 Okay, so Call the meeting to order it's seven o'clock first item on the agenda are the minutes of September Is there a motion to approve? It's for a second second page one Just one typo For personnel policy revisions in the first line it talks about reviewed reviewed the rigid visions to the personal policy Policy One thing on page two under number five airport governance resolution the First sentence reads blah blah blah blah presented facts on the airport and the relationship with the city of south Burlington, and I just wonder if facts is the best word to use About information. Yes. I that's I thought either information or data Would be better choices Thank you Awesome page two These three corrections was in favor of approving the minutes of 2017 I Opposed and we have one extension. I presume joy and move on to Public comment, and I think there's one person who wants at least one person who has some public comment Maybe more than one so anyone who wishes to make public comment in this time at this time anything on the agenda or not on the agenda Sure So public comment is an opportunity for people who don't want to stick around Which we can't understand If you wish to speak during the time that we're discussing a particular thing We would recognize you at that time as well Anyone wishing to make comments under public comments Johnny? Did you have this time or no? Welcome. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here My name is Ginny Lyons. I am a Williston resident I'm also in the Vermont Senate Representing all of Chittenden County, and I'm here in support of the resolution that you have before you Regarding the governance structure for the airport. I'm not here for any one particular reason except to say that The government the governance system or the governance program or the governance Oversight for any entity. I think is critically important when it provides a public service I think in particular of our Solid Waste District our Regional Planning Commission our water district our town itself and That having a governance structure that is representative of the municipalities affected by or in fact in one case Location of the airport. I think it's very important. This isn't For or against one or another municipality rather. I believe that as we all know democracy depends on accountability and on Oversight and Having more than one entity Overseeing the airport as it as it now is overseen. I think is worthy of a discussion I'm not here to say that there should be a new governance structure I am saying from my experience that it should be evaluated and at least looked at and discussed I have a conversation between and amongst the municipalities that Are affected by by the airport whether it's an economic effect a development effect a Noise mitigation effect, whatever it is Some some common understanding of the rules. I think are critically important We don't know that things will stay as they are today They could change, you know to seriously consider supporting the resolution and going forward And I know that I have heard from a lot of different folks And one of the comments that I've heard as well. Let's send it to the legislature Please do not send it to the legislature without the prior discussion, you know, that would be more of a Problem I think then we could imagine Without going into detail. So that that's my only comment Thank you for giving me the opportunity. I have read the resolution when we passed resolutions in the state house the whereas Clauses are not the effective clauses the effective clauses are the Resolved clauses. So those are the ones as you well know that would be important to the town of Williston There's nothing binding Is simply opening up a discussion and I encourage you to do that Thank you. Okay The other person who was making a public comment this time Yes, please identify yourself, please If the Select Board is going to be discussing at some point, not today, whenever, the issue of the letter In the seven days about the development review board, if the Select Board is going to be Discussing that at all. So the Select Board doesn't have any authority to remove people from Commission, there is a process under the conflict of interest ordinance if a person has a Good, but they think is a good case that a person has a conflict of interest Then they should file that with the Board of Civil Authority Well, we appoint we we make the original appointment and we would make it a point We would consider on a reappointment of the stat person. I'm not sure sure When that person's reappointment would be up Article and I'm just kind of surprised that there isn't any dialogue in the town And I thought that this would be the place that the Select Board would have some opinions Sure without getting into the details of the whole thing the person It agrees that he has a conflict of interest on certain things. He has recused himself There was one thing that was mentioned That he did not follow and I think others probably have not followed the Ordinance when they say they have a conflict of interest that they have to specify what that conflict of interest is and He Agreed that he had that not done that would not would not continue to do that in the future But as far as I know that was the only only objection that people Had it's got far as the ordinance goes So I've noticed a few people come in that hadn't signed in on the table if you would please before you leave sign in that would be helpful To us any other person who wishes to make any public comment tonight See nobody and then we'll go on to the liquor license application. I have a application for a First-class license from Agave taco and tequila Casa. Is there somebody here that's representing that organization? We can if somebody arrives we can go back to this issue and in the meantime we'll go on to personnel policy revisions item number five and Jennifer Cannelli Linus director is here to talk about that Thank you all for your comments last time I made all the changes that you suggested and edits and then I put together a List of holidays of just a few different municipalities the state of Vermont as well as the federal holidays And Rick and I after we looked at this thought our holidays seemed fair and consistent with what other municipalities are doing We didn't recommend any any changes at this time Through this we had some comments that we made two weeks ago regarding the policy and Satisfying with the answers that we received And if they are we there's a motion suggested discussion of motion No more further discussion although some favor Of the motion I I may oppose and no abstentions Thank You, Jessica. This was helpful So move on to the village unless she is Matt here, but we don't have Melinda here yet either Well, how about the manager's report always catch me off guard when even had a schedule on that On the financial report you have a copy there isn't really much Remarkable about that report because it's early in the fiscal year There was one question that came up before the meeting started about the Paving costs and I checked our budget for this year our budget is about 450,000 to 200,000 I had my mind was something that we had added several years back And we had a base of about 200,000 we added So we just about spent that in that last bill right or 40,000 right? Yeah, and this is worth it I mean stop me if this isn't we're talking about we have a pavement it's not a policy but a procedure in which roads are evaluated ranked and Selected for paving and the concept is to try to stay ahead as much as we can Of letting roads deteriorate too poorly before we have to go in and spend a lot of money to fix No, I wasn't suggesting we weren't I was just wanted to know that we budgeted the money that we're spending. Yeah so I guess I'll touch on the Manage assistant to the manager recruitment process We received 101 applicants for the job and we have the first round of interviews scheduled for Terry McKay has agreed to sit on the interview Representative from another community that will also be serving in one department head will be on the panel as well So that process all in a way our One thing I don't have in my written poor that wanted to mention we have finally a date for the swearing-in of our new police chief It's going to be on Monday October 16th at 10 a.m It'll be held over at the community In the police station Yeah, I expect actually a good crowd and I'm going to be sending out an invitation and a press release So all the board members here are invited and I'm sure they'll be Family members for the chief along with a good representation from our department as well as hopefully some community members as well The two firefighters that responded to emergency in the Houston area have returned the town paramedic service has just been certified To provide that service and we're in the process of gearing up for that We're also in the process of hiring a firefighter We had an open position and we should have that filled within a matter of week or two So we're making good progress on that There is on the airport noise compatibility program update The we've received a letter from Gene Richards who is asking if the town would like to have a representative on this committee their first meeting is It's on a select board meeting night. I don't recall whether it is this I think it might have been They moved it to the 17th So we won't Unless we have someone other than the select board members or myself. We won't be able to send a representative that so And that's all I had on my report for tonight I'm sorry, just one quick thing on Bruce Corrected that the memo and that was helpful. The only thing I'd point out and I'm not suggesting we change it He talked about the differences 13 gallons per minute, which you know Sounds not like not a lot, but you need to know in what context 13 gallons per minute is compared to like what's the fire flows 500 but it was 500 it was 487 was what they measured and I just thought maybe the 500 should be mentioned also because then that gives you the Context to go. Yeah, 13 compared to 500 is not a lot. It's in the report. It's in the overall report. Yeah Just you know as I read that it's like okay, it's 13 is that you know if it's out of 20 be like, well, that's Okay, thank you for that Village Center designation and Matt Bologna senior planner is here evening Right, so you have a memo and a little bit of attached information from me Request for the select board to adopt a resolution authorizing the town's application for a designated village center Village center might be a slightly less familiar concept to the board than our growth center Which sort of gets more of the attention our growth center is the area Around half corners where the town has committed to have most of its new commercial industrial and residential growth happen over the Next 10 years. It was a 20-year commitment when it was originally established Village center designation is another state designation that comes out of the same office as Growth center designation, so it's processed through the agency of commerce community development and Approval is gained from the downtown board just like a growth center and what a village center does broadly is provides access to commercial landowners to some tax incentives for the Restoration code upgrade and facade improvement of historic structures within that designated boundary There's also some priority consideration. The state gives when citing new facilities to designated village centers There's some priority consideration for state grants related to projects that are in a designated village center and Within a quarter mile of the boundary of a designated village center a private party can propose what's called a neighborhood development area in Essence gaining a little bit of relief from agency of natural resources project review fees And some other consideration under Act 250 for development that supports an existing designated village So the other thing about village centers in Williston is at the time that ours was originally established Toward the end of 2005 The downtown board felt that it was very important under statute that allowed for a growth center that a growth center be connected to And in support of a designated village center So there's this sort of twinning of the two where to have a growth center in Williston By statute you should have it supporting something. That's more like a traditional village center There's also some findings when you approve a growth center about finding that the expected growth in town would not be Accommodated in an existing village center, which if you were to compare the two you can see that it that it wouldn't the the other part of that is that There should be some sort of geographic connection between the two I've Sort of updated that conversation with the ACCD staff over the last few days in that Our village center boundary, which is the dark orange boundary on the map. I've provided for you folks Does not go all the way down the hill to the Cirque Highway right of way Our village zoning district does and on the other side of that Cirque Highway right of way is the growth center There's a few other things about the boundary that may change a little bit from what I'm showing you as my draft boundary right now the reason for that is We had a approved village center the village center designation lapsed recently because we didn't have an approved town plan so this application is actually to re-designate or designate a new village center and my understanding from the staff of the downtown board is they're interested in Focusing that village center boundary a little bit and that that goal might be a little bit in tension with the goal of Having the boundary as close to the edge of the growth center as it once was so what I'm talking about here is the Western boundary especially as it comes out to encompass the Catholic Church and Most most everything sort of from Whitney Hill Road Maple Road West We'll see how it goes with the downtown board my preliminary conversation with staff for them was Yeah, I've given your growth center And given the extension of sidewalk as far out as the church We think it makes some logical sense to keep that But probably for the boundary to be a little more linear and go no more than one lot deep along Williston Road Back to Oak Hill Road in the Federated Church on the other end So the boundary I'm showing you is is our proposed boundary. It has been recommended. We adjust it a little bit smaller Going forward So is this the boundary that existed? Yes, the boundary. I'm showing you right now is the boundary that was approved under our designation renewal in 2011 Suggesting you shrink it a little bit. Yes Which is in yellow on the map you gave us So if the boundaries the same why is there something called additional review area? I don't get that sure Of all the parts of town that have boundaries related to our regulatory process The village has the most that overlay one I get what okay. I get what that is. I'm sorry Yeah, so that's that's related to to design review before the development review board I have a couple questions about I don't know if you're going to go over the benefit the program benefits or not Um, I can I can answer some more specific questions if you have them So as you were talking you were mentioning some of the benefits of being a designated Village You mentioned commercial Properties are the only ones that get the can get the credits So that and the only thing that residents can receive is this neighborhood development area. Is that Yeah, I didn't see that in the in the flyer or maybe this is something you put together yourself So the flyer talks about neighborhood development area NDA eligibility down near the bottom That's a That's a relatively new thing and it would generally be developer driven So it would be somebody who had a project on the fringe of a designated village Who wanted to go to the state and say I think my development deserves some some consideration? Based on its proximity to and support of a village. It doesn't give somebody any relief from local Zoning ordinances or having to comply with anything the town has in terms of Regulatory and you're correct. The tax benefits are all for Non-residential commercial properties Non-profit as well or just commercial I'm not sure because I've not watched anybody actually go through the Process to access one of these. I know for sure that it's it's commercial Nobody's taken advantage of it between the 2006 and 16. They have not and getting I'll clarify on the nonprofit thing You have to owe taxes to get some credit against them. So it's an excellent point Yeah, that that might be the challenge right there No, we haven't had anybody access the tax benefits the primary benefit to the town of Williston has been the ongoing approval of the growth Center and the understanding that it supports a village center Okay So can you talk a little bit about I'm going to get back to the boundary And I'm just curious. They're a little You know, it's basically a linear boundary. You mentioned the one property One prop one lot off of route to Williston road But there were places where there are exceptions to that along Maple Road Down mountain, I'm sorry north Williston Road a bit. Can you just talk about why those are there? Well, my short answer is they they were there when the growth the village center was originally applied for in Oh five. Yeah for my time. I think there was an attempt to capture a couple of supporting older historic houses In particular, you know that this entire zoning district is a mixed-use district. So Under today's rules Certain structures that aren't right on Williston Road could be proposed for a non-residential use And I think Probably the drafters looked at a few of those properties and also looked at extending out You know when you go up north Williston Road Just taking it one lot deep on north Williston Road to the to the zoning boundary But a key thing is its consistency with what it was previously. Okay, and then I'm just so I think be my last question is The the school is not in in in the proposed Village Center, that's correct. I would have thought it probably would have been because it has the community park and Do you know if there is there a reason why it isn't included and is there any benefit to having it included? I believe that it isn't included partially to maintain that sort of one lot deep pattern secondarily to Exclude a a non-historic structure essentially You know calling the school a more modern structure and thirdly that the school wouldn't likely have access to the tax benefits Although I suppose, you know that location of a state facility criteria could apply if you had a an empty school for example Which we have no thoughts of right now Would and and the same would the same type of answer would hold true for the community park also correct Yeah, this is really about Structures and that that built environment along the street There are grants too, so it's not just tax credits there are grants so those commercial as well and not homeowner Well, so some of the some of the grants are actually also available to municipalities so things like municipal planning grant consideration Some of the community development grants Vermont bike pad transportation alternative grants those are things that The town or the town in partnership with the Regional Planning Commission might pursue For further work on the village. Okay, right One last question of your mind is there just thought of this Is there anything with the boundary that you would be aware of that might be Controversial or anything like that? I don't You I think after the conversation I had most recently That suggests we keep that Western boundary where it is around the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church You might see a couple of single-family residential properties to the east come out in other words If you look at those green dots on the eastern end One of the conversations I had with staff was To end that at the Federated Church property the church in the Parsonage building that's multi-family It sounds like from their staff that the board has simply looked more favorably on Village boundaries that really concentrate on the Civic and commercial core of the village and don't include all and you know concentration of single family There any reason to expect we won't be able to get the designation. I Haven't been given any by the staff in their preliminary review. No, thank you for the questions from it Just disappointing nobody takes advantage of it. So it's uh, if you put the work in to do it, it seems like it's Maybe we don't advertise it enough. I think that's probably true And we do need to do a better job and I think that is something We plan to do in the near future. So in fact, Matt and I have talked about that and yeah There's money for the town especially so Great well there is a motion suggested if we're ready to consider this Move to authorize the application for designated Village Center status is provided for under state law and the Williston comprehensive plan I actually have one last question. So what we just The designation that you have is the one that we're taking forward with no no edits or changes So the the boundary I'm showing is our proposed boundary. I will show that boundary to the downtown board I will also show them What I understand the boundary might be based on the conversation with staff But in the end it is up to that board's Discretion as to which which or what boundary they okay? Think of it. So is there anyone here that for the liquor license? Application for a gavi taco Not yet. Okay We'll move on to the next item, which is a Jacob property donation and Linda Scott One of our planners is here Linda, thank you for coming Oh good. Thank you one more. I can share. Yeah. No, okay. Good Okay Yep, I don't need So so um back in July contacted Rick A guire about the potential of donating a parcel of land to the town Um, that parcel is outlined in yellow on that map it's um It's in the um North Western portion of town and it's off of It's behind, um, eastward circle Morgan parkway, um right off of 2a So rick, um asked me to do some investigation. Um, and to um Ask the conservation commission to make a recommendation about whether the town should acquire this property um It's it's about a 30 acres 29 acres Pretty much all of it forested it's uh Next to the winooski river only Uh, a small portion of the parcel touches the winooski river It more of it probably would but the the green mountain power company Owns these thin strips of land next to the winooski from my understanding They they bought it as a floodplain protection Something like that so So anyway, there is potential for river access, um of which There's only one Formal access to winooski in town right right now Um I went out and and walked the property and So what you have there is a bunch of pictures I took while I was out there Um corresponding to those points on the map Just to give you an idea of what the property looks like And um, it's it already has a Pretty well used and apparently well maintained trail that Goes sort of runs sort of north south and not along the property So there there is potential for some recreational use back there where the town to acquire it um There currently is no access To the property from a public road So that that is one of the downsides of this piece of property is that There would need to be um some investigation into You know getting potential access The conservation commission looked at this proposal and Were in support of it Um, they recommended that the town accept the donation of land um, however, they would like to investigate further The access potential access To the property as well as They're recommending that the town Have a phase one environmental assessment Conducted just as as due diligence before the property is Is given to the town Can I ask is there motivation for um the property to be donated? Is it unusable in any other way? Just curious why My understanding is because of the lack of access to the property It makes developing it Quite challenging. I mean there would need to be some access in order for it to get Developed in any way, so do you know if they've tried to get any kind of right of way or any any? Um, I'm not I'm not aware of that I'll think of it. I mean One of the reasons I mean you mentioned the wildlife habitat And that it's a corridor and that's a reason to protect the land Um, but there's also the concept of of having public access to it, you know, and it sounds like there's some pretty nice trails already on it that somebody has has has has put in but The latter piece sounds like it's going to be very problematic in terms of getting public access to this land So I guess my question is along the lines of how much of a deal breaker Is that? In my opinion And I think the conservation commission shares this opinion I mean, although recreational access would be desirable It is I think worth protecting that piece of land because you know, it is right alongside the river Although it's not in the flood plain. So it you know, it doesn't have The regulatory constraints that would protect it from development even though right now it seems Difficult to develop Do we lose any tax revenue? $104 $104 You know that If that had only been 103 I'd give this full consideration One thing I want to mention that the town a few years back accepted a land donation off of knob hill road It was about 80 acres and we at the time did not have access to that and we still don't have access But we're working on it and I think we eventually will gain access to that parcel land and so Town is going to be around a lot longer than most of us So I think eventually the town will be able to work those things out So we don't lose anything. We might not gain anything immediately, but eventually it's still conserved land. It's not going to be built upon So the question before us tonight does not emotion isn't needed But just consensus has to whether you wish to move forward with exploring the possibility of uh, accepted donation Because of that, so yeah All right, Linda just one question the map you just gave us has these red areas I think there was some sort of a buffer no actually, um those are On the town plan map it shows Desired trails desired future trails. Okay, so While the trail that's on the property isn't aligned with those Desired future trails it is in an area of town that is currently Not really served with primitive paths That are publicly accessible I think you may mean the lighter red um Red hatch. Yeah, that's that's that those are the desired trail. Okay. Okay, so so this actually I mean, I would say that this piece of property actually fits well with what the desired trails are in town That's how I would characterize Okay We'll be bringing this issue back As we move forward with it Thank you So, uh, that leaves us to the last item on the agenda, which is the airport governor's Resolution you ask about the liquor Licker license a few months ago. Nobody has come in alive since I asked and so I think we will put that next next agenda for next meeting. There's there's a typo in the forms I don't know if that makes any difference legally What is it the address? Up in your board the address is typed in wrong in the form. Oh Then oh Short form some surprise. There was a mistake in it to uh, what's the what it was it was walnut instead of walnut All right, I'll bring that to me anyway Okay, so, um, it was a test our emails we received That would be a different resolution. I think it came from south burlington. I uh, and if somebody from south burlington perhaps Thomas chitman would like to talk about that Which I find up and introduce yourself and Talk a little bit about the new and tell us a little bit about Who is who is approved it or who hasn't approved it at this point? Thank you, uh, tom chitman in south burlington resident also here. Um, I serve on the city council over there So I apologize if the last meeting for not making it clear that the two different resolutions that have been before you The original one that was very long about five or six pages Was used to help us organize our thoughts on this But uh, that was never passed by the south burlington city council. What was passed is this one page short concise document Uh, short concise document which calls for three beat resolves Which asks the city of burlington city council to just explore the conversations take action on the recommendation from their airport strategic planning committee from 2013 And if they don't do so it just asks for the legislature I believe maybe the governor led by the governor's office to step into it Uh, the south burlington city council has passed that so has our school board Our school board has some interest in the uh, the airport the annoys envelope and also the uh, Winooski city council has passed but uh, I noticed that jesse is here as well as eric Covey, so they might want to speak to you as well Okay, so the one that came in by email was slightly different on the third resolve Uh, just a few words difference that uh, said we're Going to look at the um, if the if burlington does not take action Then requesting the governor to do that But not to look at, um, necessarily Um The governance, uh, but look at the alternatives Any questions for mr. Chitman? Welcome again, well, let's turn into chalice chitman town town So, uh, winooski representatives if you would just identify yourselves and Good evening Um, my name is jesse baker. I'm the city manager in the city of winooski. Thank you for having us tonight And i'm eric covey. I'm a city councilor in winooski and obviously winooski resident as well Um, so we are here tonight just to, um, encourage you to consider the shortened resolution as Mr. Chitman mentioned The winooski city council has adopted that resolution One of the things we really want to emphasize in this conversation broadly is that we see the airport as an amazing community asset It is a strong asset. It is critically important to the future Not only of winooski, but of the region and the state as a whole Um, we as communities are having lots of conversations about Governance structures and regionalization and how we best support one another whether it's around Solid waste or water or right now Public safety dispatch We believe that it's very important to always think about how we best support one another And the airport is a critical Asset that we believe we can help strengthen clearly South burlington williston and winooski Shoulder a lot Kind of greater burden of the airport We also shoulder more of its of its success You know we in winooski are currently completing an economic development strategic plan and we hear over and over again What an asset the airport is to us having said that we our neighbors are very impacted by the airport And currently have no voice in decisions made about the airport The airport strength comes from all of the users all of the federal taxpayers We are all part of that success and we would like our Neighbors to be represented in decision making As it comes forward having said that all we are asking for right now is a conversation to bring thought leaders together To have a conversation about what a future governance structure could look like and how we strengthen it as an asset That is all we are asking for i'm happy to answer any questions about our council discussion And i'm sure councillor covey would like to say a few words as well Thank you My primary question is in the same question i i mean we we tossed around last time is Having a seat at the table, you know and and is one of those things that everybody wants to have and maybe until they get there so but In this particular in this particular situation What do you think you will affect or change for the airport from a management perspective? From an asset perspective Just i'm just curious when you when you talked about this with the counselors What kinds of ideas did you toss around because we couldn't come up with any solid Items when we talked about it last time. We just don't know enough about it. I I expect um So again from what we're asking for right now is solely a conversation to bring the minds to the table to have a Conversation about what a future governance structure looks like certainly the adoption of this resolution doesn't put Anyone's thumb on the scale of what that should be? It's simply there are models of municipal and regional airports across the country And shouldn't we look at some of those and think about best But making the assumption that our community will advocate for a regional governance model I think one of the primary benefits of that That the council of winooski sees is that currently we are very impacted by the airport We get in my office. We get several complaints questions suggestions about the airport regularly Right now. I have no one to point to to say this is your elected or appointed Representative who is who participates in that decision-making process right now Essentially the sole decision maker up on the airport on the airport is the mayor of burlington Who is doing a fantastic job running the airport? Our residents are very affected. They have no representation And we believe that as important decisions are made about this asset Our our community should be represented in that decision-making process So could I ask are the issues mostly around noise and I'm just trying to understand what the issues that would I'm guessing in winooski. It would be noise or So there's two main issues that on the negative side. It's absolutely noise On the positive side the airport is seen as a huge community community asset as I mentioned From an economic development standpoint We see businesses come to town because they can be at the airport in five minutes and that's seen as an asset I think there are also ways to strengthen the connection between our community and the airport You know, you go to other regional airports across the country and you might see Promotions about communities about many communities. I think there's ways that we can better support all of the communities in the region Of course, they they do an excellent job supporting the ski industry as they should continue to do And your rad recreation and in vermont But I think there are lots of positive ways we could have an influence as well as Helping our residents feel like they're represented around some of the harder conversations Okay, thank you further questions I thank you very much Thank you Conversely too, I think jesse mentioned a lot of the current impacts But we also don't know what could come down in future changes For changes to the airport that could impact any of our communities and that's why I think this conversation is so important And I think one of the things that senator lions who spoke during public comment One of the things she said that really resonated with me is the general concept that governance should be representative Of the people who are impacted And I think like jesse mentioned for all of our communities. There is an impact that the airport has which includes the positive Quality of life impact of being located close to a successful airport And I think that the airport is Has significant economic importance for our communities locally as well as statewide And so ensuring long-term viability and sustainability of the airport is really crucial to our communities as well so Like both senator lions and jesse mentioned really this resolution is opening the door to figure out How do we get the appropriate people to the table? So I'd strongly urge passage of the resolution and thanks so much for your time tonight and putting thought into this The only question I have Is if if The city were to decide to move ahead And create a committee or let's say they just the resolution passes they decide not to and the governor decides To form a committee. What would what would you view as the charge of that committee of that committee? So we would welcome burlington Establishing this committee and that you know is the ultimate out positive outcome for us The charge of that group in our minds is to convene thought leaders from across The communities as well as the business business sector And other interested parties and look at what other governor's governance models exist in the nation There are lots of different examples of municipal airports that have governance boards where each community is representative There are examples of true regional airports. I'm sure we can all think of them To explore those options and explore what it would mean for burlington For the burlington international airport what it would mean in terms of operations and assets and equipment And then to bring back a recommendation to The relevant communities and the relevant decision makers to move forward or not Very similar to what rick and I are currently participating in in the joint survey committee regarding public safety dispatch So there's the governance But there's also I don't think or can you i'm asking the question because I don't know the answer Can you separate from that? the ownership of the airport Can you separate the governance from the ownership right if you If you change the governance Does it mean you have to change the ownership? Is it possible to change the governance without changing the ownership? I believe it is There are examples as I mentioned of municipal airports whose decision making body Has represent has the decision making body has representatives from other interested parties You know a smaller segment of that municipal Actually owns the airport right questions was that That's actually one of the key Issues that I keep struggling with is as we look at this is that the One of the whereas portions of the of the proposed resolution Says whereas the city of berlington holds quote title unquote To the bia, but it does not quote own unquote bia in a classic sense of having paid for it through taxpayer investments and it goes on This is this is the thing I struggle with If I have a Family member who marries somebody and and that let's say I have a brother and he marries He marries a woman and they're deeply in love and they're very happy And then she comes into money from her side of the family through an inheritance She now owns title to it But in the classic sense she didn't pay for that. She just has it Can I take that from her? Not sure. I'm following the metaphor I mean if they were to explain that another way The fact that there is title is in fact ownership and so these things in quotes are deeply disturbing to me Sure, so I think the point of that whereas clause Is that the berlington taxpayers have the berlington international airport is an enterprise fund of the city a special revenue fund of the city of berlington So berlington taxpayers don't pay for the airport the fees associated with operating the airport pays for the airport as well as significant Significant funding from the f a f a a so when you and that's been in place for decades So they don't pay for it taxpayers of berlington have not paid for the airport and that's that's that's significant to you That is very significant to me because what that means is that my residents who fly in and out of berlington airport and pay their fees associated with that ticket are paying for the airport And my residents who are paying federal taxes that go to the f a a are paying for the airport The city the taxpayers of berlington My understanding is since the late 40s early 50s have not contributed property tax dollars to the airport Therefore the success of that airport and the the great asset it currently is Has been paid for on the backs of all of our residents We all share in that success and therefore we should all share in the representation As decisions are made about that asset But you you're not following my point is that Tell me if you're not because I want you to understand what i'm trying to say I'm not following your point. Okay, if I inherit money. Can you take it because I didn't earn it and I haven't done anything to to In the classic sense pay for the the benefit of that money Um, I think the I think you want me to say no and I'm not saying that our regional governance model would take any asset I think part of this conversation would be If we decide that a regional governance model is preferable to the majority of the 150 160 000 people That live in our region What would that transition structure look like is there is there a transfer of assets? What about the land? What about the equipment? What about any existing debt? What about contracts? What about agreements? There are many many questions that would have to be answered as part of that I'm certainly not suggesting nor was there ever a conversation at our council level that just Transference would happen and it would be done and the region would own the asset There would be a transition plan associated and that's reassuring to me However, the language that i'm confronted with here does talk about and these are in quotes and that that has meaning when something's put in Quotes, you know, I mean you don't want to put quotes on the wrong thing because it changes the meaning if I I'm selling fresh meat at a store. I'm not going to say this meat is Fresh in quotes because it's going to mean it's going to mean a different thing. Okay, so quotes mean something So whereas the city of berlington holds holds quote title to the bia, but it does not quote own bia That says to me that the implication is that There will be a transfer of quote title because after all bia does not quote own Bia in the classic sense And that i'm wondering if that really doesn't have anything to do with it And we're not sure where title is going to go in there. Why is it one of the most? There are only there are only five where as is in this. Why is this one of them? like again on on the speaking from my council Our belief in that why that whereas section was important is again the The people one could argue that the people who have contributed to the cost of operating the airport are are All the users of the airport over the last decades and therefore ownership If I pay your rent or your mortgage for a period of 50 years, do I have a case to say I have ownership in that And if the if the answer is no You don't but do you see what i'm saying? If the point you're trying to make if the users have Funded it and have no voice in how decisions are made about it There is some frustration on our council's side that those voices are not heard at the table And i you're right about that I'm I'm This is a very specific point the the global issue is is bigger than this one point. I fully acknowledge that Um, but it does it does give me pause that that's in there. That's all i'm saying I think for me in considering this resolution um That points to the clear need of the the larger discussion around representation I do also think there's an economic if a commission were to examine A new governance model and that were to include some form of transition of ownership in the future Then understanding that the cost of the airport is an enterprise fund and is self-sustaining Would be really important for lots of communities as they Look towards what that would look like financially for those communities and I follow up a little bit if um And this would be a question for both the folks from wanooski as well as south brolington If and i'm only hypothetically saying but if we were to Decide to move ahead with the resolution, but either deleted that whereas or modified it Would that what would be impacted? Is that okay? I guess i'm asking Well, certainly it's it's it would be your select board's resolution So whatever I whatever your select board felt comfortable with is the resolution that should be considered I think you know we had a conversation and at the wanooski council about Word smithing our resolution and changing the words and the council made the active decision not to do that because we felt like We needed to send a strong message And that to the extent that there was word smithing a story might become What are the differences between the communities and communities might be pitted against one another? That's why our council made that choice Certainly your select board Can pass the resolution it would like Thanks Can you tell me what's happening with cold chester s6 and shellburn as far as the resolution goes? sure heaven may know more about this than I um, so Shelburne cold chester Shelburne and cold chester have both Considered it at select board meetings. My understanding is neither have adopted it yet I'm not has an s6 as well Essex has not discussed it yet So there's at this point it's a wanooski and self-derlington It's adopted. Okay. Good. Thank you any further questions So I think we have resident. Thank you very much. We have representatives from Burlington here tonight I am jeff munger and i'm chair of the airport commission, but as you can hear I'm about to lose my voice So bill keo is here and we have others in with us as well if they want to say anything We'll welcome that So bill you could probably Hi, i'm i'm bill keo I've been the legislature for eight years been city council for 16 years and i'm sort of Falling off the political cliff by serving some valuable time with the airport commission I find this very interesting and challenging. Thank you for this opportunity um I attended the colchester meeting last night and the consensus seemed to be a colchester that uh, they don't want to They did not take up the resolution They feel this is they don't have a dog in this fight And so they did not want to consider that was the consensus. I think of three or four of the city councilors the Another city councilor and colchester said wait a minute. I'm concerned about the financial impact this might have On the town of colchester, so I think that's my report from that meeting for what it's worth I don't know if you have any question on that, but uh, there's that um, there's A major item. Let's let's let's follow this through. Let's say that city birthing council or Or the governor sets out this committee And they want to look at the House going to be made up. What is going to be your jurisdictions? We're going through that now. We've gone through that with the solid waste district We've gone through that with the regional planning commission You know, will there be weighted voting and will it not be weighted voting and then you all of a sudden decide Okay, we want to take over the airport Take over the airport. Okay, if we're going to take over the airport That constitutes the charter change for the city of burlington. It's a charter change That people have to vote on that issue to accept or not accept whatever proposal is put forth the city of south burlington years ago Had a great relationship with burlington I'm sure somebody don't remember a guy by the name of vindi acuity who was a sales manager of wjly It was a great counselor in south burlington and he and the administration at that time persuaded Persuaded the city voters to approve south burlington having a seat at the table and the airport commission As a charter change has to go to the legislature. Etc. Etc. You know that process So that's what faces. That's what if we go down this whole road and we end up there What incentive does This new governance committee go to tell the voters. Yeah vote for this but give up your ownership to the airport There's going to be a price to pay for that Yep, you know The assessed evaluation of the burlington airport is 52 million dollars. That's the assessed value I don't know what the market value is. They don't sell airports every day But so there's an incentive thing there that has to be given to the voters to approve such a thing Then goes to the legislature All that is key to the end result of all this this whole thing I won't go into a lot of other things that have been brought up But I think jeff and I and we have city councillor Karen paul here if she wants to make something marked, but Oh, okay. Hi Karen So if you have questions, we'd be this is an unrehearsed response as you're going to tell so We're happy to respond to any of your questions You're going to find yourself for the the camera Oh, I'm happy to um, so my name is Karen paul. I'm a city councillor in burlington I'm not here to speak on behalf of the city council As those of you who are city councillors know you probably don't appreciate it when other people speak for you You prefer to speak yourself We're like that too And I'm I'm here mostly because of the fact that unfortunately due to the fact that The director of aviation and director of planning and development for the airport Jean Richards and nick longo are both in or I think actually on their way home from dallas They are meeting with um with one of the air carriers In the hopes of being able to expand our air service So, uh, I am here not only as a city councillor and a burlington resident But also because I was one of the people that co-chaired the strategic planning committee in 2013 myself along with who was then the interim cao for the city paul sisson Um and We we had a lot of charges to that committee Most of them were about the long-term financial strength of the of the of the airport and About maintaining air service expanding air service and air travel which clearly benefits all of chitenden county At the time when we had the when we had this committee. This was back in 2013 There was representation from the person who was then the mayor of wanouski Michael bryan The city manager of south burlington was also there There were two then city south burlington city councillors Who attended the the vast majority of meetings over the nine months that we met And uh, we did discuss regionalizing the airport in the context of the greater structure of Governance, um, that was one of the charges of the committee. Um, and When it was agreed at the time when we had that conversation That there was a pretty clear understanding that regional governance Also meant that the parties would have to be willing to participate not only with a seat at the table but also actively participating financially and uh That there didn't appear to be any appetite for that at the time Now as you probably have read from the letter that came from our mayor morrow Weinberger You know municipal airports are not at all a rarity 35 percent of airports nationwide are Municipally owned and there are many that are regional authorities um The vast majority of them are oftentimes transportation authorities like for the city of Like the port authority or for uh, the city of boston, you know larger usually larger municipalities not necessarily always but In many cases, that's what it is um This you know that the airport has um a long history of participating and listening to communities and We understand Very very much that uh btv is one of the greatest economic development tools. We have in in chitinning county You know for the record this the burlington international airport is owned by the city of burlington um We understand that it's an asset that we all enjoy and uh, we work hard You know the airport the people that that work at the airport were very hard To do the best that they can To make sure that uh because we know that it's a tremendous responsibility And we did the best we can to make the airport as good as it possibly can be One of the things I did want to mention is that um One of the members of the strategic planning committee back in 2013 Was a man you you may have heard of um, his name is edwin collodney Ed collodney grew up in the old north end of burlington He went to college paid his way through college went to law school worked his way up to become the ceo of us airways And he was one of the members of the committee And so he has seen a lot in his 40 plus years working in the aviation industry And in his opinion burlington international airport is exceptionally well run the governance structure is is a good one It's more financially sound More creatively run than many that he has seen in his career And the letter that you got from the mayor also pointed out to many of the things that are going on in the airport financially speaking in terms of the moody's upgrade that we've received several of The new lease agreement that we have with the airlines, which is a very big deal new destinations and New hubs such as charlotte and atlanta and they are adding additional flights to those hubs Because the ones that they started with Have been so successful And what I what I would try what I would caution you about Is reading too much into arguments that you've been supplied with in favor of regionalization that state some facts that really aren't really facts and You know I one of the you know one of the One of the one of let's see i'm trying to think what Probably the most one that comes to mind is that you know the city of burlington has supported the airport I don't think it's correct to say that the city of burlington hasn't supported the airport financially I would encourage you to speak to the professionals that work at the airport that really that know and deal with this on a daily basis And if you haven't been invited Consider this your personal invitation to come to the airport take a tour meet the people that work there and understand You know because it is It is an asset for chitenden county Understand what goes on there every day And I think the You know the important thing I think to take away from this is that The city of burlington has managed the airport extremely well And it has done so on behalf of everyone in the region and would like to continue to do that We do support the airport and Feel that the governance structure that we have while certainly there's always room for improvement The governance structure that we have is a good one Thank you Questions so financials keep on coming up and we've had a as you know a couple of meetings already and When we talked to I think the last couple of people we were told that as an enterprise There is no financial contribution Direct financial contribution Uh From the taxpayers in fact this I think this came from gene To running the airport or any operations at the airport and any work that's done by town Or city of burlington um professionals in terms of running the airport is reimbursed by that enterprise in other words It's a net zero Outflow or inflow right it's it's In in financial terms I mean it's our responsibility So if there were I mean if there were any reason to um if there was any concern about the airport financially that would fall on us That does not fall on anyone, but the city of burlington, but has there I mean has there been As far as I can tell there has been no need for that for the last Maybe as long as you've been on the council Have to Karen's under finance committee as well But I think you guarantee the bond right not you don't have to pick the enterprise pays on the bond or You you have to guarantee this bond Yes, but you don't pay on it because I think that there mostly they're you they're usually revenue bonds But again, I mean if if there were to be a situation where something were to happen and and in fact, you know that I mean obviously we hope that never will But the city of burlington is ultimately responsible for the financial well-being of the airport And that is a responsibility that we don't take lightly. No, obviously. I mean, I think by the way I think the airport I use it a lot. I have traveled a lot over the years for work and I think it runs Better than just about any airport I go to most of which are much bigger and have many more late flights and problems and Big city, you know issues So I have no issues with how it's managed how it's run from a Operational point of view, you know, I think it works great. You can park right next door You walk right in friendly. So The thing that's disappointing is, you know, we hear it's it's kind of a a rhetoric from both sides and one of the Select board members and I after the last meeting talked that we were disappointed that it was so I don't know hostile both parties towards the other and It's hard to tell separate the facts from the fiction I find it hard because you both come in and tell us this is a fact and the other one comes in and says Oh, no, that's not a fact. This is a fact. So it's hard to separate those two And since it runs well It seems to run well and I can't talk about its financial grading, you know system triple A or whatever the Moody's thinks I'm not that as familiar with those things and the implications of that It seems like the the the primary issue is Your various town residents besides Burlington, of course Issues with noise or where the planes are flying maybe And their inability to get any Any answers or any attention or that seems to be a fundamental problem and It's hard to understand and in willison we we hear the planes too But I don't think we're ever going to build a berm To reduce the noise for the f-sixty fly over willis that that's just not going to happen We're going to hear it and I guess we have to deal with it And I don't think even if we put a committee together we have any do we have any say Over whether the f-sixteen's fly or the f-35's fly, right? So that's kind of what I thought so We don't control that either so I I struggle to to Based on False facts or real facts. I struggle to Um Understand how we would you know how we would make a difference in the governance of the airport in willisland That said I'm not smart enough. I'm having a hard time figuring out What could what could come up in the future? So That's a key issue Yeah, I just tailgate on a couple things One we had no say in whether or not the f-35 comes Comes to town we had no say in that The f-a I think gene richard's mentioning this too when we hear it f-a-a told us that Take down those 200 houses. They didn't ask us ask us if we wanted to they just said do it And if you don't do it, you don't get subsequent funding and you heard last time that The f-a-a provides 90 percent of our funding, right? Two questions in a comment if you don't mind um And I just want to make sure I understand this I think the number you used was 35 percent of regional airports are under municipal ownership. Did I get that correct? No, 35 percent of airports of airport are under municipal ownership Do you know how many are in the situation that Is in where the municipality that owns the airport is Quite a ways away from where the airport's actually located Would you have I mean because to me that's a very unique It is certainly circumstance I mean as there's a history why that happened, right? The fact is that it's it's there. I I don't go Chicago detroit come to mind quickly. So there are others Probably few if you've ever flown into Chicago. You're an hour From the loop. Chicago owns the Chicago Airport Detroit I mean it's it's you it is not it is not the norm, but it is not unique Good, thank you The other question I have is I have um pieces of the strategic Airport strategic planning committee recommendations and you probably already know where I'm going with this one of the recommendations Is that The city look at I assume it's a city because who else could do it look at governance In particularly regional governance But yet I think I hear you tonight saying you don't want to do that So I'm just trying to I'm just trying to understand Why does this document recommend it? But you don't think it's a good idea if I got that correct? I may not have well you have it in front of you. So you'll you'll be able to read it I don't know it verbatim But the there were several things that we talked about in terms of governance We talked about the fact and you know, and I still think this is something that may at some point be talked about and you've got two airport three actually airport commissioners that are here Pat Noah from south burlington who's also a member of the The airport commission is here We did talk about the fact that there was a concern That the airport commission did not have it was was too advisory That it that perhaps we should have the airport commission have more authority Because the reality is that you know, I'm here this evening There are three meetings going on in the city of burlington that I could be at You can't be everywhere And you know, so there's a lot of things that we deal with There's a limit to how many things we can deal with and deal well with and perhaps it would be better for the commission to have more authority And the idea of governance was discussed it was discussed at that committee and what was What the common thread with that is that was that whereas You there there could be Whereas some people might feel that governance can be separated from Having a financial stake in the entity It was There was very little appetite at that at the meet at the at the nine months of meetings that we had For that kind of conversation You know the the majority of people that were there felt that if you're going to Have a seat at the table that there should be Something else that comes along with it and I think the Again, I can't really speak for every city councilor and I don't want to really speak for the mayor But I believe that that is probably a widely held theme Then my comment is is I think you made what I wrote down is in you know The resolution is in favor of regionalization. I just want to my comment is I don't view it that way at all I view it as the resolution is more about understanding. What are the benefits and liabilities of a regional Or different approaches to governance Including regional or state of Vermont because I don't know what I don't know and this would be a mechanism to find that out Other questions or comments There are other people that I you could certainly ask questions of if you'd like that are happy to speak as well So it seems like that I have one question just on this all this financial stuff and And the financial responsibility to the for the residents of Burlington now is the 35 million dollar bond The guarantee basically the guarantee So if you would if if there were some Regionalization scheme theoretically that would be shared then amongst the region Instead of just the city of Burlington. That's that's kind of your point about sitting at the table because there is no other There's no tax Residents don't pay for anything to it or have it for decades Okay Thank you Again, thank you. Thank you very much for your time Are there members of the audience who wish to make a brief comments tonight on the subject Kevin If you just introduce yourself, please Thank you, mr. Chairman and uh select board members. Um Um This is a tough issue. Um, uh, I look around the room here and all these folks are my friends Now I've known uh Bill for 25 years Bob for equal amount of time and all and so this is hard for us because we all know each other But at the end of the day, we have to speak up about the core issue here There is one issue here and that's it and it's called governance It's governance pure and simple. You are a board For your community. You are elected to watch over your community And the impacts on your community There is no board That looks over exclusively over The burlington international airport Jesse described that it is the residents of the whole region and indeed the state Who contribute to the success of the airport and I would still argue Ownership lies with them and with the faa But the fact of the matter is one individual runs the airport with very little oversight even though they're good people They have no authority And so they're making decisions on behalf of this massively important regional piece of infrastructure So at the end of the day, this is all about governance We've addressed the issues about the financial Matters I understand that gene was in here before you a couple weeks ago and said if this went forward As reported in the observer This would cost you two million dollars a year That's just ridiculous um Karen talked about the performance of the airport I have a different opinion if you look at the numbers the numbers have been in decline since 2008 But we're told it's being run well. We're being told that the workers are happy. We're being told that the bond rating is great Even though it's junk bond status Still, how do you know? How do you know there's there's no board? There's no Oversight you have no role You can't ask for information and and and and get it and be assured that it is accurate information because Yes They have there's no Responsibility to you A member of this community a member of Essex a member of south or or anybody So we'd all like to think the airport is doing great and I think it's a wonderful airport I really truly do. I mean you I'm looking at Bob McEwing who pretty much built the the facade and and remodeled the entire Indoor made it very very nice But how do we know how it is performing? We don't Because none of us have a seat on the board And the board itself is advisory So this is about governance We're asking for um this community to support a committee a conversation To explore this opportunity that we have nothing more There's no There's no predefined outcome. It's let's join together as a region just like we did for chitin and uh solid waste district Champlain water district ccrpc green mountain transit and others To have a discussion about regional governance of this incredible asset It is unique because it does reside in the city of south burlington and it's owned by another community That's a complication. I understand that but at the end this is all about governance And having a seat at the table and talking about this And that's all we're asking for we're asking for a discussion. Could this be done better? Could the people of williston Have a role in evaluating that or the people of south burlington. That's what we're asking for tonight We hope you'll support this. Thank you I'm paula cope and i'm speaking only as a citizen of williston I'm a business owner here. I had not planned to speak Um I don't have a dog in this fight. I'm just a citizen here. I'm a relatively new citizen here Um, I wanted to answer your question. Mr. Kenny about the inheritance. I think the answer is it depends how good your divorce lawyer is I think that A lot of the folks here many of whom I've worked with as a consultant Um have asked you to look back And I think some people are asking you to look forward And what I would ask you to do is look at today and what's in front of you And all you're being asked to do is consider a learning opportunity To explore what a commission would look like To identify the pros and cons To understand the current governance structure and alternatives that you could consider And then to make an educated decision That's all I read in the resolution I would encourage you not to go too far down the road not to let fear influence you Not to look back at what it's been and not to look forward at what it could be You're only asked to look at one thing. What what could the governance model be Comparing it I would imagine to what it is today What are alternatives that you could consider and then you decide if you want to make a different choice That's it. Thank you so Sure, bob McEwing from sx Yes, I worked at the airport for 27 years and was involved My fingers were involved and just about everything that went on there during those 27 years Prior to that I worked for 20 years for the federal aviation administration and airport planning and design So I've got a career in aviation I'd just like to correct a couple of things that were said The airport does not have junk bond status You can look it up as finch and as moody's Our coverage this year for example is 1.65 Our debt coverage That's great coverage when they're only required to have 1.25 They come in and they analyze but they have to look at a couple of things one is what is our overall economy in the region Yes passengers dropped after the depressionary effects of of wall street back in 2010 1112 But a big reason that it dropped was the value of the canadian dollar When the dollar's on par we have passengers streaming across the board We had as many as 35 percent of our passengers that flew out of burlington came down from kebek When the dollar now is it won well the canadian dollars like 65 cents or about that to the american dollar They stopped coming down because the value wasn't there anymore So instead of having 35 percent of our passengers it's down around 20 percent In about eight percent of it comes from northern New york state that come down here So this airport doesn't just serve chitin in county in the airports in the communities around it It serves the entire northern part of the state of ramon A significant part of southern kebek south of the st. Lawrence river And northern new york state Is far over as almost augustburg Okay, so we have passengers that fly out of here and fly into here And if you want to say Okay, the people that fly and Use their money to fly in and out of the airport should have a say in it. They do They can fly out of here. They can fly out of someplace else if you just if you wanted to take a look at the Percentages, I guess we'd have to give At least a quarter of the percentage of the people that Gover the airport we'd have to give that to kebek because That's where the people are coming from Or st. Almond's or one pillar So we've got to be careful on what the reasons are that we're trying to Study the airport. We have had numerous committees Not just the ones we're talking about here But every time we did something significant whether it was developing new noise exposure maps Whether it was developing noise compatibility Studies whether it was developing master plans for the airport. We didn't do those in a vacuum We had technical advisory committees with members from the community involved in that To the extent that they wanted to They gave recommendations And we included some of those recommendations in the studies But The airport is governed very closely by the federal government We have to the airport has to establish rates and charges and charge rates and charges And it has to make sure that revenues that come to the airport stay at the airport They can't go out to the communities Now What's the basic rule of the airport? My opinion We're really a big property manager We manage the property We negotiate leases with the airlines. We negotiate leases with the tenants We establish rates and charges for the for the airlines We have service contracts You know, it's a 15 million dollar budget every year But a lot of that has to do with the contracts and the services and the parking drive providing revenue and things of that nature so We don't establish noise levels We don't establish flight patterns What we do is we govern the property at the airport And we have to accept a lot of the things that go on around us, whether it's the aircraft flying from the military side of the field Or the airlines that fly into the airport that want to come in after midnight Things of that nature And the FAA tells us what to do and we follow their rules And I know that I know that because I used to be in that position where I was doing that On the other side of the street That's about all I got to say So at some point in time, we need to make a decision as to whether we're going to go forward with a resolution or not I'm not sure we're at that point tonight But if we're not What more information do we need? I personally would like to hear from The other towns that are still considering this And see what their thoughts are Do we know that anybody's rejected it? Only hearsay tonight that we heard the Colchester might have in the free press. It is Yeah, that wasn't necessarily Sorry, I think there's a free press reporter here. Yeah, well, that's okay Yeah Yes My opinion about whether to move ahead of this or not will not be influenced by knowing what any other community has done So that's just So I do not need that information nor do I want it Although I may read the free press and learn it Other comments It's a worthwhile to see if this motion will fly. Pardon me. Is it worthwhile? There is a proposed motion here Is it worthwhile to see? There is a proposed motion. I'm not sure what will happen with it, but If you'd like to offer it We will take it up I'd like to move to request staff to prepare a resolution for consideration concerning regional governance of the burlington international airport Is there a second? I'll second that It's your discussion on the motion I'll start. I'm in favor of the motion My thoughts are First I want to turn to a comment that Jean Richards made During his presentation at the last select board meeting. It's one of the it's one of the many notes I wrote down where he noted it. He said he knows it's a dysfunctional relationship with south burlington and Tonight I've heard twice people say I don't want to get into that fight, you know the concept of that fight Both of those are red flags to me that says something is wrong and you know Ideally needs to be fixed The second Point I have or my justification if you will In my mind is If we were to create a regional airport New there wasn't one before We probably would steer away from the concept of an airport Owned by one municipality but located in another municipality and and governed by this commission that The other municipalities affected don't have input in it's just not what we it's just not how we would do it I realize there's a long history to Why the airport is the way it is But my feeling about that is you know, it's never the wrong time To make it better And then I had one last point which Oh I don't look at the resolution as being any sort of a Or I don't look at the resolution as being a Thou shall move towards regional governance To me, it's more about learning about understanding what's going on and if I could use an analogy It'd be my first bike Which I loved it was a great bike. It was a Robin Hood. It was made in England And I love that bike until I learned that there were better bikes out there And and the point being is I feel the same way about this is I'm sure it is a viable it works Governments going on right now, but I just don't know if there's a better one out there and This seems to me to be the best way To try or maybe not the best way a way and probably the best way To figure figure that out. I do think some of the wording needs some Modification maybe even some deletions, but I think we can come up with a resolution that makes sense to us and essentially Makes the same or similar request Thank you I'd like to echo a lot of jeff's comments and also make it clear that I also am not agreeing to If this is going forward as a resolution, I feel like we're opening a door for further discussion I think that's really important I'm going to vote against it Have a couple of reasons One of the main things that's been talked of repeatedly is economic impact and economic development. I I'm not Let me say it this way. I'm not sure that's really the gravamen of the issue Um But if it were I'd point out that there are a tremendous number of things that have economic impact on williston That we have absolutely no control over and I can't make a valid argument for why we would Um, I said in the last meeting the interstate Uh, we don't own the interstate We're not asking we're just we just want to have a discussion with the v-trans Maybe we could help manage the interstate so that you know, we're not saying we're going to do anything. We just want to talk Um, I don't know about that Uh uvm a massive impact on chitin and county and the state of romano as a whole Um, I'm not about to go to uvm and say, you know, you know how much impact you have on the town of williston I mean, we got to do something about this guys. Come on. I mean some of your students even live here Um, I don't I don't see that the same thing with state colleges and you can go on and on down the road um, I am I am concerned about the Tenor of the resolution that was provided both resolutions including the altered one that we saw today With the the the I would say disparaging although may as probably not the right word I would say that the minimizing of the of burlington's ownership of the airport. I I don't I don't I don't live in burlington I don't have a whole I don't have a dog in this fight either way, but I am very concerned When a whole bunch of municipalities say, you know, we want to talk about your asset It's not like you actually own it Because you know When's the last time you put any money into it? Well, you can say that about people of wealth You can say that about anything. It's you know, and it's I'm I'm really concerned about that and that that is a tenor Of what we are discussing The other thing is jeff. I agree with you completely that these these neighborhood issues sound extremely legitimate You pointed out that burlington and south burlington that it's a dysfunctional relationship and uh, that there's a lot of heat and anger between the two I agree with it. I don't know who's right and I don't know who's wrong, but I know that it's not williston Um, and I'm I'm also not going to get involved if richman comes knocking and says, you know Those people who live down by the water treatment plant down by the down by the old round church are really getting out of hand Can you we have a resolution for you? To to talk about regionalizing this because it's a water thing after all and everybody has clean water issues I I don't I don't see our dog a dog in in this fight. Um I I Lastly I'm concerned if if the argument is that we're not really looking to take over the airport with a regional authority Then I have a significant problem with ownership versus authority. It's like having responsibility without power Likewise, it's like having power without responsibility Um, I I see this in you know, I see this in the judicial system in a really nuts and bolts way The judges actually do not in vermont the judges have no control over firing or hiring or reprimanding or anything to do with the court clerks Court clerk can schedule something I scheduled nine cases for that one hour block your honor. I wish you hadn't done that. Well, that's cool I did it anyway Because to me they're just files I see that I just don't see that so much anymore by the way. That's gotten a lot better But that was an issue 10 15 years ago And the reason was that the people who were responsible for the substance of what those files represented Weren't the same people who had the power over the nuts and bolts of it. Um, and if there's going to be a uh a regional authority that that All we're talking about is Controlling the airport but without actually owning it because after all the burlington has is title I'm I don't I don't think that's going to work I do want to say though. I think you know, I've I've tried to be a little flip in in some of the things I've said And I don't mean to offend anybody here. I think that everybody here is very legitimate I think they all have real concerns and real points of view that are deeply held But I I don't see that this is something that wilson should expend its energy on So for the discussion of the motion so I would say that I would Agree a lot with what ted said in terms of the tenor in the language I think I made those comments that it was disappointing that both sides it's kind of a It's a little bit of a battle between south burlington and burlington and and In the real issue doesn't seem to be coming out in terms of what the What the problems are so it's not coming out in this and I don't I don't support the way the um um The resolutions worded I think it's it's um I think I would be more supportive of seeing Making a resolution that suggests the affected parties of all the problems like unoski and uh, and south burlington burlington Create some kind of an advisory council or get involved in an advisory council, but again, I don't know what part wilson plays or What stake we have or What we we would bring to the table or get at the end of the day, so I have nothing against south burlington and wanouski and burlington getting together, but I'm not sure this resolution is Something that I would support Sir any further discussion If not all those in favor of the motion say aye No, I'm not sure Three no's or not I think he did I said no I said no so there are three no's and two yeses so the motion fails So, um We're done with this for tonight, but uh, thank you all for coming Can I say something before you break? The and I want my friends in burlington here to sue it's it's not Correct to say burlington and south burlington have a dysfunctional relationship. We collaborate on opiate addiction We're working with rick and with wilson on dispatch Steve lock of burlington is A leader of that effort And so too is our chief of police. There are so many things that we work well together with as a region I wouldn't want I wouldn't want the impression to be left with this select board To say that there's a dysfunctional relationship We're we're banging heads on this issue But we collaborate so much There was a fire uvm our ladder was there and wilson was in our uh fire department one backing us up so We're accomplishing a lot as a region And and I hope that's a takeaway from this discussion. So thank you for letting me thank you, and we appreciate that And this is an isolated instance, I think the discussion that Thank you very much We do have one more item on the agenda to go back to that's item number four I'm told that we have a representative from the Just to remind anyone that hasn't signed in already. Please do so on your way out the door So we do have a representative from agave taco and tequila casa with us tonight We have your application before us there was a tight ball on it, but um Just tell us a little bit about what you plan on doing and especially adjusting the Yep, i'm sam andy. I'm going to be the new owner of agave Taco and tequila casa. Thank you for having me. Sorry. I was late It's the setup itself is going to be kind of the same as mexicali. We're redoing the entire restaurant It's being gutted, but the bar staying the same um opening it up a little bit as far as the Liquor wine beer goes it's going to be a tequila focused restaurant Um, we'll have 30 some tequilas in there Some higher end stuff. We'll have some flights for tastings things like that The the price point will be a little higher. We're not looking for You know people that come in and rip sick shots of tequila. It's going to be more of a You know, we're you're going to learn a little bit about tequila. You can try some new stuff But we want to keep the energy in the fun of a mexican restaurant The first question I want to make sure I understand you're going to this new restaurant is going to be located in the same space that mexicali Used to be located. Yes. Yeah, I guess This do not read anything into this But this is the first time I think anybody's come to us with a liquor application where it the focus is on a higher alcohol content Beverage I assume tequila has a higher alcohol content than you know Of course it doesn't have higher alcohol content than some other liquors But most people come to us with a liquor license. They serve beer wine Maybe some mixed drinks, but you're focusing on a particular type of It's appropriate term hard liquor Yeah, I would say we're focusing on tequila. Um, you know, I own so I'm not sure how to think about that Yeah, I can you know, we own grazers right across the street and our focus there is vodka. Um, it is yeah, we Grazers, which is right next door And we have every vermont vodka in the state and almost every vermont flavored vodka in the state and our average customers having one maybe two drinks because It's it's it's a better quality drink. It's it's better quality ingredients. They're not coming in there Like I said to drink, you know, six or seven vodka times. It's not what they're doing so Yeah, the focus is on the higher alcohol content beverages, but The amount they're consuming it's not they're not consuming it to get drunk And I didn't mean to imply in any way just this is the first time I So and I've been on the circuit for a long time where there's a focus like this. I did not know about grazers Okay, and then my standard questions are What will you do? To prevent underage drinking. What will you do to prevent? Serving somebody who's intoxicated or letting somebody who's intoxicated Leave the restaurant that type of thing Yeah, I mean, we you know all our dlc certifications. Everyone's done all of our managers are trained Everyone's taught to look at every id You know, we tell them less than 50 We we you know, you got it. It's better state than sorry, right? I'm gonna get proof there Right, I have a another restaurant in Burlington and the dlc is actually down there way more So the training that we usually implement is is above and beyond Then a lot of places I think most places are actually really good about it I've never seen the stats from the dlc, but you know, we pass every time they come through Um We have I would say monthly reminders slash trainings with our staff We remind them to check id's we remind them, you know, what to look for when people come in Before and after movies in this area We we try to go above and beyond because we know the significance of it. We know how important it is You know, our our insurance goes up. It's it's a it's a big deal in restaurants, especially when you're selling a lot of alcohol I'll have to just comment. I'm having eaten in grazers. It's certainly not the environment that's sitting there for pounding shots is Is it safe to say I got he's going to have that same kind of a feel and flavor to it where It's a little bit higher in dining. Yes, I mean, we're going to be I would say 90 percent of our meats are going to be local You know, there's one for matakila, which is kind of cool. That's going to be there. It'll be yes It'll be a little higher end We're looking for, you know, if I had to put a demographic on it, like 30 to You know, 30 plus is what we're looking for. It's not going to be two dollar tacos You're going to be paying for quality And in return same with the with the with the tequila drinks So we're going to have the beer and the wine and things like that. But yes, it'll be a little higher end, I guess The only the only question I have I guess is more of a comment is that I I agree with Jeff I'm I'm in favor of the license, but I am also very concerned that the The name is I'm going to draw people in a different way than some restaurant named grazers And so I would say that, you know, if there is over serving I'm going to I'm going to take that very seriously as a Member of the what are we a liquor control board technically when we talk to these folks? So I just I just want you to be, you know, I just wanted to say that that I I think it's a you know, it's a fine thing and there shouldn't be You know a negative vote based on You know you selling a lawful regulated Drink that I I may have had before But I I do want to say that, you know that I can see this I can see over serving happening just because of A confluence of events that's not your intent. So I'd say, you know, just please be careful Yeah, I appreciate that and we do take that extremely seriously so We do when incidents happen like that where there's a violation we do call the owners back Just one quick thing, hopefully it's quick. Um, there'll be an outdoor patio Yes, and it talks about a chain link barrier. Could you talk about that a little bit? Yeah, we're just anywhere that We've been approved by Mabel's replace. We will have You know just basically a chain link barrier around any table that's going to be outside and the dlc usually requires that As the area where where alcohol can be consumed Okay Yeah, I just Well, the way it was described This is the metal or plastic single strength. Yeah. Yeah, so what it does is it delineates the place You can have a have a drink. Yes It's not a barrier in terms of people coming in or leaving that much. So because it's okay And um, two questions for rick. Sorry Staff has any comments? No, okay second remind me what is meant by a In this case, it's a first-class license you're going for Is that right? What is meant by a first-class license? Does that mean Is that the one where there's more Sale of food than alcohol? No, you think a cabaret license. Yeah, I get these mixed up. I apologize. It's actually done away with that This is some sale of alcohol that's consumed on the premises. Okay Just to give you guys like a percentage we're about 70 30 at grazers And I don't our projections don't really have that much more at agave 70 30 70 percent food 30 percent alcohol and you expect this to be about the same I think it's going to go up a tick I do but I don't think it'll be and only because we're going to have you know Four five and six dollar tacos and some of the margaritas are going to be you know, eight nine ten dollars. So But I don't see it overall being a huge uptick by any means Good. Thank you. Thank you Consumption permit says for permanent use, which means year-round. Yes If again, yeah I'm Any further questions If not looking for a motion I've moved to approve a first-class local license for the outside consumption permit to tco llc Doing business as agave taco and tequila casa at 28 walnut street second And then all this interior of the motion say aye. Hi. Thank you Thank you guys again. I apologize for being like that And the last item with businesses other businesses or anything else we need to talk about tonight Very nobody wants to we'll be adjourned. Thank you. Well