 Good afternoon, my name is Kyle Blake. I'm the president of the Burlington Firefighters Association Here just to announce formally our endorsement of Joan Shannon for in her campaign for mayor of Burlington So I'm gonna read a brief statement to start with The Burlington Firefighters Association members are proud to endorse Joan Shannon in her campaign to become Burlington's next mayor Well, Burlington is fortunate That many candidates that many candidates are entering this race and hoping to lead the city The Burlington Firefighters Association believes that Joan's Progmatic approach to problem-solving and her ability to stand her ground on challenging issues is precisely what the city needs right now And that Joan is the right choice to lead the city forward at this pivotal moment BFFA members recognize the importance of public safety and have witnessed the city's rapidly changing landscape firsthand For too long our members have been experiencing the effects of the political decisions that have left our members fatigued Operating in hostile environments and questioning their continued employment with the Burlington Fire Department Our members appreciate that when we raised concerns about reducing police staffing in 2020 Joan took the time to engage with us Regarding our concerns. Well, all parties can agree We are where we are now and what was done cannot be retroactively changed We support Joan's plan to combine support for those in need with holding those who refuse to follow the rules Accountable we believe this two-pronged approach has been avoided by many on the council and in state government But we feel this will turn the tide and improve public safety and the safety of our members Lastly our members appreciate that Joan cares about the workers of the city and Understands that while many might not live in Burlington It is this group who keeps the lights on water running roads plowed Response to emergencies and keeps Burlington safe and clean Joan understands that the last few years have been hard on all city employees and that a well-trained happy and safe workforce is a must to keep Burlington running We are confident that Joan will work with the four labor unions to reduce turnover attract skilled and knowledgeable applicants and ensure that Burlingtonians are served by public servants who are highly trained and Properly equipped to get the job done It is because of those reasons that our membership decided to support Joan before the caucus and encourages all Burlington residents to vote for Joan Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Joseph Coro. I'm the president of the Burlington Police Officers Association FOP Lodge 21 some of you may have already seen our formal endorsement of Joan I'm just gonna read you our statement currently The BPOA is honored to endorse longtime Burlington City Councilor Joan Shannon in her mayoral campaign Joan has been an ardent consistent and thoughtful advocate for the city of Burlington since she first took office in 2003 And the BPOA strongly supports her bid for mayor in the face of a public health and safety crisis Decried by the Burlington City Council last month that Joan is the only mayoral candidate to unwaveringly support the Burlington Police Department and its officers During the height of social political turmoil and well-deserved national conversations on policing in America Joan refused arbitrarily to fund the police department despite considerable public pressure Joan recognized very fortuitously as events over the past three years have shown that doing so without a Cogent research and cross aisle plan to mitigate the requisite public safety gaps and plumbing officer safety staffing levels Would be a very damaging endeavor. This is not a track record that can be claimed by any other mayoral candidate Karen Paul voted in favor of the progressive led effort to decrease the number of police officers from 105 to 74 Further demonstrating Joan's distinct position in this race and her consistent and thoughtful approach to governance to governance and leadership Joan understands that leadership means making tough and at times unpopular decisions But doing so with the knowledge and foresight required to safeguard the interests of all in our community Only through such leadership will Burlington regain its status as a vibrant safe and prosperous economic hub to be enjoyed by all Jonah's released a clear public safety plan to rebuild Burlington to what we all know our city to be With an all-hands-on-deck approach that includes treating rampant drug addiction Addressing housing deficiencies and further strengthening a variety of public health services Joan knows however that none of this can be accomplished without an equal focus on accountability and public safety Starting with a properly staffed resource and trained police department The BPO is honored to stand with many distinguished Burlingtonians in supporting Joan's mayoral campaign Including former Burlington City Councilors Joan Jane O'Dell Dave Hartnett current Councilor Mark Barlow and Pat Robbins co-founder of the Church Street Marketplace Leadership is earned and Joan has demonstrated this time and again for the past 20 years and we are confident. She is the right woman for the job Well, thank you Kyle and thank you Joe I'm grateful for the endorsement of the Burlington firefighters Association and the Burlington Police Officers Association I want to emphasize how fortunate we are as a city that every day we have committed first responders Men and women of great integrity Responding to difficult emotional and dangerous challenges under very hard circumstances Thank you for your endorsement Thank you for putting your trust in me to be an effective mayor if I am lucky enough to be elected It is rare to have such an early joint endorsement from both the fire and police unions In fact, it's not in any of our collective memories that it's ever happened before It signals a belief from the people who are the city's first responders that I will bring a Pragmatic and honest approach to making the changes we need That's part of the reason I wanted to do a press conference here midday in City Hall Park This is a park that is emblematic of the challenges we face as a community We need to steer into these challenges with all hands on deck and eyes wide open To build the positive future we want to have for our children Families and and all of our lives here in Burlington I'm particularly appreciative of the unions making their endorsement prior to the Democratic Caucus So that residents have a chance to know where our city's firefighters EMTs and police stand Public safety requires accountability Compassion and trust and Burlington needs to use that as its guiding light in the chapter ahead We We must create a strong public Expectation of safety throughout the city for all our residents for local businesses and workers for service providers for each other Our collective security and economic future depends on us getting it right Each candidate will tell you that they are the strongest on public safety and I know each intends to be I Am here today to show you in word and deed That I am the candidate standing here with the unions ready to build a better community for all of us and who knows Best about public safety Then the people who are providing it for us our workers are our gold in the city I value them. I value all of our workers We have other workers that have ended up on the front lines of this epidemic as well And they work in our libraries. They working in public works Non-profits throughout the community I Want to thank the firefighters and the police for standing up here and having the courage to stand with me Thank you, and we welcome your questions any questions I Think in terms of what helps the unions they're they're helped when we're better able to provide public safety when we're better staffed Being effective in recruiting Workers and police officers and firefighters is critically important to the workers that are here now. It's there. It's their future a Big piece of my plan the first first element of my plan is actually deterrence and deterrence is reliant on being able to Recruit people to work for the city This might be a question for the unions, but I wanted to ask Sort of why now why before the caucuses and What was it about? The issues that we want to make the endorsements before the parties met for the caucus Yeah Happy to jump on that As Joan mentioned endorsing before a caucus is something that we typically do not do and we're not doing this lightly We understand that this is In some people's mind an early endorsement We felt it was important as a membership to Get our voice out there and to let the community know where we stand on this issue Which is public safety, which is employee safety worker safety and we feel that Jones track record when it comes to those issues is unparalleled by any of the other candidates and It was something that with how the caucus works We felt it's important that the residents know this and so they can make an educated Decision when it's time to cast their vote So and then additionally Jones engagement with us as well Both Karen Paul and Joan came and spoke to our our union members and one thing that really resonated With Joan was her focus on Supporting the workers like she just talked about Because we are we are the backbone of the city and we're what we're keep the lights on we respond to the emergencies And if we don't have the proper staffing training and equipment the city suffers just like our employees do and Joan seems to understand that really well Now in each public safety plan that have been released by candidates, you see some differences but also similarities What stood out about the Jones plans that you get is that You know sort of initiated this support I think Joan's plan that that stood out to us was the fact that it was allowing input a little bit It wasn't set in stone. There is some fluidity to it. There are goals But those goals are going to be How those goals are achieved are going to be impacted by worker input Like she said the men and women before you right now understand public safety in this city better than most And to allow our input and to engage with us is very important And we think that's critical when it comes to moving this city forward Anyone else So how confident are you that the the city of burlington has the finances necessary to deal with all of their problems? So you've got public safety problems and housing problems, etc Does burlington still have the finances? In your opinion that can take care of these problems There's no higher priority than public safety. That's what I will say How uh, how we pay for that We're going to have to figure that out and we're going to have to work on that collectively Between what our tax burden is what we can get from the state. What are the resources available from the federal government? It's also important to build our tax base Uh, it's all there are many pieces of the puzzle Um that still need to be put together, but i'm up for the challenge Anyone else? well Thank you all And thank you all