 Getting a little late here time being TV. Are you ready? Regina you also Recording in progress Thank you. Hello, everybody and welcome to the city council meeting for Wednesday, March 8th 2023 I'll call the meeting to order. Thank you all for being here. Do we have any agenda additions or changes for tonight? Counselors Seeing nothing then we will no need to approve of the agenda and we will jump into public to be heard So this is the portion of tonight's meeting where if there are any members from the public who wish to bring something to the Attention of the board that is not on the agenda Then now is the time to do so if you have any questions comments concerns about things that are on the agenda Please wait until we get to that point in time and we'll make sure for public comment then So starting off with people in the room if you don't mind raising your hand if there's anything you'd like to bring to our attention okay Not seeing any hands in the room Going into zoom land. I see Jason your hand is up. Why don't you go ahead and unmute yourself? Floor is yours Good evening. Thank you for filling my question I noticed that the all the consent items passed at the last meeting and a particular interest to me would be Passing fruit farms and my question being did the council have a change in heart in regards to cannabis or did an outside agency like force your hand I Don't have the language in front of me Regina. Do you want to sure? Yeah, um, so The city council's land development code amendments that they put into place in October are We think still in line with the guidance that we got throughout the process which is you can use zoning to regulate cannabis uses the DRB decision on passion fruit farms is a home occupation approval, and I think what we learned in the process is that the home occupation is a use in and of itself and It's Hard to describe this it's it's a use in and of itself Regardless of the type of use that's happening within that home occupation And so essentially the development review board found that that particular application met the home occupation requirement and granted them approval the local cannabis commissions authority is to ensure that the land development Code and the zoning is met for cannabis applications And so therefore since the development review board issued the land development Approval then the local cannabis control commission Is limited in their authority to simply say yes because now it meant the LDC and so the license was issued Thank you, Regina Thank you Anybody else out in zoomland not seeing any hands up there So we will Move off of public to be heard and we will move into a our public hearing agenda item 5a on the municipal dog wardenants Yeah, so I can introduce this if you would like so there are We have this on the business item 2 under 6b so there are documents in the packet there but We've been having conversations about this the last couple of meetings since the council had their first dog bite hearing and what's in front of you is a dog ordinance change to More closely aligned with what the town dog ordinance has and it Lays out some parameters for when a dog bites a dog And that could in and of itself elevate to a To the point of a hearing we also have A some rules of procedure to define and guide how that process would work Thank you, Regina. And so just In essence what this new ordinance would allow for us to do is for any such as dog on dog or canine on canine type of instances where there is a bite if you will It will allow us as a city council to do something about it. Whereas what had happened previously Is we were not able to do To do anything on any dog on dog violence So this would help to fix that so that would be able to And as Regina said that's it largely in a nutshell There are some specifics within the ordinance But since this is a public hearing if there are any members of the public who have any comments questions concerns would love to hear that I guess I should also say just process wise. So we have this public here. We'll have this public hearing now In Shortly after this agenda item, we will then revisit it as a business item We're at that point We will then make the decision about whether to move forward with it where we can approve of it And it would become a a new or a revised ordinance or to ask staff to go back and do some more research Please Uh, if I recall correctly the town has done this Five or six times in the last two or three years Those numbers are approximate and based off of memory Uh, so if we had the same amount as the entire town did that's approximately what we would see If these were, you know, if we split it 50 50 then about half that potentially But we'll see we also have the dog park. So Right with sidewalks and Yep Any other questions concerns comments Both in the room zoom land. Okay. Uh, sorry. Now I'm back into zoom land Uh, iphone any Hey, andro tanny cooper, how are you? It's good. You good. Thanks. I'd like to thank the board for the um significant amount of effort and thoughtfulness and time that You've all put into this situation and most importantly, I'd like to thank janelle and her family for Taking the time to come and speak so so Thoroughly and also with such great patience and care about the situation and I applaud your efforts and thanks for doing this Thank you, annie All right, not seeing any other hands up either in the room or out in zoom So we will go ahead and close the public hearing And we will now jump into business item 6a and an interview and potential consider the appointment of tacy lincoln for the bike walk committee And I hope I didn't mispronounce your first name. Okay, great Great That's not common for me Well, it's not an easy name. So All right So thank you for being here appreciate your your time Both being here as well as your interest if you don't mind just go ahead and Recap why you're interested and and what you hope you would be able to do sure um At the beginning of the year, uh, I attended a one of the community sessions that are our state are local legislatures legislators we're holding and um, I asked the question to them about what is it that we can do To help the work that they're doing for us and they and the answer was get involved and I find myself in this great position of having recently left my Been retired. I recently retired from st. Michael's college And i'm at a point where i'm i'm excited to be able to give back To the community that i've been part of for 28 years and Finally have that chance to to have that time to do it So, um, there was the opening and I thought well, I I've walked these streets For hundreds of miles over the years So I'd like and it'd be something of interest to me to Be able to uh be part of to ensure that others in our community have the you know That access and and the availability and the and the space to walk and bike and I know there there are bigger issues involved with it. I need to learn about those but I also know I've been part of of of um Organizations where we've we've done that that sort of assessment and planning So I I feel like I could bring those skills To the the group even though i'm not 100 sure what those issues That need to be addressed are right Appreciate that other questions counselors Uh, tacy, I have to I have to uh, just mention. I know I I was pointed to the wanouski valley parkway And I know that you you you volunteered for that too And I was not aware that someone was when I was appointed that someone from the community was also interested in the decision I'm willing to have that discussion with you Let's not do it right now. No George. I think you were way more qualified. Oh, I I'm not sure about that Even remotely, but no, I was happy to have that discussion. No, I I was as I as I said I was looking for opportunities to be involved and um, you know, I enjoy I enjoy that the the just being part of that idea of of helping uh, work with uh, the the network of of the the paths and the and the um accessibility to all When I learned that you Were part of that, um, I I was like, wow, you are the best person because you have the history of Of working with these communities and maybe maybe I'll replace you something I I think the bike walk committee is is really good. I mean, it's it's they there's they do a lot of good stuff here Yeah, yeah, uh, and I think uh as as dan can tell you also with the regional planning commission You know, there's we're really planning a whole they're they're looking at a whole integrated network And I'm sure being same mics are aware of that. So that's going to help you That could be very helpful. Yeah, and I've had the good fortune to attend a couple of the meetings So I'm starting to get a sense of what the work will entail and you know, the the work Just sort of the infrastructure stuff as well as the commitment to the community and and so I'm I'm looking forward to being able to to give my time In that way and in what I feel is a very meaningful way. Um, so thank you. Thank you for this opportunity Thank you All right, thank you Did you have any questions for us? No, it's okay In all of this Um, no, as I said, I'm I'm still learning. I think as I get more, you know, dig in a little deeper I think the the group that I've met with they're very competent. They're they're very, uh, astute in terms of what it is that we're working on so I'm going to follow their lead for a little while and maybe I'll I'll be back to visit with questions But at this point, I just appreciate you even entertaining my application and the opportunity to speak. So thank you Absolutely. Thank you very much. Appreciate it So with no other questions, do we want to uh Pause this and enter into executive session later on in the meeting to discuss Or are we feeling confident and ready to uh to make a decision now? I know personally I'm I'm ready. I'm very confident ready. Yeah, great Would anybody like to make the motion to Appoint? Certainly. I'll make the motion that we appoint Tacey Lincoln, uh, to the bike walk committee Or a term of I'm I'm not sure how many years for three years one year one year Okay, second, man. Great any further discussion on the motion Hearing none all in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye those opposed. Please say nay Great. So I pass unanimously. Thank you. Congratulations and thank you again. Thank you And so now we will go back to the discussion around uh discussion consideration of a dog ordinance amendments and rules of procedure for dog bite hearings Oh, okay. Um, so Uh, what you've got in your packet is the is the memo which describes that um putting and both rick gary have taken a look at the rules of procedure and Answered some of the questions that you folks had at the last meeting So I've got her answers here for you in the memo and then also in the rules of procedure document as some comments Identifying some of the sections that we might want to think about editing And Then we also have a question from Uh rick gary. So in in the hearing that you've had Um rick essentially sort of presided over the Um over the testimony So the vlct rules of procedure That we worked with had the council President playing that role or the vice vice president Um, I edited it to be both so we can decide moving forward what makes the right sense. Um Uh We didn't necessarily have that conversation going through we just had that document That was from the lct that didn't consider a police officer playing that role, but um, they have done that for the camp Um, and I don't know that there were any challenges with having it run that way So I thought the best thing at this stage was to have the rules of procedure People so you have the option going forward. Um, also the rules of procedure as you know, they're not an ordinance They're easier to modify and change as you guys, uh, want to think about making changes over time Great appreciate that and so just to kick off the conversation with the rules of procedure and that question directly Uh, I kind of like having that discretion of whether it be the person sitting in this chair sitting in rajas chair or Uh having it be a police officer. Um in some ways I think having the police officer was very helpful, especially in swearing in it feels more official at that time As compared to just your literal neighbor swearing you in. Um, so personally I I like that discretion Uh Anybody agree disagree? Yeah, I I agree. I I think it's also, um, the the officer probably being a lot more Uh closer to the lot of the details and stuff. Um, yeah Since we're hearing about it for the first time extremely helpful Great, uh any other questions or concerns I I have one and I I I don't go to the sx junction dog park But i'm wondering if do we and I don't know what the signage is there But i'm wondering if we because we're revising this Is anyone thinks we need some to change the signage there to make people that use the park Aware that this ordinance now or does that does that make any sense? Sure, I think you know, it's not it's not a big deal But it might it might be kind of nest almost necessary in a way if they're if a dog fights another dog there So the people who are using the park understand that there is an ordinance in effect. It's not just a free for all That if your dog does harm another dog, then you can be there can be ramifications to that right Right, I I don't as I say, I don't know what signs there are there now But it might be something that's considered going forward because that's a place where some You could imagine some kind of an incident happening. Yeah, there are There there are some signs now. I don't recall exactly what they say. It's been a few months since we've been there But they're also on the The dog park does have a website or at least a section within ejrp's website And there is a copy of the sign there I would it does not say anything about, you know, if your dog bites another dog there could be ramifications So it might be something to think about Yep Yeah, I think we can definitely think about that. They're also In the somewhat distant future We've got plans to bring the park ordinances forward as well to think through Both tree farm but also recreation parks in general, right? So we can Certainly we may be making more changes than just this when we look at that It's a pretty comprehensive sign actually But nothing about where to report an incident on it, which yeah, that's a great idea. Yeah, great idea I mean phone number for the police Police department and the process maybe just a link to the process or something I'm just gonna say a little QR code that can get them right to the report. Yep So going back to the memo And those those three questions we've pretty well addressed the third one With the first about the capability of letting all members speak um You have claudine's answer there as well as time limits. You have claudine's answers and so going into the uh The rules of procedure On page eight of our packet You see some notes Where or a couple of comments, uh, such as on that first page where it says claudine is advising against this um I would be okay striking that language. So the except for the complaint slash victim that statement that I related Sure. Oh amber. Sorry. I can't see that your hands up. Go ahead. No, that's okay Let's finish this discussion because this was actually part of what I was gonna talk about so Okay Um Dan george amber. Are you good with that? Yes. Yeah. Yes And then that second one Uh claudine advising against the restriction of at least one day before the hearing I would be okay striking that The at least one day before the hearing Wait, yep Yeah, I mean, especially if we're which it sounds like not Not required to make a decision at the moment at the end of the hearing and we can So, all right, we can always stay and Yep So those are the only things that I wanted to just directly address amber if you want to jump in I only have one typo thing. Um On the last second page At the very bottom of the document like right above where it says signed Um, we're just missing the word of so it should read these rules may be amended by a majority vote of the members of the city council Right Good catch got it Thank you So any other Proposed changes questions comments concerns on the proposed hearing or the rule procedure Okay, I want to jump into the ordinance itself and any Questions comments concerns from that so amber I have a couple of typo stuff too and a question Sorry So in we go from 501 to 502 to 502 again, but the the table of contents is correct It has 503 as the definitions. They just missed that In the actual section you'll see right there. Got it Question about under definition section C the municipal officer Is the is it an animal control officer is an animal control ward? I mean, it's just semantics, but I thought it was an animal control officer Sorry, which Oh, you're on 50 what you now labeled 503 503 You're on the right page right there. Yep. Yep. You're at the top there municipal office a municipal official I got that guy right there. Yep Oh, yeah, I see what you're saying. Yeah, I think it's animal control officer. Okay and then the last No, maybe not. Yes. No, I think so last Change that I have is on 50 what is labeled now 505 falsifying documents. So next page Regina Yeah, but the top there believe it you should delete what was written as presented Delete the word presented. So no owner shall knowingly present false documentation to this city clerk's office It already said that so we didn't need the word presented. Yeah, it's true That's it. So we were all going to get to those Missed every one of them Yeah, I do have a question now with the scrolling back and forth The concept of trespassing. All right, just because we were going back and forth. I lost it. I didn't write it down Um G So 503 g on page 12 at the near the bottom Um Unless it was protecting it's or defending itself. It's offspring another domestic pet or animal on and on and on Um Unless the sorry above that unless the person is trespassing on the property of another animal I guess I'm wondering it just occurred to me and so I didn't bring this up the last time We talked about it if I'm walking down on a street without a sidewalk and the dog is My dog is walking on the grass of a homeowner whose dog then attacks my dog What's the definition of trespass in that case? Do they have to actually file a comp, you know, if Because that's pretty a very typical scenario when one person's walking down the street and the dog is on your lead They're all your dog is leashed walking on someone else's property walking down the front yard, right? Well, it's the right of way the right of ways extends beyond the paved portion of the road onto that Yeah, I guess that's my just the right way. It's not just the road itself You go I mean and then if the dog that's off leash you're walking down the Without a sidewalk going to I'm interpreting you say Is I see you know somebody who has a property that you're walking past a dog off leash Runs off their property into the right of way of the road Now that dog has it's not so much that they've trespassed, but they've They've attacked your dog in a public So what I guess that's the question what part since it's this is happening in the attacking dog's yard, let's say in this scenario Six feet in four feet in on a five foot leash because it's also that in Your neighborhood those who are to the west on south summit streets those neighborhoods don't have sidewalks Yeah, I mean so if you're walking in the and even on a sidewalk even if when you're on a sidewalk that the you know road grass sidewalk yard Where does that so I guess I'm Well, I'm just wondering what's that what the trespassed that is a question. I mean I might might take on it would be it's it's You know, there's there's Discretion by the board when when dressing these types issues just as much as speed limits people say What's the the limit on speeding? Well speeding is the speed limit is 25. You're doing 26 I can write you take for 26. Do I do that? No, I can write you a warning and so you just it's Discretionary I guess unless you want everything to be black and white and you're gonna have to really get I think that this might be pretty black and white I mean it Would that word unless I don't think there's ambiguity there But then like Raj said we're well, you'd have to To to because if my dog's the attacking dog, I would say well, really they were trespassed I didn't say they could walk later and and who's unless you have Video footage and you can actually you know Delineate where the property line is where the right way to the road or what have you exist It's gonna be he said she said they said whatever, you know, it's it's interpretation. So it's it's very ambiguous It just occurred me. I'm happy to drop it if we're thinking that the the you know the road right of the legal right of way is fair game or I kind of feel like ancillary crossing of a property is it's not trespassing, but I imagine now that we're doing this dog on dog ordinance in A dense community that Certainly at some point we'll probably hear something about those it's something like this especially now that I've wrote it up but No, but I mean there's I doubt one of the first things that I would say if it were my dog that I said, well, they were in my yard Clearly it says here that they're you know So it's yeah, and I don't know that we want to I'm just trying to think of an alternative I'm not sure we want to move Right. Yeah, right. Um I think we'd have two options. We either Ask for the creation of a definition for trespassing Or we live with the ambiguity and see how it goes I'm I feel comfortable as a board. I guess that we can during a hearing Differentiate between intentional trespass and ancillary Right incident. I just I wonder if I'm gonna see that come up again. So I'll leave it. I just I just occurred to me and I was concerned about I think it's a very valid concern. Don't take my my statement as trying to devalidate what you're what you're saying So in our In our charter what we're capable of doing is we are allowed to Change in ordinance within a meeting so as long as we warn it in advance And we meet the definitions of our warning procedures. We can then in a future meeting Change this without Necessarily needing to wait three months Um So I think that if we were to go forward with this process of uh, let's Go forward with the with it as it is Maybe ask, uh, Regina if you can go back with uh police department claudine to see if there's some way to Either make sure that we do have that discretion of Would this ancillary Stepping onto somebody else's property count as trespassing or not Or if that needs to be further defined and then revisiting that in the future So that we can still keep this process moving forward getting the ordinance in place Sounds great should something happen Does that work for everybody? Well, yeah Thank you. I don't need to belabor this but i'm just looking back in my experience of work um people Such as hunting people warning like not so much where we are other than maybe would confirms um large for Parc's property people have to have to post With the clerk's office and has to be the right posting of not hunting no hunting allowed all these types of things so trespassing You know unless You can show that you've given notice. You're not really trespassing because No more than just anybody when you're going Somebody running for a political office in the village or a city of sx junction walks on to somebody's property. Are they trespassing? No, so I mean, it's it's very difficult to So yeah, I think when it comes to enforcing a trespass order or basically enforcing a law out of everybody at this table I think you're the one who's who has the most experience So I certainly do think that and then what happens generally is if there's there's a problem Especially if it's somebody that you're you know, you're constantly going to buy that area The police department or the enforcement agency for that area would issue a trespass notice generally that's what we would do And then you're given notice so that now, you know, didn't you violate that they could do some Yeah, you know some backing as far as taking action. That's helpful That's all that that's all I otherwise look fun Okay, I think this will be an evolving document as things pop up that we didn't anticipate. So Got this office here Right You've got another one in here about dogs making noise and for more than 15 minutes and it's very specific What's not specific is what do we do about it? It's not really clear someone complain, but then what? So I think we'll see what happens I think that it goes then into 519 the violations and penalties. Yeah, where they can there can be a civil penalty of up to 800 dollars. Yeah Though again, I'm sure that will then go to somebody to prove that it was the 15 minutes. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's Here yep, this will be an evolving document absolutely and considering we are evolving from a Maybe half page ordinance on dogs to a seven page ordinance. I think that yes, we will continue to evolve this. Yep Any other questions comments concerns from the council? Not seeing any broadly to the public any comments questions concerns anything that you've heard on this one Both in person and on zoom Okay, not hearing any So if we go back to the memo I would entertain the motion that we adopt the changes to our municipal ordinance Okay, I will move that the city council adopt the changes to the sx junction municipal ordinances To replace the existing chapter 5 regulation of dogs in its entirety with the proposed chapter 5 regulation of dogs and adopt the rules of procedure for vicious and potentially vicious dog hearings just a quick friendly amendment just as amended at this meeting As as amended at this meeting second Thank you, George. Thank you Raj Any discussion from the council Hearing none all in favor, please signify by saying aye. All right So suppose say nay Great, so that passed unanimously Thank you all. Thank you for your patience as we've taken this process really do appreciate that and your understanding Thank you. Thank you Hopefully we don't have to see That instance again All right, and so now into business 6c discussion consideration of the water service line inventory loan so By october 2024 There's a new federal requirement that um All municipalities who have water systems have to do inventories of residential water service lines to identify lead pipes so, um There is Through I think it's the bipartisan infrastructure bill. There's been a significant amount of money put into From federal government to the state and the state has decided to put in a significant amount of money To the drinking water revolving loan fund to help municipalities do this inventory um So the funding is um, it's available. It's a zero interest loan You have to start paying it back in five years in five annual payments So you have 10 years to actually pay that um we Have to do this by october 2024 no matter what so we're either coming up with how much this is kind of cost Out of the budget right now or taking advantage of at least having a 10-year time frame to pay this back um What we Think we need to do with the advice of the city attorney is actually ask the voters for this Debt because it is debt There are some differing opinions out there. There are some sections of statute that Give a little bit of wiggle room Particularly for these planning grants through the drinking water revolving loan fund because there's an assumption that ultimately you're going to Evolve the planning grant planning loan into a construction loan And if you do that at the point where you get to construction, you definitely have to go to the voters to ask For the authority for the debt In this particular instance So far the federal rules do not require that the municipality actually financially help switch over any lead service lines to Uh non-lead service lines Um, so I at this point in time can't anticipate that we would go through construction Having said that there also is going to be a significant amount of money through this program to Um to switch over those lines. So perhaps we would uh, there's no way to know right now because we don't know how many Uh these there are if there are any at all um so One recommendation here is to um Add this question to the warning and as you see later in your packet, uh, this is on the draft warning for the annual meeting Other component of this memo is uh the suggestion to move forward with msk engineers as the sole sole source contract for this work they have um been right out of the gate working um on this for I want to say over a year now They've got a very strong significant system set up. They've got a database that they've established They are working for the state of vermont for all of the smaller systems So there are a group of 70 of us that are in the larger systems Um, the state is managing all of the smaller systems directly through a grant through msk engineers Um, sorry, probably still alone I'm not certain of that though To get this inventory work done. Um, the other thing is that october 2024 is not very far away at all Um, and we want to get ourselves on the list so we can just get moving through this this process um it's an involved process because the hope initially is that there is uh and Individual homeowners do the first level of review Uh, they essentially take a photo of the um of their service line from the inside upload it to a database It gets analyzed and then we kind of move forward to the other steps so it's just a kind of an involved process and msk engineers Is suggesting that a year is at least helpful to get moving on this so you can get a draft plan in place in august Because it's not just an inventory once we find these we also have to establish a replacement plan for them I think that's it So, uh Thanks to our our friends outside of remont and in washington. There's a requirement that this has to be done The funding that came through Is not too paid to do any of the work but rather to give us a zero interest loan Yes If we were a community that was under the median household income Uh, actually, I think it's 120 point one percent of the median household income We would have an opportunity for loan forgiveness at least a portion of it to be uh forgiven We are above 120 point one percent median household income. So, uh, we don't have that actually Yeah, and in terms of uh msk and sole sourcing the desire for So the unique thing that they do that no other entity does is this uh partnership they have with however many odd uh municipalities in the southern part of the state And they've been working with champlain water districts. They're working with the town of hindsburg. They're working with the town of milton. Um, they're, uh Did an initial presentation to the um, I'm going to get this association wrong remont rural water association perhaps um a year ago and um Yeah, they've just got a whole system set up a number of staff that they're bringing on specifically to do this work and are just Ready to go Regina does did in the course of all this does Did you have any sense for talking with rick hamlin? Does he have any sense if we have a lot of these? If we have lead pipes still I have not talked to rick hamlin about it. Talk to ricky jones. Uh, who is on vacation. So sorry. Otherwise, he would have been here Um, we don't have a great sense. Um, I think he is aware of there's also these goosenex that eventually when the water service line gets to our main um He's got one lead gooseneck in his office because I think one was discovered at some point in time Um, but we we don't have a great sense. Otherwise, okay um, and I will say the the amount of money allocated for us um in the um intended use plan, which is what guides the drinking water revolving fun um is It's likely the max and hopefully we're not even coming anywhere near that but um, that's They've allocated the money out and that's the amount they allocated to us. So that's what we're assuming Um, would potentially be the max but hopefully not that much Yeah, I I'm fine with this. I'm not questioning what what's been presented here, but I just in in my mind. I'm thinking They you know, they they outlawed lead pipes at I don't know when and you would just think that you're you would hate to think we're gonna spend a lot of federal dollars chasing Stop that doesn't you you know that there's no lead there, but we're gonna do it anyway But is that what's going to be happening here? According to this it was 1987 Right, so that certainly hits my house if it's not been updated 1950 um Yeah, I meant to look in more detail into the The guidelines or the parameters if there is a point in time where you can just say, okay that whole neighborhood That whole neighborhood. No, we don't just no need to inventory that right I didn't get to that part of the research. Okay. That's I just yeah, all right. I don't want to go sideways here. That's fine Amber Gina I was a little confused hoping you can just clarify for me Is the money allocated in like we're guaranteed that we're going to get funding through this program Or is there a potential that when we ask the voters to get to secure this loan We won't get this loan and we'll have to come up with a backup solution for this my understanding so in the current intended use program they have a An entire two page table that's identifying all of these The larger water systems and the exact amount of money that they've Allocated towards us. It also identifies the loan forgiveness for those folks who qualify for the loan forgiveness The exact amount of money will be determined more when we apply because it's based on water service connection But my understanding is it's laid out in the intended use plan and that's basically what guides their their funding formulas going forward Okay, thanks Any other questions? No Would entertain the motion motions I'll do it I moved the city council asked the voters to authorize a planning loan through the drinking water state revolving fund for a project in the water enterprise fund To complete a service line inventory and led service line replacement plan in the amount not to exceed $433,700 to be financed over a period not to exceed 10 years And to authorize a sole source contract with msk engineers For the water service line inventory and replacement plans and to authorize the city manager To execute the contract with msk engineers and apply for for the loan following voter authorization I'll second. Thank you. Raj. Thank you, George. Any further discussion? Hearing none all in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed say nay So I've passed unanimously. Thank you all. Yeah, thanks for all that work, Virginia. Do appreciate it Thanks to Ricky. He was like We gotta do this. He's got that lead lead joint in his arm It's If we don't I'm sure he would have come in here with that gooseneck pipe And we'd all like to see it when he gets back if he could just bring that just bring it in He's gonna rocha with it So moving to 6d a discussion consideration of the fy 24 proposed budget and capital program budget So, um You've got a memo in your packet Share that Um, so you've been through your two public hearings. Um, we have identified the changes That we've talked about in the in the last two meetings We also were able to offset the changes that were made in the In the last two meetings by moving The paving increase amount to the lot fund And essentially that still sits in the streets budget But the there's a transfer in from the lot fund Uh for $20,000 And then there's a stormwater grant match that we Identified the need for in the stormwater budget. And so we've also Felt like those both were good Um uses of the of the lot fund um So with that, um what you've got in your packet is um An 11.4 million dollar budget That estimated tax rate increase over the current fy 23 combined City and town Tax rate is 1.3 percent for 33 Dollars and 88 cents extra on a $280,000 property What you also have here in the memo are the utility Rates that will be finalized in the spring, but what we're looking at right now is an approximate increase of 8.5 percent Um, then the memo also includes the operating Budget amount the enterprise funds and the capital budget amounts um and the staff recommendation is um Essentially you're are out of time tonight. So if there's any other changes, uh jesses um out there in the online world um and prepared to Make changes in real time in the budget if you would like them so that we have the correct numbers for the warning tonight And just in terms of how close we have cut things we literally have staff here who are going to take our motion Type that into the warning and get us to sign it before we leave tonight So that that way we can be Legal with this and not have to do a do-over So Saying that as we need to make decisions tonight um No more delay, but no pressure. Oh, no, there's pressure there So also since this point or since the packet was put together Regina Raj and I and Jess had a little bit of an online conversation Uh talking about things like the code enforcement officer or the code enforcement officer and how A portion of that person's work is going to be to start and implement a rental registry The rental registry is designed to be an enterprise fund And so the concept of could we take a portion of that health officer's salary and benefits and pay for it with the Local option tax which when a lot is discussed we're talking about a local option tax funding And so Regina and Jess had talked about That they they believe that they can confidently take 50 percent of the code enforcement officers Salary and benefits and pay for that through the local option tax so that that way in future years That would then be paid for through rental registry funds So that would help to reduce things as well And there was also a mistake in the calculation for the adult The adult services director's position Where their benefits were showing for a full year's worth of benefits instead of just half the years worth of benefits So that also would reduce the And just please correct me if i'm wrong Doing those things would change our total budget so that the tax rate increase would be 0.4 percent That is That is correct great And I assume then you would have the updated The updated budget numbers so that that way when we have to make our motion you can read them to us and we can just say what Jess said Absolutely. I've got mock budget files ready to roll Love it Um So it'll In terms of what this budget does this budget allows for us to be the fully independent city of sx junction This budget allows for us to no longer share services such as the clerk which since we have the floor anyway Thank you susan for doing yet another town meeting And to then have to then do our city meeting our city voting So hopefully this is your final year of ever having to do two municipal annual meetings in one year Appreciate your work just last night working until however late into the night and being here again. So thank you Yeah So hopefully just once So no longer sharing our clerk no longer sharing our finance department no longer Sharing other services that i'm blanking on at the moment. I'm sorry But instead being able to provide those for our community on our own Any questions comments concerns? Council there's one more comment to pick up on what you were saying and also by by bringing on the ordinance enforcement person and bringing on the planner allows us to Not wait to start addressing ordinance issues that we have building up throughout the city to really start addressing housing And how we're going to address a housing issue we have here as well as a rental registry These are things we hope to do in the future and I think we're learning that the need is greater than we expected And as far as the ordinance enforcement and and a lot of that I think we've asked the community to wait for a number of years With the hopes that merger would Bring all that forward And I think we just we have just an enormous amount of pent up need That wasn't addressed with with merger and then another year of waiting for separation And I think what this by by adding these positions now It doesn't kick the can further down the road one or two or three years to to bring those online So while we did anticipate a savings and while we did anticipate Not adding these positions originally I think in the course of the past year And over the course of of all of those merger and consolidation efforts I know I personally am just really floored by how much I'm seeing in terms of need for all of that and the work the housing commission's doing And just the time and effort that The various committees we're going to need we we've had and we don't have staff to to work And support and so I think yes, we did anticipate having a larger having a decrease in taxes We would have without some of these positions and without the impact from inflation that I think I don't have a good handle on the number That we're dealing with just but it was somewhere around seven or eight percent That we're seeing on top of that. So this is an ask But I like the changes that we were able to make to bring it down to Bring it down a full percent with point nine percent to A ten dollar increase on it on the average house Not exactly what we intended to do but I think that the need is there for sure I will note in passing the city council stipend increase is acceptable I appreciate the compromise there I think we don't need to have that discussion. I I'm going to repeat the one thing I've said in the past I really urge the board. I won't be here But I really urge the board once you really understand what the lot is going to generate to please take a Designate a chunk of that and get into the habit of putting a great big semi painful chunk of that away because The the one thing we have to keep in mind From separating from the town the one the one the one advantage of being that merger might have brought us was You had much more financial capacity in the in the in the event of some kind of a catastrophe or some kind of a problem And if this goes as well for the town of asex as well for the city of asex junction we have less financial capacity all you know individually and My my big concern looking at climate change looking at climate events Again, as I said one more big serious significant rain event like we've had in the past and you could find yourself in a serious hole So it'd be really You know no pun intended put some money away for a rainy day because you're going to need it And I and I know there's going to be all kinds of great creative ideas What we want to do with our our lot, but I would be more like the ant than the grasshopper here and try to put a Big chunk of it away Thank you Absolutely, and I'm totally happy with the rest of the budget not happy, but I can live with it does anybody ever really get everything we want It wouldn't be government exactly exactly Uh Any other questions? Not seeing anything in the audience not seeing anything on zoom Just do you want to read off? the changed numbers I will and I'm also going to put them in the chat so that ashley can copy and paste All right, so the total f y 24 proposed budget with the changes is 11,000,421,171 dollars And um of that to be raised in property taxes is 10,420,420,986 dollars Thank you jess I would entertain The motion to approve of the various fiscal year 24 budgets with the changes That jess morris presented so I'll second Any further discussion Hearing none all in favor, please signify by saying aye aye those opposed say nay Great, so that passed unanimously. Thank you all Thank you for your patience We did it the first budget for the full city. It's exciting. That wasn't hard. No not at all It's another day Uh, so jumping into the discussion consideration of the warning for the annual meeting sticky note The warning was revised. So I think it doesn't work in the bookmark. So it's page 87 in your pdf packet Share it only page 87 right a little more than halfway Okay, um, so uh, you've got the draft warning here um The informational meeting that we've talked about will be online only and it'll be at 6 p.m on monday april 10th um, there will got all of the Ways to participate in that here in the warning um The uh, trying to make it clear that no voting of any kind will take place that night. Uh, everything is via australian ballot um And there's just a summary of what the questions um are Oh, sorry went too far So article one those are the numbers that um just just read off for us Uh, then you've got um The charter change questions. So, uh, there are two questions for the changes to section 206 um One adds the uh concept of can't uh city counselor can't hold city employment unless you're allowed to by state statute and that essentially Uh, it was the example of the health officer for a month there. We didn't have a health officer and so Andrew had the privilege of doing that um, it was forced to do that by state statute and so Um, just correcting that for those cases that may come up Um article three is this Uh other change that's proposed to section 206 um, and this is uh taking out the time frame between when uh city council member gets off the council and when they can become An employee as written it takes a you have to wait a year before you can do that And this would eliminate that waiting period Article four uh describes the changes to the moderator section of the charter So currently the charter requires that the voters Shall elect the moderator every single year And it uh still talks about that moderator role being for the annual meeting That is uh unnecessary going forward because we're not doing any voting during the annual meeting So this changes it to uh the council can appoint the moderator every year and that person presides over the informational meeting article five Is a change to the charter that? Talks about currently the voters have to every single year Vote on when the next annual meeting is going to be a whole year later In in practice, it's uh Will be more flexible and helpful if the council can make that decision By january one of each year Then we have uh article six, which is Asking the voters to make The annual meeting date for next year because we're gonna we can't make that change yet And we probably will have the same question even next year also because uh with the charter changes The legislature needs to change approve those if the voters approve those changes All perfectly clear Sometime by the by 2035 this will all be worked out right Then article seven uh is the question That we talked about earlier in your agenda for the debt for the uh drinking water revolving loan fund Article eight um is the uh officers um, There'll be one moderator uh two city council members and one library trustee Thank you, Regina any questions counselors And sorry just as you were talking. I was just double checking through an interfaith calendar and a u2 raj And sorry to do this before We i'm not seeing anything It's just like the four on every night Okay, so Do not want to go through that again. Yeah, we looked as well made that mistake once I believe ramadan is ending that day Great and so We would change within article one The numbers based upon what we just moved earlier And so again those numbers were the total budget of 11 million four hundred twenty one thousand one hundred seventy one And then the amount to be raised in taxes would be 10 million four hundred twenty thousand nine hundred eighty six So if there are no other questions Seeing none, I would entertain The motion of approving the city of sx junction Warning, sorry. I was looking for a motion language. Yeah, sorry Is that this one paper? I didn't put it out. I don't worry. Oh, yes It's not on there. No, not that one. Nope. Do we need to read all of the articles in the motion? Susan No, adopt the warning for the All right, I'll move the warning for the Okay, I'll move that we adopt the warning for the informational hearing on april 10th 2023 and the annual meeting of april 11th 2023 as amended Thank you, Raj. I'll second. Thank you, George Any discussion? Only that I hesitated because I was like 2023. I know We just talked about 20 nevermind. No, I was just just a month away It's okay and Susan we're good with that language in your opinion great You're gonna sign it, so right Then with no other discussion all those in favor, please signify by saying I As opposed, please say nay So that passed unanimously again. Thank you all And now we know what we're voting on So next We have an executive session item So going Yeah, we're going into consent Entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved second Dan, I think you get that one. Okay. Yeah, you hadn't yet. So Dan will get that one Any further discussion hearing none all in favor signify by saying aye. All right As opposed saying no, nay great. So no one did Pass unanimously and into the reading file and council member comments There were two things I wanted to Raise to you all One is as staff are putting together the annual report There are going to there's going to be a dedication to the the village thanking the village for its existence the recognition that the village does not exist any longer But also if there are thoughts into another human another person who should be If you should be dedicated or the annual report should be dedicated to If you have any thoughts if you could please pass those along to to regina Before the end of the day tomorrow Looking at actually as well a little bit more time. Yeah, we have we haven't come next week to get that one to the printer So but if you didn't buy Monday, that would be great. Great. So you can write Great And along that line One of the things that we have done in in the recent past and would love to see us do again This is just have some in informal Coffee chats if you will so the ability where we go say the nest go to nomad go to boxcar And just to be available to be able to answer questions advertise that out in advance If Regina can make that work within her schedule have Regina join If you all are okay with that I can send out a doodle to do some sign-ups So that way we can try and disperse the events and Who will be in attendance for that? Yep. The along that line. I know we did it Maybe once a few years ago off-site meeting at Neutral locations of the maybe street park or one of the venues The ability to make a street park because where we work for But you know, let's pick a pick a location. Let me just be kind of nice When the weather is accommodating, but Right in the past I remember joining Andy Walsh and Mike Plagueman over at a basketball game the high school Yep If in general and we are all independently elected individuals Of course all more than welcome to do that at any point in time. You don't need to wait for something completely scheduled Um, so don't look at this as the only opportunity to do that Please feel free to walk around or do that at your leisure So I will send that out shortly Yep, those were the the only two things I had anybody anything else? I The interesting article about rescue. I was just curious where we are with that With that, uh, multi municipality communication to them like if anything's kind of that or Was up inside. I can't we weren't signing that completely. Were we we did not sign it? Okay, good. Nope. All right Okay, that's all We have met with the other chance, uh, and as it's rescue once so far we've got another meeting scheduled The end of March, yeah, there's no when it's soon. Um, but uh, yeah, I think it's Collectively figuring out what can be done there. Okay So if there's nothing else You have to read both of these for the two just the bottom one I move that the city council enter an executive session to discuss a personal Evaluation pursuant to one vsa section 313 a3 to include the city council and city manager second All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye Those opposed say nay All in favor great pass unanimously So then we will take a few minutes for a break Uh, we will knock