 It is 6.30 p.m. March 20th. We'll call the meeting to order first item is the agenda motion to approve All right. Is there a second second? Okay. All in favor? Any discussion I should have asked before All right public forum Mr. Golding is anyone online There's no one online for public forum. Okay. Is anyone in here if you're here for public forum? Can you please sign The sign-in sheet there? Should I just sit down at the same time? You can sit down at the same time. We'll make it efficient for you And you drop some notes behind you too. Okay. Thank you. I'll get them on the rebound I'll sort of talk and write at the same time. So my name is Gregory Shuppler And I'm also serve as On the city commission But we don't have those fancy placards that you guys have so I'm going to have to talk to Nick Longo about that And see if he could do something I live in the south end And I'm here today to Comment about the ev charging pilot program And first of all, I think it's a great program. I'll I'll in support of it However, I just found out about it And since I live in the south end down near the lechwood Apartments and condos That's been an issue for us being able to have charging stations in that area a lot of people don't have garages The I live in lechwood east and we share garages And we have a Sort of a co mingled electrical system in our garages that make You know ciphering out the charging difficult at best And I just found out about this program in front porch forum And it says that the main goal Of this program is to increase public access To publicly available each EV chargers in these neighborhoods Where many residents are unable to install Home chargers and then to test whether the charging increases Uh ev ownership. I would just um, I don't I don't know who is involved with the Burlington electric department here. So I don't know exactly where to bring my gaze, but I would I would really hope that um that we could be a part of that program For some of the reasons why I stated Thank you Do you mean you're you mean your neighborhood? In particular. Yes. Yes. And again, that's the lechwood east condo association I'm actually presenting something to the board on monday about this very topic because they're trying to Make it work and having a difficult time doing so Is the consent agenda The paving of complete streets And that's the only that's the only item Second any discussion all in favor I Okay, great that passes Okay, next up is the neighborhood ev charging with a presentation From Burlington electric Nice pun there well done We have james gibbons online who will be leading the presentation We can't hear you Hang on a second. It might be um on our end Okay, try it now Yep, thank you perfect So, uh, I was I was gonna panic because if it wasn't in your end, I had no idea what to do Anyway, um, I apologize for not being there in person due to a medical situation I was reluctant to travel at me. So the snow's where they just brought the hyper Um, but I am prepared to do this presentation I am prepared to go through any questions and answers that may be happening to them. They happen today And uh, with your permission, I would like to start with my power point and hopefully that will work Go ahead just see if the ability to share I seem to okay. Hopefully that is now showing you My power point and I will then switch it over to from slideshows. Let me get that work. That's great. Thank you So, please tell me if that's working Yep, we still see we still see kind of your whole screen without the presentation mode No, it's here. Um, maybe I should just go through it that way. I don't want it to lay Go that's fine. Yeah, just to not mess around with that if I can Um I want to mention quickly Folks from memory about the selection criteria This is a grant based program And the grant had specific criteria for neighborhoods based on income and equity guidelines So we were constrained In our selection of areas by those grant requirements for this pilot program It is as I mentioned a pilot program We certainly hope it can be expanded and we hope that the uh, testing of these devices Does prove that it's expandable as a program to a broader area I'm rolling around folks quickly about the five areas that met the criteria under the grants. Um If you're advancing your slides, but we're still looking at the title slide It's been kind of cursed by technology Okay, that's on selection criteria. Yeah, all right. I'll refresh quickly What I was discussing the grant criteria had specific income and eligibility Uh, criteria for the neighborhoods. So we were constrained and selecting based on some of those criteria in order to get the grant Um, it is a pilot program for five parking locations in burlington each with a single level two charger And the program can be expanded As part of a deployment of charging in the city Based on budgetary constraints if these devices prove successful We do not have any of these devices currently employed in the city These were the five areas the five neighborhoods that were selected We discussed these briefly last time these were the a through e met the criteria under the grant And were included as areas that we would look to locate chargers under the grant submission Request subsequent to that we then tried to locate chargers in each of those areas or as close as we could to meet the grant criteria As you'll recall, uh, there was an issue with rose street And so the charger now in area a will be served by the new location that we will be discussing in just a second And that is The new location is at 33 35 intervail avenue Okay That would be Roughly and again, I apologize. It's it's roughly in the southern part of the area and I have been asked to give a quick overview of the outreach that we endeavored uh subsequent to the last meeting So we created an email inbox which was established to handle all any incoming comments We had directly so that we could keep track of them sort them and respond to them The outreach was revised from the february outreach to the new outreach in march based on comments We received at the last dpw commission meeting both from commissioners and from adria thought On march 11th, we put up posts to front porch forum facebook and instagram and all of those had links To the comment form that would generate the email comments We have had um six facebook likes so far as of tonight And we had one question as to who will pay for the usage and that was responded to by bd staff We had six instagram likes and no specific comments were received On march 11th the revised flyers were distributed And I think largely as a result of that but perhaps we we didn't think to put a where did the comments get generated by Until later in the process. So we didn't actually track What caused a person to enter the comment? We have subsequently done that we would do that in a future outreach So we know what initiated the contact whether it was the front porch forum the facebook But it was not in place in time for the email contacts. We did receive We did get five email contacts four were positive And the fifth one was a negative comment. It was an email from keila, but the actual comment was received In person while he was handing out the flyers The his comment particularly was that he did not think anybody in his neighborhood owned evs We responded to all of the emails positive or negative bd staff responded to all email comments we received And we did do some research on the question about the no evs in the neighborhood And we did determine that we have issued incentives to customers within an easy walking distance of that New charger location not granted right next to it but within a very easy walk So at this point that is the status of the outreach. This is the outreach we undertook And that is the responses we've received to date And I'm going to stop sharing at that point unless there are questions specific to the powerpoint that you need me to leave it up for Um, I don't think so and if we do we'll just have you pop it back on Uh, they're in lies that the possibility of the electronic disaster for me, but yes Okay, we're with you here Um, okay Do you have anything to add to that All right, um, so Let's um Let's start with some questions Not particularly no Okay, uh, I support the new location. I guess I actually do have one question Were there any specific comments in support of the intervail location? Like anyone in particular that might Use it once in a while Or anything of that sort Not that I recall seeing as specific as that and I would also be Fairly noted that I thought from my powerpoint was that one of the four positive comments Was not from a resident of that neighborhood. So there were three positive comments No one specifically said they would be using it. They supported the availability of the charging there And one of the people of the four was from the uh, the hillside area So, you know, again, I want to be very clear that I would call that a support of the concept But not necessarily the location Nevertheless, we responded to everybody who said comments in All right, fantastic. I I support the changes that were set to make today and uh, Commend you for your work on this program. Thank you so very much Commissioner Sears Um, yeah, it sounds like you did your due diligence and I don't know if you Heard the beginning of our meeting, but we have someone here today who actually came to the public comments So maybe you guys can connect later I'm not allowed to respond to their comments, but I was able to very quickly get my email address and the title page of my powerpoint Um, which was done subsequent his comment I'm quick from last month No All right commissioner fox Thanks for the presentation and um, yeah, I agree. It seems like you know, the outreach was better coordinated this time I really appreciated seeing the The poll with the actual unit on the instagram post. I think At least for me like the description that we got in february. I couldn't imagine what we're talking about. So I think that that's sort of You know visual presentations really important with outreach, right? Um, so That was helpful. Appreciate that. Um I guess I'm like, I don't know if this is something that you can answer but How does that do the outreach metrics sort of like compared to other public outreach projects you've done like this, you know Like are we really reaching the people? We need to be reaching You know, like just I don't know trying to get a sense of a sense of that I can't really get to that. I'm not an outreach person by nature. I'm a power supply person oddly enough I'm a double stand-in at this point. I'm standing in for the person who was standing in And and parking places are nowhere as I mentioned last time in our area of expertise So I would defer to maybe to your staff as to whether or not in a change in a parking location This is You know a typical level of response an atypical level of response. I honestly have no idea Of this nature and this scale, but obviously this is a little unique because it Is kind of a city-wide initiative, but one by one. So It's not quite one space, but it's not quite like a huge right parking change. So Okay, yeah fair enough. I'm just just yeah trying to Get a bigger picture, I guess I guess I would you know say just for what it works I mean as an electric utility we almost never get a hundred percent Positive feedback on almost anything we do. That's just kind of the nature of The thing so again, I you know, I feel like this was good response. I don't know. It was a good response level So I think that's all I had for now Okay, great commissioner bar Thanks, I agree with commissioner fox's comments on Having the visual as well as as the information that that really drives it home for people and I'll make one comment to the Comment that was made about well, there aren't there aren't any EVs here So why do we need to have an EV charging station? And that's the same thing. Well, why do you need bike racks? I never see bikes here. Why do we need a bike lane here? If you make it? Hopefully more people that'll be one of those many things that you you give them so that it helps them buy an EV or Ride a bike or park. Yeah, I think those kind of things I should have mentioned that I forgot but that wasn't included in the response to that You know, there's certainly you know, there's a chicken and the eggs scenario, which is you know You're going to buy an EV or do you think like buy an EV but there's no charging anywhere near home Will you buy an EV? And so we're certainly trying to make it available even in advance of their being vehicles But we did think it was worth spot checking to see if there were vehicles who could take advantage of it Even now. Yeah, that's that's important. Thank you All right, vice chair. John Manny Thank you. Um, I might have a few more questions and others as I missed The last meeting One of the things that in listening to the the meeting from last month, uh, there was a comment about Sort of the the methodology behind the location. I understand from your presentation that it was sort of developed through the grant program But I saw in the net zero in the city's net zero energy planet references One of the action items there about having creating like a shared parking district For ev charging infrastructure, and I'm curious if that's something that either bd and dpw have Started working on if that's something that's in the pipeline I see that as something that's critical to just having a more consolidated approach To ev infrastructure across the city Um, I definitely I would have to check but that is not in my director of responsibility My team handles r&d and this is falling into a bit of a research and development category We do have a deployment plan for evs Uh for ev charging rather public ev charging which has been shared with all the department heads Um, you know, and we're certainly ranking all potential locations on a set of criteria So that we can accept new proposals For locations and evaluate them against the existing q not simply treat things as you know, it came in last It goes up last Um, but as far as the specific parking district, I'm not sure how to answer that I've taken a note and I will see if I can find out Um, one of the other questions I had and this is I think for dpw staff, um, you know, this is a relatively small there are a relatively small number of public ev charging in city-owned spaces and I'm curious as to Do Parking enforcement or does parking enforcement go out and if there is a non ev vehicle in that spot issue I citation Um, and if so, what is that process sort of as more public ev infrastructure is built in the city? That obviously takes more time and has to Some more checking and stuff like that So the ordinance is written that the spaces are specifically for ev Cars So parking enforcement can Pick it and enforce that as needed. I don't know if there are many instances of that because there are so few spaces, but as Um, we keep adding spaces. We can check in on that. Yeah, I just want to write that It's going to add more time to just sort of their workload and just figuring out what you know To decipher if it's an ev or not All right It's a good point. We'll get you more information We are looking at trying to improve the efficiency of our parking service agents through license plate recognition Softwares, which we discussed last month, which I don't think you were at commissioner Damiani, but We are looking we want to do the enforcement work around the ev spaces We don't have the ev spaces for just general parking So I will confirm that we have indeed enforced that ordinance and We'll keep you posted on whether this is a significant problem or not. Thank you Um, and one other question I had was sort of around the evaluation metrics that were mentioned in the memo What, you know, when somebody signs up to use one of the ev charging infrastructure sort of what level of detail Can you ascertain from somebody who uses that particular charging station in particular? I'm thinking Uh, whether, you know, they are a resident of either the city the state where they live, you know, the the grant program is focused on Uh, people who live in burlington and just recognizing some of the most of the spaces are in Predominantly neighborhoods by residents, but like the maple tree location. I could see a lot of tourists using that or folks outside of the city Um, and so just wanted just to know if that's something data you'd be able to gather as part of the evaluation Um, again, I apologize about the check and get back to a bit of it. I will answer it partially by saying Our existing public charging infrastructure, which is by charge point for a very very long time Included a zip code field when the person paid To charge and we were able to use that data to evaluate things like our the downtown charge being used more by non-residents I don't know for sure this particular charging network, which is the amp up network tracks zip codes If it does we would be able to monitor that if it does not we would typically only know Charge duration amount of energy drawn on the things like that, but I can find out if that zip code metric during payment is reported Thank you. And then my last question that's where it would occur is that metric and then my last question is still around the evaluation Um, I think it also mentioned that it's a five-year Grant and so you have to sort of report five years out from now Um, and it also mentioned that these charging stations could be repossessioned I'd be interested to have particularly and I don't know what the before and after metrics are but I'd be really interested in having Beed Come back within a year or two and report at that point in time report back to the commission Particularly around the parking, you know I think some of the comments that folks have made around some of the charging infrastructures that a lot of these spaces are Used by folks who use it for long-term parking Um, and if somebody's using this charging station Uh, I don't know for a longer something that just makes it harder for somebody to just access the parking that they were using It'd be really helpful to see Some of these metrics the ones that are I think relevant to this commission not necessarily stuff related to BED So that we can make any recommendations or potentially move one if it is causing impacts And I'd like to see that before at the five-year timeline I have no reluctance to offer that. I don't mean that's a perfectly reasonable request Um, you know, I don't think any of the metrics we're describing would be confidential Um, we have a privacy policy regarding customers usage, but if it's about you know demographics and you know What percentage we're we're brolling to residents what we're not that wouldn't meet that test at any level Um, so I would be happy to do that. Obviously if we were to relocate one We would need to present to you a different location and also the rationale for why we're relocating it The primary reason would of course be no utilization or little utilization and looking for a place where it might be better utilized But again, no reluctance to offer that, you know report to you Almost that okay great um Yeah, I think um, I think with um with the outreach certainly A much better presentation um than than last time um I think it would also be helpful. Um, and some of this you can get from dmv Looking at the electric vehicle and plug-in electric vehicle numbers By by zip code It's just better a we're just better able to respond to those who say well, there are no evs here because I don't see an ev right now Um, but but rather actually have significant data chitin in county and burlington in particular have a high rate of ev adoption um in the state Um So I think kind of for future looking at future sites Getting some of those data points might also help and then in the metrics piece looking at the test of the device Right, so there's that piece and then as um commissioner dammy any was talking about what about the The utilization and the and the parking and I think while the utilization is really a bed thing it impacts The parking which is under our purview um So when you talked about um identifying, you know, um sites that have little utilization What are you looking for? Um over the course of what time period that would indicate? Well, this is not utilized. Is it is it relative to others? um other sites is it while we're waiting for um Awareness um that this is a public ev charging. What is the education on how this charging will work for the public? That's three questions. Sorry. Let me see if I can remember those in order. Um, Okay Are my Achilles heel. I'm afraid. Um, so The metrics I'd start by saying we don't have any existing stations Like these that are located in purely residential areas We're looking to break that barrier. So I think the best metric would be unit on unit amongst the five Pilot deployments that's going to be the most informative We can certainly compare it to other plug a public charging options because those are largely owned by bed as well Um, so again, it's it's hard for me to say until I start seeing some data stream from this You know, if one of these is if you know, if four of these are being utilized a certain percentage of time And the last one isn't being utilized at all that would be a relevant metric And I would start to consider whether or not it should be redeployed But I wouldn't be looking to redeploy it fast The actual requirement is that we keep these units in service for five years It is not that we keep them in service at their first location for five years So again, you know, it's it would be It would be I think as big a mistake to not redeploy it is would be to redeploy it too fast You know, I mean you really have to figure that out. Um I'm sorry. I've forgotten now the I've forgotten parts one and part two. I think So the the unit I forgot to um, the utilization, um, I guess moving it, um Oh my god, where's the rewind button? Um Thanks, I usually try to jot my questions. Um, at least in cryptic form Main Oh, no, oh, thank you. Um, it wasn't about maintenance. It is, um, the outreach to to end users Um on how to how to use this charging if this is a novel, um Device or um way of charging You can't just plunk it up in the poll and think people are going to be able to figure it out So what are those strategies for the outreach and who are you going to outreach to? So they'll be made of they'll be visible through charging network at As public chargers. They are public chargers But we can we would certainly typically do outreach Sometime before starting before they get installed and they have to be installed by the end of june under the grant timeline so sometime between approval because we've got to actually know that they're going to be put there And deployment we would do outreach as to how to use it We have actually tested them as I mentioned at our own location. And so Uh, you know, we let our communications person be a guinea pig for making sure you get them to drop down and stuff like that And they seem to work pretty smoothly, but um, yes We know we would have to do the outreach and we would use all of our normal communication channels Um, you know again facebook on porch forum instagram our web page Um, you know with an instruction as to how to access them That that's great. I would also encourage you. I mean knowing knowing some of the demographics along Interval avenue and in that part of the whole north end um, work with community partners Um, because outreach means actually getting the information out not just having it static where people have to look for it Um, if they don't know what they're looking for Uh, so community partners would also be a good way Um that they can engage with their stakeholders on this Yeah, we would engage our sustainability team who actually are the ones that go to those community partners With that information as well. So again, I'm not an outreach person by nature But we do have that capability and we would use it With your permission may also offer one last thing I can respond to my powerpoint in follow-up to last week's the last meeting We have also uh, since january been working very closely with the fire department On improving safety regarding evs and ev charging and working with them on identifying Equipment and training needs that was a comment raised at last meeting Um, and actually before last meeting I had met with the fire department and we're working with them Through bd funding sources to help them on those problems Great. Thank you That's all for the commission Any public, um in here who would like to comment First before we go to the phone Sure Yeah, uh, thanks for Um, this program had a couple of just quick questions. You said that this was a Uh, that this was a grant. Is it a federal grant? Perhaps by the inflation reduction act or just curious Where the money is coming from? Does the chair wish to be answered about it? Yes Okay, it is state grant Okay, thank you state grant. Uh, and then the 90% contribution for these five Okay, and uh, apparently you mentioned that the criteria was income and equity sensitive Uh, can you share any information about the the both those factors? I'm just curious because some of those areas You know how our fairly middle class and I'm just wondering why some areas down near our Area in the south end did not qualify If you are if you email me, I can share that grant criteria with you. I don't have any Okay, I did write that down. Thank you, james and then uh last question You mentioned that there's a possibility that these could be redeployed after a period of time Uh, it's a five-year grant. So perhaps after one year or so How is that outreach going to take place or is that going to be a decision that's made by BED Or this commission, I would say both Let me let me try to help hit the answer that Um, there was a clear recognition the outreach last time was not adequate and we are trying to improve that materially Um, again, BED does not normally deal with parking places and to the extent that it's on in the public parking place It would be involving dpw. BED has programs for multifamily charging Uh commercial charging residential charging That are available for parking places that are not governed by dpw As far as you know, the deployment after these five I think that I don't think we need to wait five years I think we need to wait till we're comfortable that these devices will work reliably At least consistent with the reliability we see from our other commercial charging options And then we can consider as part of our deployment plan For EV charging starting to access some of those and subsequent to the last meeting at dpw I've met with the internal ED working group at BED and told them we need to Change our outreach or increase our outreach to make sure that we're identifying All spaces where there's a desire for these So again, I that's a going to be a work in process But I have raised all of the issues that came up at last commission internally at BED as relates to public public charging in general Thank you Thank you Anyone else? All right. Thank you very much. Mr. Gibbons You're very welcome Okay Now we have action action we do Is there a second second, okay Um all in favor of One point of discussion, okay Could we add either the funding that went to the motion that we asked that Somewhere the motion that we asked a report back in A year or two years, maybe a year. I think would be good a year. I just like to make sure that's okay with that Okay, the second. Uh, yeah, okay So um a motion to approve the recommendation with the friendly amendment To have a report back in about a year after installation all in favor Say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. All right. Aye for myself that john passes unanimously I would like to thank you all very much for both the commission staff and the public Uh, for the two. I do very much appreciate it and I'm sure I will be pleased to report this Thank you. Great. Thank you Okay Wow. Yeah, now we have the director's report This could take a while I've been briefed before because of the hour, but given the hour, um, you still might be breaking I might be briefed, correct I'll hit a couple highlights from the uh the memo and thank you staff Um, Champlain Parkway, uh work progresses, uh the memo that was attached in your packet lays out Uh some good context for the project The council recently approved a budget amendment to allow the initial construction contract That is being constructed behind me To be completed, uh this june We expect to be putting the final construction contract out to bid here Later, uh this spring for council approval late spring or early summer Great streets. Oh, there was also a question at the last meeting about Landscaping along the Champlain Parkway, uh provided some context to Chair O'Neill Vivonco, but I will just say generally the department has committed to Replacing all the shanticleer pairs that were included as part of the project They are on a watch list for potentially invasive species in Vermont And so we are placing replacing those at the city's cost We have worked with parks to review the rest of the project and Make sure that there aren't any other Species that are of concern moving forward, however, we've met with the conservation commission And talked about future plantings along the corridor We can't at this point change the project significantly With where we are at but we can plant Trees and other landscaping features once the project is completed So happy to involve the conservation commission and others in that conversation moving forward Great streets main street, uh, I was very excited last month to say that we partnered with uh courthouse plaza To make available 83 spaces in the courthouse plaza garage at city rates The garage had previously had public parking, but at premium rates And now the parking will be available for at least the next year at $1.50 An hour, which is three times More than three times less than what the rate had been previously So excited to get the word out on that and even more excited to say that in this week seven days Do check out Eva sullenberger's stuck in vermont video series, which paints a great story about the history of the ravine sewer and how this project is Bypassing that 150 year old Stone and brick ravine sewer that is in variable various states Underneath many buildings in the city. It's downtown Regional bike share update will be bringing an update to the two committing transportation energy utilities committee next tuesday the 26th Anybody who wants information could attend that the bikes are Being placed on the street and I know some of them are out as we speak the vendor has Has recovered from their bankruptcy proceedings and are restructured and are ready for a robust year GMT funding and fares. I think this is an important one to hit in that The city is talking to GMT about two major issues one the funding for transit in chitin county Is not sustainable for the long term and gmt is facing a financial cliff This coming f y 26. So that would be a budget GMT would start putting together this coming november The projections are without additional state support or other sources of funding Roots could get cut up to 29 Which is a very dramatic contraction of public transit service So as a board member myself, I'm working with staff other board members and members of the state Delegation to see if we can get language in the state house to either advance Some recommendations from the transit financing study that was undertaken Or at least have a one-year support of gmt While we have a broader conversation next legislative session The second issue with gmt is whether or not to when fares come back Whether or not to keep fair free service in burlington the college reshuttle has been historically fair free Which is part of route 11 currently And the council had talked about making the city loop fare free as part of the north wanouski avenue parking changes There are pros and cons the new fare policy I believe is much more equitable and easier on the customers And there is interest among gmt drivers gmt administration to look at a Uniform policy where all routes in burlington have the same fare policy So that conversation will happen at next tuesday's took meeting In this room. So if anybody's interested in participating in that, you're welcome to come I will say before I turn it over to rob Is to talk about the battery street scoping study the survey is still ongoing We're asking the public to weigh in on the cross section of that Scoping study should the protected bike lanes be one in each direction on either side of the street Or should we look at a two-way protected cycling facility on one side of the street? All the parking and kind of curb lines are adjusted based on which cross section we go with So you still have I believe about a week to weigh in on that And then rob. I was hoping you could touch on the water service line outreach I think two important things we want the general public to know about First is we'll be releasing our clean sweep dates shortly. So be on the lookout for that We're finalizing a few things to make sure everything is Ready to go but clean sweeps happening. We always sweep in advance of clean sweep. So a lot of folks Question why we would wait, you know until mid to late april But just know that when the weather is good the teams Are already out when they think the weather is sustainable to have our sweepers which need to be de-weatherized Ready to go. So that's happening as we speak So important to know and be on lookout for our website north avenues Vt alert and many other ways will be reaching out to the public to let them know about clean sweep including a couple translation and interpretation tools that if folks No residents who have any language barriers would really encourage them And encourage your help in getting that word out and we're trying to find Better ways to distribute that. So we're always open to better ways to let the public know we have tools to reach Just about anybody who needs translated or interpreted material and then number two This friday is world water day. So water resources is encouraging everyone to pipe up and look for your Water service line in your house and help us identify what material that service line is made out of you should have received A postcard in the mail. Hopefully you've seen some other Electronic media, but we'll also be doing a fun press release tomorrow To kind of try to generate a little more awareness But there is a federal mandate probably stemming out of some of the lead problems that have existed across the country where communities Were unknowingly impacted or knowingly impacted by lead service pipes. So there's a federal mandate to help Municipalities and water services Identify what kinds of materials Properties may have we don't expect any lead. We don't have any Records of lead service pipes and certainly lead mains in existence anymore. So we don't want to Get people alarmed, but we do need to complete this survey And so we're looking for the public to find your service line Upload a picture use a magnet if you want to determine if it's plastic or metal and help us figure out what you have For anything that's ambiguous We are able to schedule appointments and certainly for residents who are uncomfortable or unable To look at their service line. We'll have some limited Appointments available, but we're here to help. So be on the lookout. It's right on our home page And it's really important for us to do this. It's a requirement. It's also for public health so we'd love to Get your encouragement to let your neighbors know about this if they haven't already done so Appreciate the commission's interest in this last time and know that the number of commissioners have already done their Their duty I am here to go on 100 compliance team. Yes I'm here to go on record to say that my wife and I have not yet completed our job I'm over with my magnet. I am now stating publicly that I need to get it done to hold myself accountable But this is important for all of us to do. So thank you for the time Good. Yep. All right Um commissioner communications Vice chair don't be any no Commissioner bar. Sure. Um, I know that it ramping up changing over from snow removal to Street construction. I've already seen people out there putting cold back down. I appreciate that my vehicle appreciates that I I will ask to uh The head of church street, you know the spot I'm talking about we have the paint there Which looks like a bump out, but it just wears down I'm curious if we're ever actually going to put something there like Pots or or some plant pots or something like that if if that could be on the list for this summer that would be great Excuse me church and uh, not church chase chase chase chase. Okay. Um, because the cars typically go 40 miles or Or I see if I can tilt onto your wheels. Yeah. I'm just kidding. Yeah. I think some of them do that And and I get ridiculed by my my own wife partner that What are you doing? And I said I'm following the paint And she thinks that somebody's gonna hit me from behind, but It would be great if we could get that on the okay I will give you an update on our uh on our plans There I know that there are long-term plans to harden that Curb if the paint demonstration is successful I'll get you an update and I'd be willing to participate in a Temporary thing where we put hay bales here or something. Mm-hmm. Okay. I've got a I've got a vest in a helmet I can get out there anytime Thanks We have the best commission I've got spray paint ready. Just don't tell norm Give me a sugar box. Uh, okay. I'm gonna start with Just some quick Comments, I think You know to rob's point about the trans Translation services that are available. I think it's worth flagging The outreach that your team did on battery street, right? They're They're youtube videos. They're promoting out, you know that project that are in eight different languages Um, which is great. It's super important. I think you know I've heard a lot of people who are non native english speakers might not read or write in their native language That sort of outreach is really important and you know How can we replicate efforts like that in other outreach? I know it's like it's so much work It's a lot of money too and just you know flagging that you did that with battery street and that's Super anyway Thank you for mentioning that. I was supposed to mention that during my comments and I forgot. Thank you. Got you um, okay, so just wanted to flag that um and also say thank you for Flagging the gmt funding stuff because it's just It's really important and I think it's top of mind for all of us So Yeah, I won't go further than that, but thank you for flagging that and just you know, You know pressing that importance to the public over here Um, and then just I guess a couple quick questions So on the main street Um, the courthouse plaza. Are we gonna track utilization of that while we have it? I know the enforcement team sort of like they do counts while they're out, right? So they're gonna track usage of that garage. Yes, okay We'll have the usage Through the park mobile app and through the calate pay stations In addition to our parking service agents going around but generally we're going to use the tools to automatically collect the data And then last thing that your report out made me think of was Do we know where we are in terms of compliance for the lead pipe? survey like how Because there's a deadline for that, right? So where are we and how close are we to meeting the mark? We've got a long way to go. My understanding is we've got 600 or so service lines identified And we have approximately 10,000 customers That's a lot. We've got a long way to go. Okay Uh sweet that was it. Thank you We're out of any updates on those numbers That was that was in the fire that was in the fire in last month Bill it had the number was around 600 something and the total. Yeah, you know, one of the things we we know We need to get out there with our yeah I think one of the things we know generally from receive all of us receiving surveys But also, you know, one of the things we learned on the ground with recycling is people need to be contacted many ways and many times and to see And to see You know stakeholders residence word of mouth like that's always really helpful So again, just encouraging talk to your neighbors if uh, they're wondering what this is It's legitimate and it's really helpful Can I ask a quick question? I wonder if some of the property owners Especially those that aren't from the area might think that by finding something out like that It's going to cost them money to replace and repair And if there could be some sort of information to them that This is for the safety of your tenants. Yeah, and and absolutely if uh, if in in any You know unknown way we we did find lead, which again not expected not really a realistic scenario could I mean anything could happen. Um, that's covered 100% immediately and then any galvanized requiring replacement Is going to be covered through a state process so one of the things we are highlighting in our press releases that um You know, that's not going to be a Financial concern for folks and it's on our website. But again, that is a leading message We're still working through I think some of the technical details with how the state Funds that over time because we can identify galvanized services And then I think we have to take another step to determine if those galvanized require replacement depending on their age and condition But then there's a state process that'll unfold and I think the nature of the federal mandate here is just made states and then local jurisdictions kind of Gin up this brand new process. So we're trying to figure out our way through it, but property owners should feel Um, fairly confident that there's going to be a Path forward in place for us to help them get these replaced at no cost Thanks. Okay. Thank you Commissioner mutano All right, I got two comments slash questions once like in the near term and the other a little further in the future Um, so about the main street great streets project What is the status of the intersections that are currently closed and being worked on? And are there any plans for future closures that we could maybe pass that message along To people who live and work and travel through that area I think main and pine right now, which is currently closed for sewer main upgrades is looking we're still on track Well, right now we're on track for our new anticipated date of April 5th Um, regardless that's bugging up clearly against the eclipse, but we expect and we just confirmed the other day that that There won't be any work that day and we expect everything returned to hard escape So depending on the phase of the work we're in we should be wrapped up and if we're not wrapped up We've Talked to the contractor and had confirmation that there will be hard escape surface for the the traveling public I don't know what the next phase of closure schedule. It's going to be at this time unless you have I think the important piece is that it Take a look at the website, uh, at great streets btv Dot com and I do know that it's likely that the next intersection will be at main and saint paul But more information on that will be forthcoming Once the contractor gets closer to buttoning up main and pine You know, we should add it's not a great streets project, but uh Block and a half north will have a sewer open dig project on pine street between bank and college And so, um, that's clearly kind of in the middle of a bunch of different projects So folks might be curious about that and be aware We expect to maintain one-way travel on that street or most of the project There's going to be a stretch of that project where we're going to be in the intersection of, um Pine in college where there's likely going to be a slightly more rigorous traffic control plan Still working that out with the contractor, but that project right now is set to launch april 15th All of that work is being coordinated together and we're going to do our best I think between the two contractors One excavation inspector and one public information manager with a public engagement consultant to try to streamline that and get the word out But japan's point is spot on there's a weekly email That goes out that we definitely want folks to sign up for for the great streets project And that's going to start noting some of these other additional projects we have like this sewer project All right, thank you so very much. Um, and about the longer term, uh, sort of time frame It's specifically regarding phase two of the champlain parkway Especially the northern section Which I forget marvel avenue is the cutoff right like killburn killburn right from there to main street And sort of the phasing and timing of that project to go along with the rail yard enterprise sort of work I remember when uh, I just started on the commission. We spoke a lot about the south end Uh construction like coordinated timeline and it seems uh, at least from the last couple meetings that we're deviating from that a little bit It seems like the work running through the king maple neighborhood Is going to start Earlier right for the pine street champlain parkway segment Um before even like the real scoping sort of you know bidding like the really early work is going to begin for, uh The rail yard enterprise so sort of like what's the timeline looking as as of now And how closely coordinated are those two projects going to be? Through that really built up section of the city Great, uh, you are very uh up to date. Uh, we have updated the south end construction coordination plan We originally put it together in uh, 2021 and uh the on the ground Reality is that the champlain parkway project is moving faster than expected The rail yard enterprise project is moving. Well, we did just get our federal NEPA permit national environmental policy act permit, which is a watershed permit for federally funded projects and that project is going to start preliminary design very soon But it is expected not to go to construction for probably Three years So the parkway's Final construction contract is projected to Wrap up if all goes smoothly sometime end of 2026 And then the rep rail yard enterprise project is projected to start construction in 27 so there was Great hope and work to try to keep both projects moving generally in tandem Uh, the end result uh after those years of effort is that the two projects have shifted And we are also now adding in new projects that we didn't even know about Including great streets bank and cherry that received two large federal grants and um And some of the rezoning work like the development down here That the parkway and other projects will help facilitate We are trying to Keep everything moving by last count and I A little daunted by this We have half a billion dollars of capital projects either underway or in the pipeline right now with a very small staff And that is I think going to be a challenge for this upcoming administration To discuss how we're going to try to swallow that And survive that ride What could I say? It's a really complex system. Um, I guess Uh, I just looked on google maps. Champlain parkway is showing on there already between lakeside and flint avenue Which is pretty pretty exciting And For that 2026 late 2026 time frame that would be a single route running all the way from 189 Right and and all the way along pine street. So that that that opening would be late 2026 based on the current projection Correct. All right. Fantastic. Thank you so very much everyone Yeah I thought I'd take it way back and I think years ago uh, this commission Folks from my neighborhood brought the intersection of 127 and park street before this commission and I was just curious Has that intersection received is it considered done and functioning? Has it received the upgrades that it's going to receive? Or is that still a work in progress? So that's manhattan Yeah, and 127 right, um, yes happy to His best I recall, uh, and I participated in some of the early walks with the neighborhood that uh, there was interest in both uh The manhattan and park intersection as well as the, uh, north champlain and manhattan intersection For kids getting to and from school Some changes have occurred. We've installed pedestrian signalization at north champlain We added some sidewalk in there I My recollection is that there's been some signal phasing changes. I believe we extended the red or excuse me the yellow cycle a second to create more Delay for cars to Clear the intersection before the pedestrian is given the walk signal That said I'm aware that there still are greater interests to continue to do additional Interventions we have put the radar speed feedback sign coming in on the bell line as well now that I remember that But if there are still outstanding concerns, I'd love to know what the specific behavioral problems that people are noticing are I can tell I can tell you now. It's people running the red. So I think what people were hoping for was some sort of physical traffic calming in the intersection Yeah at the park street. Yeah to slow the vehicles down coming off of 127 going into I mean what's functionally residential neighborhood, and I think if I can add I do remember This is probably during our regime change there When I took over for just There We did we're able to kind of reduce the speed limit going up instead of going like 50 all the way to the stop sign So there's yeah, and that's that's made a big difference for some people Yes, still others it is Yes, so the vehicle speeds most of them are slower, but people are still run that red like there's no tomorrow and I think recognizing there's Very little enforcement. There's basically none. We really need to depend on the The the intersection physically slowing the vehicles down Yes, and I will follow up with the tech services team As this is coming back to me I I understand there are some conceptual plans for some intersection narrowing at that intersection Let me follow up with tech services and I can I can get in touch with you Okay I will say you know It's feast and famine in terms of funding and when I say we have half a billion dollars of projects that is true And what is also true Is the city has very limited local match funds in which to match the state and federal grants that we've been very successful with So things like Paving this year our only our paving program is just two streets in the city this year It's about a mile a street. We should be paving four miles of streets sustainably four miles a year We're going to be paving one mile We're struggling to find the general fund capital dollars to do some of this work But that said I owe you an update and we'll get you one Okay, and kind of along those lines of one other question, which I think I know the answer to but I'd like to hear it. Um, how are the crossing guards distributed across the city? There are locations that have been identified through Engineering analyses in terms of level of delay levels of traffic To establish where the crossing guards are at we Do not have a full cadre of crossing guards. And so We do not have a crossing guard at each of the I believe 33 designated Intersections So if there is concern that there's crossing guards at some intersections But not at others and you would think that there should be a shift of priority Then please do reach out to myself or Jackie as spare tea and we'll have that conversation Okay, and if you know friends who are interested So my we have a number My understanding is it's a difficult position to hire for and that that's been the case for a long time I don't know if that's going to change anytime soon. So kind of in light of that I wonder if it's time to explore other solutions Okay, I'm I'm ears. Uh, you know, we have tried multiple ways of filling these positions as you know, they've been hard to Fully fill so, um, I well, I wonder if it's time to just Prioritize those intersections and make them safer for everybody to walk not just kids when there's a crossing guard there That would be one way of dealing with it in a more permanent Or sustainable manner. Yeah I feel like rather than just kind of oh, it's tough position to hire for And throwing our hands up in the air for I mean, I've heard that for at least 10 years Okay I said, you wonder how long I've heard it But I wonder if it's time to to look at a more Permanent way of dealing with that. I know that there was a study that was done a few years ago That was looking at how kids travel to school and so you I think you have I imagine you have a lot of the information that you would need right Yes, I Certainly can get the team to update us all on where the Safer's to school plan Implementation sets and uh, yes. Thank you. Yep Thank you. Do you have a sense sort of Related on the intersection up there coming off of of 127. I don't suppose that's one of the newly One of the intersections that's gotten newly improved Signal technology is it? Uh I don't believe we don't have the myovision cameras on there. I don't know if we've upgraded the controllers Okay, my controller is not accessing that information right now noted Do you have a sense of how many uh intersections we're up to with the the myovision? I want to say 11 Or so out of 75 intersections in the city One other question, what are the chances we could unblock the Access to the multi-use path adjacent to the Champlain Parkway That's a good question. What are the chances the chance I know that uh, for example, the Dirt to the side is getting sort of tore up. There's debris spilling out of people's Bike grocery bags from having to hop the curb to get back on it because it's Because I know a nice piece of infrastructure. It's just that made difficult Do you know anyone who has their bike grocery bags? No, I just know someone is still so I mine is mine are locked up Secured highly but I see some produce Oh That is a very fair question One that we've received a fair bit of feedback on Let me be clear that the road Between home avenue and lakeside And the shared use path will be open in a few months We are expecting that to happen by the end of june The challenge we face is that Start of construction will be mid april It's still an active construction site The contractor is going to be working on it and for everybody's safety the contractor still owns the site It's not the city of burlington's asset at this point If the city wanted to give the public access to the shared use path right now We'd likely open it have to take control of the asset from the contractor the warranty period for the multi-million dollar asset would start ticking and Then we'd have to close it again once the construction started. So I understand and we are certainly not going after people who are using the facility And it will be open fully in june No, thank you Sorry, it's I know it's half an answer, but it is the litigious answer It's not helping people safety in the meantime, but You're saying these were the Times we live it My kid is really good at jumping the curve So, uh, I would say real quick but on the main street project Because I'm because I've signed up for The updates I feel like the communication is great But I don't know if everyone has Have you gotten feedback from from user Have you gotten feedback? I'm sure you have Is there a positive feedback? Either on the speed The complexity the ease Any positive feedback? I'm just thinking like the first phase on Um Main and wanoski it felt like to me went pretty quickly But I was doing my best to avoid it Sure, I can start and rob if you want to add anything. I will say, you know, this is the start of a multi-year project and We have heard significant concern from businesses that this is going to impact Access to their businesses When you're digging 25 feet down, there's a lot that you will find and issues you need to manage On the positive side of things, we have collected a lot of historical artifacts from The big dig that are in my office for you anybody who wants to see Mostly glass bottles from the 1800s many from Pharmacies in burlington that are stamped And really quite fascinating. So happy to share that with the commission after the meeting People are appreciating the frequent updates You know, let me be honest that the deep work in the middle of intersections is challenging for circulation and We are doing our best to get the word out with the free reduced price parking With business promotion that rob and the consultant they're working on with business and workforce development So yes, and there are still concerns and there are going to be concerns while we're doing this deep work That is in the middle of intersections We hope once we get out of the ravine sewer work, which should be by this summer That we'll be able to be a lot more nimble And we'll be able to do some work while allowing traffic through as opposed to these full intersection closures Anything that No, I I would echo that and In terms of the first phase of the project, we got good feedback from the stakeholders We were directly engaging on you know, the business stakeholders that we were directly engaging But to echo chapin's points Some of the businesses were still greatly concerned the timeline had changed a bit. So there was some feedback about our you know the timeline of When the contractor needed to close the road Similarly, I think we're getting good feedback on the level of communication from the general public In the businesses that we're now kind of in front of right now Same gamut of excited about the long term very worried about the short term But that's kind of where we're at and certainly the team would take any feedback if There's anything that's uh needed or missing that we can add and we're trying to improve a couple different things the website Is going to be revamped. We're still living on an old page Uh, that was set up Predating a lot of us. So we're working with a consultant to revamp that to be way more user friendly We've got a new parking map that of all it's kind of version 2.0 that evolved from the last one and We're using vt alert sporadically so as to not create fatigue vt alert fatigue, but we're using it for any major shift in transportation challenges and detours and Otherwise, you know, we're very open to trying to figure out what the public needs from us that maybe they're not getting or continue to do what they What they are getting that they're appreciative of so Well, so if I mean my newly permitted driver Navigated us down We have how much gray hair navigated us down through um the construction from maple um to ski rack and You know part of this was the learning lesson on a sunday of These these signs you have to pay attention to so I mean kudos because we all survived Um, but also that I know Low bar Low bar. Yeah, right exactly the cars in one piece But that we could still get to we could still get to businesses So that you know that the point is that we had like a new driver navigating this So I felt like the signs were clear. We knew it was coming up in advance Um, and and I'm getting the information. I mean like I think the ultimate was The v-trans dpw communications that were coming out of the rotary, which were I think they weren't from porch form too, but um And then a quick question about staffing. How are we looking? How is the streets crew looking for upcoming season and I think last month you had mentioned we have two planning positions that were still open It's nice to have good news We have made a couple of hires across our organization Streets crew is in pretty good shape Recycling had been short for a while. We have three or four positions filled with an applicant coming in So we may be fully staffed and recycling for the first time in probably several years And we have filled one of the planner positions the senior planner with a promotion I'm pleased to announce that philip peterson is our new senior planner and that Madeline swender who was in earlier today Was promoted from Associate public works engineer to public works engineer So we are growing our team internally, which is great to see And now we need to hire some of the entry level positions. So There's progress afoot Thanks Yeah, I think um, I think that's it everyone covered everything else So that Is there a second second all right second from commissioner butano, um any discussion Nope all in favor Meeting closes at 7 46 p.m