everybody welcome back to looking to the east really grateful that you're tuning in today, we're going to be talking about politics today. As you know, the United States has a new president and he has been in his office now for just about 100 days. I'm sure that on the domestic side, think tech is taking a look at how, how President Biden has been doing over the last 100 days but I wanted to do that as well. But do it from an international perspective. So we have two very excellent guests that also I have a consign guide I connection. Let me start with Dr Paul Scott, whom I've had on the show before. I'm talking about politics. Dr Scott is a professor emeritus from consign guide at university and as I recall. Dr Scott you studied at Virginia University of Virginia and also at so I, and he currently resides in Paris France. So I'm asking Paul, even though he is an American like the three of us, but as an expatriate living in Paris to European perspective on how Biden has done in his first 100 days so thank you very much. All for joining us today. And then, yep, a second guest also has a consign guide I connection is a consign guide I graduate. And he has also been a guest on my show before so we have some repeat visitors there's going to be a special gift for both of you now that you've been on the show twice. And I'll have to the show is over. So junior is a as I mentioned because I got a graduate and a long term resident of Japan. He's a partner at Kitahama partners which is one of the major law firms in the consign area. And I've asked him to take up the perspective as an expat in Japan to take a look at how Biden has been doing over the last 100 days or so. So as with so many of my shows it's triggered by articles that I find or people send me from the New York Times. And just last week there was an article stating Biden's popularity numbers which are quite incredible. And the fact that he seems to be supported not just by the moderate part of the Democratic Party, which is was a primary support for him in the election process but also the progressive part of the party, as well as a result his popularity numbers are when he was elected when he came into office is 98%. And it's still in the 90s now for Democrats, of course it's lower for Republicans, but overall his support from the country is in the 50% range. Let's talk about that first though guys. Is this mostly or partly because we're all going through a decompression of no Trump is a lot of Biden support, just the fact that he is not Trump and that we're all relieved that we have a new president. How much do you think that is a factor from from your perspective I'll start with you. Well it's an interesting question you know America Americans have a new president but they do not have a new country. And I think that's, that's important. We all know how many people voted for Mr Trump in 2020 almost 75 million people and New York Times. Which used to be the paper on record is is one of the victims actually or one of the casualties of what we have to call Trump ism. And I agree with you completely that there's a great relief among among members of the Democratic Party. That Mr. Mr Trump is gone and Mr Biden, who was widely dismissed a year and a half ago is now is now president on the Republican side, you're completely correct. That the support is is is not enthusiastic. And since I've been invited to talk about about Europe. And we have to be careful because there's an old Europe and a new Europe. And I'll make that distinction maybe a little bit later there's also great relief that that Mr Trump is is not is not president but to think that we're going to go back to 2008. Which means the first year of the Obama administration or 2009 to be to be correct. And no one expects that one is expecting that in Europe so a little more. There's some, I think there's some, I may maybe the view from Europe is is more sober about the expectations of American leadership. And to go back to America as a preeminent power a hyperpower. If you if you like so people are waiting to see. Oh really. Early from a European perspective to make a call one way the other. Yeah, you know it's extremely interesting because I don't want people to start laughing at this. You know it's sort of sleepy Joe and you know questions about his mental acuity but the Financial Times just the other day had an article about Mr Biden calling him audacious. And talking about what Biden has done in his 100 days, which is basically to not to destroy Reaganism. And we know Mr Reagan was famous for saying that government is the problem and to have small government and cut to cut budgets and here Mr Biden is doing something that some people are saying is just absolutely audacious. Again, by spending 1.9 trillion for COVID relief, which everyone which most, most, I would think everyone in the US is is happy about and, and perhaps 3 trillion in an infrastructure jobs creation program. My rough math would make that $5 trillion that both of these go through. Instead of a type of European you know in current, in current, in current, in current, in current ism sort of in very cautious approach that Biden is really trying to address both domestic and foreign policy linking them to the common man. You know Obama President Obama was not audacious is extremely cautious and you know his approach. You know, Obama Trump and Biden, all three of them, certainly understood that America would with face challenges and, and all three of them completely different personalities. All approached what to do with this. Not declining us power just more competitiveness. And so the Europeans are thinking well you know, Trump is is interesting he, he shattered. He shattered something that perhaps needed to be shattered which is the Europeans have to be less dependent on the Americans. There is China, which people, which the Europeans see as a rising power, and also what Trump did was basically tell the Europeans that you can't rely on the Americans anymore. And I think, and I think that is, you know, if we were to do another show on what Trump ism is because everyone concentrated personality, which is the wrong thing to to to concentrate on. Yeah, I'll take that as a note, although that would not be as pleasant as the subject of this show. But I think that's a very good suggestion to look at the lingering effects of Trump. So the Europeans are saying the Americans aren't trustworthy and they're linking that to domestic politics. Yeah, let me, yeah, I'm sorry to talk so much but you're okay, no fall appreciate the feedback on that. European see American domestic policy as domestic challenges as not systemic racism, but systemic failures. All right, so about systemic racism in another in another. Yeah, so that's so very interesting, Stephen. Yeah, there's a nice pause.  But things, things have changed fundamentally. Before the show started, you and I were chatting briefly that Prime Minister Suga was just in the United States and he's the first foreign leader to have a chance to visit the new president in the White House. Thank you the same question I asked Paul from from your perspective as a long term resident of Japan also you're affiliated with the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, former vice president former governor of the consulate region. What do you think, what's your perspective on this is Japan also experiencing this relief from the Trump administration or maybe that's not so pronounced here or what do you think the general perception is of how Biden is doing in the first three months. Right, well, you know, thank first of all thank you very much, Steve very happy to be on the show, I think you're correct that relief is one of the major emotions that that people are feeling right now you know given sort of the unpredictability and chaos that was a kind of a hallmark of the previous administration. You know, as far as you know his his performance, it is still a little bit of a wait and see I do believe I mean things have gotten off to a good start I mean you had Secretary of State Blinken, you know who was who was here in Japan last month. The first foreign leader as you mentioned for Biden to meet is Prime Minister Suga, which again shows the strength of the US Japan relationship and the respect that the two countries have for one another. As you know I think, in addition to relief, it's just a return to predictability and stability that I think a lot of people appreciate here in Japan and I think in Asia in general. One thing that may be a little bit different from the you know European perspective, and you know I again I say this is someone who's a joint citizen I'm a check as well as an American so I hear quite a bit from from, you know both sides on. But, you know, here in Japan. As we know vice, well it was Vice President Biden was Vice President President Obama. President Obama's policy in in East Asia toward Japan, particularly as you know vis-à-vis China was seen with with a bit of skepticism here in Japan, particularly because of the you know advancements as far as you know the the encroachment of China, you know into this you know South China Sea and in other areas. So, look, I think that that, you know, President Biden is very well known here in Japan he has a lot of connections here, but you know it is it is sort of a wait and see, particularly how the Biden administration is going to handle thorny issues, such as China and other things going forward. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see when he makes his first Asia trip and also follow whether he comes to Asia before Europe or maybe he visits Europe first. He's hosting actually the 22nd of this month on Earth Day he's he's hosting a climate summit. Oh, I see. And that's, we will see, you know, there was great joy when when Biden, you know rejoined or announced, you know to rejoin the Paris Accords. But it's the US and China, the world's greatest polluters will have to cooperate on these matters and there's been there's been degrees of cooperation.  And, you know, I'm not that's maybe that's another program as well. No, no, no, it's, it's, it's how things are framed. And, you know, it's, it's, you know, framing, framing it as an existential threat in, when we're not even out of a pandemic is and how what what policy, especially at the economic level. For carbon emissions and how much money is going to be spent on this will be will be interesting so. So we'll see how the how Mr Biden can can lead, you know, these thorny issues, especially involving the United States, China and India, as rising polluters and carbon emissions. Yeah, so for our listeners. One thing that's been a distraction, at least on this topic. And maybe Jerry you'll agree with me is that the, we have the fourth wave, going here in Japan with the pandemic, especially where we live in Kansai now the Osaka prefecture and also prefecture. I think to some extent that's crowded the Biden activity off the front pages and so forth. So, a little bit consumed with domestic issues in terms of trying to manage this pandemic which that could be another show guys is Japan's poor response to the whole pandemic and the fact that it's now 50% of people Americans are now vaccinated the least the first shot and I think it's less than 1% still here in Japan. But anyway, let's go back to the topic for the show and that is Paul kind of addresses some of the accomplishments of the Biden administration through the first 90 days I think the, the biggest thing Paul mentioned is the $1.9 trillion relief bill that was passed through and the funding from the government directly to American citizens to try and get the economy to recover from the pandemic and then also this proposed new bill that's roughly $3 trillion to try and reinvigorate the infrastructure and accomplish a whole basket full of different things I think from my perspective. One of the amazing things of the Biden administration so far is that he actually has shepherded a major bill through Congress with no support from the Republicans as we know, and is now planning to do even more government support for the economy, which would include Paul to your point investments in American energy and ecological issues as well. So our, let's start with you Paul again and just very briefly, are you, are you surprised that all of this is happening so quickly. I was, I was going to say that, and you can. I was going to say that, you know, I am shocked.  I wasn't expected, you know him to to Brady to be the perhaps the greatest quarterback and NFL history and here's Biden, who becomes sort of the default president at age 78, and in his first 100 days. He's the executive orders, which is, again, another debatable point but he has, he has been to repeat myself audacious. And I think he's, we've underestimated either or not him in his ability. I'm not sure about leading. Because there are people behind the scenes obviously but a raft of legislation, a whole different vocabulary, setting America on a different path. Some of the woke ism of the extreme left. He's, he's managing that I think, and I'm shaking my head I think and makes a lot of people uncomfortable here in Europe. The front page of a major magazine, just published a couple of days ago. The way to put it on the screen was, you know, basically talking very very negative towards the extreme left. And as we know here in Europe. The, the right is much more powerful than the left and there's an election here in France next next year, and one in Germany as well. And alternative for Germany and of course Marine Le Pen here in France, the conservatives in England and also in Scandinavia and in other countries in Europe. Not all that the right is resonating much more than the left. So people are afraid of a, or the left is not messaging effectively. And so I saw that front page magazine article of, we don't want to go the way the Americans are going with the left. The extreme left, excuse me. And that's, yeah, that's an interesting point. It's a very, it's a very tough. You know, let's not make the US California, we could say. And that reminds me of some conversations we've had over the last couple of years as well. Right. Yeah, I think the progressive wing or group of the Democratic Party is, is frankly surprised at the direction of Biden who ran as a moderate, primarily has taken. Since he became president, it's quite remarkable. And we do have a question, maybe I'll address this to you, jury, although I'd like to get your response also or your impressions over the first 90 days and what Biden has been able to accomplish but the question from one of our viewers is does Japan and Paris respect Biden, as much as they respected Obama. I want to start with you, Jerry, do you think the Japan public opinion is very positive about Biden as it was. Well, again, I still think we're in the wait and see and again, I wouldn't overestimate the love for Obama in Japan and Asia. Again, I think we also have to remember that President Obama followed George W. Bush who if you were doing a contest for the worst post war president is thankful that Donald Trump. Because if you know, so that said, I think, I think people in Japan appreciated and liked Obama again because he was he was better than George W. Bush but President Obama's policies and again I say this I was actively involved in the Obama campaign so I'm a huge Obama supporter, but by the same token, there were people who were critical of, you know, Obama's President Obama's policies here in Japan, particularly vis-à-vis China. Okay, interesting. So to answer the question, Biden has to, you know, live up to and exceed that. So we'll see how it goes. We're still in that mode. Okay, Paul, you have any comments about that? You know, Obama was the rock star. This is from a European perspective? Well, you know, his whole story was of myth and heroic myth, if you like. And I think he underperformed. And maybe that is with all respect to lawyers. That was his training. No, no, I'm very serious to respect. Very balanced and trying to see both sides. Paul, I have a word. He was also a professor. Guys, I have a word on my show. No fighting among the gas. Lawyers versus professors. His nickname was, you know, no drama Obama and but he, he was very cautious. And that his, you know, I didn't work in the Obama administration. So he was he was very, very cautious. And back to the very cautious cautious as far as China and not confrontational. Mr. Trump, of course, the master of the great disruptor in many ways. And he thought that was by disrupting and then doing sort of transactional negotiations, if you like, of dividing and conquer and having advantage at an individual level. Mr. Trump thought that was the way to lead and exactly as exactly as, as you said, this is resulted in chaos. So, Mr. Mr. Biden is grandfatherly and calm and controlled and he's going to, but I also feel that he might have to be very cautious with Biden because he has to, he's not leading through the power of speech and through rhetoric and that's what Obama did. His speech writers were brilliant Obama's and he could speak like Ronald Reagan. Not like Ronald Reagan but in a in a theatrical way, just brilliant. And no one's expecting that from from Biden. It seems to be keeping a much lower profile than certainly Obama did or certainly Trump Trump was in the news every single day I mean we all went through Trump fatigue. So a couple minutes left guys that I, I know we don't have enough time to address this but looking to the crystal ball, we're seeing economists, even Republicans now we're forecasting an economic boom in Japan. So, what do you think's going to transpire over the next couple of years maybe if you can just give me a one minute response are we. We have a very successful presidency here based on the first 90 days and how things may play out over the next year so there's always on unknowns but what do you think what what's your forecast just briefly. Let me start with you Jerry, what would you say 30 seconds tell me what's going to happen over the next three and a half years or so. I think that that President Biden is going to focus on pandemic, which I think is actually his greatest accomplishment to hopefully get us out of that I think infrastructure is going to be next. I do believe that he does have an opportunity to be a very successful President, again stability predictability, both, you know, especially internationally I think he's going to have an, you know, the ability to rehabilitate the image of the United States. We'll see domestically I think he's going to have a number of challenges domestically, and we will just really have to see how those happen and again I as as Professor Scott said, we may have a different president but not a different country. Paul any last words we just have about half a minute left. There is the list of put of crises that Mr Biden has to has to deal with both at the at the foreign relations level, China and North Korea. At the top of the list but also with back to Europe, what to do with Russia. And Russia and energy and energy energy scarcity as a as a conflict point is something that is on the minds of all Europeans because there are many countries in Europe that 100% dependent on Russian on Russian energy. So Russia deals with whether it wants to be complimentary in the system.  I think both the Europeans and the Chinese have to be very, very careful about underestimating American power. Okay, well thank you guys, the time has just flown by as I knew it would with the two of you really appreciate you taking time out for you very late at night Paul and for jury for us in Japan a little bit early in the morning. Really enjoy talking to you and I hope our viewers and those of you that take a look at this recording later on enjoy the show. I'll be on again in two weeks and I'm going to look at venture capital in Japan that will be the topic for looking to the audience and thank you Paul and jury so much for participating today, and to my viewers. I'll see you guys all in a couple of weeks or so. Thank you. Thank you for inviting us.


Did you guys know that there's hockey in Scotland? There is. I'm ashamed. I did not know this. The Elite Ice Hockey League has teams from all four countries in the UK, and one of them wears those god-awful jerseys. They look like an unorganized stamp collection on top of a uniform. This one is brought to you by Dugout Mugs. Did you know that you can get a Dugout Mugs for 30% off, site-wide, dugoutmugs.com. Use code Johnboy. It's the perfect Christmas present if you're still searching. So let's get into the action on this one. It kind of starts behind the net because number six is going to take a little bit of a little push from number 80, whatever there. He doesn't like that. So the whistle blows dead, and number six hooks him. And now he turns around and he says, hey, I didn't like that. This guy's going to turn and kind of nod to this guy, McNally, our main dude, say, what up? You want to tangle? And McNally's like, yeah, sure. So they hang out. Everyone goes in pairs. McNally's just pushing. It's not really anything. Just kind of pushing back and forth, pushing. The refs right there. They're having fun. The refs are saying, get off the ice, break it up. And no one's breaking it up. Another push. And the refs keep saying, stop it, man. Just stop it. Like kind of smiling. Not a big deal. But then he keeps going. He keeps going. And now this ref comes in and he says, seriously, get off the ice. And McNally's like, I'm mad at you. And McNally kind of just like laughs at him. He says, oh, that's it.  And he laughs again. And then he turns around. And then this dude, number 40 something, he's going to say something to him as he skates away. I don't know what that is. But he says it. And then you can see his hands kind of come up. So he knows he just provoked him in a way. So look, he turns. He says something. His hands come up.  So on his way off, they go. And then this is the bad one. This punch to the back of the head. Kind of maybe a push, but still very dangerous. And then this guy in white grabs that postage stamp dude, the little dude, who looks like a Scottish hockey player, very much so.  Meanwhile, that guy stands up to skate to the box. And number six was just in his way. So he had to push him over and just say, dude, I'm skating to the penalty box. You're in my way. Why don't I just get another penalty and push in you as well. You hit that guy. He shouldn't have been standing there. Bam. Down. Now a fan up in the box saw that. And he didn't like it. So he throws his beer bottle onto the ice beer everywhere. The ref skates into it. This player looks at it. And then this guy is going to grab it.  Boom.   Any risk it breaking on the ice? I think he just leaves it. This is the ref's reaction to the bottle. You can see it. I mean, it's kind of like right there. You can see it coming across the screen. It almost hits them pretty close, pretty dangerous in there.  Meanwhile, McNally, the player, he's just kind of smiling. And he says, well, get on the ice then. Come down here.  And the guy that threw the bottle says, yeah, I will come on the ice. So he starts running down. And the player's waiting for him. And he runs and he runs. And instead of running full speed, he kind of starts playing defensive before he even gets there. Like he's like side stepping into him. And then the ref pushes him away and nothing really happens. But boy, did he run. Boy, did he run down those stairs. Super tough. Look at this. And his vest, all black outfit. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I'm going to get you. I'm going to get you. Oh, OK. Well, maybe next time I'll get you. And the players are just kind of laughing. And they go their own way. Now, this guy, number six, and with the beanie on, is just going to give him a push. So get out of here. See you later, dude.  Like he's just going to sit in his seat. And everything's going to be fine now. And then he realizes, oh, wait. I think I lost my phone, which is always a bad feeling, no matter what. So he's got to go back down. He's like, hey, when I was trying to attack the player with all the equipment on who plays professional sport for a living, I lost my phone. Can you hand it to me? Yeah.   OK, OK, all good. He says, no, no, no, really, I'm going to have to kick you out of here. You're in trouble. And he says, all right, I'll just leave. See you. He's out of there. I don't know if he got in trouble. He should have. He threw a beer bottle onto the ice. He's lucky he didn't hit anyone. The player McNally got suspended two games and fined, and hockey exists in Scotland. These are all facts that you and I are aware of. Also, a fact that you can still get a dugout mug in time for Christmas if you order right now.  Dugout Mugs is a brand that has supported John Boy Media from the very, very start. So we always support them and they make a cool product. It's a mug made out of a baseball bat. You drink it out of it. You give it as a gift. It's a collection. It's awesome. If you're a fan of the game, don't fight the players.


We are discussing about stages of internationalization of an organization, and this is the fourth stage and the one which corresponds with the network of subsidiary stage in the stages of internationalization model. And this is the stage of global product area division. Whether the organization can have a global product division structure, or it can have a global area division structure. So when your international operations are very much spread and your international sales are growing, then either you can go towards the product division structure, if your multinational is making different products, then you can go towards the product division structure, or if your organization is making only one product or are making a few products, then you can go towards the area division structure. Let's take a look at both of them. This is a global product area division structure, a combination of both of them. In the first layer, you can see that this is a product division structure. And on the second layer, you can see that area divisions have also been added. So if an organization is producing three products A, B and C, if they want to go for a product division structure, they would have one worldwide production group or division A, worldwide production group or division B, worldwide production group or division C. And now if they are even more complex, they can go for an area division as well. For example, if they are making one product whose overall management is worldwide production of that product, for example product B, and then they are selling in the entire world, then they can also go for adding the area structure in that. So this diagram you can see that area one is concerned with domestic sales and area two is concerned with international sales. And then under that, there are functional units under each area operating in the domestic and international domain. So basically this diagram is showing you how a product division structure operates. This is particularly a global area division structure in which the organization is divided into various geographical areas. So it may be divided into North American area, Latin American area, European area, Middle East African area, Far East area, but that is hypothetical. In real terms, the organization will have those divisions in geographical terms in which they are operating. Examples of product division structures or area division structures could be found in many different multinationals. For example, you may have heard of the auto company Voxvegan, but Voxvegan is a parent company of many automobile companies which are known to you as separate companies. For example, Audi, Bentley, Porsche, Scorda, CR and many other automobile companies, they all are owned by Voxvegan Corporation. Now Voxvegan Corporation, because it is selling all these different products, they are selling Audi under a different brand name, they are selling Bentley under a different brand name, they are selling Porsche under a different brand name. So basically their products are diversified. So according to that, they have a global product division structure in which they have worldwide production facilities which are catering to each product. Whereas if you look at Coca-Cola, now Coca-Cola has got one type of product, Coca-Cola or there are different variations, but the product is made in the same factories. So they would not be going for a product division structure. They would be going for an area division structure. So they would have an area division which is related with the America, with the Europe, then with the Far East, with the Middle East, with Central Asia and all the geographical divisions which are possible in which they are operating. Why do we go for a product or area division structure? Because growth and size, they create issues of communication. So then you want to go for a complete division which is looking after a particular area or it is looking after a particular product. So you want to completely give them the autonomy. And you also want to give them the autonomy because their tensions may emerge as corporate managers, they pull for more control between the corporate managers and subsidiary managers. So subsidiary managers, they would want more autonomy and corporate managers, they would want more control. So there would be tensions coming up. But to make it more efficient, you need to delegate. In current scenario, particularly, we are going for delegation of authority, decentralization, participatory management styles. So in order to do all that, when your volume gets that big, you need to give autonomy to your international functions. And then there is always dilemma between national responsiveness and global integration. Either on one side, you want to be globally integrated. You don't want to be completely located in the local market. You want to have a company which is globally integrated.  So there is always dilemma. And to resolve that dilemma, you have to go for a global division structure. All right, so if the growth strategy, it involves product diversification, then you go for a product division structure, global product division structure. And if growth strategy that involves geographical expansion, then global area division structures will be established. When you're growing at that extent, then there would be a number of implications for your organization. So number one implication you would have heard this sentence many times is think global, act local. So you need to think globally, but you need to act locally. That is the first implication. Then it is an extremely complex environment and it includes global competitors, global customers, universal products. So you have universal products, you are selling your product to the entire globe.  Then you have world scale factories, factories which are producing that can sell to the entire world. And technological advances, so you will be concerned with all these aspects that are implications of glowing global at that scale.


and justice for all okay second item of business is instructions on exiting the building in case of emergency whoops oh I'm sorry so that's me so for those of you in the building there's an emergency you can go out either door at the back of the auditorium turn left or right and proceed to the main exits for those of you joining us virtually thank you for being here we will be monitoring the chat in case you want to be heard by the council please indicate your interest in speaking in the chat and we will call on you and you can unmute and turn your camera on and speak directly to the council we will not be monitoring the chat for content thank you all ready next item is the agenda review are there any additions deletions or changes in order of agenda items okay seeing none comments and questions from the public not related to the agenda yes please Monica up to be and just make sure the green light is on please thank you you can take your mask off while you're speaking clear um having a hard time getting my thoughts together I'm really upset I just came across something in the other paper that I just got today so I haven't really gotten through all my thoughts but I had to come in and say something coming into request that the city council reconsider the name of the South Parlington Senior Center and name it in honor of Jennifer Coakman Jennifer Coakman passed June 11th of last year and I am one of the community members who reached out privately to ask you to consider honoring her because she was so committed to making that senior center in this building become what it is I learned that there were other plans in place that was June 11th that she passed I have stacked to give Jesse when I'm done here but June 17th Kevin Dorn sent an opinion letter into the other paper that was extremely irresponsible disrespectful discriminatory and it caused a opinion piece back from the board on genre board chair of the school board on June 24th which said as a white man in a position of power in a majority white community Dorn deemed it appropriate to try to discredit a woman of color Dr. Travia Childs a school board member when she had the courage to give voice to concerns of students and families of color in our community regarding police in our schools the point is his opinion piece was factually incorrect and targeted very inappropriately that was very upsetting and upon reading it I again contacted certain members of the city council and asked you to please reconsider honoring Kevin Dorn by naming a room after him and I get this week's paper and I'm finding that again Mr. Dorn in the repeat offender Andrew Johnson's case is quoted in the paper sorry he's not quoted because he refused to respond but he's written in the paper as in this Dorn for which the city's new senior center is named is called out in the complaint for allegedly ignoring the evidence of sexual assault in the investigation report and failing to notify the criminal justice training council and permitting Johnson to stay on paid leave for four months before resigning without discipline Dorn did not respond to a quest request for comment I I said I I'm just sharing more of the past I wasn't able to get my thoughts fully together on this but you can tell this is very upsetting to like you yet another and let me say in the very powerfully written June 24th opinion piece backed by the board she did close it by saying I hope that the incoming city manager will be willing to partner with the school district to do the work necessary to make our community welcoming to all the name on that senior center was not welcoming to all and I officially ask you to please consider renaming the senior center in honor of Jennifer Cokman and can I approach to give this to you Jesse it's a whole stack of historical articles that thank you very much are there any other comments from the public not on the agenda okay seeing none we'll move on to announcements and the city managers report start with Tom announcements I was just thinking of one thing I'd comment and I don't mean to put the city manager on the spot so no need to react but I was on pedestrian Wilson Road today from Dorset Street to Heinzburg and that sidewalk is just in terrible disrepair that I know that we have the the possible project with the Tiff but I'm just wondering if there's anything that we can do to maybe in Burlington I see they sometimes and do some patchwork but I mean it is just treacherous and I don't know it doesn't shine well on us and city of South Burlington Wilson Road Shelburne Road I've walked many a time and I just feel like the sidewalks are a little bit better maintained and that stretch just is in dire need of some tender loving care and I just offer that opinion I'll just add on that Airport Parkway and Airport Drive sidewalks could also use some attention if we're going to talk I brought sidewalks up earlier I don't know the cost because we are going to start the Wilson Road project is it next year or is it starting this year I can't we still need to bond for it we still need to bond for it okay all right but the the vote would be this year or early next year the vote would either be November or town meeting day next right right okay we do have engineering underway for it for Wilson Road okay thank you all right man nothing to report I do have some very positive news in the councilor's committee assignments later on oh oh you're making us wait oh right Tim yeah so on Wednesday March 9th the the CCRPC will be hosting a public hearing on the Queen City Park bike pad connection work with their proposals that's online remote I don't have a link for you here but I'm sure you could just Google that and find it if you need if somebody needs it let me know and I'll find it for you it's also I think in one of the agenda it's it's in our email there's probably a link to it also it's pothole time yeah so I urge everybody to approach water-filled holes in the highway cautiously and this could be an opportunity to go out and patch a few things before because all the water melts and runs any like oh that's just a boom oh that's a $200 alloy rim repair and a blowout tire so there's some nice coverage I don't know if that you're responsible and CX about that connection about the bike pedestrian connection on CX was there yeah yeah I did see that yeah they did they did a little drone flyover too right which was kind of nice yeah that's all I have thank you I don't have anything to report I have quite a few things to report so bear with me for just a few minutes as I was starting with our COVID numbers we had 28 cases last week reported to VDH that is few fewer or a few more than our cases the previous week so we're maintaining at about a 1% increase a week Paul and I did want to give you an update on land development regulations as you may know the Planning Commission has warned and the next public hearing for land development regulations updates for March 22nd and then assuming they move something forward that will come to you likely in April so this is based on the conversation about the full LDR package you previously had they heard a lot of interest from the council around a generic PUD option and really have prioritized that and done yeoman's work to move that proposal forward to you so this would establish the new general PUD to accompany the conservation PUD and traditional neighborhood PUD that were previously adopted and allow for those to be available anywhere in the city and be available for those where the others to are not in place and be available to those that are already under permit to ease that review so many more and they also with this proposal or bring forward to you a slight amendment to the existing site amenities that are required on site which is kind of a additional thing they had hoped to do with the LDRs so much more to come to you we were gonna we're thinking about doing a full presentation on that tonight but since you'll see it at least two more times we just want to give you that quick update and teaser in city updates you'll see more about that just a reminder to the community that final tax installments are due on the 15th thank you very much and the city clerk is in there last three weeks of registering dogs and cats last year we broke all records for registering dogs and cats and we are actually ahead of our our rate where we were last year wow so the word is percolating now she's putting it out email and yeah it's good she's doing great job that's without the police letter that's without the police letter right so that's good we received last week our latest local options tax allotments so this is the holiday period from mid November to beginning of February we are ahead of budget per what we budget in FY 22 if the trends continued for the rate we receive received last year for the remaining remainder of this year we will have a surplus in that budget line at the end of FY 22 and we'll continue a similar surplus through FY 23 assuming rates continue to stay because we budgeted relatively conservatively for that in 2023 so great news for our economy that things are continuing to come back we just heard today from v-trans that they are intending to pave route 7 from charlotte to the 189 line this summer and next summer so that's shellburn road for that's a huge a road in our city likely over two summers there are probably some sidewalks on route 7 that could use some attention but yeah so much more to come on that but I just want to give you a heads up that we may start seeing communication from v-trans on that I have a question Jesse is the design open for change like having a median strip or something to make it a little more pedestrian friendly so if we want to pause this we could ask the state to consider that but when they do this paving program on class 1 highways it's solely repaving they don't they don't adjust the the curb lines they just shim code the top and then repave it and I'm sorry we don't I don't want to draw yeah I'm not here to say I'm gonna put a wrench in the works but if it's just I'd like to know if you know we we're making the lanes a little bit narrower to ensure that or give drivers a reason to drive more slowly so if there is a way just to have narrower lanes and and just have a foot or two of median strip what I would love to know if that could be added afterwards or I would think it should be done at the same time what the process would be I don't want to put a wrench in the works because I know that potholes are our priority but I it's it's really not pedestrian friendly and that won't be repaved then for 10 20 years right on a stay highway like that probably closer to 10 but yes unless we did a streetscape improvement project the way we're doing on wellston road or something else so I can explore that that I mean that could also be a striping solution that doesn't require the curb line moving right so there may be options there so are you proposing the fog line be drawn closer to the middle on both sides to give a little bit more room to bikers that's a potential of a possibility I just don't know the other possibility was having it down you know just like our Dorset Dorset Street having having a median and there could actually they do this in Europe they have bike and I know that we're thinking about it for Williston Road over 189 having the bikes go on that median which is the problem is when you hit the old UNOS that's when the bike lanes disappear when you're going north right and then you have like basically this from the fog line to the granite curb it's about that wide it's really it's really narrow and there's no right it's just a sidewalk on the edges it's not bike friendly at all they do the striping though the transportation so we would have to so there's opportunity to agree to make the lanes 10 feet instead of 12 narrower and then have that's four extra feet I mean four extra feet is a lot yeah if they even have an extra foot it would be nice because it's I suspect it's a state highway and they will ignore whatever we say but it doesn't mean it's just they're just gonna shim it right as opposed to what they did on Williston Road right from the old Earl's all the way back to Taft Corner almost right they actually you know designed in very wide bike lanes that were integrated with the turns and things like that with the green coloring and stuff and but that was all engineered that which isn't wasn't just a and they dug up the highway and actually rebuilt it from scratch it wasn't just a shim so are they just putting a surface coating or are they actually going to grind it and V so the update I heard today was be trans maybe paving route 7 this summer you want to tell council period so so that's what I know and I would be happy sounded so easy right so my follow-up questions if you could ask as I like to know is is what their hours are going to be if they're going to do it during commute hours we know that spear Street and Dorset Street will be used heavily by commuters trying to get into the city and do we have I should know this but I don't do we have the speeding signs that alert people at our disposal to prepare for that eventuality when we're going to have if it is during commute times people taking spear and endorse it to avoid the the paving machines because certainly we want to make sure that the people don't think that Dorset Street and Spear Street are highways and that they should be the speed limit 50 miles an hour right great thank you and is Dorset Street going to be continued the paving because it went to a certain point and then right every year we were going to go a little bit further is that on the that's not the train so that's right right right so this is just since we're talking about paving yes okay a great deal of additional groundwork but if we were to reconsider the suicide lane and instead just make more room on both sides for bicyclists that's also less distance for the pedestrians to have to jump across traffic does the state have a entire authority over the suicide lane or do we as a city have some influence over going from five lanes down to four in order to make for more multimodal travel as well as less of a pedestrian danger that'd be a question I'd love to talk about at a future discussion CCRPC did a study on Welleson Road for us to go to the suicide lane it was it was a pilot that then became permanent so I don't know if we can do it without that study I don't know not to be a stickler but there's two ways center left turn lanes I don't know I just don't like that term suicide lane there are two ways center left turn lanes that's all okay lots more updates yes okay so two I hope fun library updates for you students from the high school big picture program will be painting a mural in the young adults locked in the library in the coming months and they have I will be bringing two proposals forward to the community so you will see those options out there soon later this month and then the veterans telehealth project that you approved a grant for several months ago is kicking off they're having their volunteer training at the end of the month with full implementation in April and libraries training all their staff about how to use how to support veterans as best they can as they come in for those services three other things as the council knows but I'd like to share with the community effective today I am thrilled to share that Tom DiPetro will be our permanent public works director we have the opportunity to celebrate him at a staff event earlier today Tom joined the team in 2006 and since that time has held several different positions in the city brought in tens of millions of dollars for infrastructure improvements and saw that construction move forward and really become a statewide expert in stormwater and environmental services he has an MS in plant and soil science from UVM and a BS in environmental management and technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology and we're really thrilled that he's taking the helm after a basically a two-month job interview and then fantastic things in the last two months and we look forward to seeing what he can do next what will the state do without his stormwater expertise I think he will likely still hopefully coach up the next future leader so stormwater expertise it does mean that we now have the two vacancies still so we will be filling his position and the new CIP position in the FY 23 budget so we're spending a few days working with Tom on what his vision is for those two positions and hopefully leveraging even more support to infrastructure projects and connection to maintenance in the city with those two new leader hires so more to come on that front but please join me and welcoming Tom to this position today we also celebrated a bunch of police hires and promotions so and retirements we celebrated the retirement of Lieutenant D more who has served South Burlington for 25 years and is stepping down we celebrated the promotion of Officer George no Greg short officer Greg short to sergeant he is wonderful staff person is probably among the best officers I've ever heard talk about de-escalation and use of force and really excited about his leadership and then I wanted to share with the council that we do have three new officers that were two that were sworn in today and one that was sworn in about a week and a half ago going to the police academy this spring so hopefully with those three officers coming out of the academy we will address are pretty significant staffing levels and then finally as of today the university law property has sold I can officially share with you that Eastern real estate has taken ownership of that parcel they're a nationally national privately held commercial real estate company they have offices in Boston and Santa Barbara they've been in business for over 30 years we have met with their representative half a dozen times over the last couple of months and I can say that as their website says they start every conversation with what are the goals of the city and how can we help achieve them so we're really excited to welcome them to the community they are planning their own kind of official launch and introduction to the community but I was given permission to officially share that information tonight and their identity of course the law will continue to operate as is for the foreseeable future that's wonderfully exciting it just that it's like turning a page it's like the sun is rising that's that's very cool yeah very nice thank you for your attention thank you very much thank you item six consent agenda we have two items the disbursements and then the second one approval for a 2022-23 after school and summer expanding access grant to support summer programming through recreation I'll move it to approve I just have a question I'll wait for the second okay okay it's been moved in seconded discussion was there a second yeah sorry yeah the quiet second yeah the recruiting and testing it's RJ gone was that for hires for city staff Andrew I believe those are the two new officers that we just on police officers police officers yeah so those are polygraph testing I think specifically very good okay thank you and I'll just let people know that's $850 so they're definitely investigated right $850 you're not just doing a google search yeah right and I have two questions yes one or just two items from the financial warrants why did we need jp hoofworks do we have a horse that we don't know about it's a veterinary service do we oh oh that was that that's rush our police dog oh it's for the dog yeah oh okay it's hoofworks okay and what what truck did we buy what freight liner truck did we buy was that for public works and yeah so that's a large hauler for our to bring biomass from Bartlett bay to airport parkway the one we bought a few years ago kind of ended up turning out to be a bit of a lemon and it's sort of been been in the shop and unoperational more often than not so we've actually been contracting with one of the septic services which has been a huge you know yeah much more expensive than than this so we were able to lock in a price pretty early on before we see any additional increases so this is a brand new brand new yep it says 2022 so yeah right so will you try to sell the one the lemon I yeah I don't know what the plans are for that for that yet but presumably so yeah putting my Craigslist as long as we let people know full disclosure I guess they do now all righty that's all I have thank you okay are you ready for the vote then all those in favor of the consent agenda say aye that passes five zero item seven is considering an extension of the mass mandate currently in place Jesse sure so I've given you two options although you can decide to do whatever you would like here the two resolution options I've given you one is to continue what we have currently which is the mass mandate in place with the opt-out provision for commercial businesses the second is mandate for city hall in public spaces but an encouragement for private businesses also those are the two options before you you can also select you can create your own option if you would like I do want to share that the governor announced at the very end of the week last week that per his decision he is lifting the mask recommendation for all indoor spaces including schools with specific vaccination rates on March 14th Burlington has lifted their mask mandate I share those with you as pieces of information so I'm sorry I guess I would encourage you so there's been a lot of confusion about the the different mandates we have put in place so if you would like to keep a mandate in place I encourage you to keep the same mandate in place or if you would like to lift it that's of course fine but going into a mandate with another type of mandate may be challenging for us to continue to communicate okay Matt my question was and you may have said this and it may be in the text but just to confirm if we do nothing it expires what day if we do nothing it expires tonight tonight okay I'm in favor of doing okay so you would like to sort of just be a week ahead of the governor yep and lifting all the mandate which mandate mask mandates that's right other thoughts if there are I'm in favor of lifting the mandate as well okay yeah we're under five percent statewide I realize that you know there could be a new wave as more people feel comfortable and I just want to again reiterate that I will continue wearing a mask and anybody who wishes to continue wearing a mask should feel free and it's it's something that we should all respect for sure Tom yeah I'm ready to drop the mandate so I would I would propose to not do anything and then the mask mandates for both city buildings as well as the rest of the opt out policy would drop tonight is what I just heard Jesse say okay that would still allow a business to require them but it would be just fully their decision because I don't think the hospital's going to drop or medical or public transportation and federal transportation right yeah right I don't know about that ends on the 18th for for state transportation right well anything that's federally funded which includes GMT so that's on the 18th but airports and the airplanes oh I don't know about airports yeah I think that's a they're maintaining that as far as I know okay so I have a question for the city manager what are you comfortable with within the city-owned buildings so my approach would be if the council decides tonight to let the current resolution expire that we would just shift over to encourage language for city hall especially for the library that has you know many patrons who are under 5 we had a lot of success with that encourage language early you know early in November and December before the mandate was in place we'd still offer masks at the front door so if people wanted to be masked and protect themselves they could I feel completely comfortable with that okay I would agree I think it's probably time and we'll see what happens yeah but I agree with Councillor Emery's sentiment about you know you can always wear a mask if you're uncomfortable in an indoor location you know spot in people or the year with the general public so please if you feel like you want to wear a mask feel you know go ahead and I will probably wearing mine in certain situations as well so sure I'm on board all right so if you're ready for you don't have to take any action right no action is needed oh okay do we agree yes we can well the current resolution expires this evening and tomorrow everyone is satisfied with that all right if we wait till midnight we can take our masks off yeah if we have a really long meeting okay okay item eight um consider entering executive session for the purpose of discussing Rudofsky versus city of south burlington so I'd entertain a motion to go into executive session can I read that motion yes you I move that the council make a specific finding that premature general public knowledge of civil litigation in the matter of Rudofsky versus city of south burlington and confidential attorney client communications made for the purpose of providing professional legal services to the council would clearly place the city at a substantial disadvantage second all in favor hi so I now move that the board enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing civil litigation in the matter of Rudofsky versus city of south burlington and receiving confidential attorney client communications made for the purpose of providing professional legal services to the council inviting in Jesse Baker Andrew Bulldock and Colin McNeil into the session with the council second all in favor hi we will be returning to open session following this executive session with our it's not going to read them all but there's numerous ones where is the alpine waffle cabin I thought of everybody likes so that is in the old kmart plaza in oh it's going to be part of the alpine shop yes it is okay so when you go get your bike fixed or buy a new one you might have a waffle and a beer to go with it yeah that's too many carbs okay so I would entertain a motion to approve all these first third second whatever liquor licenses I'll I'll move that we approve them second okay is there any discussion all right all in favor signify by saying aye aye okay that carries five zero so a motion to come out of the liquor moved second all in favor aye so we are back into our city council and let the rooms and meals tax go higher that's right not the tax itself the revenue from the tax right by increased you know visitation of these establishments thank you okay um reports item 11 reports from counselors on committee assignments are there any yep there is with Megan for it the zoning task force we had our meeting last Thursday after our reorganizational meeting and we heard uh from brandy saxon who's our consultant and as she told us at the very beginning we had three choices which was we approve the request for rezoning to airport or we disapprove it and this is all advisory this is all right a task force that the planning commission has put together and and we'd be sending that on to them or we we come up with something else to suggest to the planning commission so the catch is that saying no um could according to brandy saxon uh potentially um lead to a legal uh case on the part of the owner of the airport on the basis of being deprived of the value of the land that they purchased with faa dollars so that um that's something we'll have to contend with um she is going to be coming back to the task force on the 17th so that's a week from this Thursday uh it's going to be same paradise day um and we are going to be looking at three memos that she's put together so what would it look like to say no what would it look like to say not now uh we are in the process of starting our new uh comprehensive plan and so that could potentially you know just let's hold off and wait till our planning commission has a chance to to look at that area so it would be you know a decision that could happen in two years or a discussion was had about dimensions of potential structures that would be allowed with some kind of zoning looking at um what is it called setback from the road looking at having uh there be a berm like a building could actually be underground under a berm um and plantings so that's the third memo that she's going to be preparing and we'll be discussing that on march 17th okay do you anticipate a vote that no no you're just going to be considering these after this we're going to have another public hearing oh okay that would make sense so and it has been i think uh been the date is maybe the second thursday in april when we would finish so it's pretty fast which is of concern to several people um and there's a lot of question you know about what other land exists on the airport property where um you know the the needs could be met so uh huh you know do we have enough time to to actually answer that question as it's a question we'll have to to look at too okay so have they reported about other options for the as i understand it the what is in the pipeline now i guess you're not supposed to use that term i'm sorry what is being planned what's wrong with pipeline that thing there was a whole article about um appropriate language and one of the terms i guess it's offensive to indigenous people because oil oil was often i blind over their land and destroyed their water i'll send you the um the link it was interesting was a report that was done and it was um very different topic was startling to me because when i worked in the legislature i had to relearn some things that now are inappropriate for example hearing impaired you know we used to call them deaf people then we were i was trained to know that's inappropriate hearing impaired well now we're back to they want to be called deaf people or deaf so it's just sort of interesting it's that whole process of understanding he she they all of that as well as all these other i just learned about two way center left lanes tonight yeah well exactly well i mean yeah which is harder to remember two center left lane two ways center left turn lanes yeah but anyway so um my understanding is the only thing that's being a discussed and planned at the moment is the shed for the um and the need for it i mean i would go along with that that there is a need for a new one and a larger one and a better one but i haven't heard if there's any other land available i mean or even a structure i don't know how many hundred acres they have there might be a little pocket somewhere else but i don't know 847 last i heard 847 yeah and they probably don't need more than an acre that'd be a big building yeah so okay thank you um matt do you have any updates on yeah the great news is that there is going to be no strike there will not be a strike the rural bus drivers they have agreed to and it's publicly announced it should be in the press very soon the rural bus drivers have agreed to terms and that means all three labor unions have agreed to terms with gmta we still have gone to reduce services in order to provide certainty because of the lack of bus drivers if you anyone would like to be a bus driver contact john more at gmta um they are hiring um but the good news is that there is a labor agreement and we're good for for a couple years so what was the issues around mass part of it i mean since there's been a change both by the cdc and um the governor and uh certainly there has been issues around mass uh those weren't part of the the labor negotiations that was as you might surmise mostly about health care and salary okay but and how what was the outcome of the health care insurance uh well it's different for the different um three different labor unions um and they came from different starting points so in the rural drivers which is the most contentious one because that almost led to a strike it was the coverage for the individual drivers was very very strong uh 100 percent everything but they they gave up in a prior negotiation the the uh health care for the dependents the the wife or the the spouse or the children um that one went down one went went up and everyone came to an agreement so i think that's positive going forward okay good okay tim nothing thank you okay and i don't have anything from the um any of my many committees so um is there any other business to come before us then that we can consider entering an executive session for the purpose of discussing pending litigation we will not come back to the auditorium after that so let's move into executive session this meeting will be ended so i moved that the council make a specific finding that premature general public knowledge of civil litigation to which the city is a party in confidential attorney client communications made for the purpose of providing professional legal services to the council would clearly place the city at a substantial disadvantage second uh all in favor aye so having found that i now move that the board enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing civil litigation to which the city is a party and receiving confidential attorney client communications made for the purpose providing professional legal services to the council inviting in jesse baker andrew boldock paul connor and collin mcneill second all in favor aye same place yeah eat drink a little but be very merry