 Welcome to ongoing election coverage by town meeting television. This is one of many forums we are bringing you in advance of local elections and town meeting on the first Tuesday in March, March 1, 2022. Town meeting is traditionally where voters weigh in on local government representation, municipal budgets, school budgets, and local ballot items. All candidates on the ballot are invited to participate in town meeting television election forums. Town meeting television election forums introduce you to community decision makers and connect you with the issues that shape your local community. If you're watching this live, we welcome your questions at 802-862-3966. You can watch town meeting television on Comcast Channel 1087, Burlington Telecom Channel 17 and 217, as well as online at town meeting televisions YouTube page. My name is Elaine Haney and we're joined this evening by the candidates for Burlington City Council's Ward 3 incumbent Joe McGee, who is running as a progressive and Christopher Aaron Felker who was running as a Republican. We're going to start each with a one minute opening statement, and then I'll be talking to you with giving you some questions to answer that you'll have two minutes each to respond to. And we also are welcoming questions from the audience and so we will pause for those questions whenever they come in. So are there any calls on the line at the moment? No calls right now. Okay, so let's start with opening statements. Joe, you have two minutes. Thank you. One minute for opening statement. My apologies. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you for moderating this evening. Hello everyone. My name is Joe McGee. I use he and they pronouns. I am proud to be your Ward 3 city councilor representing downtown in the western part of the old North End. I'm running for a full term on the city council to continue the work I started a little over five months ago, whether that's addressing the unfair reappraisal and property tax systems, or advocating for the basic needs of our most vulnerable neighbors. I'm looking forward to continuing this work. We need to push for safe affordable and accessible housing for everyone in our community. We have to increase investment in mental health services and in treatment for substance use disorder. And we have to go further to address racial disparities in an equity by removing the barriers that exist for folks running for office and serving on our boards, commissions and our MPAs. I'm proud to have started this work already and I look forward to continuing it with you all as we get going in this election and if I'm fortunate enough to be reelected in March. Thank you. Thank you. Christopher. Hi, thank you, Elena. Thank you for having us today. Thank you, Joe for showing up for this. I absolutely love debates and and it's part of the process and that's what our democracy is all about when it comes down to elections. So, as Elena said, my name is Christopher Aaron Felker. I am a nine year resident of right here in Ward 3. I've been your neighbor for the last nine years and a member at St. Joseph's Cathedral right down the street. My husband and I first moved up here and fell in love with the views of Battery Park and Burlington and Lake Champlain and we truly just never ever left the area. We are happy to make Ward 3 our home and we're happy to have this opportunity to run for office and bring voice to the voiceless here in Ward 3. Thank you, City Council to rebuild our public safety team to truly fight for an affordable city and to restore balance and civility to City Council to ensure conservatives independence and centrist finally have a voice in our government again. So, I've been building. We have two minutes. Okay. One minute for the opening statements. Okay. Okay, so any calls at this moment. No calls. Yes, can call in with questions at 802-862-3966. I'm going to start with a question regarding experience. What experience do you think you bring to bear that makes you qualified to be a Burlington City Council member. You'll have two minutes to answer. I have this 30 second sign. I'm going to hold up for you at one minute 30. Christopher, why don't you go first. Thank you, Elena. So I have been working with the Burlington Republican Party for the, for the last few years and fortunately they elected me chairman of the Burlington Republican Party and as such I monitor and attend all city council meetings and I also contribute and participate in our local government through attending committee meetings or participating in our recent redistricting. I'm fully aware of all the situations and obstacles that our city is currently facing. And I hope to bring voice to the conservatives of this neighborhood in this ward that feel like our representatives do not listen to them. So as far as experience goes, I've worked in the government in the past. I'm a Navy veteran. I have worked as a I've studied and become a teacher. And so I understand how to work with people as a conservative. I want to be able to be on council to be able to promote compromise between the parties what we have right now the numbers that we have is resulting in dysfunction and the way that we have a city that will work together for all Burlingtonians is by ensuring that all of our voices are at the table. And right now we have not had that in at least two years and it's really important as part of the process that all of us feel and know that we are being represented in our government. So I hope to bring the leadership that I've been able to roll out in the Burlington Republican Party working together across the aisle with members of the Democratic Party and the progressive party to try and advance the causes of Burlington that will help make it a better city for all of us. Thank you, Elena. Okay, and Joe. Good evening. I have been proud to serve as word three city counselor for the last five months. You know, I think the experience that I have had over these last five months or the reason that I am running again to continue serving more three. Whether it's attending the NPA meetings and keeping folks updated answering questions late into the evening, or attending PTO meetings, meeting with neighbors downtown meeting with neighbors in the old north end and really engaging folks in these conversations is that word three does feel represented on the city council. I have made a point of showing up and having the conversation, whenever somebody reaches out to me I am there to have that conversation, and that's the kind of representative that I'll continue to be on the city council. And, you know, I think the experience that I've had shows that I'm willing to show up and address the affordability crisis, whether it's through my work on the resolution that addresses the reappraisal process and the property tax system, or, you know, showing up for committee meetings and in doing the work of moving the city forward and investing in our infrastructure so that we're making the improvements that we know that we need to make. And that's where streets and our sidewalks, or our electric grid, you know, I think we have a tremendous opportunity right now to make these investments, and, and I want to continue that work. So thank you very much. Okay. So, let's talk about the budget a little bit. How do you respond to the ballot item requesting a raise to the city tax rate of 4% this year. Do you want to go first. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about this. You know, I supported placing the increase in the tax rate on the ballot on March 1, because I think it's imperative that we continue to fund our city services so they're operating at full capacity. To ensure that our city workers are earning a little wage. I think that is vital, especially what we're seeing now with the pandemic and wages continuing to stagnate. I think it's also important to note that the school tax rate is going to be going down in the city this year, which will result in an overall decrease in our tax rate to 2.76%. So I know it's a hard time for for so many people and voting for another tax increase is a difficult decision to make. That is why I have been leading this conversation around whether or not the property tax is the best way for us to continue funding our city services. So I'm looking forward to continuing to have that conversation so that we can find different funding sources for our city services going forward, because we shouldn't lean on our schools to to decrease taxes so that we can continue to fund the city budget. That shouldn't be something that we do year after year, and I'll be committed to making sure that that's not something that happens in the future. Thank you. Christopher. So, no, absolutely not I wouldn't vote to support increasing taxes. On the backs of a property property house assessment. Last year that it just pounded old north end residents, especially single family homes. Those costs are going up. We've had 7.5% rate increase in the Burlington Electric Department. We constantly have our paying more in taxes were constantly being asked for additional bond votes that will increase our taxes. Currently this year there are three finance measures on the ballot. One is a little bond 2.0. This one that we're talking about right now is the property tax increase 4% and also a TIF measure. I promised and campaign for the last year to my neighbors that I would vow that I would fight to hold the line on property taxes to truly keep Burlington affordable. I am tired of the rhetoric coming from everybody in council and in government that talk about affordability, but every single time a resolution or budget comes before them, they don't hesitate to raise taxes. This results in increased taxes in our city. It results in increased rents and contributes to the unaffordability crisis. We cannot continue to raise taxes and the cost of living in town and then throw our hands up and act surprised when nobody can afford to live here anymore. So no, we will not support raising taxes on Burlingtonians. Okay, thank you. Speaking of raising topics. Where do you see opportunities for addressing racial justice in the city and how will you use the city council seat to meet this challenge? Christopher. We have a wonderful director director green at the REIB. I would like to present city council with plans and agendas for education and programs that the city can initiate. As city councilor, I would sit down and happily evaluate those and absolutely vote for the ones that will advance and provide concrete returnables to our city. I think it's important. It's undeniable that our black and brown neighbors have experienced unfair treatment for generations, if not centuries, and we should do our part to make sure that we live in a more fair and equitable society where everybody is welcome. Everybody is treated equally and everybody's guaranteed the same rights. As city councilor, I will absolutely advocate for that and ensuring equality across the board in McLean city. Thank you, Elena. Okay. Joe, please go ahead. Thank you. I think it is important for us to support the work of the Office of racial equity inclusion and belonging. I've been proud to serve on the REIB committee on the city council. We've gotten presentations on the racial equity roadmap that their office is working on. I'm absolutely committed to supporting funding for the programs that they put forward to ensure that we are as a city doing all that we can to address the injustice that has faced black and brown people in our city for so long. I am also committed. I made this promise during my last campaign and still committed to this work of removing the barriers that currently exist for black, indigenous and people of color for serving on our local boards and commissions for running for office to make sure that our decision making bodies truly represent our community. Right now they don't. And that is a real problem and we need to do what we can to solve that. Whether that's making sure that folks are compensated for their time, making sure that meetings are at times that address and acknowledge the different hours that folks work and making sure that we have childcare in the city that make it possible for folks to participate in our government. And these are crucial areas where we need to make more investment and acknowledge that this work will continue and has to continue and will not will not end. We have to examine every aspect of our city government, our policy making apparatuses to ensure that we're delivering on racial equity in the city. So we'll stay with you for this question. What is your opinion on the recent appointment of Chief John Murad or the vote to appoint Chief Murad and what is your vision for community safety and how will you support that as a city council. Thank you, Elaine. I'm glad to have the opportunity to address this. I voted no on Monday on acting Chief Murad's appointment for a number of reasons. I'll start with the process. The mayor engaged a search committee to aid in the process of finding a new police chief for Burlington. When it turned out that that process didn't yield qualified applicants that that we wanted or a large pool of qualified applicants. We did that himself. And, you know, our progressors put forward a an opportunity for the city to engage a search firm to truly get us the pool of applicants that we needed that are qualified and willing to lead on transformative policing here in the city, investing in public safety programs that are outside of policing mental health services and treatment for substance use disorder. So I voted no because the search committee did not have the opportunity to interview acting Chief Murad. I voted no because members of the police commission have outlined and described the ways in which that he is unwilling to be collaborative with them and has exhibited some pretty nasty behavior. And, you know, going forward my vision for community safety is one where we're meeting people's basic needs where we're investing in mental health services, rapid response mental health services with social workers and medical professionals and investing in meeting basic needs here in the city in a way that we we aren't right now. That means making sure that people have shelter making sure that they have housing and making sure that they have access to adequate medical care. We can do this we have an opportunity to do it right now and I think we need to invest in these programs and not just look at public safety is how high our officer cap is, I think we. Thank you. Thank you. Christopher same question. I absolutely supported Chief Murad confirmation this past Monday evening. I think that Chief Murad is exceptionally qualified individual he's also kind considerate compassionate. He's always willing to learn but most importantly, he's forward thinking and he's always open to how the police department can be better. It's true that Joe voted no on chief chief Murad confirmation but he also voted no on raising the officer cap and he is continually advocated for abolishing the police. We have been campaigning for the last nine months now on a positive policing policy for the Burlington police department that ensures our community is safe. It is adding to the department in three fold. We restore the officer cap, which we have done but we have waited so long that we actually have to wait the whole day the damage that they created on council, the amount of time it takes to bring officers through the pipeline. We should have added officers back in August, we will keep adding officers we will add funding so that way our officers are well trained and we continue adding CSL and CSOs to the police department. All these we've advocated for in August, when the citizen police commission recommended that we raise the officer cap and the city council failed to rise to the occasion and will lead our city by restoring the public. We will continue to advocate for the police department officer cap. We will continue to advocate for more CSLs. We will continue to advocate for more funding and we will continue to find resources for retention and recruitment of police officers that way we can laterally recruit officers from other departments to try and restore the public safety team that we desperately need in Burlington. Thank you. Okay. I mean if I could have a moment for a bottle. Frank. Thank you very much. I just need to respond to that. You know, I voted no on acting chief mirad because acting chief mirad has said that he doesn't think that bias plays a role in the racial disparities that we see in our police department. That gives me great pause when he says that he's committed to racial justice. And that does not say to me that he is committed to racial justice. And I see in his actions that he's not committed to transforming policing and addressing those disparities in a meaningful way. And I am at 30 seconds. It's 30 seconds. Okay, thank you. Thank you. We now have a call to ask a question caller would you like to identify yourself and ask your question of both candidates. My name is Dale Tillerson from Burlington, Vermont. I would like to ask the two candidates the following question. In my opinion, the six progressives on the city council have shown a bias towards policing, and they all seem to basically want to eliminate the police department, and they've proven that by their actions. My comment is, was that vote on Monday night, or my question is was that vote on Monday night, even on the up and up, because with the progressives showing prejudice towards your police department. They should have all recused themselves from voting, thus eliminating a quorum. Thus, making that vote. Not official. Could they answer that please. I'm not sure what your question is, could you try to rephrase that a little bit more succinctly. Yes. The progressives on the council have shown a prejudice towards policing. They do not want a police department. Thus, while they voted at the meeting on Monday night. They have been able to vote in confirming a police chief, because they have proven that they do not want a police department. Okay, thanks for clarifying that Joe you have two minutes. I'm not really sure what color is getting at here, but I'll try to answer the question. I don't think our actions have shown that we're trying to eliminate the police department. I think, to the contrary, we have shown up and said that we want to reallocate resources toward services that respond to the mental health and substance use crises that we're facing. That includes response capacity for mental health and medical workers. That would make up for the deficit of the police department. You know, I voted against raising the officer cap, because I don't believe that out of the 150 recommendations that were made by our consultant that I looked at policing in Burlington that our first decision should have been to raise the officer cap. I think we need to examine policing and give other programs the opportunity to work to really address racial disparities here in the city in a meaningful way. And I don't think just making the decision to reinvest that money in the police department is how we get there. Thank you. Christopher. Thank you. Thanks for the call, Dale. I think I think I'm following where you're going with this and I'll, I'll just do the best I can to answer your question. So I think, I think you're right. I think that the progressive counselors have have clearly been pushing an agenda to sabotage and and harm the staffing levels and and attack the Burlington police department. I think that you can very easily find each and every one of them quoted in our local press stating something very similar to that. So yes, and I think that's very troublesome. Do I think that they should have recused themselves from the vote on Monday. Probably not what you want to hear Dale but no they they should not have recused themselves absolutely they should vote. Because this is how our system of representative democracy works and elections have consequences you know. Councilor McGee was elected last August and therefore giving the progressive party a plurality on council and the ability to block things if you know, am I happy that that's the way that they voted. Do I think it's absolutely reckless and irresponsible and damaging to our city 100%. But if we want to do better Dale we have to convince our neighbors to go out and vote this time this town meeting day, our ballots will be mailed out next week and we have to engage in our community and have a conversation. You know I go around and talk to the neighbors and I know that they're all on everyone that I've been talking to wholeheartedly agrees that chief mirad is the leader to take over the helmet one North Avenue. And let's talk for one second about this this is an a mayoral appointment and it is a we're able to revisit this next year if we want councils also able to after confirmation try and find concrete. Oh, sorry concrete achievable for his office, and we can hold them accountable, but ultimately one North Avenue and our police department deserve a confirmed chief to lead them. And this council is playing politics partisan politics and it's arming our city. Thank you Elaine. Thank you. Okay, thank you caller for that question. Are there any other calls at the moment. No more college at this time. I think we have time for one more question and then we'll do closing statements. So what needs to be done to address housing concerns in this city. What are the biggest issues with housing in your opinion is it affordability safety access something else. Christopher would you start. It's undeniable that Burlington is in the midst of a housing crisis and it has been going on for quite some time whether we didn't acknowledge it until recently or not many of us have been able to feel the impacts of this. We are. We have under 1% vacancy rate in town, dangerously low vacancy rate which makes it extremely difficult to find and and secure a rental unit if you are looking to rent in Burlington. Also our housing market is upside down in most healthy cities. We have 60% home ownership and 40% renters were 60% renters and 40% home ownership. We have currently almost nothing in the entry level market for new families to purchase in Burlington. We are in the midst of a housing crisis and it is unfortunately caused by over regulation. One of the key ways that we can dig ourselves out of this is by responsibly relaxing regulations in our city to support infill development. We need to continue to bring residential densities from just duplex to potentially triplex and allow auxiliary dwelling units. This is something that we've been working on in the city for the last year and a half. And we need to continue along this process. We need to relax regulations to get out of this. This whole that we're in right now we need to find and build housing across the board. We need to find a way to reduce the risk of being home ownership and rental units that are market value affordable and for low income. We are in a deficiency that spans the whole housing spectrum. We put forward proposals that are actionable that we can relax regulations and actually stimulate growth in town. The only solutions I've heard from the progressive party and including my city counselor when it comes to housing is, hey, get yourself a tent and we'll find a way for you to sleep on a part. Okay, thank you. We have one caller coming up so Joe I'd like you to respond and then we'll go to the phone. Okay, thank you. I think if you read my statements that I've made over the past many months you'll see that I have advocated for housing at all levels. We have 79 families here in Burlington right now that are qualified for section eight vouchers have vouchers and cannot find units to them will run to them. We have a crisis in affordability. We have a crisis and rental housing safety. We have a crisis and numbers of accessible housing units, and we have a crisis in overall availability. We have to acknowledge that just building market rate housing is not going to get us out of this crisis. We have to invest in truly affordable housing. I would be open to looking at revising our inclusionary zoning ordinance to ensure that the rents that we're are actually affordable for folks. I think we know that the income levels that we set that at are higher than many folks are able to afford here in the city. And we have to do more to invest in in our shelter capacity here in the city. We have 700 folks around the state who are experiencing houselessness here. And we do not have enough shelter beds. We do not have enough emergency housing with the general assistance program, and we do not have adequate protections in the city right now for folks who are who are sleeping outside. So yes, I have advocated for our houseless neighbors and I will continue to do that, because they are the most vulnerable in our community, and we should not be displacing them and placing them in danger, more than they already are. We need to be investing in transitional housing, whether that is sober housing, or housing through BHA. We have programs that we know work for folks and we need to invest in those. Thank you. Okay, let's go to the caller. Can you tell us your name and ask your question of the candidates. Yes, you can. I'll turn my volume off. My name is Ray England. And the question is, Brunnen was just awarded many millions of funds for a completion of 289 through Pine Street to Battery Street. Deadlines have to be met, or the city could have to pay back federal funds awarded. Would you delay a project if the union contracts didn't meet your ideal scenario. Thank you, Christopher, why don't you go ahead first. So we're talking about the Champaign Parkway, an issue that predates even my birth on this planet. As it stands right now, I'm fighting for the taxpayers and fighting for an affordable city. And if, if push comes to shove in the cities on the hook for meeting these deadlines or failure to meet these deadlines resulting the city having to repay these federal funds, I'm going to vote for advancing the project. Because that ultimately that that bill will get passed along to the taxpayers and contribute to our rising cost of living in Burlington. It might not be the answer that you'd like to hear, but it is the answer that I'm proud to give. I will fight to keep Burlington affordable and I will allow this project to go forward. Okay, thank you, Joe. Thank you. I think that when it comes to the Champlain Parkway, we need to be absolutely certain that we are not increasing traffic in the poorest neighborhood in this city, which is partially in more three than the King Maple neighborhood. I would like to see first the really our enterprise project built which would extend battery street around to pine street, and ensure that that traffic isn't getting dumped into the King Maple neighborhood. Yeah, I think that we absolutely we're in a predicament with this with this project. It's it's a problem and we could end up owing more money to the federal government than the project is currently estimated to cost. That is a problem to me. I think that is a question of poor government. I think the plan that we currently have has tried to address some of the concerns that have been brought forth, but I still have serious concerns that this doesn't do enough to meet our 21st century goals of addressing climate change and making it more walkable more bikeable and more accessible for public transportation so I will continue to fight for that to make sure that this project works for everybody in Burlington and addresses the serious concerns that advocates have raised around racial justice and ensuring that marginalized folks are taken care of. Thank you. Okay, well we've gone through a lot of questions and we're at the end of our time together so I'd like to ask each of you to give a 30 second closing statement we'll start with Christopher. Thank you for hosting this and thank you for Jordan and everybody at CCTV for evening. I'm happy to run for Burlington City Council this town meeting day and I ask you to, to, I ask you to support my campaign and, and for your vote on the March 1 election day. It has been two years, two tumultuous years since our city council has had a conservative voice on and we're out of time aren't we. It's time to bring a conservative voice to Burlington City Council. Thank you so much. Thank you. Sorry, 30 seconds goes fast. It does. I've got a barking dog too that was distracted. Go ahead Joe. Elaine thanks so much for moderating tonight and appreciate CCTVs continued election coverage to essential service and I'm glad that we have it here in Burlington. You know I'm running for a full term on the city council to continue the work that we've done over the last five months to really address affordability and advocate for meeting folks basic needs and addressing racial equity here in the city. I have said from the beginning that I am always here to show up for a conversation, and I will do just that so please reach out to me. I can be reached at Joe McGee BTV at gmail.com or on the phone at 802-279-5513. Thank you so much. Thank you both for being patient with the time restrictions and for being here this evening. So my name is Elaine Haney and this is Joe McGee incumbent and Christopher Aaron Felker Challenger running for the Burlington City Council Ward three seat. Thank you for tuning in to town meeting television ongoing coverage of local community candidates budgets and ballot items. And this and more forums at www.ch17.tv. Don't forget to vote on or before the first Tuesday in March town meeting day, March 1 2022 early voting by mail is available by contacting your town clerk's office polls will also be open from 7am to 7pm. Thank you for watching.