 Welcome to ongoing election coverage by town meeting television. This is one of many forums we are bringing to you in advance of local elections and town meeting on the first Tuesday of March, March 2 2021. Town meeting TV election forums introduce you to local decision makers and connect you with the issues shaping your community. Today we are here with five candidates for Winooski City Councilor. There are two positions, and these are two year terms. The candidates participating in our forum today and when I say your name you can just wave so we know who you are. Jim Duncan is our incumbent. James McCormick. Hi James Sam Myers. Hi Sam. Brynn Oakleaf. Hi Brynn. And Dallas Wheatley. Hi Dallas welcome to all of you thanks for joining us. I want to mention that the public is invited to call in with questions. So I'm going to give you a phone number 802-862-3966. That's 802-862-3966. If you have a question, call in our producers will answer the phone and will allow you to state your question on the air. And then these folks will have a chance to answer. So with no further ado we can get started. The first thing that we'll do is we want to hear a little bit from you, the candidates. This is an opening statement where we just learn whatever it is that you want to tell us to introduce yourselves. Let's see you'll have one minute to do this. So I'll get the timer set up. And we'll start with our incumbent Jim Duncan. So, and I will read, you know, an opening statement. Please tell us why you are running and what will be different for Winooski if you are elected. Any thing that mostly answers that question will be great. Jim you think you're ready. Thank you Christina and thank you all for being here. As I said, my name is Jim Duncan I use he him pronouns. And I'm running because from Main Street redevelopment to engaging all residents and decision making to whether in a pandemic or city is facing a lot right now. And as a current city counselor I'm steeped in these issues and I've spent the time working in our community to understand where these challenges are and, and what solutions really look like. I'm a parent of two young kids at JFK elementary I'm looking forward to them graduating from Winooski high school to find themselves in a city that has grown and prospered, but where their friends didn't have to leave because their parents couldn't afford it anymore. We've made some good strides and gotten the ball rolling on some crucial issues but there's still a lot of work to do and I'm seeking two more years on council to make sure we follow through. I believe that as we grow we need to do four key things we need to remain a city where families can start out thrive and stay. We have to demand a government that's equitable anti racist accessible and governed by all those it serves and we have to ensure a community is changing at a rate tax payers can bear. These are lofty goals I know and we can't do it in two years but we have to keep this momentum we have to focus on these now. We're protecting our gains and doing this work on council with our policy commissions and indirect dialogue with our community members to make sure this progress and change works for everyone who wants to call Winooski home. Thank you so much Jim. For the next person who we'd like to hear an opening statement from is James McCormick. James. Yeah, tell us what do you have for us. Hi everybody. Thanks for joining my name is James McCormick. I was born in Vermont and graduated from Essex High School in 2010. I graduated from Castleton State College in 2014. And in 2017 I moved to Winooski, where I bought my first property and in the process started a property management company. I'm running for city council, because I want to serve my community. And I want to be the guy that neighbors call on when they have a problem. I've worked for rights and democracy, I've run political campaigns for select board in the state senate. I'm a health care IT and public opinion research and now in property management. And I will take my construction knowledge and experience to the city council to make Winooski a more affordable place to live and raise a family. I think that we can make some better decisions in the construction and planning phases, and to create a community where everybody is treated with equality and dignity. Next up, we'd like to hear from Sam Myers. Well, thank you for giving us the opportunity to let us present to Winooski who we are and why this talented pool of candidates are running. My name is Samuel Myers and 41 years of age. I'm a third generation born and raised at Winooski. I just want to serve my community talk of problems that will arise and you know just be a part of the solutions. I have served on the nonprofit Kenneth Art Myers Memorial Pool Foundation where we were tasked with raising a significant amount of money set by the city and we hit our goal. I also served on the Charter Commission where we were tasked with potential charter changes and having to research those potential charter changes. I've coached my nieces T ball will be baseball team here in Winooski. And you know I love this community. Winooski has become a vibrant and very diverse community we do have a lot of challenges baseless in the near future from an agent infrastructure to figure out how to grow our tax base with very little open land in amongst you know many other things. So I hope you will consider voting for me, and I look forward to tackling these challenges and inconvenient time with you guys down the road. Thank you. Thanks Sam thanks so much. Next we'd like to hear from Bryn Oakleaf. Yes, Bryn Oakleaf. I've been in Winooski for over eight years started as a renter have lived on different parts of the city and bought my first home in 2015. I have so much love for the city and I've been very engaged with the city council and with the commissions in a variety of ways, but I've also been dedicated to public service. I've actually spent almost my entire career working in in the public sector public service sector. The show. Hello, state government. Hey Bryn I'm so I'm so dark. Um, so, hold that thought. And yes hi caller, you do you have a question. My question is why should we vote. Okay. Should I wait. No, I don't understand. My question is for Sam fires. Why should we vote for a second person from the same family when there are only four seats in Winooski. How does it differ from his brother. That's a really great question. Are we going to continue with the introductions and then we can tackle that question after or how should we do this Christina. Um, continue. I think we should continue and we'll hold that question because it's a good one. And, um, and we can do that when we're finished with our introductions. Thank you caller for asking that question. So, Bryn, I'm going to restart you. Let's see. And maybe just, I don't know if you want to restart or start in the middle but what do you prefer. Um, I'll just kind of start again. So I, you know, I want to echo a thanks to town meeting TV for holding this forum to the city staff for all of the hard work they do. It's been a challenging year note for sure. And I think everybody is really struggled in many so many ways known and unimaginable honestly. So I just wanted to give a chance to say thanks to that. As a writing candidate, I believe that I think I have the most commitment as a public servant. Both as a state employee former state employee, as well as representing the city of a new ski at the municipal level for Chittenden solid waste district, as well as multiple municipalities within Chittenden County as the board chair. So I think by selecting me to serve as the city council, you'll see creative ways and different ways to bring a variety of stakeholders to the table to coalesce and have consensus around solutions that are very challenging and are not new to us. So I hope that I can count on your vote. Thank you, Bryn. Thanks so much. And we'd also like to now hear from Dallas Wheatley Dallas, tell us. I'm, excuse me. I'm Dallas Wheatley my pronouns are they them and he him. I am a transgender non binary person and I am also a Vermont transplant so I was not born in Vermont but I moved here and I chose to live here because I love it. And I'm still renting the city council because I personally know how difficult it is to rent an apartment or a house in somewhere like Vermont. I'm still renting and as Burlington deals with housing crises for both workers and students places like when you ski have just seen such an overflow of people who can't and has still haven't found a place that they can actually afford. Unfortunately when you ski still struggles to provide these same people with affordable places to live. And in a community like ours that's filled with immigrants refugees and disabled people and seniors we really need to be diligent in making sure that we're not letting businesses and rental agencies come in and take advantage of us or our neighbors. I really hope to use my experience as a renter myself to work with the council to find ways to provide quality affordable long term housing solutions for renters and to just be an honest voice on the council about what renters really can and can't afford right now. Great thank you so much. Those were great opening statements. You know a little bit about you that's so helpful. We can go to the question that we had from the caller now and then we'll go to some ballot questions. I believe the question had to was addressed specifically to you so if you can repeat the question or restate and then let us know what your answer is. Yeah, I think the caller kind of sound like Margaret I've had some good conversations with her but you know going you know having two brothers on the same city council. You know there's nothing that says that it can't happen. Really it's going to be up to you know the one new ski boaters and what candidate they want to see on there. You know growing up with with my older brother you know we've I don't know if anybody else has any siblings but you know we've had a lot of differences growing up. One of the major ones is I'm a Red Sox fan he's a Yankees fan so you know that's kind of funny but you know Mike and I don't know there are things that we don't see eye to eye on. And it's a great question I can understand where it may make a voter uneasy about voting for me because I do have you know because I do have a brother on city council already. You know my grandfather served when he's city council my uncle served city when he's when he's city council, my other uncle has so I think it's just it's in our it's in our blood to serve our community. And, you know, again, I don't think Mike and I will see eye to eye on everything. But it's a great question you know, and I'm not sure if I answered it for Margaret or not I'm pretty sure it was but that's the best I can come up with so. Thank you Sam. Yeah. Um, there. I think we can move now to some ballot questions and here are a few. There are a few items on the ballot as you know. And I know people who are watching are wondering, what is your opinion on these ballot items. Do you support retail cannabis operations in the city. Do you support the call to halt f 35 training over Winooski. So this is your time to talk a little bit about where you stand on some of these ballot questions. Each of you will have two minutes, and I'll let you know when you have 30 seconds remaining. And the way this works is that since Jim you went first in our opening statements. We're going to go in alphabetical order now and James McCormick. You'll be the first one to answer the ballot questions I'm going to set the time and yeah James let us know. Okay, so Christina just to clarify this is not on a specific article on the ballot just ballot items in general. Yes, it's like, it's basically to let help you address ballot items. You could choose to address the one or two that I stated but if there are others that you're more interested in. That's okay to you. Okay. Fantastic. Yes, I guess I will start by saying on the issue of the f 35s. I will be voting in support of of the article six as is to urge the state to halt the f 35s. I think some of the importance of this issue and of this vote is that this will result in everybody having their voices heard so we're going to have a total vote count at the end of the day. And from there we're going to have a better idea I think of how residents feel about this issue and can proceed accordingly. If there's overwhelming support from voters in when you ski to halt the f 35s, then I think there's there's kind of two things that benefit from there. The first being that formation of kind of a coalition between Wellington and South Burnington when you ski in that coalition representing or urging the State House to take action, as well as having that that vote count support will make for a more compelling case for our when you ski representatives, Colston and small to, to argue or urge on behalf of residents in when you ski at the State House. So just a moment hold that but it looks like we may have another call. Caller are you there. Hold on sometimes it takes a little bit. See if the caller is still there I'm going to ask the producer. Okay, go ahead caller. Are you there. That's the last I yes, I don't know if I'm being heard. Yeah, go ahead. Is that me. Yes, go ahead caller. Okay. I'm just passing to the YouTube. Okay. Yeah. Okay. My question was, how do you feel the city can a cliffhanger caller either. Let me ask the producer. I just asked the producer if we can have the caller call back, or if we can call them back. I don't know if we lost connection. Go ahead caller. Go ahead you're on now. Okay, my question was, how can you see address the climate crisis, what specific policies we recommend that we can enact in order to lower our carbon emissions as a city. Okay, so for this one. Let's start with Sam Myers and go ahead and have start with two minutes and we'll go around. Sam unmute. There we go. Sure thing. All right. Great question. I feel, you know, the more electric vehicles that get on the road, I think that will eventually address, you know, a major issue of the climate crisis I drive a Prius myself. So I feel if we all just do our part. You know, in addressing the climate crisis, you know, we should be able to drop the level significantly. And I don't have a lot more information on that so I'm going to kind of just leave it at that so. Great. Thank you, Sam. Can we hear from Bryn Oak leaf. Maybe if you remember and can restate the question and then, you know, let us know what your thoughts are. Sure. So I believe the caller asked what counselors will do to respond to the climate crisis and will specifically to address the greenhouse gas contributions that the city makes. So I've dedicated my entire career to environmental law and policy. And within the last two years I have joined working for efficiency Vermont and work and know from that experience that significant percentage of the residential sector. And that's why the governor and the legislator legislature are looking to insulate over 120,000 homes within 10 years. And as a counselor that I'll work to ensure that our home inspections and our development review board are looking in particular at how projects are going to help meet the building energy standards to address weatherization and to bring initiatives at the city level to drive weatherization and to work with the state legislatures to allocate funds to our to our residential buildings as well. Great. Thank you, Bryn. Dallas we'd like to hear from you what are your thoughts on this topic. Absolutely. So what can when you ski do to address the climate crisis. I have a little bit of background I have a I have a bachelor's degree in environmental studies I have a master of science and climate and fraternity studies I am an environmental activist I. I think it's we should make it very clear that while individual impact is admirable and individual efforts are admirable at the core of climate crisis comes from infrastructure and corporations. So we're thinking about how when you ski can approach the climate crisis we need to be thinking about how when you ski approaches infrastructure and first things first is to make sure that we are giving everybody in our community access to public transportation so that they're not needing to turn on their car and warm it up for half an hour in the winter when they just need to go a mile down the street to pick something up at the grocery store. So that we're providing people with these options so that they can focus less on their own impact, and then the when you ski city can focus more on, like Bryn said, looking into our infrastructure looking into weatherizing and making sure that as a whole and as a community, we're not making a bigger impact than we should be. Great thanks Dallas we appreciate the, the answer. Jim Duncan we'd like to hear from you Jim. Thanks. So as to what the city council can do to address the climate crisis I see there's three levels that we need to be working at one is at our local level we have codes for base code incentives around energy efficiency that aren't being used and that can be fixed. There's other opportunities in our zoning to further incentivize construction or efficiency new construction, and I hope that we can find ways to also include energy generation as part of that new development. I think the second piece locally is really continuing to expand the work that's already been done to bring weatherization as part of sound mitigation I think there's a real opportunity for leveraging additional funds here in the city we need that. I think Bryn made a great point for that we need to just find ways to bring in our partners and find how to get two birds in one stone and more bang for the buck out of those weatherization programs. And that springs us to the second level and regional partnerships I think there are many opportunities like with Green Mountain Power with others to begin reducing our heating bills so that we can have more efficient housing and more efficient approaches to keeping our homes and then I also think at the state level we need to be advocating for participation in robust and active climate partnership and climate action I was proud to sponsor. Resolution supporting the transportation and climate initiative which unfortunately was not joined by Vermont, but I think still provides a viable framework for the region to lower greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. And we need to continue supporting that and advocating and saying how Winooski needs to be a part of these partnerships for Winooski is very different from Vermont so we need to be making our place at the table. When we're talking about how to do state and regional climate reduction acts. That is going to be a critical component is continuing to advocate the state level for our participation in regional efforts because even us as a city we can only do so much we're going to need a concerted effort and support from the same from the region to make significant reductions in greenhouse gases. Great thank you. My timer was going off. Jimmy's finished just in time. James we like to hear from you now a little bit about your thoughts. Awesome. Yeah, so there are three things that I had thought of one of them being I know Montpelier introduced a, you know, through their, their public transportation they introduced a program where the buses won't run if they're empty to just reduce the Yeah, driving of those buses unnecessarily so a program like that. I don't know if that could be implemented in the, you know, Winooski and Burlington bus routes but if so, you know that would be a good program to utilize, or the on demand function of that as well just to reduce buses running unnecessarily. You know, the, the aspect of efficiency within your within the existing homes is something that, you know, as Jim mentioned, as well. You know, I originally had over $100 for heating bills in the winter. After, you know, using proper insulation and other weatherizing, you know, construction moves was able to my last bill for he was, you know, around 45 so I mean, you can spend a small amount of money sometimes to drastically reduce the amount of heat you are using and more specifically the amount of heat that is leaving your house. So those those types of things are going to reduce the amount that's used. But that is also through, you know, natural gas natural gas heats a lot of homes, rather than solar panels. You know, I think one thing that would be interesting is I know, you know, Burlington has a municipally owned utility company. If Winooski was able to partner or have a solar wind turbine. As as part of how we generate energy that's able to provide energy to the community that would be pretty interesting to explore as well. Thank you so much. Christina, I believe when I received the instructions they said there was an option for a 30 second rebuttal. That's true. So at this time. Those of you who would want to take the option of a 30 second rebuttal could do that. Do you want to start us off. I do I just I just have one thing to say and that's there has been consistent research in cities that taking cars off the road and putting more bus routes actually reduces greenhouse gas emissions so I don't agree with the Montpelier initiative to stop running buses when they're empty because I believe we need to be putting more buses on the road and investing in higher quality buses and transportation so that people aren't tempted to be driving their cars everywhere. And then we can also provide safe havens for homeless people in the winter. That's my rebuttal. Thank you. Thank you, Dallas. Does anyone else want to take 30 seconds to to join a rebuttal effort. Yeah, absolutely. So just adding on to my earlier response. I think as a council, I'll also seek to be creative in how we do provide additional incentives that Jim was talking about. So if we're not if our current incentives aren't being taken advantage of why not. Can we can we encourage assistance with our own infrastructure build out for efficiencies for carbon reduction greenhouse gas reduction and decarbonization and entirely for the developers so that it's there's a win-win there so we have the opportunity to increase our tax base and at the same time get support and get support that we have this get the support that we need for many projects to achieve those goals. Thank you so much does anyone else want to take a 30 seconds to read out a rebuttal. It's six o'clock. My computer knows that and so now we do. Okay, it looks like we have another caller so we finished around where we talked a little bit about the environment and climate solutions and now we can take a call let's see what this caller has to ask us hello caller are you there. I am, can you hear me. Yes. Can you state your name and your question. Absolutely thanks so much for taking my call this is Kevin lumpkin thanks for all the candidates for taking the time to answer our questions is great to have so many options. Wondering about the candidates positions on article four on our sample ballot for this town meeting day about retail marijuana operations going to assume for the moment that it's going to pass. If it passes, it says something about being subject to regulation by council. And I wonder what your thoughts are on what appropriate regulation if any would be for retail marijuana operations if they're approved. Okay. That's a great question. Do you remember who started first the last question. Any chance. I think we're talking about the act 164 cannabis sales with James but then we got a call that went away so I think he started first last round. Is that right. Yeah, yeah I started with the ballot measures and then we moved on to color before. So happy do you want to. Shall we answer the question that the caller asked and start with you James. I am happy to do whatever so let's do that. So, yeah, in regards to article four and act 164. Just just a little bit of clarification from my understanding as well is that this does not mean that retail cannabis will be located in when you ski it means that the city will be open to it. Is how I had interpreted that as well it's not that it will be moving here it's just that the city would be open to it. I'm going to address one of the callers comment about what is appropriate regulation by the council, you know, I immediately coming to mind is the location of it. You know, I think it's, I think it's fair to say that, you know, people don't want it near like there's the school systems. Probably out of the public eye a little bit in an area that is, you know, going to have expected foot traffic and parking. So it would also need to be in a place that can accommodate those types of logistical issues. You know, on on the, the subject of how I will be voting on article four. You know, I, I am going to vote in favor of it. I think as long as, yeah, pharmaceuticals and tobacco and alcohol are all legal, then, you know, I can very easily support recreational cannabis, especially because that would remove it from the illegal market. So, that's my, that's my stance on it. Great. Thank you. The next person who can address the question, if we're going in order, Sam, you'd like to hear from you. Yeah, I am in full support of article four, which James did mention it'll explore cannabis retail sales in the state. And I, I hope it comes with new schemes I think it would generate more, more employment, tax revenue. There are some, you know, concerns due to road safety, misuse prevention. And, you know, you gotta think about racial equity when, when, when, if this has come to a new ski. So yeah, I'm all I'm all I'll support that 100%. Great. Thank you, Sam. We appreciate that answer. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Kevin, for the question. I believe that thinking you're the chair of the development review board so a very astute question to ask as it relates to your purview. I did in the city council call the night that it was decided to separate the question into two one was about retail and the other was about manufacturing. It was also discussed that if zoning ordinances needed to be changed that they would have to be done that that would have to be accomplished before that regulation for written at the state level. So there's some work on the council's hands within the next year to 18 months before retail is can be cited within the city so there's there is some work on our hands. I do think that it should be regulated similar to alcohol. I think that legalizing marijuana is is accomplishing decades of disparities and addressing decades of disparities. I think that similar to anything if there's going to be abuse of a certain substance or, or an addiction that that those programs we've developed and put in place with the department of health. One of the things that we can also address at the, at the school level with our youth is prevented awareness and prevention program so I support it and I do recognize that the city council has a bit of work to do in updating our ordinances. Thank you. Great thanks friend. We'd like to hear from you Dallas, tell us your thoughts. I'm super pleased to see that we're having this ballot measure because it like Sam and Bryn said it's going to be addressing a lot of the historical racial disparity we have, and I am in full support of allowing recreational cannabis sales into the city in two parts not only will it provide a great template for the rest of the state and for you know the rest of New England. We can serve as a model but also because if the city council chooses to regulate and tax we will know that we will have another stream of funds in and we won't have to rely so much on property taxes which I think right now makes up about 80% of our revenue. Which is a large large portion, far too large in my opinion. But I'm also in favor of heavily regulating it because if we're allowing the legal sale of cigarettes and if we're allowing the legal sale of alcohol on the main street in a strip mall. That is exactly where marijuana should be that is exactly where cannabis should be sold it should be treated like every other legal drug that we have. It should be treated as such with our with our kids as well, we should be teaching them, not just prevention but if they choose to use to use safely. And that's something that we do with our kids, when we give them things like beer at a 16th birthday party I'm not saying you should do that. But people do that in this country and people do that in this state and we need to have that same sort of consciousness about cannabis, we can't keep treating it like it's some kind of gateway drug, because that's just going to leave to further racial like further racial oppression further racial bias. Thank you Dallas. We appreciate that. Jim, we'd like to hear from you. Thanks Kevin for the question. Looking at specifically that part that you called out appropriate regulations was language that really allowed me to be fully in favor of this ballot measure being on the ballot. I think I so I support this ballot measure be in front of voters I'm very interested to hear what the cities of when you ski think about this issue and I will be voting yes as well for many of the reasons others have mentioned. But that appropriate or appropriate regulations is key because we don't know what the rules are going to be from the state, and we don't know what level of control the cannabis commissions, the local cannabis commissions are going to have. I think from the discussion on the council based on what the current council has talked about issues around signage and around advertising and how that is structured and not geared towards youth or not impacting you the locating of these retail facilities away from the areas where students gather is important, as well as ability to regulate nuisances from the presence of these businesses we've had some issues with hemp drying down field carpet factory and we had noise or odor complaints that we couldn't really accommodate the zoning regulations didn't deal with that as you well know you got to deal with that to the DRB and I so I'm, I'm a little bit. I wish we had the rules from the state first and because we don't I want to have this ballot measure to show when he's ready to do the work to get the regulations and ordinances in place to be able to allow licensees in, but it has to be on terms that work for so as we are looking at this and doing this work we I think need to make sure that that ballot question reserves us some ability to really look at what the state says we can do and then what we need to do to make sure this retail operations will work in terms of parking in terms of signage in terms of odor and in terms of security of the premises for the safety of everyone. Great thanks Jim. The next question, I think we sort of covered a ballot question, which is this one. And I just want to move to the next, which is simply stated, do you support the city budget. And let's start with. Well, we started with James last time so I'm Sam. We're going alphabetically you'll be next. Do you support the city budget. I do support the city budget. Yes. And, you know, I had a had a good talk with mayor a lot and, you know, we, she came up with, you know, there's reasons why voters should support the city budget as no services are being cut. When you see is also able to maintain services while keeping the rate increased low. And, you know, it doesn't add any from my understanding doesn't add any new staff or services to the budget so she mentioned that there's a great grant funded three year grant funded equity director position that after three years if it's beneficial to the city of Winooski that would have to we would have to fund that ourselves but I do support it. I think Winooski should because if they don't have to come up with another plan and from from what I've read about it, I like it so I support it. Great thanks Sam. Do you support the city budget. Thank you. I do support the city budget. I think that essentially, you know, having experienced this as a state employee. That level funding is really tough and it's really straining on city services, because there's some expenses that continue to go up and others that you can maintain but oftentimes some of the more controllable expenses relate to guarantee basically pay and salaries. Guaranteed steps. So there, I think the city has done a great job I think the council has has worked hard as well to ensure that taxes at the city level aren't increasing. With the school budget, we are going to see a bit a little bit of an increase there. That's not unusual and I also think that that's not entirely in the control of the school board and the trustees. I think they're that we need to work harder with our state legislators to say that we're having an undue burden, our cost per pupil is low but our tax distribution is really high. And I see it as being unsustainable, honestly so while I think this current budget is something that I support, I think looking forward and seeing the capital projects coming down the line, seeing the tax assessment up ahead within the next two years, three years, that we're going to have to take a hard look at where, where controllable and uncontrollable expenses are, and really address in short order, increasing revenues as well as mitigating our operational costs and finding efficiencies. Thank you. Thanks, Brian. Dallas, do you support the city budget. I do, I support it for now. I was looking into the budget and I was, I was reading up on it in the budget documentation and I actually think the city budget puts far too much money into tips and not enough into community services and community development. I personally think that the city really needs to prioritize making the public amenities we current have, we currently have more accessible to our current residents before we even contemplate commercial or residential growth. If we can't care for our current residents as they stand how can we hope to care for new residents, and the way I look at the budget now, we aren't caring for our current residents based on that budget. So I support the budget as it stands now, but I want people to think about how we can improve our budget for the next round, and how we can take the money that we have and actually put it towards the people that we have. Great thank you Dallas. Jim, do you support the city budget. Believe it or not I do I voted for it and I, I'm actually really proud of the work that our city has done our city staff has done on this budget I encourage everyone else to vote yes as others have noted this tax increases below the cost of living yet cuts no services continues to maintain our investment in our infrastructure projects that the community is asked for, and investing key additional things that we really need as a community right now specifically sidewalks after school programs and the systemic change to fight racial injustice and make the city more equitable. I think they've done an amazing job at being fiscally prudent at managing their staff and their expenses well and I think we're reaping the benefits of that now by being able to still reprioritize when needed. For example our sidewalks are missing or badly needed repair and even before COVID I heard regularly from those with disabilities are using walkers and wheelchairs that they can't pass our sidewalks to private them of their connections to services to our government operations to businesses and this shouldn't be happening in our community. So with this budget relief is on the way we will create new and upgrade or create new sidewalks within the city. Second I've been advocating for two years for our after school program thrive and the director Kate is doing an amazing job at taking this unrecognized gem in our community and building it up further. And this budget invests in that and it makes it a part of the general fund which I think is a significant victory for after school care and for caring for our children in this community. And finally as Sam alluded to there's this additional funds that have come into the city around equity. This includes an equity director expansion of the school's successful community liaison program to break down walls of language and culture and accessing our government and the development of an equity council to really fully integrate issues of equity inclusion into our decision making process and this budget includes that as well and I'm more than anything excited that we are going to be going down this road on those issues and making commitments and sustained effort to make these things work and outlast us all as counselors. Great thank you Jim James do you agree with the city budget. Yeah so I do support the existing budget. My understanding is it's up from about 7.6 million to about 8.2. I do understand the predicament that Winooski is in you know there's a fairly small population and needs to generate a lot of money to run the city so I do think that there's a couple of key things though that we can't negotiate on the city council which would be raising property taxes I'd rather see I'd rather yeah find funds from other sources rather than doing that. And I think that there's programs that receive very small amount of funding that would benefit greatly from even a slight increase to funding like that you know thrive after school program that was mentioned. You know these are community services that offer a lot and they receive very little. We also have that school liaison program which engages in members of the community with members of the community that don't speak English as a primary language. And I also think that we could be spending more money on our existing city infrastructure like water and sewer lines. It looks like we have a caller who called during the that round and perhaps we can see what they have to ask caller. Are you on the line. Yes hi can you hear me. Yes. Hi, my name is Jen and my question is, will you prioritize getting the Main Street revitalization project done. And how will you engage the council on this project. Thank you Jen for that question. And we'll start off Sam do you have a response and then we'll go around. You each have two minutes. I didn't hear the question I'm sorry. So I believe the question was. Do you remember the question. Do you do you intend to finish the Main Street revitalization project. And how will you engage the council was the second part that I heard. Thank you. I knew between a couple of us we would have that question. Excellent. So I am all for the Main Street revitalization. It's something that is needed. There are wooden pipes under there that are 100 years old, and it needs to be replaced you know we can have water main brakes and keep it in bandaids on on an agent infrastructure so I will definitely be, you know, I want to see this project come come in under budget or close to budget as possible and again I'm going to work hard to to make sure that to make sure that happens again we have an agent infrastructure projects like that. So I think he needs it and I'm for it so. Thank you. So I think you were calling my name. You can read, you can relive such that that's another qualification of this job. I actually think we've also gotten out of order a little bit I think Dallas was supposed to take the that go first for that last question so. Oh, sorry. There was something wrong, but it's honestly it's impressive that you can keep up so I think that it's this is very challenging so you're doing a great job to um. We'll have you first maybe on the next question and then Bryn if you can answer this one you've got two minutes. Okay. So with these capital projects I think Main Street is one of several that we're looking at that have received voter approval. You know one thing that James actually mentioned before about decisions being left to the voters but something I've been consistently disappointed about is the voter turnout. For town meeting day on average less than 20% of the eligible voters are voting when we're facing increases in budget however large or small they might be taking on that debt and taking on that responsibility for other other residences. I think we should all encourage our neighbors and our friends and family members to vote because that impacts us all. And when we're not when we are making these decisions with such a small limited population. Then we hear about the complaints about the stress and strain. So I really want to urge folks to vote for voted town meeting day not just for the candidates but also for the budget and how that impacts you. So as as we look at these capital projects. They have received voter approval I don't know exactly what percentage of the vote eligible voter base approve them. But we need to keep in mind the entire voter base and the entire residents of when you ski not just eligible voters as far as the impact businesses. We're working on a charter change for for all residential voting. So when we I really encourage a phased approach so that we have as much as little impact and as much review throughout the process so that we can mitigate having a big hole similar to what Burlington is facing. You know we certainly don't want to get into any lawsuits we want to see projects moves forward and smoothly and on time and on or under budget. Thank you. Dallas, would you like to share your thoughts on this topic. Absolutely, I I'm incredibly eager to see the when you ski revitalization process be finished and completed and I know all of us have at some point in our lives experienced the mind numbing pain of having construction right outside your house. And I and I really want all of this construction to be finished and I want the revitalization to be finished but I really want it to be done right more than anything else. And I want to be able to go into city council and sit down with the counselors and make sure that we're doing it right and that we're not taking shortcuts in order to finish it as fast as possible because if we take shortcuts, we're going to end up making mistakes and we're going to end up having issues like pipes that burst like our old pipes already do. And I want when you ski's infrastructure and I want when you ski revitalization to be something that lasts, and more to the point considering the, how when you ski can help with the climate impact. What we need to do when we're going into the remainder of our revitalization is consider that climate impact, not just during the building process but how it's going to impact the climate as it sits and sits there for the next 10 years how are these businesses going to run, how are the how is the energy going to be paid are we going to try to subsidize making our businesses more solar panel like more solar powered or are we just going to let the business owner decide. I think this is an important discussion that we need to have not just for our economy but for all of the concerns that we have about when you ski. And I think we need to be really cautious about how we continue with our revitalization and not just rush through it to the end. Thank you. Jim, do you want to share some thoughts on this topic. Sure. Yeah, I mean just for historical historical perspective the mainstream revitalization project started as foreign based co discussions, you know, seven years ago so this community has been talking about what mainstream should look like for a long time. This is now at the point where we're close to 90% design documents on Main Street we've secured numerous grants and some significant funding to offset the burden on taxpayers that involve actually replacing the water infrastructure within a certain time. So we have to do some of this work, or we're going to lose our grant funding and pay more property taxes for these improvements and the serviceable life of a wood water main is as well passed for anything on Main Street at this point so we're just wait for any delay in my mind on our infrastructure improvements along this corridor is, is a disaster waiting to happen. And I fully support a an aggressive timeline and I've proposed this on council and continue to support this there is a more upfront cost on the long run will pay less on debt service if we don't face this mainstream revitalization that is an option to have three or four years of construction as we work our way down the corridor it spends less per year but we accumulate expenses of winding down and starting up the construction each year there's traffic impacts there's a loss revenue impacts for businesses along Main Street and they're very concerned. Some businesses that are very concerned about having a delay or having impacts of construction outside their businesses going on for two or three years it has to coordinate with the school construction has to coordinate with the exit 16 reconstruction so there's a lot of pieces to play but I think we're close to actually realizing the vision of community articulated and foreign based codes, and I'm fully committed to making sure that our main street looks away the community envisioned and will match the new development that's coming in with the infrastructure that it needs to thrive. Great thank you Jim. James are you ready to talk to us about Main Street. Absolutely. You know, I would support the ongoing efforts. You know I know that there is money that we have access to now that if we wait might not be available so it seems like the time to act is now and you know it could be generating a lot of revenue and in turn tax money for the city. So I think that once it's finished so I think I think there is incentive to work and get it done now. One thing that I don't necessarily want to give up in the deal is my understanding is that the planning commission has incentivized for developers to eliminate or reduce parking spaces with these new development plans. But I wouldn't want to give up. You know I think there's only so much parking spaces available, and that just is something that I wouldn't want to negotiate with. One other thing to as we're talking about, you know, these expensive endeavors. I know there's a statistic that 62% of students in the Winooski school system qualify for free or reduced lunches. So, you know, I, I would rather, if we have if we have the money for this project, I would rather see it going towards issues that address poverty. James, can you repeat that how many what's the percentage of 60 62% was what I had heard from a 2020 study from the school board or the school district of Winooski 62% of students in Winooski qualify for free or reduced lunches. Okay, thank you. Thank you for that. And Sam, have you talked to us about Main Street yet. Okay, sorry. Is there a chance for a rebuttal. Um, so it's 630 we have a caller. There's a strange noise in my house. We have a caller. So, yeah, we have time for rebuttal and then we'll take the call. Thank you for that. Absolutely. Thank you for the opportunity. So, in thinking about the impact of the infrastructure, the capital projects, you know, Jim hit on a good point that it's not just our projects we need to think about but it's the state double diamond interchange that is scheduled to occur at exit 16. It significantly impacts our economy. That's an extremely important artery into Winooski and to commuters that are going into Burlington. When that's shut down, they're going to have to go all the way to exit 14 because there's no off ramp southbound at exit 15. So I, I argue that a phase approach is not entirely a terrible idea, considering having extremely limited access for two years or phased impact for a couple for a year or two more. Great, thank you. Does anyone else want to provide a 30 second rebuttal. Okay, we have a caller. Let's see if we can hear what they have to say caller. Are you on the line. It takes just a second. Yes. What is your question we'd love to hear it. Thank you. Are you aware of peer reviewed science challenging the telecommunication industries, funded science that exposes the health risks of cell phones cell towers, wifi and the 5G rollout. If so, are you willing to push for a moratorium on rolling out 5G in Winooski. And if the school has it, the Wi-Fi, are you willing to get ethernet corded systems into the school to stop Wi-Fi from from being used in the school. Thank you. Okay. So Dallas, would this be a great time for you to be first. Hi, I'm, I'm not a biologist. So I can't speak on the validity of any research done into the impact of Wi-Fi on human health but I actually, I firmly believe that improving our connectivity is going to help our disabled residents and our disabled students the most. As we've seen with COVID and as we've seen with the pandemic, having a greater connectivity is critical, not just for workers but for students as well. And allowing students access to Wi-Fi not just at school but making sure that we have access to connect to, to stable Wi-Fi connections in our own city means that we're going to further empower our disabled citizens and our students themselves. Great, thank you. Jim, do you want to talk to us a little bit about Wi-Fi? Sure, I don't think there's anything to the 5G health piece yet because it's only been around for two years we don't have it's not possible to know if there are long term health effects. And I think that I'm trusting the science coming out of peer review journals like Nature to tell us that we do not have any cause for concern at this moment. I'm sure we'll continue to look at it as far as whether to regulate wireless in the school that would be a school board school district decision. But certainly any other public health hazards that we face here in the city where the city can actually make a difference that isn't under the jurisdiction of a larger entity like the Public Utilities Commission, I would support looking at any and all. I think this goes back to things like our cannabis sighting and thinking about how our choices around retail will affect the public health outcomes for kids and adults in our community. Great, thank you Jim. James, talk to us a little about a little bit about your thoughts on Wi-Fi. Yeah, so I was not aware of some of the health concerns that were mentioned. That's something that I would have to learn more about to make a more educated decision on but in terms of kind of the importance of people having access to the internet I think this pandemic has has proved how necessary that really is for all of us in our in our daily lives work lives, seeking education and I think it's had a tremendous positive impact on schools as well so I guess to make a further ruling I would need to learn more about that. Great, thank you James. Sam, we'd like to hear your thoughts on this topic. That's a really tough question and I can't speak on the impact of Wi-Fi on human health so but I think it's a pair of better schools should be equipped with Wi-Fi, even our libraries for access for all of our residents to have that access so I'm going to leave it at that because I honestly I can't speak on the impact of Wi-Fi on human health so it's a great question though. Great, thank you. Brent, do you have some thoughts on this topic that you'd like to share. Thank you Christina. And thank you for the caller for the question. So I think that as far as Winooski's youth goes and access, the concern really is access to the actual internet in its entirety and I mean that topic is being tackled at the legislature. There is a digital divide having not just access to the internet but whether or not it should be considered a public utility and made affordable and be regulated as such. And as far as health concerns go I think my concerns as far as the school goes is actually relates more to indoor air quality. I know that with the school development that it'll be under new building energy codes and that that will address indoor air quality, but we shouldn't take into account, we should always take into account the proximity to the highway. And I think also as far as health goes, it's about cyber bullying and make sure that we're addressing that. So as it relates to the internet, I think those are some of my concerns. But in addition to that, at the school level K through 12, we really also need to think about ensuring that this farm to school is supported in that fresh and nutritious meals and food are available. Is there a share table. Does the school support that to James point over 60% of the students are eligible for free and reduced meals that actually makes the school eligible for universal meals and likely already is part of that program. So those for me, those are my interests and those are my concerns. Great, thank you Bryn Dallas, we'd like to hear from you what are your thoughts on this topic. I started. Oh, you did. Yes, here from you again Dallas we don't hear nothing. I can talk more. I was kidding. I wonder if we have any more collars I'm going to ask the producer. No more collars. Okay. It might be best now to think let me think we have time. I think we're going to need to do our closing statements. I know you want a chance to answer, you know, five, 10 more questions but I don't think we have that time tonight. The for a closing comment. We're going to take about 30 seconds and just think about you know there are people who are watching. I know we only have a couple of minutes left but I would really like to put forth that all of the candidates answer the questions on racial racial justice. Before we proceed to our closing comments. If we don't have time for that that is totally all right I just think that this is something that we really need to talk about. Great, thank you I totally appreciate that Dallas. So it's what what we could do is what if we cut down the time, like, instead of everyone having a bigger chunk of time we just take us a slightly smaller amount of time. But we still get to answer a question on racial justice you want to try that. Where do you see opportunities for addressing racial justice in the community of Winooski and how will you use your select board seat to meet this challenge. So why don't we take like around a minute each to so it's just, it's kind of like half of what you've been working with. And think a little bit about how you might answer that question. And if Dallas went first last time then we're going to be going to Jim. Great thanks. I think this is hard to do justice in a minute on this topic. So I'm just going to skip to what I would do. I think we would support vigorously the equity initiatives that I've already talked about we have three great programs rolling out that I think we need to fully support, because if they aren't done well then they will potentially be more damaging than helpful, and I am fully supported, I'm fully committed to doing that work. I helped develop those programs and I'm really excited with the partnerships we built around that grant application and realizing the fruits of that labor. In addition, I think we can work with our staff in the city to change the way we talk about and conduct the business of government we make it much too hard for people to engage and attend meetings we need childcare we need meals we need transportation and we need to meet people where they are. And that's something that I've been actively doing for two years and will continue to do. Finally, we need to bring more BIPOC residents into government. We need a body of leaders that looks more like the city that it leads and I would use my time on council to recruit and mentor people of color to hold positions of power on our commissions on the newly formed equity council that would be highly functional impactful, and in our staff and ultimately on city council and two years I fervently hope I'll be campaigning for a resident of color to take my place rather than for myself. Thank you Jim you did a great job answering that question in one minute. It's hard to do. I can I can feel that it's like more rushed. Let's try let's continue with a one minute, even though it is, it does seem kind of tricky. James, can you speak to us a little bit about that topic. Yeah, I'll do my best racial justice in one minute. So, I can two things jump to mind immediately. You know, one is the relationship with the police. My experience, I, you know, I'm a six foot white male. My experiences with the police have been positive in Winooski, but I don't know that my experience is indicative of other people that don't have the same identity as me. So I think to solve that issue, we really need perspectives of everybody within our community. One thing I think we could do that would be able to help I think is to have more of an integration of emergency medical services with the police responding to calls. So there might be calls where the appropriate response is to send someone from EMS over a police. Great. Thank you, James. Sam, we'd like to hear a little bit from you on racial justice. Yeah, you know, I'm in full support of, you know, the Winooski-Shong anti-racism campaign. Their campaign, you know, raises funds and awareness for anti-racism in Winooski and beyond. And just seeing all the community and the community engagement, all the co-sponsors, it just shows that here in Winooski, you know, we take care of everybody. We take care of our own. And, you know, I want to offer, you know, my constituents, good governance above all outs. And, you know, we need to treat everybody well and respectfully. And even ones that we disagree with, you know, Winooski does offer many commissions here where I think, as Jim said, you know, we should be doing everything we can to get, you know, more new Americans on these commissions and let them be a voice. And, you know, because their voices are rarely heard in Winooski and I think it'd be great to have. Oh, am I done? No, just 15 seconds. Oh, sorry, sorry. Yeah, it's a tough question to answer in a minute. But again, you know, we have many great commissions. I think we need to get more voices and, you know, here, you know, from everybody in Winooski as we are very diverse community here. Great. Thank you, Sam. Thank you. Bryn, again, I'm apologizing to offer for our one minute spot on this important topic, but tell us what you can, what you can in that time, Bryn. Thank you. And I actually also want to thank Dallas for bringing this question to the forum and highlighting it and, and in fact, it's representative of having half the time to answer such an important question. It should be top of the top of the core of the forum question list. I mean, this is a pressing matter for years and we are all very, very privileged to not have to live those experiences day in and day out. I advocated for the mayor to sign the my brother's keeper pledge last last year. And for a review of how the police department is meeting a can't wait. I think that our dollars speak more than words. And as Jim pointed out that we need to ensure adequate funding for these programs that are slated within the next year or two. In addition, as a counselor I'll ask for full policy and ordinance review to see what barriers are there where our blind spots, and to ask for for leaders to come and help us with our blind spots. The police department has a great partnership with a Howard Center and I would fully support continuing that relationship to address issues that are mental health in nature and don't require police police force to respond. Thank you, Bryn. I want to pause just for a second because the producer is telling me something we're not going to take another call. But I just have to check telling me something about the time. So it might be that we're going to extend your closing statements. I was just saying, we have one minute for closing statements. One total minute. One minute each for closing statements. Oh, I got it. Okay, one minute each. So before we do that, we're talking about racial justice, and we still need to hear from Dallas. Yes, and I take full responsibility for making us try to try to tackle this issue in such a short amount of time but I think we really need to highlight the fact that when new ski is the most diverse town in northern New England, and yet actually all of our indigenous residents and half of our black residents still live below the poverty line, as compared to 25% of our white residents, which means that all of these people are struggling just to make rent and find a place to live in a city that claims to celebrate its diversity. So before we can even start giving people seats on commissions we need to make sure that they have a place to sleep. So on City Council, I would really work hard to make sure that we're finding ways to create and provide quality and affordable, and not just year to year housing but long term housing solutions for people of color in our community, so that they can actually finally have the support that they really deserve. Then we can go forward and start addressing issues that extend beyond that that becomes systematic. Thank you I hope that addresses it for today. Thank you. I do think it gives viewers and folks who are tuning in a chance to hear a little bit about what each of you has to say. When we when we talk about racial justice what comes to your mind and what things you choose to highlight so thank you for bringing that up Dallas and I think, even though we had one minute you all did a great job. I'm going to take one minute each for closing statements. So this is a time to share with our audience. Just a just, you know now that we've been able to chat you've introduced yourselves. What is it that you want them to take away and know about you as a candidate. This is the hardest part of this job of this is who's next. I think we would like to start with Jim, and no. I thought you're starting with James or is it me again. I feel like I should go last since I went first on the opening. I hear what you mean. Okay, we can start with James. Okay. Closing statements. Again, my name is James McCormick. I am asking for your support on Tuesday, March 2 to elect me as your when you ski city counselor. Please get in touch with me or visit my website, which is James McCormick.org. And if I can leave you with one fact, you know, 62% of students in the when you ski school system qualify for free reduced lunch. I think we need to do better to address the roots of poverty in our community and deal with issues of equality. And lastly, just want to thank the town meeting TV for putting this on and for the five candidates for other candidates for being here engaging with the community and for those of you at home listening or that will be listening as it gets closer to the election. So thank you for engaging in our community and through this process. Great. Thank you, James. Sam. Can you share with us your statements. You know, first off, you know what I love about this community is is is a vibrant diversity that's community has to offer and our local government. Our local government works well with every department. So when you have a team like we do down at City Hall, you know, when challenges arise, you know, it's good knowing that we're in, you know, great hands of thoughtful members from our community. You know, we do have some big challenges ahead of us. I think, you know, the lack of family size housing apartments, you know, the main street revitalization that's going to put a lot of stress on commuters. You know, there's a lack of land. How do we grow our tax base? Do we cut services? Do we raise taxes? Nobody likes that. Nobody wants to hear that. So, you know, this council coming in, we'll have a lot of work ahead of us. And, you know, again, my name is Samuel Myers. I'm running for Winnowsky City Council. And I hope you consider me at the polls. Thank you. I'm going to assume you're saying my name. Okay, with the lip reading. Okay. Rin, yes. Do you have a closing statement for us? Yes, thank you. I also would want to thank Town Meeting TV. I want to thank all the viewers, the callers, great questions. We, it's always more exciting for the candidates and more engaging to have participated in very interested residents and citizens. So thank you so much. I really believe that I can bring a perspective of equitability and not just equality to the city to really hold us accountable on our expenses and to look for creative solutions to addressing known and participated challenges. As we see climate migration is already happening, you know, the need for addressing the issues of the tax burden, the energy burden. I hope that I can count on you for your vote for Town Meeting Day and to write in Bryn and to get all of your friends and neighbors and peers out because whether or not you are voting for me, it's the voices of the residents that matter the most. So thank you so much. Great. Thank you, Bryn. Dallas. This is Dallas Sweetley. And as a transgender and disabled person who lives and rents in Winooski, I, I hope I can just provide a much needed voice for some of the most marginalized people in the city. Winooski should be a pillar of support for everyone in our community, much like Vermonters are to each other, and not just to abled white people. I certainly hope that if you trust me enough to elect me as your next city counselor I can work with the city and with whoever else, all the commissions, anyone who can talk to me and just let me know that you have a problem and I can work with the city to provide all of our residents with affordable safe places to sleep at night. Thank you, everybody for your time and your patience and thank you so much for welcoming me into your city. Great, thank you Dallas. And Jim, does it make sense that you're this is it this is our last closing statement. Yeah. So thank you, Christina. Thank you, you know, Sam Dallas, James and Bryn for doing this and for Tom meeting day for Tom meeting TV for holding this forum. I didn't get we didn't get to talk much about the housing issue I'm really invested in our affordable family sized housing and in figuring out our incentives to make sure that the development that we get in this city looks like the development we need to be to the families who are here and who want to stay here as a father as a homeowner and as someone who spent a lot of time on housing I know these intersecting issues are driving too many of our young families out and they're preventing our seniors from aging in place and I do want to change that and start making progress. So I encourage you to all go out and vote and to read up on the issues. I vote for me is going to be a vote for affordable quality housing for families and low income for modders it's a vote to enable people in fixed incomes to stay and grow old here and it's a vote to build an anti racist and equitable community of respect and dignity here. And these are things that I can commit to you have been working on these and I'm so ready to keep working on them for the next two years. Thank you Jim. So to all of you. Jim James Sam Bryn Dallas. Thank you so much for your service, your commitment and engagement with this with your city, and I just want to say to our viewers thank you for tuning in to town meeting TV ongoing coverage of local community candidates, budget and ballot items. You can find this and more forums on www.Channel 17.TV www.Channel 17 TV. Don't forget to vote on or before Tuesday, March 2 2021. Thank you.