morning and it will be on the agenda if there's any questions feel free to call. Councillor Dang has been working with me on it and it's nothing extravagant and you figure out so many questions just reach out to either count myself or Councillor Dang. Thanks. Thank you Councillor Hartnett. Other councillors on general city affairs? Councillor Roof. Thank you President Wright. I just wanted to take a moment this Sunday is graduation for the University of Vermont students. They are commencement will be a great cause for celebration in a lot of different ways but also there will be some disturbance with the traffic patterns people who have been here for time understand that the section around the green will be closed down and parts of College Street will be congested this is a lot of areas around Ward 8 and Ward 1 and besides that you can go up and listen to a great commencement speaker which will be happening I do it every year and it's exciting to see the students celebrate and then leave for a little while. That's just a personal enjoyment but anyways go cats. Graduation this Sunday. Thanks. Thank you Councillor Roof. Councillor Jang and then Councillor Roof. So I wanted to say a special thank you to Jordan from the mayor's office because just that I went to an event and it was at other bound we were planting some trees for Burlington Parks and Recreation and I was just surprised to see her there because most of the time people do their work and go home but she brought the boyfriend, the family and everybody she was so dirty I think it was amazing. It was great and I was surprised why I didn't see any other Councillor. So that's one. And the second thing is you know the Burlington School District Parent University graduation is June 16. We are working to have the chief of Abernake's Don Stephen as well as Bernie Sanders and President this year we would like to have you as a keynote speaker so last year it was a mayor but this year we want to have you so put it on your radar. Thank you. Thank you Councillor Jay. Appreciate that. Councillor Busher. So yes this is a request to the president of the council. So I'll get your attention. So on the consent agenda was the adoption of the emergency plan and it is not usually put out for public because there are some things that are confidential or need to be handled carefully but I do believe that an abbreviated overview and I mean really abbreviated is really important for the council to know about certain situations and how we as a community handle them. We've had that before and if it has to be an executive session so be it I'm talking about something like five minutes I'm not looking for a huge amount of time but we have done this in the past and I think that it's important for all of us to know how to handle certain situations or who we're going to call so I'm making that request to you President Wright. Thank you. Thank you Councillor Busher. We will act on that. Other Councillor Shannon. Thank you President Wright. Councillor Jang's recommendation of Jordan Riddell reminded me that I while I'm looking at my fellow councillors I failed to recognize Jordan's contribution on the mural task force and I'm very very sorry out of sight out of mind I am very sorry for that and do appreciate Jordan's contribution as well as my fellow city councillors. Thank you Councillor Shannon anyone else want to compliment Jordan here's your chance other Councillor Nodal Well Mayor I am a big admirer of Ms Riddell's but I wanted to just make one other remark which is on the consent agenda also there is a communication from James Lockridge about public bullet bulletin boards on Cherry and Bank streets and I think he makes some very good points there and I hope that we can kind of stay open to this idea of uncurated public bulletin boards because I think it provides some an element of vitality I understand there's some issues around they can't just be totally kind of unmanaged and anarchic but I think there is a way to do it and I hope that that we can keep this in our minds. Thank you Thank you Councillor Nodal. Other city councillors on general city affairs hearing none we will close that item and move to city council president update a couple things as Councillor Buscher noted October 16th excuse me May 16th Wednesday 7 to 9 is the first meeting of the city hall park task force on trees specifically and we will be starting the meeting doing a walk through in the park and we're hoping that with the city arborist who also is on this task force and hopefully that will take not too much more than 30 minutes 30 or 40 minutes or so so that will we will then come back into city hall we will take comments from the public we will hear about the three options that we heard about some from the public tonight and the committee will begin to deliberate on that and as I mentioned to the two members who spoke in public forum tonight who are a part of the task force we will they acted certainly in good faith there was no appeal and we will be acting in good faith in regard to this issue and whether we do one of the options or whether we expand it from there so that's 7 to 9 this Wednesday also don't forget that next Monday is the necessity hearing on the Champlain Parkway that will start here at 530 and con toys we will hear an update from legal council on what the necessity hearing explain what the necessity hearing is we will then board buses I think that is not a mandatory meeting for city councillors is that right city attorney Blackwood the site visit is not required for everybody to go on but the you know the hearing is a regular council meeting so you know I would be nice for councillors to let me know or I would appreciate councillors letting me know during this coming week who will be going on the buses and then I would hope everyone can make the necessity hearing when we get back here we will board the buses if we need two buses they will be two buses the public can join us on the buses and channel 17 will be there as well we will be stopping at Champlain College Miller center and getting an update there we could hear public comment there and then come back to con toys and the hope is to be back to con toys by around 645 so please again let me know if you will be going on boarding the buses there will be a stop at Champlain Chocolates if that gets you on the bus we will do that it is right nearby so you can scoot over to Champlain Chocolates so that's and then on the Councillor Shannon stop and switch back now you are getting carried away zero gravity okay now we are really starting to talk my language here I can't eat chocolate but I can go to the other place so with that I will close that out last one is just there is a good place to stop right there the commission or the committee on commission appointments also Councillor Mason has agreed to chair that this year I will serve on that again and Councillor Tracy is serving on that and I think Jordan is on that as well Jordan serves on that from the mayor's office so again there will be some more compliments coming I think for Jordan as we go forward so Councillor Mason will be working with City Clerk's office to begin to schedule some meetings there and with that I will conclude my remarks and turn it over to Mr. Mayor to take us home or take us into the executive sessions at least Mr. Mayor Excellent thank you President Wright I did want to cover a few things tonight first let me start by saying it was a moving experience and an honor to represent the city at Governor Phil Hof's memorial service over the weekend down the street on Cherry Street at the St. Paul's Cathedral you know there was many moving tributes throughout the day to the Governor and he certainly was someone who accomplished a great deal during his time in public life the list includes creating the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation creating our legal aid system starting Vermont Public Television he was a major figure in the anti-war movement he had other environmental victories but one of the things I learned during the course of that day that I thought I'd come back and just share with this group which was I had not known prior to the day was that Governor Hof's career in the public eye began actually as a candidate for Alderman in 1959-1960 in Ward 6 where he was actually unsuccessful he did not win that first campaign but less than a year later he ran to be the sole member of the city representing Burlington in the house of representatives at that time Burlington got all of one representative and interestingly when just one term later he was elected Governor in this fairly miraculous election one of the things he got done in his six years as Governor was to shift the system so that it would be a representative form of government and among the many things we can thank Phil Hof for we can thank him for the fact that we now have ten representatives in Montpelier including Councilor President Wright laboring for us every day and you know that really goes to the tribute that Senator Sanders made later in the day pointing out that Governor Hof was someone who went right at problems didn't admit nibble around the edges of them and was very effective and successful in making transformational change and we miss him already and thank him for his long service to the city of Burlington I did also want to note I wasn't going to focus on Jordan's service at the parks service although I appreciate Councilor Jang how much that was noted the group in the entirety planted 850 trees and in an area of Oak Ledge Park that has long been a kind of problematic wetland and not really thrived ecologically and I think it's just worth noting at a time when there's understandable concern about trees being removed in different parts of the city there's also a massive effort from the parks and rec department every year to reforest and plant trees and the amount of trees in the city have been dramatically expanded in recent years and this is one good example of those efforts. Another exciting event since the last time we met that watch viewers at home and make sure you're aware of is that this new e-bike initiative has been launched by the Burlington Electric Department. It's really quite a great deal Burlington Electric customers can get a $200 rebate on an electric bike. The bikes costs approximately 1200 to a little over $3,000. You can try them out down at local motion at their e-bike library. You can actually borrow one free of charge for a week and if you've never been on e-bike I really recommend that you do it. It's a surprising experience. It doesn't feel anything like riding a moped or a motorcycle. It really feels like you're biking. You just have sort of bionic powers in doing so and I think it's a really important step forward in our transportation system potentially. Speaking of our transportation system I do want to again alert the council. This one has me a little bit concerned just because of the timeline. We have a significant decision to make together a week from tonight when pursuant to our approval processes as well as our development agreement with Burlington City Place. The council is going to be asked next Monday to approve a design for both Cherry Street and Bank Street. The three blocks of new streets that were authorized not the new streets cutting through the property but rebuilt streets that were authorized by the TIF vote in the fall of 16. Considerable public process has taken place on the design of these streets over the last couple of months. Considerable more public process as council has noted is taking place over the next week. The hope is that that will put us in a place that even though there are some very different visions of how we move forward with the future of our streets that we will have some sort of consensus to move forward with by next Monday. There's a good thorough memo in the packet that lays this out more thoroughly and I encourage councillors to, if they do have questions, Public Works is eager to engage over the week ahead. It's a busy week of public local government for sure in addition to these meetings regarding Cherry Street and Bank Street. There will be two presentations this week as well as two presentations next week on the FY19 budget and all councillors of course are invited to join the Board of Finance for those presentations which will begin tomorrow night. I do want to compliment our newly confirmed CAO Beth Anderson for her work to get us to this point. I'm hoping that the council will agree after the vetting over the weeks ahead that this is a strong budget. From my perspective continues real discipline in terms of respecting the voters' strong message not to raise property taxes. Again the elective property taxes for the fourth year in a row are not going up. At the same time programs in this draft budget all programs remain intact, all staffing remains intact but we still have a ways to go with this. There remain weeks and numerous meetings before the expected vote in mid-June when we will present formally not the draft budget that we have now but the formal budget to the council. We look forward to the discussions ahead. The other things in the weeks ahead the fifth annual Burlington Police Department Barbecue will be taking place this Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Pomeroy Park and it will be the another version of the great event that we have all enjoyed for the last five years. There will be Foo, there will be DJ Craig Mitchell will be there, there will be a wide variety of municipal trucks on display, information boost from over 20 partners our canine units will be doing a demonstration, bouncy houses and more. It's really become a well-tended, well-organized event recent years and we hope you can make it. And finally the I want to just mention again in this room on May 23rd there will be, we will have Maya Salovich who is the author of Unbroken Brain leading a discussion about the opioid epidemic in an event jointly sponsored by the police department and the Chittenden County Opioid Alliance. President on the right, thank you for the opportunity to share all that. Thank you Mr. Mayor. We'll move on to item number nine. I just first say that you'd be surprised how many times legislators bring up that court ruling and long for the old days when Burlington had just one. We'll move on to item number nine which is a communication from Eileen Blackwood about City Attorney, about two executive sessions that we're about to move into. City Attorney Blackwood. Thank you President Wright. There are two sets of issues that I've been asked to address. One is to give you an update on collective bargaining with our unions. So employee-labor relations and the second is to give you an update on the public utility commission ruling and hearing that occurred and I've been asked to give you some legal opinions about what the effect of that is and so I believe you should go into executive session to hear those as well. So both of those issues would require you to make two findings. The first finding being the premature disclosure of both the labor relations issues and the advice from your city attorney would put the city at a disadvantage. It would be your first motion and a second motion to go into executive session if you agree with that. I'll move the first motion. Councillor Buscher moves the first motion. Is there any discussion on the first motion? Seconded by Councillor Nodell. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor of that motion please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And now we need the second motion to actually go into executive session. Based on those findings I move to go into executive session. Moved by Councillor Buscher, seconded by Councillor Nodell. Any discussion? All those in favor of moving into executive session please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? We will move into executive session and there is no action coming out of this executive session so channel 17 will say good night. And who's staying? And who's