 We are at the Fletcher Free Library for Ward 8 for the town meeting day in Burlington Here we have candidates Ali and Hannah posted outside and we're curious to see how voting goes So what brings you out here today? Yeah, so I'm my name is Ali. I'm a student here I'm also social worker in the community You know like we're out here fighting for like climate justice housing justice like mental health public safety racial justice all that stuff I've been down to testify at city council about a couple issues sort of in my social work capacity And yeah, I kind of just got involved to him all that way question five which removes like Stigmatizing language around sex work from our our city laws. I think that's important number five on the ballot and concerns about Decriminalizing pimping and brothel owning and sex buying in Burlington and what that means Sort of for all of Vermont for vulnerable people in Burlington And sort of the bait-and-switch that this was something that came about as an archaic and offensive language Change which we agree that the language is archaic And we also support decriminalizing those bought and sold in prostitution But holding pimps brothel owners and sex buyers accountable So hi everybody, my name is Saja Mughali and I am a writing candidate for Ward 8 for the Burlington School District First of all the first thing is in Burlington right now. There is no Burlington High School anymore The school is closed and shut down so every student in the Burlington High School has to go to the mall downtown to teach and study and That is a big problem right now because who wants to like study in a mall and so yeah Like the first thing probably We're gonna do is like support for new budget so we can reopen the school and build it and that's the most important thing of course I'm collecting petition signatures for two charter changes One is going to expand direct democracy in Burlington by expanding the right of petition to include changes to the city code of ordinance and the other is in support of creating an independent board that could Investigate and discipline police officers accused misconduct. It is your civic duty It is the way you participate in politics and do your thing and with proposition zero We're looking to expand that to make it even easier to participate. I want to make sure that as many people vote as possible I want to make sure that people are like informed about what they're voting on and more importantly or most importantly make Inform them that there is an election today. Just knowing that local politics is really important that like What happens here and who wins this race and the other local races like will dictate things like housing policy in Burlington will dictate things like parking policy will determine How our parks look and parks and recreation and and many other important issues and these are issues that affect all of us I'm just exercising my right to vote. I'm mostly concerned about city councilor For my ward, I'm gonna be voting for alley house. And why is that? I've She came to a club meeting of mine and I met her and she was very nice And I really liked how passionate she was about the issues that she cared about And I thought someone like that would be good to represent me Thank you to town meeting televisions Jordan Mitchell who is there with students from the community news service talking to some of the voters in Ward 8 Which we'll be talking about quite a bit tonight Good evening and thank you very much for joining us here on town meeting televisions annual town meeting coverage I'm Mark Johnson along with Diane Meyerhoff. We're gonna be following the results tonight of five key communities here in Chittenden County Burlington South Burlington Wanooski Essex and in Williston Burlington, of course will be our big focus There are a number of contested races there in fact the balance of power on the city council is in play There are eight of the 12 seats that are being contested today Five of those seats are are actually gonna have contests. There are three races where incumbents or There are no challengers running and there's only one person on the ballot also in Burlington There are a number of key money issues The school board is asking for a an increase in taxes. The city is as well first time in three years There are also two fairly significant Other money issues one includes a bond that will be paying if approved for items like fire trucks And also there is another proposal on the ballot that deals with what's called a tax increment financing district Diane will explain all that to you that Essence will allow the city to do some improvements down on on Main Street in South Burlington We have two incumbents that are being challenged on the city council and Also in Winooski. This is really just incredible a great example of civic participation there are seven people that are running for two open seats and in Williston the community that's really changed over the years and has undergone some real growth and one of the issues that they're going to be talking about there is whether to expand the the fire department and make it from an all volunteer into a Paid service We're gonna as I said, we're gonna begin tonight and talk about Burlington But first we're really happy to tell you that we have brought back studio be where tonight we're gonna be carrying interviews with some of the People that are the candidates as well as people that are involved in some of these very important issues We're gonna throw things over there right now and have you meet Emily Brewer Who's gonna tell us how studio B is gonna work tonight Emily? Good evening everyone and welcome to studio B Speaking with us and we hope you'll tune in later on some of the candidates as they Through the doors here. So Diane, let's start in the Queen City of Burlington What's at stake and what are the key races that you're really keeping an eye on sure So all eight Ward seats are up for reelection this town meeting day three counselors are not running again That's Chip Mason who is the Democrat in Ward 5 Jane Stromberg the progressive and Ward 8 and that's the one We're really gonna pay attention to as we heard it from exit voices and Max Tracy City Council president Ward 2 Progressive is also not running again. So we've got three open seats Police reform big issue, right? We've talked about quite a bit Rising tensions rising workloads being city council is not easy Yeah, it's been really I think many counselors have said this has been a really rough year there There's been even some cases at city council meetings where People in the audience are shouting down other people in the audience as well as as counselors themselves Yeah, yeah, and I think some of the folks have said that they're afraid for their safety Which is interesting because we're talking about personal so we're talking about public safety, right with police department and all But definitely so that's that's not some people out some have still been willing to run again All right, so anyway the the one to look at as far as I'm concerned is Ward 8 and why is Ward 8 so important? Well, it's so important because it's it's it's an open seat because Jane Stromberg is not running again and This right now the progressives have Six seats on a 12 council a 12 member council and although perhaps they can't pass everything they want They can say no to a lot of things. They don't want So it's really the balance of power, right? So so this seat is there's a progressive Alley house and Hannah King the Democrat are running in the seat both newcomers recent UVM graduates So this seat could very well flip so this could change who has really controlled the agenda moving into next year It's really in a lot of ways kind of an odd ward I mean if you look at it on the city map It's it's up in the University District, and then there's a little sliver of it that comes down on Main Street Yep, so it really is a lot of students and I think one of the real keys is that Getting students to vote and we're not talking about a presidential election year. There's somebody noted to me Bernie Sanders Isn't on the ballot. There's really not a lot of reasons. Is there for students to be participating? No, no, it's not a mayoral year either. We have that's next year You know, I assume most the students are back now, but I don't know with remote learning and all I mean, I don't really have a sense of what's going on there So it has always been a ward with very low turnout. Yeah, that's just what we've seen all along You know, it's also a new ward. Yeah, so people may not even know where do they vote? I mean, there's so they're still they're still ironing that out I think but it has been an issue and that may change in the redistricting also. Yeah, right I mean, that's very possible. You got to wonder whoever created a situation where we have an even number of people on it And a city council. Yeah, that has not been the way it has been in the past I remember covering the city council years back and it was always in an odd number. So, you know, you know Didn't we have 14? Do we have seven seven wards of two? We did for a while But before that, you know, I can always remember the New North end had three and that was sort of made things Gave it that odd number where issues could be decided one way or another I mean for example this this hiring of the police chief is one where what happened Yeah, it came out even came out even so it's a no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so what are the so we talked about Ward 8? I think that's the big one to watch. I think Ward 2. I mean, sorry Ward 1 also Zariah Hightower the progressive incumbent is running again Rob Guttman Democrat running against her She was part of that progressive wave that came in only two years ago. Believe it. It's only been two years And it's gonna be really interesting to see she has changed her mind somewhat on the police department and sort of the staffing at the Police Department. I will be interesting to see if that's enough. I think people are really concerned about about public safety So I think that will be interesting. I think it is also really hard to unseat or unseat an incumbent That the benefits of being in an incumbent see our high. So it'll be interesting to see I think Rob Guttman is fairly new to elected politics. I hadn't heard his name before But there is some discussion that's possible that could flip. Yeah And what I'm hearing too is that the Democrats have really been making an effort there They see that as you know in addition to Ward 8. Yeah, that's the one where they really see a potential to maybe make a change Do you think they have a better potential in in one than eight? No, not necessarily, but I think Of the of all the other ones beside Ward 8. Yeah Ward 1 is probably the one where they can they can make it make a Challenge, but I think you're right. I would certainly say Zariah Hightower is the favorite, but There's not a lot of other places where the Democrats have an opportunity Good point. Good point. Yes. What else do you keep in your ward 5? Democrat Chip Mason 15 years in the council has relinquished his seat I I think talking a lot about what we talked about earlier the difficulties of being a city councilor the sort of tone That's out there. I think he was ready to move on. He's endorsed Ben Travers also a Democrat Challenges are Lenora Travis who's running as an independent and Farid Monosia. He's running as a Independent but he's progressive endorsed. Yeah, so controversy there Sears Lane. Yeah, right? It was a homeless encampment a Big issue there and apparently some of these folks are decided to run because of that being the encampment being removed I am so that'll be an interesting race. Yeah, you know, I had the opportunity to watch here and on Tom Meany television, there were some great forums with the candidates I have to say I really found that the dynamic in that race was was really interesting You know, you've got sort of a traditional candidate Ben Travers. He's a lawyer And he would in fact one of the points that he made is that he would be the only lawyer on the city council Which is sort of fascinating had been Chip is a lawyer as well. Okay, and he was the only okay Yep, you know and Lenora Travis has got a fascinating story of moving here to Burlington She had an apartment all set ready to go it fell through and she really found a lot of challenges finding a place to live Which as we know is a big issue here and in Burlington and and for read has got a Fascinating story has been living here 25 years and does not really strike me as being kind of a hardcore progressive And could really kind of vote vote anyway and some of these really really important issues So truly an independent truly in independent. Yeah, so we'll see what word five wants. Yeah Let's talk about word seven seven that's a new north end. Yeah, so Ali Jang independent incumbent He is being His challenges are Alexander Stith who's a Democrat who is Republican endorsed and Olivia Taylor who's independent who's progressive endorsed And I don't know if this is partly because they didn't make the caucus dates, you know That's why we have sort of people ran as independent and then they sort of found other ways to get endorsed Anyhow Ali Jang in the past has had both the progressive and the Democratic nod So it's interesting. He's running truly as an independent now without either of those endorsements, which Is interesting statement, I think from the parties anyhow He's been he's had three campaigns. He's been three terms His challengers Alexander is an engineer and Olivia Taylor is a global development consultant So we'll see what seven it's possible that could that could change again Incumbency is difficult to to overcome. Yeah, but fairly strong candidates. I think so We're gonna tell you too now about the webpage At channel 17 dot TV We would encourage you throughout the evening if you want to be following the results right along with us that that would be Your place to go Great, so we'll go to ward three. Let's talk about ward three. Joe McGee progressive incumbent. I want a special election Uh, he has not been in he's only been in since a few for a few months He is challenged by Christopher Aaron Felco. Who's a Republican? I am which is interesting because I was trying to decide if actually if a Republican has ever won in in in the old north end And I think the answer is no the question is um, is Christopher Allen felco setting up a race for mayor next year I think that's that's that's the only thing I could come up with so that's a possibility He's also the chair of the burlington gop. He is the only Republican running in burlington. Wow Yeah, that's a statement in and of itself. It is it absolutely is. Yeah, so that's word three We don't expect that seat to turn and Then there are three races unopposed right ward two Gene bergman has actually new to the council in this round progressive old old guard progressive if you if you will That's max tracy seat Ward four sarah carpenter the incumbent democrat is also Running unopposed as is caron paul the democrat in ward six we're gonna head out right now to wanooski and Gaby a feature of some of the issues that are going on out there with our exit voices I love the small town community feel here and getting to like Vote in local elections where we know that the votes have a direct impact on what happens locally So we're psyched being involved within you know Any of like city work and then any of the town work is really important and then I love how this is a very active community I love how there is a very full ballad of you know a broad amount of people to choose from so I'm really excited about the outcome and then they see you know the great work that gets done here We have to increase funding for education And uh, I like the the city council. There was a wide variety of choices for city council Very good. Very good. How did you get informed about the issues? Oh, I watched the debate on your tv Yeah, that's a good website. I watched the uh The city council debate It's important to me to vote today because I like the city wanooski because wanooski Is is he like a small city, but it's not small city for people It's a lot of people like to live over there wanooski because wanooski is important to anybody Is because wanooski is help anybody is not see this is white people. This is black. No Is he help anybody? I'm here because democracy is important Look at what's going on in the world What would Ukrainians give to have the simplicity of traveling half a mile to vote For the leadership in their country for the propositions We take it too much for granted and um Yeah, it's it's really critical. So Why would I possibly not vote today? I think that the city council of wanooski has for a long time been dominated by white folks if I'm honest And our population here in wanooski does not reflect that and so I was really excited that we had diversity of candidates Not just based on race based on opinion background All of the uh all of the brilliance that they all brought Um, I was really grateful to cctv for uh the candidate um forum being recorded so that because I couldn't be there that night so that I could Um watch later on that was really helpful in me making a decision I do say uh up to date on the school board despite not having kids I think I think a lot of folks often think if you don't have children attending schools in the school district Then maybe you're not as engaged in what's happening in our schools But I'm very excited to see this construction happening down at the school and excited to see what that finalized project will look like I think it's really important to share your opinions. Um on public issues I own a home here. I have kids in school here I can't complain about what's going on unless I share my opinions about what's going on Plus, I love voting It feels like such an important and exciting thing that we get to participate in so I love taking advantage of it Think growing up in vermont you get instilled with that town meeting day excitement from an early age and I've never lost it So I just think it's important So far I want to thank uh barry silver and emily bruer for that exit voices there from wanouski Wow, I mean the level of participation in wanouski is just really incredible It is I I really believe that wanouski is brollington 30 years ago Which is dating myself. I admit but still I mean just the excitement the level of interest the level of participation Seven candidates for two council seats. Yeah incredible. I mean some one person Dowl disotel has buzzed the city council years ago. Some other folks have are fairly new to town I mean for that many people to put their their hat in the ring. I think is really really impressive Um, so we should also say that these two seats have been held by howl colston and mike miers who are not running again Howl colston is also in the legislature as well Folks put in a lot of time and energy into wanouski and I I think it's I think it's interesting that they step back And say okay, we're ready for a new a new generation potentially To to to come into the city council. So we have a great. We have a community news service These are students from uvm who have been doing all sorts of really fantastic worker on town meeting and they are They have a discussion about all these seven candidates that we're going to hear right now Has been a truly interesting election because in pre-covid years you'd have to have A petition in order to be a candidate for city council But post-covid they kind of took away that requirement. So you would have formally have to get About 30 signatures from voters in order to be considered as a candidate and This year you don't have to do that. So we've had some very interesting candidates who didn't have that obstacle in order to petition so We have seven candidates as you mentioned vying for two seats to two-year positions And they'll be taking over for how colston our deputy mayor who See is expired to or intended to expire in march as well as michael meyers Our first candidate is aurora heard they use they them pronouns and they have a bit of political background They served on the bernie campaign in 2016 in 2020. They're really passionate about renters rights affordable housing And kind of encouraging participation for all resident voting Um and creating more accessibility for them to participate in local government. There's also daryl disartels He uses he and pronouns and he's 70 years old and a lifelong when you ski resident He was really passionate about cutting down spending He's kind of disappointed in the way that the city council is run currently. He thinks that Currently there's a lot of political views being pushed and forced on to the residents And he'd kind of like to bring a new voice to kind of just make sure when you ski Is safe and running and functioning without those political views being forced And we also have David Wallace who is also running for school board. Um, he's 53 years old and has been living in monoski since 2013 He's originally from arlington virginia He has a bachelor's degree in business from belmont abbey college in north carolina And he's really passionate about being tough on crime and making sure the police are fully funded matt crawford Is 56 he grew up in st. Albin's and he's been living in monoski since november of 2020 So yeah, he's excited to be able to implement new ways to create accessibility for all residents and To create environmental resilience and infrastructure and kind of bolster local businesses Um, we also have Irene karubu webster She's 54 years old and she's lived in monoski for about 15 years Which is originally from kenya. So she comes in with a really interesting perspective on all resident voting And the diversity within monoski's community and she speaks both english and swahili And she works with the association of africans living in vermont as a case worker So she's been able to do a lot of community outreach and cultural advocacy And she'd like to bring this to the city council as well And then we have thomas renner. He uses he and pronouns. He's 32 and moved to monoski about five years ago He is currently serving on the safe healthy connected people commission in monoski Which is kind of like a policy advising group for the city council And he's the commission secretary as well as a member And so he's excited to create open spaces in monoski like parks that People of all ages can engage in and lastly there's chad bushway who uses he and pronouns He's 49 years old and I've lived in monoski since 2004 And his whole life he's worked in the automotive industry And he is excited to keep property taxed down to make housing more affordable And he would like to look into making investments in the water and sewage system and kind of updating that 17.tv Thank you All right, we uh, want to thank the folks um to get us up to speed that was a great presentation That's those are replacements. Yeah, they really are I can see it. That's the next generation Yeah, we too, uh, want to remind you to the throughout the course of the evening to make sure you check out ch 17.tv and you can follow along the results with us Let's head back to burlington for a couple of minutes here before we wrap up We got some serious money issues on the table here. Maybe you could start with the the city tax increase proposal Yeah, so there's a tax rate. I proposed a 5.5 increase, which is four cents if you prefer it that way And this was real. This is really being sold as inflation So existing services that we have and this is sort of an inflation factor That everyone is feeling Average household will pay about 150 dollars additional per year And that's I think that's always an interesting number to use because it really helps you get a sense of what it's really going to cost A household Let me just dive in this is on top of after the reappraisal many people are also paying more anyway Especially especially residential, right? And this was an interesting case where the commercial didn't didn't go up as much as the residential did So definitely feeling this hit and they'll feel this hit again The interesting thing about this is that it's being sold as this inflationing But 1.25 million of this will be for seven new staffers at the office of rachel equity inclusion and belonging Bringing that office to 14 staffers. So that's a big chunk of this Which is why a lot of the progressive counselors have supported this tax increase, which is interesting So the last time the mayor asked for a Increase was in 2020 Which was a public safety tax the ambulance in the new north end and somebody for the housing trust fund So so that was you know two years ago But and this has to pass by a simple majority. Okay. Yep And speaking of public safety one of the bond issues that we're going to be talking about much more depth later on Deals with fire trucks. It does three new fire trucks, right? And plus a whole bunch of other things sidewalks Million dollars from memorial auditorium And some infrastructure work as well This is the item that was in the november election, which was voted down at about 40 million Now we're at about 24 million for this particular This is a general general obligation bond and it must pass by two-thirds. So that's a pretty high bar It is because it actually got a majority Last time around but not a super majority. Exactly. Exactly. Um, and this the the household impact Starts at about 36 a year and by the time it's done about 90 dollars per year an additional For the average household in burlington. Uh, again for this is a capital project general obligation bond I I was fascinated today when I um headed to the polls looking at the school tax proposal because I I think To be blunt. I think it's a little confusing what's going on The when you read the ballot it talks about a 13 percent increase But really what's going on there is that the schools have lost a number of students So the the per Cost for students has gone up just because they're fewer students though You still have to heat the buildings to the same degree whether there are 10 students or 100 students This is the declining enrollment. Yeah. Yeah, there's some 200 students less as a and who knows Why I'm sure demographics. Is this just I think I think there's some demographics. I think also there are people who Are not opting to go to the high school Who are maybe going to some of the alternative high schools in the area? Uh, we have this downtown, you know high school that some people are not turned on about You know one of the things too that I'm sure we'll get into more later in the evening is Lurking in the background here is in november We're probably going to see a pretty significant issue on the ballot talking about a new high school But really the increase for the schools this year is closer to three percent And I I'm not sure how well that's been explained to people. So I'm I'm going to be really interested to see how well that fares Uh, if people are going to understand that or or and then there was this whole idea that they're actually going to Well, there's a possibility right decreasing because of the uh, the the school Funding throughout the whole state. There's a surplus, right? So they're saying well it may go down, but then I was reading well it may But we're not guaranteed so we're in this funny spot because we just don't have all the information yet Well, a lot of it depends on what the state folks want to do how much of that they want to keep from themselves And they had on the ballot today if um if all of that money were to be put back into the schools that People in burlington could see something close to a six percent decrease But you know, we'll see whether or not right the state officials don't try to carve out a little bit of that money Right because the governor has there's 90 million the governor has proposed 45 million to go to this this sort of decrease of taxes So that's a big difference and we're still a long ways away And we haven't even gotten into the whole tax increment finance We're not going to try to do right here in this segment Because that's going to take us a few minutes to explain to you and also we want to remind you too that The polls are still open here for another hour and five minutes So if you haven't voted yet, and these are items that are of interest to you This would be the time for you to get down to the polls And we are looking forward to having you back and joining us here in And just a little over an hour and we look forward to bringing you some of the candidates some of the winners Some of the losers people that are involved in some of the issues And of course, we do want to remind you to make sure you follow along on our web page at ch 17.tv I'm mark johnson along with diane meyerhoff and Stay tuned. We'll be back in just about an hour