 Okay, I'd like to welcome everybody, call to order the city council meeting on Monday, September 18th, and I'd like to start by saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge by wonderful deputy mayor, Brian Barton. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. At this stage of the game, we're gonna be at the agenda review. Is there anything that we need to move around tonight? No? Anything? Not me. Okay. Hearing none, moving on to the public comment section of the meeting tonight. Are there any comments from the public? Anything that's not covered on the agenda tonight? Hearing none, moving along to the consent agenda. So I wasn't here for the nine-five, do we need to? Yeah, we'll have to separate. I wasn't here for eight-twenty-one. Separate. Separate. Okay. So I would accept a motion for them one at a time if you'd like. So I'll move that we approve the meeting, the minutes from eight-twenty-seven, then, wait, wait, wait. Eight-twenty-one? Oh, sorry. Where are we here? Yeah, let's prove the council meeting minutes of August 21st. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Abstain. And I move we approve the minutes of September 5th, 2017. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Abstain. I abstain. I abstain. The brain's abstain. All right, moving on to be on the consent agenda, which is the approval of the payroll warrants of eight-twenty-seven through nine-nine-seventeen. Accounts payable warrants of nine-fourteen, twenty-seventeen as well. So moved. Second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Moving on, item number four, city update. Thank you. I have a couple of, here, a number of updates today. First, I want to brag a little bit. Last session, the legislature approved Act 79 and the governor signed the act, really, and one of the things presented in that act was the creation of the State Ethics Commission. The act also outlined who would appoint the five members of that commission. One of those appointees was the Vermont Human Resource Association. So they have appointed Julie to that commission. Wow. From all of the HR professionals in the state. So, it's really fantastic. And I want to commend her for the achievement, but also thank her for representing both human resource experts and Wienewski residents and good municipal employees across Vermont. So it's a great contribution she is choosing to make. We have a couple of interesting events coming up. This Wednesday, September 20th, from 2.30 to 5.00 at VSAC will be the second annual financial wellness day for new Americans. It's co-sponsored by CVOEO, VSAC, the city, the Vermont Humanities Council, and Champlain Housing Trust. And it's really an afternoon of information and activities. Will Baker from the AG's office be there if anyone's interested, my brother? And they'll be food and a visit from CHAMP as well. So it's a great day, especially for our new American population to come out and get some resources. And again, that's at VSAC's free event, 2.30 to 5.00 on Wednesday. On Thursday, the 21st, from 7.00 to 8.00, the Wienewski Peace Initiative and the city will be having a candlelight vigil in Rotary Park in recognition of welcoming Week and International Day of Peace, which you'll be talking about later on your agenda. So again, we encourage all in the community to come out and join us 7 o'clock in Rotary Park on Thursday. As you've heard me talk about a couple of times in the last couple of months, we are doing a lot of hiring in the city. So our communications coordinator starts tomorrow. We've got about 25 applicants. In response to that job, a really stellar group of people went through a full hiring process. And Paul Sarn flew to the top of that list. So he will be starting officially as an employee. And for those who don't know, he has been with us for the last two years as a AmeriCorps member. So we're really excited to have him start tomorrow. The leadership team will do the second round interviews with our public works finalists on Wednesday and hope to have somebody appointed quickly. Our first round of interviews for the Planning and Zoning Manager will be held on October 2. And then finalists will go to the Planning Commission. We do have three openings for equipment operators. So those are individuals who work in our public works team. Julie posted a great posting on Facebook, on Front Porch Forum today about those openings. So if anyone's interested in working with our public works crew, I encourage you to seek those out. Speaking of public works, we have a lot of work going on. We finished our line striping work for the season last week. So you should see along our main entrance ways some new painting on the ground. Because we have these equipment operator vacancies, we are starting to explore the possibility of contracting out for some of our snow removal efforts over the winter. Right now we have three individuals with CDL licenses are able to drive the snowplot truck. So clearly that is not enough to cover the city for winter operations. We are hoping to hire some more in the next couple of weeks, but are planning accordingly if we are not able to do that. And also to give them time to train up and get to know our systems. We, let's see what else I have. Public Works is working on pedestrian crosswalk improvement at East Allen Street and Dion Street. There is a crosswalk there, but it's very hard to use. We have a surplus flashing beacon from the Rotary Project at Public Works. So we are going to install that at that intersection. We are starting to see some interest in redevelopment along that side of East Allen. So we really want to make sure it's as pedestrian friendly as it can be at this point. We, wastewater slip lining is underway. We did 4,000 feet next week and we'll continue through the next few weeks. I believe it will be done by the end of the month. We have made the water taps for the 348 and the 394 projects along Main Street. Can see those big buildings going up this week. And we really want to thank the public for their patience as lanes were closed related to that work. Finally, I just want to let you know that we, I am continuing with the mayor to work with our neighboring communities on the conversation about exploring regionalization of the airport. I'll be going to the Williston Select Board meeting tomorrow night to talk with them about signing on as well. So those are my updates, thank you. Excellent. Moving on now to the council reports. Anything to report out? Yeah, so public works, Matt, I think the most substantial things, or not public works, public safety rather, the most substantial things to pass on to you all and to the public. Almost that there was some discussion in regards to staffing structure in relation to the fire department that we're actually going to be talking about in more detail tonight. So I won't go into that. And then there was also discussion around the welcoming cities policy, welcoming cities, sanctuary cities policy that we had referred out to the public safety commission and that is actually going in front of both the public safety commission and the community services commission because it touches on aspects that relate to both of them. It was a good discussion within the commission meeting. Next steps, myself and the chair of the commission are going to be reaching out to groups like the refugee resettlement program organizations. ALB is the new name of what was formally the association of Africans living in Vermont, I believe. So we're gonna be reaching out to those organizations to just sit down and put together an outreach plan in regards to ensuring we're gathering diverse community input on those policies. So that's about it. Excellent. Nothing for me. Public works to don beat either, so. Jesse and I haven't met but I do wanna remind folks to complete the six months check-in survey that was given. I think Jesse's done a great job of ensuring that we all provide some feedback about how the first six months have been going and deadline is Wednesday. Excellent. That's for us. And leadership. And leadership too. How about you, Seth? Just wanted to quickly note that we work these together and think that we've done for that effort and thanks to Jesse. Well said. All right, moving on. Moving on to regular items. Item A is approval of welcoming week and international peace day resolution. That'll be led by Seth Leonard, our illustrious mayor. Yeah, so acknowledged it as a community. I think we all know how important our diversity is and what it means to our community in terms of value, both at an individual level but the overall fabric of our economy. I'm in St. Louis right now. And it does not feel like a particularly welcoming place to be completely honest. There's a really volatile conversation taking place here. And it's gonna work so hard on Thursday that we'll also be observing the international peace with the current environment we have and more important than ever across the world so that there's lessened. But in the meantime, we are welcoming city and one that we're the resolution of everybody. Can you hear me okay? Yes. Okay, welcoming week 2017 and international peace day. Whereas the city of Manuski is proud to be the most diverse community in the state of Vermont and in our region and of the United States. And whereas nearly 60 million people worldwide are displaced by violence, political strife, for natural disaster and forced to become refugees, recognizing tremendous work of statewide organizations like the U.S. Committee for Refugees, local entities like the Association of Africans living in Vermont and the international tone set by the United Nations Refugee Agency. And whereas Manuski applauds the efforts of the United Nations in establishing the International Day of Peace, which is being deserved and celebrated across our country. And whereas Manuski stands with the global national regional local response challenging times to promote respect, safety, and dignity for all. And whereas Manuski has had a long proud tradition of being a community that welcomes refugees as new Americans and valued members of our community since Vermont the King of Refugees settlement location 1989. And whereas the community success both today and in our future depends on making sure all residents of our community feel welcome in our community and our empowered to engage in their community surroundings. And whereas we recognize the value of the diversity in our community contributes to the vibrancy of our unique cultural family, Manuski, which makes our community an exciting place to live. And whereas we recognize that diversity in our community sparks curiosity in our community members and offers an opportunity for decisions or for residents to experience a cultural richness when they explore the different life experiences of their neighbors and whereas we are able to identify the important civic roles that new Americans plan our community as neighbors, parents and active participants for local events, boards, commissions and committees. And whereas we recognize the importance contributing the formal refugees brings the economic vitality of our community in region or state acting as valued employees, innovative business leaders, entrepreneurs and consumers personally all work together with all of our neighbors to achieve a sense of community where all feel welcome, valued, safe. And whereas Manuski, Vermont recognizes the global resettlement needs dictate that our community, region, state, and national be called upon to offer refuge for those who are displaced. And we stand in support of refugees having the right to become our neighbors and rebuild their lives in their new home. And now therefore the city of Manuski does hear my proclaim the week of September 18th as welcoming week. And we stand also in observance of an international day of peace in September 21st as we stand united to commemorate the strength, courage and the resilience of millions of refugees around the world including refugees who have come to call Manuski home. Very nice. Thank you, Seth. Thank you. So, I would accept a motion and move we approve the resolution that's written. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Thank you. Approval passed. Moving on to item B. So item B is a discussion approval item for you around the job descriptions for what I am proposing as the fire chief and the battalion chief. So since I have been here working with staff, the team from the fire department as well as the public safety commission who took this up last week as Eric mentioned, I have decided to make this recommendation to you. So the summary point of the recommendation is that the current code enforcement director job description is being amended to be the fire chief job description and the current fire chief job description is being amended to be the battalion chief job description and you have those two attached. So those are specifically the positions that John Audie and John Spittle respectively currently hold. I came to this decision based on lots of conversations with lots of people because I think it achieves a couple of critical outcomes for us. First, one of my observations being here is we are actually doing something very innovative in the city of Winooski by organizationally combining fire suppression and fire prevention under the same organizational heading. There are a lot of communities who are trying to do that to put building inspection, health, life, safety, activities with a fire department. I think that's an innovation we're already doing and we need to kind of double down on that, especially with a part-time fire department where we do struggle a bit with daytime coverage. Secondly, I think with the job descriptions as currently written, there is some confusion about roles and responsibilities and clarifying these titles will improve that. Third, I think that one of the challenges with having a part-time fire chief who has another job is that the connection between Chief Spill has done an amazing job, but he is not in the city hall 40 hours a week with the rest of the leadership team. So that connection to human resources and finance and the other members of the leadership team is a challenge. So to have a fire chief who's here who can make those connections and bring those resources back to the fire department will only strengthen those connections between the department and the rest of the city. I think we're doing, we have a really good thing going on right now between the leadership team and everyone kind of seeing their expert roles but also seeing themselves as part of the team and we want to increase those ties to the fire department. Finally, there is organizational support that's needed for the fire department and freeing up some of John Audie's time to dedicate to professionalization and human resources and standard operating procedures of the fire department will only strengthen that group. So that's my proposal, John is here tonight if you'd like to hear from him directly and certainly if you have specific questions around these job descriptions, I'm happy to answer them. One final point, these are the only two changes recommended. There's no money tied to these changes. There's no, the rest of the leadership team of the fire department will stay exactly as is with the same operational expectations. This, I really hesitate to call this a reorganization. I don't think it is. I think it's really clarifying the roles and responsibilities of two employees. In summary, the job descriptions show that as fire chief John Audie will be primarily responsible at an executive level for all operations of the fire department and obviously policy, staffing, budgeting, et cetera. And as battalion chief, Spittle will be primarily responsible for operational readiness, training, off-hours coverage, the team at the fire department. So that's in summary, but happy to answer any detailed questions about the job descriptions. And John, why don't you come up as well, thank you. Just a quick question. On the city council agenda item form, is that going to be filed anywhere specifically? Is the form itself that we're reading in our packet? This is filed with the minutes of the meeting. And it's available on our website as part of the meeting packet. Okay, the paragraph that says I recommend after it says fire chief job description, the word is pre-placed. So I think we want to put a re-placed in there. Oh, yep, thank you. We just had so much foresight, we pre-placed. Yeah, we pre-placed, let's see. Sorry, I just wanted to make sure we had that corrected for going to file it. Yep, can I just ask Eric to share the public safety commission's discussion on this change? Yeah, I think that there was a lot of discussion that was especially nestled in context to previous staffing changes at the fire department. And the commission really wanting to ensure there was comfortability around stability through that angle. I think what was really assuring to a lot of the members of the commission was the discussion hearing from John and hearing from Chief Spittle in regards to their comfortability. They are obviously the ones most impacted by this direct position change and are the people who are in leadership positions that will be implementing this. Knowing that this came from a place that on grounds that they were both really comfortable with was really assuring to the commission. And I think one of the things that really made sense to a lot of commission members was that this provides that clarity of chain of command in the event of an incident. And I'm sure John could get into a little bit more of some of the complications surrounding our current structure and why this is a solution to that for when certain individuals arrive on scene at a fire. So I don't know if John, if he could dive into a little bit of that. I think that was really helpful for the commission and could be really helpful for the council as well. Yeah, so first of all, good evening. The confusion still exists even with the reorg that we previously did with my role here. If I go on a fire call in my P17 as a firefighter, the fire marshal or the director. And that was a pretty consistent message that we cut both on the ground operationally and through some other conversations that HR facilitated with the membership of the fire department. Even as we sit in our office, if you will, with the assistant fire marshal and the captain, depending on how we rolled out for the day to the call, I could be the director and the fire tone would go and then I'm P17 on the truck. Again, for the individuals at that level, it's not an issue, but for some others looking at it, even our mutual aid partners, that's a bit confusing. So it clears that up. Chief Spittles done an excellent job, as Jess said. And if this happens, we're fortunate to retain John. He has some historical, some institutional knowledge which is needed, but I think it does allow us to cover more bases, with some more clarity which is extremely important. So I think, like Jesse was saying, if throughout the discussions, it really did, like we feel like this was strengthening that idea of lumping prevention and suppression under the same wheelhouse and having a really clear structure by which we're setting that vision. I think that's really innovative and this, it just felt like it worked, at least for myself. I don't know if I could say, I'm not gonna speak for the other commission members, but it just made a lot of sense to me and I really appreciate all the thought that went into this idea. It seemed really logical, I guess, was how I would phrase it. No question. Jesse, you alluded to freeing up some of John's time to focus on some of the more operational issues, policies, et cetera. What impact does that have, if any, on the code enforcement duties of that? I mean, how does, how is this time being freed up? So what's currently proposed is with the hiring of a planning and zoning manager position, which historically, or historically, by the last couple of years, John has either provided that service or supervised that service. That person will now report directly to me as part of a planning and community development unit. And John, while still very much involved in the building permit code enforcement versus rental registry side of things, that will shift away freeing up more of his time to focus on the operational executive level oversight at the fire department. Thank you. Can I add one little piece to that? That's not time wasted, in my opinion, and I don't think the city should feel that way, meaning me doing that building and zoning, tying it into code. I think four years ago, we were very siloed. We've used that word a lot in this room. And I think that move allowed us to break those silos and understand both directions from emergency services to land use, from land use to emergency services. I think all involved, even the leadership team has a much better understanding of all those, those connections, interconnections. I mean, I do personally. So I don't, it's not, it wasn't wasted time, and I think we move forward through that time, which is important. Any other questions? It's important that, you know, while I know everyone, reassess the way, you know, hopefully we settle a little bit this way. And the retention of the folks that were sitting in those positions to begin with. I think that's extremely important. Has the funding source changed at all with the change? Currently, the funding sources have not changed at all. That is something to the mayor's last point. That is something that we are looking at for the FY19 budget development. But for FY18, it is staying the way the current as budgeted, currently budgeted. I guess I had a question on what the process would be enrolling this change out, enrolling it up to fire department staff. So this is something that we have discussed with the officers in the fire department twice and individually as well. So they are certainly aware that this is under consideration. If adopted tonight, our intent would, there's an officer's meeting on Wednesday would be to roll it out officially there with them and make the necessary HR changes. I think, you know, again, there is, I think very significant added benefit to the fire department as a result of these changes. But other than that, it's wording changes. So it's not really no, you know, direction, no reporting lines are changing or math is changing or expectations are really adjusting that much. But maybe for John, Audie who will see some added responsibilities as a result. But our intention would be to roll it out this week if approved tonight. Yes. Any further questions from the board? Any questions from the public? Hearing none, I would entertain a motion. We approve the fire chief and battalion chief job descriptions as presented. Second. All those in favor? Thank you. Thank you. Moving on to item C discussion item. So this is our first, you remember, yeah, sorry. As you remember from the adoption of the FY 18 policy priorities and strategies discussion and the monitoring plan, we had discussed not only making other adjustments and how we report things to you, but also making time each month to talk about one strategic vision area in detail. So this is the first of such report outs. You have a memo here presented by staff. And so two things we want to accomplish tonight. One is to provide you an update, but also kind of to test this template to see if it works. We thought it was the clearest way to kind of give you a snapshot and some details. But certainly if you have recommendations about that tool moving forward, we're open to hearing them. But what you have in front of you is a quick snapshot of the actual spreadsheet that was adopted in a status column, showing where our assessment of where we are in achieving these areas. And then details on each of the different strategies outlined and the progress made in the last couple of, in the last month, since they were adopted last month. As well, so details on those adopted by the council, details on those other efforts staff has identified as important. And then also a section on what the council can expect in the upcoming months about your role in accomplishing these strategies as well. So I think I will turn it over to Heather to start and just walk us at a very high level through the memo. Sure, and as guinea pigs, if there's something that you'd like me to shift in the way I'm presenting it to you, or if you have questions or want clarification, please feel free to interrupt. And John and Paul, feel free to jump in. So what you see in front of you as Jesse very clearly laid out is a chart looking through the first four strategic priorities that were established by council. And we have this color coded so you can see what's proceeding and what hasn't started yet, what started but not proceeding well. And you can see that we have made progress as planned on two of the items and have not yet started on two of the other items. In terms of the ones that are proceeding, we have created and are supporting a housing commission. And we've established, as we've discussed here at council before, a pretty well-grounded group of housing experts. So they're not starting from scratch and don't have to kind of be brought up to speed quite so much because we do have a very aggressive deadline of coming back to you with housing goals in January. So I think that I have a lot of confidence that this group can do that with the appropriate structure. So that has been set up and met for the first time at the end of August and we had a good meeting where we just basically went over the Winooski Housing Needs Assessment and the recommendations that were made there so that we have that as a starting point and established what our goals will be for that January deadline. We have also continued with implementation of the firehouse software. There's a lot of data entry involved with that. So we are midway through that process. As part of that, the annual landlord registry forms went out this year as prefilled. So they had the general owner property and emergency information which made it easier for the landlords to respond to those. PDE is now the creator of all emergency reports and PDE and code enforcement in the fire department are all connected via a web-based program. So it's easier for them to share information and it's vastly improved the efficiency overall. It's reduced the number of paper touches threefold. In addition, commercial inspections will begin via, oh, they began via iPads this week and residential will follow in October. So that is underway and we're looking forward to the results of that. The two that have not been started yet are the update to form-based code and that's very much at this point. It's been discussed repeatedly through the planning commission but as a result of not having the housing goals yet, the planning commission has recommended that we hold off until we get a little bit further into the housing goals and as the housing portion of the municipal plan comes together there's an expectation that some of the needs for changes in form-based code will reveal themselves. The other piece that we haven't done yet is streamlining and clarifying the permit process. That again is something that's reliant upon us getting a new planning and zoning manager into a position. So coming soon and stay tuned. And if I can just interject on that one as well. We probably should have clarified that a lot of work historically has already been done on that. So we have pretty good processes in place now but as we shift staffing and as responsibility shift and as we take another look at our regulations we wanna make sure this is just always on our minds to be responsive to those looking to do projects in Winooski. So we certainly don't wanna undersell or not mention the progress that's already been made on those streamlining efforts. Thank you very much for saying that. In terms of other efforts that staff have prioritized some of them are progressing, some of them not as much. They are developing a revolving loan fund for code and life safety improvements. That is another thing that's dependent on completion of the firehouse data. Enhancing the home improvement loan program is something that I very much look forward to but I think that that will need to be revamped in response to the housing goals. Developing a welcome packet for new residents is part of what will be assigned to our new communications coordinator and that should be over the course of this next year. Expand our relationship with the Winooski Housing Authority and a couple things have happened with that. A current member of the Winooski Housing Authority Board of Directors is a member of the Housing Commission so that naturally creates a bridge. In addition to that, the city manager has met with the Winooski Housing Authority leadership to build and strengthen our relationships. So this will be ongoing. Consider a certified local government status. This is based, it's a status that is focused on promoting historic preservation through grants and access to technical assistance. Grants are available between five and $10,000 per grant although there have been recent grants awarded up to $30,000. One of the benefits of this is there are only 15 certified local government municipalities in the state so we'd have a high likelihood of winning these grants. The downside of it is it's a fairly onerous set of requirements in order to get this. So that's something that I'll be coming forward with you with more information on so that you can consider that in the future. And lastly is consider housing partnership as part of the OCC redevelopment. Staff has met with Michael Monty of Champlain Housing Trust to introduce the project and seek feedback regarding feasibility of partnering and we had a really positive meeting. So next steps were developed at the meeting and communication will be ongoing. Staff also met with Martin Hahn, the housing director of Vermont Housing and Conservation Board to introduce and discuss the project in September of 2016. So we have kind of laid some groundwork there to be continued. Upcoming council roles will include considering approval to pursue the certified local government designation as part of that considering approval of an ordinance to establish a historic preservation commission. FY19 budget discussion and funding priorities aligned with the adopted policy priorities and strategies. You'll be receiving recommendations from the housing commission and you'll participate in the launch of the master planning process. And we are here to take questions. That was a very, very brief, high overview. So one question I don't even know if it's possible but I wanted to at least ask it anyway. I love the block style given this direction where everything's going. But when there's a status that has not been started yet at all, maybe we could put an anticipatory date in there. Like when the, like we're going to have things that land in between meetings, that kind of thing. But if we at least as council know when those meetings are going to occur as a more educational piece that we could have as well. But I like that block style. I think that gives us the opportunity to see where we milled into that and all the other pieces to it as well. Do you want to rephrase that? Yeah, I got it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, all right. Now I got you. Any other comments or questions? This is great. And I think it provides a really clear picture of the work being done. And I know something that I've heard back from residents is obvious concern about historical preservation too. And I think it's really reassuring for folks to know that that's being looked at as well. Because it's really a misperception that that's not something that's been thought about and discussed a lot. So, but I think this puts us, really frames the work going on in a clear way. So thank you for doing this. And I appreciate all the work that is going on. Thank you. I agree. I really appreciate the narrative alongside the status grid. It's really helpful to have those two pieces together. Comments? First is I think this is very informative and easy to digest. So I really appreciate that. I have one maybe random question. And one other, Seth, is it accurate to say that we will get, as the Housing Commission meets, we'll get sort of regular updates around sort of the nature of the discussion or as the expectation that we won't necessarily get a formal report until the next time the housing is up on the schedule for this type of a presentation. I just want to make sure we're all on the same page around how that information is going to be circulated. I think it can go either way. I mean, it can be part, I know Seth will be at the Housing Commission meetings and so it can be part of the council report or if you prefer, I can bring. Yeah. I guess what I think would be useful is if Seth gives a really high level, this is the discussion that we had. And if it's something that any of us have an interest in learning more about then we can ask for that at a subsequent meeting if that makes sense for people. And then the other question is the state has this big affordable housing bond. And I'm just wondering how that relates to any of these activities, if at all. Jesse, do you want to speak to that? Sure. So that has potential to relate to specifically a targeted project in Winooski. So Vermont Housing Conservation Board had did a series of meetings around the state informational meetings about that bond. I attended that, it's actually where Monti and I kind of connected around a project here in Winooski. Champlain Housing Trust has a lot of interest in doing a project here. We had a follow-up meeting with him, Heather and myself, about that concept. I think the really exciting part of that conversation for us is those funds were very excited on the statewide level that funds are being prioritized for affordable housing projects. 30 million dollars for projects across the state is actually not much money. And I think there's a real priority in the funding circles to make sure it's spread throughout the state. Winooski has a lot of affordable housing. I think while we have a good story to tell about kind of following good money with good money and success with success, we don't have a shovel ready project and we have a lot of inventory already. Having said that, what the message we heard and Heather correct me if I'm wrong is Champlain Housing Trust with some of the ideas we were floating has lots of different funding opportunities for such projects. So essentially what we heard on a very preliminary level without a project that you all have approved without any of that yet was we can make this project work. It may become in the second round of the state bond funding in two years or it could come through other financing mechanisms CHD has access to. So it's certainly on the table, but I think the positive for us is that a future project in Winooski is not wed to that money because I think that money is going to be very competitive. Great, I appreciate you starting that conversation. It might be too early on in the conception of the idea right now, but I did have a question about the welcome packet and what the goal for distribution is. So like how will we actually get that for residents? Is it just for homeowners? Is it for new renters coming in? We don't have any plan yet. That it's something that's been discussed, I believe for a long time here at the city and it's something that in my prior work, I've had one for business owners, for new homeowners, a wide variety for visitors. So it's something that's been on my agenda as well, but I think that we will wait until we have a new brand and a communications coordinator in position before we really come up with the specifics of what that will be. I think a lot of the materials that will be part of that packet will also be developed by the communications coordinator. So it could be things like parking maps, explanations of how to use the parking meter. I think a bunch of things will come together as well as the places that you can go out to eat here and any kind of nixle information, a wide variety of things that would be useful. Yeah, I look forward to that and looking forward to discussions on ways we can ensure for investing resources and getting this packet out to residents, we're doing it equally for all residents. Absolutely. Yeah, John, we've talked about rental registry, new landlords, owner-occupied, whatever, having something that says like, these are the rules you need to follow. This is what you can call. These are the resources you have. I think it's gonna be awesome to see what the new communications coordinator can do. Any other comments? Hearing none. Any comments from the public on this particular agenda item? All right, hearing none, that was a discussion item. We'll take that up next month. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Nice job, guys. Moving on to item D, discussion item, mandatory changes to the city's fair and impartial policing policy. So I'm gonna give a brief update on this and ask the time and government to come up as well. So, as you know, we have an adopted fair and impartial policing policy under the police general orders that you've seen. As we've talked about before, those are also under review by the attorney general's office and the group enacted by the legislature. We received, the chief received a notification from the training council last week that they had released a new statewide mandated fair and impartial policing policy and it was the requirement that all municipalities adopted by October 1st to come into compliance with federal legislation. This is in advance of another fair and impartial policing policy that we anticipate coming out around January 1st. So the language is here. You can see in track changes how it's different from our current general orders. I did also want a caveat that this is in parallel to the conversations as Eric mentioned earlier that we're having around a welcoming city policy that's more expansive, broader than just general orders under the police department. So that conversation continues on while we look to adopt this. Formally, you don't need to take action on this. This is an order that the chief has the authority to give but because we've talked about it before we wanted to bring it to you so you were aware that it was happening. Do I add anything to that or, you know, the changes are relatively, I mean, it's not a whole haul rewrite. There are some wording changes. So I don't know if you want us to walk through those or just ask questions or. Can you just give a brief what eight USC 1373 and 1644 are considering that's like a lot of the ad. It's just federal legislation that came down. It speaks directly about communication between government agencies and the immigration and naturalization service. So the chief actually printed it up for me so I can read it verbatim. But in general, not with not withstanding any other provision of federal state or local law or local government entity or official may not prohibit or in any way restrict any government entity or official from sending to receiving from the immigration naturalization service information regarding the citizenship or immigration status lawful or unlawful of any individual. Additional authority of government entities speaks to not withstanding any other provision of federal state or local law no person or agency may prohibit or in any way restrict the federal state or local government entity from doing any of the following with respect to information regarding the immigration status whether lawful or unlawful of any individual. So the three things listed are sending such information to or requesting or receiving such information from immigration and naturalization service on maintaining the information and exchanging such information with any federal state or local government entity. So that's what's covered under 1373. The US code 1644 speaks of communication between state and local government agencies immigration naturalization service not withstanding any other provision of the state federal or local law no state or local government entity may be prohibited or in any way restricted from sending to or receiving from immigration naturalization service information regarding the immigration status lawful or unlawful of an alien in the United States. So I think the upshot of this and if I'm wrong Scott is one of the concerns at the state level with the past policy is adopted is that it danced on the legal edge of municipalities prohibiting something that they couldn't prohibit under federal law. So what the federal law says is that municipalities while you can encourage or have policies that support something you can't prohibit your employees from complying with other federal laws. Is this a new federal law or has this been on the books and there's some renewed interest in it? I don't believe it's a new federal law. It sounds like it's particular to the INS and I'm wondering if either of you know if ICE or the or CBP is a substructure of INS or if they're separate government agencies. That was a great question. I don't know what's actually where INS sits. I also I'd have to read the subsections you just read as well. But it was I hearing that wrong it sounded like this was saying we cannot prohibit any of this communication coordination with INS. But was it was it broader than that? I think it was with any federal agency. Yeah. I thought it was saying no federal, state or local agency could be prohibited from communicating with INS immigration information. Not this. But I and I could have heard that wrong. Could they say that federal, state or local no state or local government entity may be prohibited or in any way restricted from sending or receiving from the immigration and naturalization service. Okay, so it's only with respect to INS? And the first one, the statute 1373. But J and Homeland Security has ICE. 1373 speaks of immigration and naturalization service also. I believe the changes will be substantial. I think this was an intermediate step to limit a lawsuit liability against this municipalities and the state as a whole. But my understanding is from the training council is that there's a more significant rewrite coming including considering state level policy that would direct municipalities as opposed to municipalities obligation to adopt on our own. I know that we've seen on the national stage lawsuits in regards to funding. But have we seen any lawsuits in regards to prohibition of either state or municipal employees and federal law? Like have we seen anything that sets case law around this? Because it really comes down to something that the courts have to grab with the law which is the state's rights issue essentially. And I'm just wondering if we've seen cases where other states or municipalities have been told that their laws were unconstitutional. If let's say these changes have not been made. I'm not aware of any, but I have not done a lecture. I was just wasn't sure if you'd heard anything. Any other comments or questions? I did have one on section F subsection B. I'm just wondering if you know it if you happen to know any of the context for the reason for the strike through there. It's like at the very end of last page. I've been given no information as far as why they struck that or what was driven to do that. I just know the modifications were made by the training council and for them to create the statewide policy which will be modified in January. So it's like a temporary thing to meet the standards that are presently out there. And as far as the reasoning for that specific strike, I have no independent information for you. Do you know, does the training council work with the attorney general? Yes, yes. So again, sorry, no action is needed tonight on this but it is, it did as the chief and I received this information last week. It did feel a little frustrating giving the other conversations we've been having through the public safety commission about these policies. So I think there is interest in Southside in adopting them as it is a state requirement and certainly we want to be part of those conversations as they move forward to ensure that what comes out of this process meets our community's needs. But we didn't want to go through that without having come to you with it because we're having these very active conversations about them. Are there any other comments from the council, questions? Are there other municipalities that you know of in the state of Vermont that are having to make similar, well I guess all of them are having to adopt this. Do you know of any that intend not to? That you've heard off the top of your head. I know that nationally there will likely be cities that will not, there currently are. Just on Friday there was a court decision in regards to funding specifically for Chicago where the judge granted a temporary injunction saying that the Department of Justice and Attorney General Jeff Sessions could not prohibit the disbursement of federal funds to Chicago for refusal to cooperate with federal immigration policy. So I think we are starting to see some national level case law trickle in. And I think it's super important and critical. We pay attention to that and look in. And this is, it seems like if you read through a lot of this policy and read through some of the use of resources sections, a lot of what it's saying and the intended impact of what it's saying then is completely washed away by the new language saying actually we cannot put any teeth into what we're intending or trying to do. So I guess that I feel frustration. It sends conflicting messages. And so what would be useful, I mean I understand we're gonna have a couple of time opportunities to have this discussion in Winnowsky and frame our approach in a way that's gonna work in Winnowsky that's also going to be consistent with state and particularly state guidance. And this is coming from our attorney general. So it would be useful if we could get an update on what exactly that went. Is it what the scenario anticipated is? Is it that INS wants to know about the specific immigration status of an individual? Are you, this policy can't prohibit an employee from responding to INS who has a request about an individual's immigration status. That seems to be a little bit more narrow than this statement that on its face looks fairly broad and seems to directly contradict what the plain language of the policy says which is we're not gonna devote staff resources, we're not gonna ask about immigration status but then there's this in bright red language letters. Except we have to. Except we will. So I think understanding that this is an interim measure, it also sort of flies in the face of the resolution we just passed earlier. It'd be helpful to get just a little bit more clarity for the purposes of explaining to people what the practical impacts of this change are. That would be helpful. I also think two clarifications that are really understand the difference in roles between INS and ICE and if this is prohibiting specific communications with INS, does that not mean we can't have those policies in place when it actually comes to agencies like ICE that are performing immigration enforcement activities, which would be my larger concern. General's office, if there's additional detail but the fact that they just handed this down, I mean, that's, I appreciate the memo but what specifically spurred them to have this reaction because that's not more of a technical legal basis not just because there was fear of lawsuits. You know, what we are seeing is premise, well, not long held premise, the legal precedent set by three before was that funding could, funding impact would be limited to JAG funds. This is in the countries they've actually tried to attach. You know, as we continue progressing down this road and frankly, if we have a response, you know, those, what came up in Chicago and some other places is things like housing money. Okay, any, anything else Seth? Okay, any comments from the public on this particular item of the agenda? Okay, hearing none, moving on to item E which is the use of reserves that purchase an audio log recorder. So again, I'll leave a high little summary and then Scott can jump in. So we had a, as the chief says, a total system failure on our recorder. The recorder, it's our telephone and radio transmission which is a, is a very significant thing from public safety perspective. It's a very old system. We knew it was on its last legs. So we are coming to request to use 9,200 from our capital reserves to buy a new system. We are recommending we buy not the lowest bidder but go with, what's it called? Acorn, Acorn, Acorn, thank you. Because that is the current system used by our partners in the regional dispatch conversation. So as we line up our systems and our staff being used to working with technology, we wanna make sure we're as well suited to integrate if we decide to go in that direction. So we don't know, Scott if you can add any details about what this is. Chief, take me up to another little memo, just to say here to you. But I do have personal knowledge of it because I was the one responsible for going into the audio log system and retrieving the information for the court as far as the system records all radio traffic, both police and fire. It records all the phone lines except for one that come in and out of the police department. So again, the system that we had was fairly antiquated, was over 15 years old, and it did record all phone lines and radio transmissions at the police department. The ability to provide copies of the 911 calls for successful prosecution in court is a big aspect. The 911 system when people call the 911 centers, they get transferred to us. So the 911 centers will have the very initial phone call, but then when it's transferred to us, all that information is on our system. So that's what we retrieve for court. And that's oftentimes where they get more detailed information from the callers and it's just need to capture that. Also the fact that we can review radio transmissions before or during or after the incident. So if an officer says something and it comes through quickly or there's background noise and the dispatcher can't hear it instead of wasting time and energy asking them to repeat, they can just back up in the system and be able to hear what they said and hopefully keep things moving along at a pace so that we can successfully resolve what's going on. But the chief speaks of the strand development plan that did include money to move the communications tower because a proposed height of the building would have interfered with the proper reception. The plan also called to replace the recording device since it was not capable of working from such a remote location. The strand project is currently on hold and since the new old unit is no longer functioning, we need to request the capital funds for this replacement. This new replacement recording system is a combination of software and hardware that is a standalone unit capable of recording up to 10 channels and with two terabytes of storage. It also comes with a one year maintenance and warranty plan. The anticipated lifespan for Acorn is 10 plus years. The same device is currently being used by the state police, Colchester police, South Burlington and the state PSAP centers. It is capable of being moved to a consolidated dispatch center if necessary. It is cloud based. The new device also allows dispatchers to play back radio and phone calls. Workstation to perform the information. This played into effect on a call I handled a couple weeks ago. It was a rescue call for a woman having difficulty breathing and they gave us a vocation in one of the apartment buildings here. We went knocked on the door. Nobody answered, we were able to get inside. Nobody's home. And we were supposed to be going for a female and everything in the apartment looked male. So we had to go back to the 911 center. They re-listened to the call and figured out they sent us to the wrong apartment. So we're right building wrong apartment. So the ability to do that, by the time we reached out, it was a good five, 10 minutes before we were directed to where we need to be. Where this way the call comes through and the dispatcher, if we tell them, hey, this isn't seeming right, they can immediately get back into it and listen to see if there was a number transposed or something misheard just to allow for a more efficient and safer response for people there. The big thing with the system again is the court. I mean, we provide a lot of discovery material through this information. And right now I have to submit a letter explaining that our system has failed. We don't have this available to us and we're working on being able to provide this to the courts again for the successful prosecutions of cases. Just to clarify, Jesse, you said it wasn't the lowest bit. It also wasn't the highest bit. Right. So this is the midpoint and that the added benefit is that it is something that can be connected to the regional conversation. If that's the direction that it just decided on. Any other questions? As confident as we can be that this is something that to this investment will. Right, one of the significant advantages of going to the regional dispatch, if we decide to go in that direction is to be co-located with a PSAP, the state dispatching system, which Shelburne currently is, so it could move over with us. It's the system the state uses. So it's automatically the system we would use. So again, it can transfer with us. Our staff will be familiar with its use. It's a, you know, for a couple thousand under $2,000, I think I think it's worth the investment to stay with the regional partner. I think that's a smart price tag choice, given all the discussions around regional dispatch. It would make a lot of sense to go back by the system that won't be compatible. Make it more complicated. Yeah. Any other questions from council? Seeing and hearing none. Any questions or conversation from the public? Okay. Hearing and seeing none. Take action tonight on that. You need a specific amount in motion. So the recommended action is to prove the use of unassigned capital reserves for the purchase of the replacement audio log recorder, not to exceed 9,200. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Moving on. Item F, approval of the municipal planning grant application resolution. So we've had pretty good luck in last year with support from the state. So the municipal planning grants are grants they give out to communities to do master planning work. We're currently using the economic development strategic planning work. As we, the planning commission is gearing up to kick off that process. And this funding request is coming around. We want to at least throw our hat in the ring. And we have Heather and myself and Paul Dreher have talked about using these funds to augment the master plan with more mapping technology. We have certainly some of that through CCRPC. But Heather paused and really innovative ideas of how we think about the goals of our city around a map, you know, really plot out in GIS how to visualize those goals. So that's our proposal. Yeah, I mean, you did a really good job there. I think that mapping can be used as a data tool for analysis and can really assist us and can clearly communicate what our needs are. So I'm hoping that we can have support in doing that. We don't currently have the software internally or the expertise to do that ourselves. And what I am asking you to approve is an application for $20,000 with a $6,000 match. And I would come back with a request for funds from the CDC fund balance for that. We have over $140,000 that we kind of left and said, we'll come back to you first of this as needed. So I'm hoping that you'll approve this application. So just to clarify, the $140,000, was that for FY 19? No, that was 18, yeah. Okay, so the pool of resources that you have to work with this fiscal year is largely unallocated. Yes, we budgeted for about half of it and left the remainder. Thank you. And that pool of money is earmarked for economic development purposes, right? Correct. And we very intentionally did that to think about being able to leverage it against other opportunities that presented itself as well as I know there is some concern about using that budget to fund operations until the TIF expires. So how do we use it strategically and not just use it for operations here too? And just to let you know, we're ahead of schedule with our economic development strategic plan. So we should be coming in, I think probably about three, four months before the deadline. We've done the interim report and everything is going rather swimmingly. Great. This is a great resource. I just went to the Springfield presentation. They were one of the awardees last year and saw the mapping that they did there and they did a really good job. So, great job finding a resource and doing after it. Anything? All right. Any other questions? Nope? Okay. Any questions or comments from the public around this particular item on the agenda? Hearing is seeing none. I move we approve the application and sign the resolution to apply for the municipal planning grant. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Thank you very much. Thank you. You were late on that one, Seth. Try to stay with us, bud. That's awesome. All right, moving on to the next item. Item G, discussion approval, FY19 budget plan and schedule. So as I have alluded to before, our staff is recommending that we adjust the FY19 budget cycle a bit. The biggest change here that we're recommending is to consider the comprehensive municipal budget in the winter with the general fund budget as opposed to doing solely the general fund budget in the winter and then the special revenue funds over the course of the spring. We think the advantage to that, to the council is that as you make budgetary decisions, many of those decisions cross funding streams and so to make those decisions comprehensively with a full financial picture in mind, we think there's a benefit to that. It will also, quite frankly, free up some time in the spring to focus efforts on larger policy conversations. It certainly will be a heavy lift, especially in this first year as we all kind of get used to it. So in order to facilitate that process, Angel and I have tried to lay out a really clear plan of what would happen. So it will require some grouping together of budgets. So what you have in the memo is our recommendation of how those different budgets would be grouped together. So for example, the night that we would present to you the general government budget, which is administration, community and economic development, et cetera, we would talk about that part of the general fund, the TIF budget, the parking budget and the CDC budget together. Those are all the same humans in our organization who do that work. So to think about the shared goals and the shared allocation of resources, we think there's an advantage to that. So we've outlined how we would group them. Additionally, we wanna be very intentional about how we give you materials to process because there's gonna be a lot of information coming all at once. So our intention is at the first meeting in December, we would hand you a complete budget book of all of the proposed budgets as well as background information on city operations as well. And then we would use a uniform presentation template as we did with the special revenue funds last spring. So as information was coming to you, was coming to you in kind of a uniform way. So you could kind of get used to how changes or organizational changes or anything was being presented. Additionally, in this memo, you have overview of the proposed council schedule. So the things to highlight are, this does actually stay with your proposed meeting schedule that you approved right after the meeting. It does suggest that at your next council meeting at the beginning of October, you have a budget goal setting session to think about what are their things, what goals do you wanna set for staff as we build our proposed budget? So what goals on tax rate goals, level services goals, are there goals that you have where you are looking for new services or are there goals that you have where you want us to think about eliminating a service, kind of outline those for us conceptually. So over October, November, as we finalize the budget, we can have that in the back of our minds. Then October 4th, or I'm sorry, December 4th will be the presentation of the complete budget and then department by department from there. I've also given you just for your information in order to achieve this council process, what does staff need to do on the back end to that over the next couple of months. So you have that in your memo as well. Happen to answer any questions? It's fantastic. It's nice. Couple times I think it's a really thoughtful adjustment. It makes a lot of sense. It is asking staff to front and some of that work that maybe has been a little bit more spread out and necessarily fit from the overall is great. So as long as they feel like they can handle that for that, you know, I'm supportive. One thing we still need to work out. I know this is on our list, but I just want to say to this group too is integrating fund balance into this conversation and when we're going to address that and approach it each year. And that's something we've talked about fixing for a while and those in separate silos has created some tension in the past in terms of what we are and are not going to invest in and we've talked about the same things and two different budget conversations, which doesn't make any sense is sometimes come what we're going to do with fund balance. Again, we funded a significant number of things post budget again to take that out of the budget conversation feels a bit disjointed. But at the same time, I want to be thoughtful that we're not offering operations too heavily with inconsistent funding. So just want to throw that out there. All set. Any other comments? Questions? No, I mean, I've never been through the budget process. Oh, lucky you. If this is something that makes sense to all of you and the staff, it makes sense to me. I think it'll actually make it easier for you in the first go around to be able to see me because instead of seeing like one piece and then two months later, another piece, and go, what do we just look at? It's really hard to like refer back and know what just happened. So I think it'll actually be easier. I think it's gonna be a lot easier for us here to digest and process the information. And hopefully you guys can keep up and get it done. But I imagine you have to have preliminary conversation around all these budgets when it's happening anyway. So now you just have to button it up in time. But I think it'll be good for us here. And you will be working from the same templates that you've always worked from as far as the roll downs and all that stuff. So to brag a minute about our team. So Angela and I've been talking about this for a couple of weeks and trying to lay out a schedule that was reasonable and the leadership team reviewed. And we put together this memo. And the first after on the staff's calendar, the first deliverable is September 22nd of Angela to send out the budget sheets. She sent them out today. So she's already ahead of the game. There you go. Show up. Show up. See that guys? So I think one benefit to having this separate conversations was that it was very clear to us that the decisions we were making were translating to not necessarily programs and services, but definitely a tax rate and what the tax implications were going to be. So, and I don't want to lose that as a lens that we're looking through. So I guess it'd be important to me that the information is presented in a way that it's very clear, the funding sources and the translation in terms of impacts of the taxpayer. Yes, good point. You can certainly do that. That's not on here that we made a commitment to last year is also is fixing revenue at some point in time. One thing that is challenging or has presented challenges in the past is, you know, at times as the grand list assessments taking place and where we think growth is going to be the numbers have changed a little bit. And sometimes at the last minute and it's stumping of toes. So I think that fixing revenue at some juncture is something we should also talk about. Yep, so on the, I think that's a really good point and on the proposed staff schedule here in mid October, you'll see a line where our internal team is meeting with the assessor. We actually already have it on the calendar. I think it's October 12th or 14th to go over essentially line by line in the grand list as compared to the building permits and zoning permits that have been issued and do that estimate to set it before we actually even start talking about new areas for cuts. And we did just approve the fee ordinance. We also talked about revisiting that regularly and had a conversation about revisiting that at this time of the year to see if we want to make adjustments before a budget process started. I was making the assumption that we didn't want to reopen those considering those were just adopted two months ago. But if we want to do that, we certainly can as well. Does that make sense? So when- I'm sorry, I didn't make all that up. When we approved the fee ordinance chapter back in July, we had a discussion about how we regularly review that chapter to make sure that the fees charged are in line with the costs and what we're trying to incentivize. And we had a conversation about doing that in October of every year before a budget was presented so that we were making that decision outside of trying to raise fees to balance the budget. I was making the assumption that we didn't want to reopen that conversation this year because we just adopted it in July that we would start that process next year. But if you want to re-look at the fee structure, we should do that in October as well. So I certainly hear that and understand that and that's why we have this meeting scheduled to very systematically walk through those permits. I will just caveat that the way the structure in Vermont works about approving budgets and setting a tax rate is as you know on the town meeting day, what's voted on is the amount of money will raise and that's voted the month before the grand list is set. So in actuality, setting the tax rate is a mathematical equation between what the voters approve to spend and what the grand list is. So there, I'm not sure we're ever gonna get away from that being a perfect math equation but we certainly can present to you the best information we possibly have in the beginning of December of what that we anticipate that will be. And again, why we're trying to be very systematic about it this year is to ensure that what we bring to you is as close as possible. But we can't guarantee a tax rate. Right. Right. Understood. Anything else, Seth? I wasn't implying that. Are you guys okay with this? Is this seeming overwhelming or? No, I think it seems like a very thoughtful process and I think just see how it goes for all of us. But I think it makes sense. It seems ambitious. But I think we're up to the challenge. So bring Angela lots of treats. Angela's ahead of schedule already. So. I'm his friend. I see that. You guys are gonna be unavailable. There's no need. Do not call us. But seriously, personally I wanna thank you all for being willing to consider this but also Angela and the leadership team. This is a huge change from how they've been doing business for the last couple of years and I really appreciate the trust in the effort to go forward in this direction. Forever changing. My budget is it kind of did a soft introduction to the budgeting and department structure for people. We'll have to be cognizant of that if new people come on. But since I know we've got two great counselors running, I'm sure in the coming elections, maybe we won't have that issue. And a mayor. That's what you believe in. And a mayor, right? And a mayor. And a mayor. So you guys check all that and we'll see. All right, any other questions, comments, conversations? Any questions, comments, conversation from the public? Hearing and seeing none. I move we approve the FY19 budget plan and schedule as presented. Second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. So moving on to item H, a discussion Vermont League of Cities and Towns, 2018 policy positions. So at the last meeting, you all appointed me as your delegate to Town Fair, which is October 4th. And there was a conversation about reviewing the policy positions before that meeting in case there was any other guidance you want to provide to me as a voting member. I have attached these here, they're pretty in depth. I don't think, quite frankly, there's nothing in here that there are things that apply more or less to us as a city. But generally speaking, I did not see any significant red flags. Happy to hear any feedback you have on this tonight, but we do also have the October 2nd meeting as well. If you want to take this and digest it and provide final guidance on October 2nd. I already had one. Yeah, it's so interesting you bring that up because that was my question too. I have not heard that previously. I think that, and it specifically references nonprofits, subjecting nonprofit organizations that receive government financial support to open meeting and public records laws. That's the one you're talking about, right Seth? Yes. Yeah, and unlike a moral basis, I pretty strongly disagree with that. Just me personally, individually, I know how strapped so many nonprofits are, and they also operate under really different circumstance that are not obligated to the public in the same way that we are as a public officials. So can you say where that is? Cause it's section 108, I don't see it. Section 108 public, no, sorry, it first is mentioned in... It's mentioned a couple. 103. Whatever the open meeting section is, was the first time it's mentioned. So 103.2 talks about applying to the open meeting law to entities that receive municipal funding, is that? No. But then 108 is where it says it's specifically the subjecting nonprofit organizations that receive government financial support. So it goes, that's 108, one. And I think what that fight for me is, I mean, this is a really big and dense document, so I would appreciate as a matter of process having the opportunity to come back October 2nd so that I'm sure we all likely, you know, we want the opportunity to go through and look at a lot of these very specific smaller items. Man. Yeah. Is there additional direction? Is there a threshold? Does the municipality have any choices to whether we institute that or not? It doesn't sound like it. Given $2,500 to entity like the food shelf, does that then subject, subject them to open meeting law? That's... Yeah, I don't agree with that. I don't agree with that at all. I mean, I think it's, if we're giving money out, then it's our job to decide how people report back to us as the efficacy of those funds, in my opinion. Right. And then it's our job to then turn to the public and say we can guarantee that, you know, we feel like these were well spent and well invested. It's not... I mean, I think we have enough of a challenge ensuring that public bodies know the requirements of the law and adhere to them and that the, you know, Secretary of State's office has a capacity to respond to questions about it. Now there's an ethics commission that may have to get involved with their... And so they now expand the number of entities which would be innumerable in Vermont. I mean, we have the number of nonprofits that receive some form of state... And just think about the list we used to do and put that 20 grand to get chopped up to 15... I just think it then may diminish that the importance of the open meeting law as it applies to public bodies doing the work of the public. Yeah. And I think, yeah, what, I mean... Where that's coming from. My guess is that the impetus behind this is transparency and accountability around public dollars, you know, around tax dollars that are being allocated for X, Y, Z reason are public dollars that we're moving off to these nonprofits. I get, I understand that, but what Seth said really resonated with me that it's, we're beholden to, it's our obligation to make decisions of, as you know, the city of Winooski where these dollars are going to then decide the metrics we're using to collect information on their impact and to make that information available, accessible and transparent to members of the public. That's super critical. I don't think it's the obligation of the nonprofit to do that. I do also have to preface saying this is all like me speaking individually, not in any relation to my role in the Secretary of State's office. So I'm happy to reach out to the league and see what the conversation was around that at the Policy Setting Committee. Great, excellent. The other question I have is, is this an entirely new slate or are some of these recurring resolutions that just get carried forward on a year to year? That's right. Useful if they would highlight. What's new? Yeah, a different color. Yeah. And I think it's really important for municipalities like us that have densely populated areas. So this is getting down into five water resources, phosphorus to our environment. This makes absolutely no sense. So that's... I'd also, I have some questions around 3.07, law enforcement issues, allowing a Vermont law enforcement officer to make an arrest based on a warrant from another state. So I guess I would be curious to hear from our staff here on what the view of Winooski Police Department is. And I'd be curious to hear why they think that that is something that's necessary. I've just never heard that before. So I don't feel one way or the other right now because I just don't really have any information on it. Can you feed that back? Okay. Anything else we'd like some clarification on? I would also be interested to hear what their, you know, I think the other issue that's gonna come up again and again until it's legal is marijuana. And in the last drafts of bills that I saw go through that included tax funding and streaming, it was very focused on state police. And I think that that's really, that's, we should, I hope municipalities, I hope the league is very active in pushing disbursement to local law enforcement agencies to address any implementation of legalization that's frankly, it's, I mean, it's gonna happen. So it's, we gotta figure out the mechanics behind when the funding does come where it goes. And also I was surprised not to see education mentioned in there in terms of disbursements to school districts and systems as well, prevention. And that was previously in their language and it wasn't this year. And I think that's kind of interesting. And I hope that they maintain a commitment to pushing for that as well. Nicole? Yeah, I mean, it's fairly vague the position on marijuana. Where was it? It's in a couple of different places. Last year, I think it was last year and year before it was like, we do not, our position is we do not. Yeah, well, it says should only be utilized for recreational purposes after all public safety and public health and local regulatory and budgetary concerns are adequately addressed. That's a pretty, I mean, I don't know who gets to decide whether something's been adequately addressed, but it does, they do mention education at some point under law enforcement issues and any discussion of marijuana legalization identifying and addressing its impacts on cities, towns and villages, including those on school populations. But there's nothing really that says that funds need to be directed to municipalities or school districts. Right. So all concerns being adequately addressed is a pretty high stance. Yeah. Yeah. Up in every community that they represent. Up in every community. Yeah, yeah. They mentioned separately to roadside testing which doesn't explicitly say in relation to marijuana legalization, but reading into it that is what that bullet is about. Yeah. Do we know, doesn't the governor appoint a commission? He's appointed the chairs. So the members of the commission haven't been identified. It just be, I don't know if BLCT has been advocating for a representative of municipal government to be on that commission, but things like if you're, Jesse touch your base with them, that would be a good question to see if they're in contact with the governor's office around having a seat at the table. That doesn't mean you have to volunteer yourself. Nope. No. I kind of remember seeing Karen Horn's name on that commission, but I'll don't quote me on that. I'll check. Great. Thanks. Any further comments, questions? Hearing and seeing none, I'll move to the public. I need further comments or questions on that particular item. Okay. Hearing and seeing none, I would entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Yes. So moved. Seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. We are adjourned. Wow. Thank you. I didn't know that was on the agenda.