council and that we actually have a committee working on these issues and trying to come up with some some potential policy changes for us to bring greater accountability so with that in mind i want to introduce a couple of amendments that hopefully capture some of what i've said here and with with that i would like to strike lines eight through ten that's the whereas clause that really in my mind has the identifies and really in my mind as someone who has been critical i feel like i'm kind of being bullied honestly by this line by by those lines and it replaces those lines with whereas public feedback and healthy democratic debate on policing are crucial to building and maintaining trust and accountability and whereas criticism and feedback should not automatically be conflated with a lack of appreciation so those are the the the changes that i would like to see in the whereas clauses additionally as part of this amendment i would like to strike lines 13 through 16 and say and replace that those lines with now therefore be it resolved that the burlington city council thanks burlington police officers for the difficult but incredibly important work that they perform on a daily basis be it further resolved and be it further resolved that the burlington city council understands that firearms are one tool among many that can be used to ensure public safety and that they should only be used as a last resort when all other non-violent de-escalation measures have failed and be it further resolved that the burlington city council reiterates its support for the committee that it recently created to review existing use of force policies and develop recommendations for changes to those policies council tracer are you moving that as one amendment as one amendment yes sir is there a second seconded by councillor hansen may i ask the maker of the movement i just want to clarify that you're moving the revised version council right oh yes i'm sorry i apologize councillor acting president mason yes this thank you resolution has been revised and it is in line um that's noted as the revised version on board docs and i will also know for the council that the proposed and just to let you know what it was that words uh men and women have been changed to officers thank you um and the words successfully dealing with many incidents was changed to appropriately rather than sex okay successfully the amendment is up on the screen is there any discussion on the amendment councillor hansen yeah i wanted to echo some of those sentiments um and i and i do support this amendment i think to in the wake of some very some very intense incidences that occurred with with police officers and community members um we worked very hard to to try to move on a path um towards doing better and i think asking for greater accountability asking one of our departments to deal with with issues that that are coming from the community and to to respond properly and to try to address those issues and eliminate those issues moving forward i think is that is our job that is that is a part of our job and i think um as as public servants it's we should always be trying to respond to concerns in the community and trying to do better and i don't think that by doing that we are disrespecting um staff i think asking for a response asking for improvements i think actually shows that we we believe in the team and we believe that that folks are able to achieve to that high level and that we we do have very high standards because we believe that we have a team that's capable of of achieving those high standards so in my mind it's not it's not disrespectful to to ask for those high standards um and it doesn't demonstrate a lack of respect um so i think it's important i think this language does you know include thanking the department for this very difficult work that they do on a daily basis while still maintaining the understanding that we can always strive to strive to do better any other councillor does i want to speak to the amendment councillor pine then council right thank you the um the issue of our our respect for our own law enforcement i think is um shouldn't shouldn't really be questioned i think that's actually what is most challenging about this as um somebody who served on the city council when our police department was in an old um ice cream factory on south windows gi avenue i worked very closely with tony pomerlo to make sure that we got a new police station for the uh for this community i supported the idea of substations in neighborhoods that really needed um more attention um i was a significant i continued to advocate for community based policing and see the relationship between the community and the police as um as a critical link for ensuring that we have uh safe vital vibrant communities i think we should just remind um everyone ourselves included of that i think that if we are to embrace the idea that um policing is a necessary um service that the public should expect and we should be providing um that it's okay and actually appropriate for us to um require that we uphold democratic values and um i looked at a at a report that was done about 15 years ago by the police foundation which is a national organization that was chartered to advance policing through innovation and science and really what they looked at is what are the attitudes of police officers about the issue of of abuse of police authority and it's kind of amazing what they came up with really is that commitment by their leader their chief their command staff to uphold democratic values and eradicate and eradicate discriminatory practices is key is key to departments that function optimally um police administrators should proactively institute and enforce strong policies governing conduct as well as systems to collect and analyze data relative to police citizen contacts such as complaints use of force incidents and traffic stops such efforts should inform policy guide recruitment and training and build accountability necessary to restore and maintain public trust in the police it's a lack of internal systemic controls and not a few rotten apples that perpetuates police problems of misconduct and abuse by police most of america's police officers the vast majority are honest dedicated hardworking public servants and it is they as well as the public who they serve who are victims of the bad cop because of the nature of their responsibilities the police have the power to intervene and become involved at a very basic level within the lives of our citizens the nature of the police response the manner in which officers interact with citizens and the message i'm sorry the methods by which they enforce the laws have critical implications for a democracy and the quality of life of our citizens as gerome slotnik wrote in a thoughtful essay on democratic policing he said order achieved through democratic policing is concerned not only with the ends of crime control but also with the means used to achieve those ends as elected officials our role i believe is to serve as the citizens voice in the direction and operations of our city government part of that duty to govern includes hearing grievances from our community hearing the pain that people have gone through and giving them full and fair consideration as we set policies and procedures the special committee is undertaking a much needed review of policies procedures and training we're already engaged in this work i believe we can both support our police and seek greater accountability for how they carry out their duties in fact this is actually a core part of our duty as city councillors i hope he'll support councillor tracy's amendments council right followed by councillor shannon paul and just a reminder we're speaking to the amendment thank you president mason uh i urge the council to reject this amendment it is attempting to turn this issue around and actually start talking about the committee again saying that we we you know again we reiterate our support for the committee we don't need to say that because we've already done it we passed that unanimously and to have language being used out here in this council floor is really disappointing to me to hear a councillor say i feel like i've been bullied that's part of the language that we use against the police that's part of the language that's caused this problem now we can sit here and take that we're gonna we don't want to recognize the things that are reality that have brought our police officers down that have demoralized them and you can try to change it this way and if you succeed you can do that but it's not going to change the basic fact it is amazing to me that we could not come here tonight and pass a basic resolution that's simply acknowledged some of the things that have demoralized and brought down police officers to talk about the incidents that happened we know those incidents happen and we created a committee to look at those and as you said that work's being done but to to use that as if it should be used to tar off police officers as was said at a rally out front here by many individuals as was said in public forum here we as leaders ought to be able to stand up here and say that's wrong that type of language about the men and women the the officers of our police department is is going to end up causing real problems i think it already is in regards to recruitment and retention i've talked to people inside the police department some of the police officers for the first time ever are leaving burlington to go to surrounding towns because some of them some of them have just had enough so we can and should continue to have critical discussions and we've done that right here at the council we created a committee to seriously look at all these issues and that works being done but we ought to in the middle of this be able to stand up and say look all of these things have served to demoralize a lot of the police officers i got an email today from someone who represents many of the police officers and i'm tempted to read it here just so people could hear this because this one comment and i got others from police officers as well but made it worth me doing this even if this thing loses which i think would frankly be really bad message to the police department if we passed these amendments and turned it into something else but this person representing police officer said thank you really thank you for doing this so the police officers do see and understand that many people in this city do believe that they are looking out for them and that even though there are mistakes made and sometimes bad mistakes that most officers by and large are trying to do good stuff out in our community and the idea it it amazes me that we couldn't have a resolution here that that we made a simple statement of support so many people in this community just were dumbfounded that this would even be a debate tonight but i warned them that it in fact would be it's it but again it's amazing to me that we cannot just make a simple statement of support and acknowledge just simply acknowledge the things it is not saying that those things couldn't be discussed although the ones that attacked police officers in such a vile way should never be said i mean i'll never forget the meeting where chief del pozo was nominated and people were standing in the back of this room with signs saying f the police so point of order what's your point of order i thought that we should speak on the amendment set on the floor this is about the amendment i will remind everyone to speak to the amendments thank you councillor jack and i am speaking about the amendment and saying that i think that the council ought to reject these amendments that it totally changes the resolution and i this is absolutely speaking to the amendment and saying that uh we ought to be able to pass this basic resolution without making these kind of of changes to it thank you councillor shannon thank you um i won't be supporting this amendment not so much because i disagree with all of the statements i i do disagree with some but um i agree with some of the statements but the reason i won't be supporting them is really because i think the intention of this amendment is to change the purpose of the resolution and i do support the purpose of this resolution which is to give support to our police i think many of the things that are spoken to in this amendment are uh are really addressing some things that we were addressing when we created the um citizens committee on policing policy um and i don't see any need to reiterate that here because it's not the point of this resolution so i hope others will consider that when they vote councillor paul followed by councillor jane thank you um so i'd like uh first to state that um uh i appreciate a lot the comments that councillor pine made um you clearly put a lot of time into what you had said in there and i do agree with you that it is possible to support the police and to respect community engagement on issues about policing and sometimes they're very hard conversations to have and i i i do think i do agree with you i think that these this amendment as a as a singular amendment is not an amendment that i can support not only for the things that it adds but for the things that it takes takes away and you know uh none of us at this table can walk in the shoes of a police officer where that's not what we do every day i personally am glad that i don't do that every day but one of the things that i think we can each do um and that i've been fortunate i was prior to be on the sit prior to being on the city council i was on the police commission um i went to a number of roll calls i went and did a couple of ride-alongs when i was on the police commission but i felt that it had been some time since i had done one um it's been it had been about four years since i had done one so i did i went to two uh two friday nights ago and two of the officers that i went and uh rode with were here earlier um you know when you do a ride-along and you listen to line officers that interact with the public every single day uh you develop a tremendous appreciation for the work that they do um it is hard work and um one of the officers um shared with me a comment that you know i i still i it's it really resonates with me and it is that on any given night he told me um he interacts with people who are often at the worst moments of their life they're in the middle of a domestic assault issue they're um they're lying on the ground um they have there are they've been robbed um and i you know i saw some of that the other night um i can't really speak to exactly what i saw and i because i i don't want to allude to you know anyone in in particular but you know it's it's a really hard job and the i think it is important for people to understand that while they can make comments um i mean we have we live in a country where you can do that while they can make comments they need to understand that those issues really true demoralize the people that we are entrusting to protect us and um that's not that's not really that's that's something that you just need to keep in mind you can say what you want but that is a fact that people are demoralized by the comments that they have heard from this people in the community from elected officials from from others and um uh i can't support all the amendment in full although i do think that there are points that councillor tracy raises that are important um for that reason i'm going to vote against this um and i really do hope as councillor uh roof has mentioned that after this evening that others at this table will go and do a ride along and really talk with the line officers and really understand the issues that they face and talk with them as people you know a couple of hours in a car is a long time you're not you're you're doing a lot of driving around and um when you do that you really learn to understand and appreciate where these officers are coming from thank you for what you do and um uh as i say for those reasons i can't support this but i appreciate you bringing them forward thank you councillor jane followed by paulina and then freeman and then back to hanson although i will remind the council it's 10 25 and we have other business in front of us we're on an amendment right now thank you councillor jane thank you at tick president mason i think the resolution itself and also the way it was introduced speak to the resolution very well and why these amendments are important the very important amendments right here i just spoke about norm boldwin who is a city staff who's demoralized he's the same as the police officers the city staff every single one of them we need to protect them we need to give them what they need to succeed the police department we value them we appreciate them how many times have we ratified their contracts it's a way that we support you how many times we're voting in support of their budget because we support them we need them we care about them this resolution starts with think about this whereas serious recent incident warranted the burlington police department policies protocol those serious recent incidents just that that that word has so much it brought up the wounds wounds are back in the floor today the wounds are right back i'm experiencing them and feeling them again and i am remembering when the mayor did question the finding of a medical examiner when the chief of police did the same thing mayor's chief of water the same thing i'm talking about no there's a point of order yes councilor right i believe that we should be speaking and strictly addressing the amendment i will again remind counselors to try and keep your comments limited to the amendment we will then take up the underlying resolution thank you thank you but these amendments i think they're very important for this resolution the healing people were in front in a way a great path of healing people even forget about what happened because we all came together to move forward but now this part of something else so i will be supporting this and we'll talk about this resolution more later thank you thank you councillor jane councillor polino thank you um i would ask that all counselors vote against the amendment specifically the most concerning part being the sentence that states the following that firearms only one tool that among many that can be used to ensure public safety and that they should only be used as a last resort when all other nonviolent de-escalation measures have failed that's the first most important reason uh last resort is a language that's used in multiple use of force policies and i believe it's growing to polices however not all other nonviolent de-escalation measures have failed they're simply just not an opportunity for police officers to be able to do that i'm sure every officer would love to do that but in the situations they face they have less than seconds to react the second reason i'll be opposing it's because of what councillor shannon stated that it does strike at the very heart of the purpose of the resolution and i got to be honest with you when i first read the resolution i wasn't thrilled about it i support police officers 100 percent but you know somebody who sat here and wanted to create two social worker positions who sat here and wanted to give officers an incentive for moving to burlington for getting hired to the burlington police department somebody who actively recruits police officers people to join the burlington police officers as opposed to vsp as opposed to other departments i've met with john with chief del pozo many times throughout the time i've been on council and i think that other cities would love to have a department like ours councillor freeman thank you um so in regards to and i just want to be sure that we've we're moving to strike eight through ten and then replace it with these two whereas clauses yeah so i want to speak to lines eight through ten i think that this you know there have been a lot of comments that have been made by a lot of people in the community but i think there's two aspects of this section that refer to positions or comments that i have made personally those would be in terms of reducing the size of our police force and then conversations about potentially de-weaponizing the department so first in terms of reducing this the size of our police force i mean what that really is is it's meant to be a cap and it's meant to be more of a framework and i i actually really laud the city council in durham north carolina passed resolution to actually choose to fund wages for city employees at $15 an hour instead of putting more funding into policing and i think what that position order can i not speak to this yes councillor shabba aren't we supposed to be discussing the amendment oh can i not isn't that's the line that's a line being struck though so i would just advise or ask the council to sort of focus on the language we are a little bit waxing eloquently about you know why we got here let's focus on the amendment and then we can get to the underlying resolution i mean the agreement the floor is yours okay the amendment is to strike full language so i'd like to continue to speak to that and so that's where that desire to strike that language comes from is that i think that that's a position that i've taken and i don't think it's required in this resolution in terms of conversations i think we should strike that language because that's a conversation that i've had and publicly and i i don't think it's healthy to silence conversation around our policing practices and how we sort of police our community and create public safety as a community i think that unfortunately what this does is it puts people's feelings feelings are important but it it sort of says feelings are more important and i don't know if this is the intent but to me it says that people's feelings are more important than people's lives people have lost their lives and we i think really need to acknowledge that and the the trauma that that creates and the brutal impact of that and i i understand you know i i just i hear the time and again the the desire to to have city counselors go on ride-alongs and i was just trying to think about why i don't disagree that we should go on ride-alongs or that anyone in the community should go on ride-alongs but i was trying to figure out why it bothered me and i think i how do you go on a ride-along with phil grunin or how do you go on a ride-along with wane ronette or doug kilburn or any of the folks that have been you know i i don't know how you can compare someone's lived experience and you know you choose your profession but you don't choose to be black or you don't choose to be low income or to be mentally ill and if those we know statistically that that puts people in much greater danger of having you know traumatic or or violent or lethal interactions with our police and you know i just would like to speak also to the the desire to continue to have conversation about this i i want to say to the police department this wasn't you know meant to it wasn't meant to demoralize i guess i've just um i've i've lived in different places i've seen other systems i've seen other systems of public safety i i want to keep an open mind i want to think about the facts i understand it's not the system that we're using here but i i don't it's not an attempt to demoralize i think that if it is demoralizing i understand you know i don't want to further demoralize but if you if you're balancing out feeling demoralized versus making a system that works that means that people aren't losing their lives when interacting with our local police um i want to keep that open mind and i want to keep the conversation open i don't want to be silent so i am supporting this amendment thank you councillor friend of order councillor president mason yes we we have passed that magical hour would you like to make a motion and i would like to make a motion that we suspend our rules and complete the agenda is there a second on that i think there are items that should go fairly quickly but okay if someone's seconded by councillor shan and no i did not second no councillor paulino excuse me all those in favor of suspending the rules to complete our any discussion may i make an amendment to that sure my suggestion is that we should complete our deliberative agenda only i thought i could accept that i like that too all those in favor of the motion to suspend the rules to complete our deliberative agenda please say aye it's unanimous uh councillor busher was next in the queue so on the amendment just to be clear right got it i'm sorry yeah so um thank you i've been listening carefully um and um and what i what i don't want to do is to dilute the message to the police force i really don't um the amendment doesn't work for me um and just let may i just speak to what would work for me if you'd like to propose an amendment to the amendment the floor is yours i just want to speak to the fact that for me lines 13 through 16 should remain and the hurtful section lines 8 through 10 could be modified um to take out the specifics but still reference comments that have served to demoralize to me that would be what i feel is a compromise which i hope both groups would agree upon i understand it's not what anybody currently is considering but so i can't support the amendment and i but i like taking out some of the hurtful language and so um once this amendment gets acted upon i might come forward with a second amendment thank you councillor busher councillor shannon i moved to call the question is there a second seconded by councillor paul this is a non-debatable motion all those in favor of calling the question please say aye aye any opposed the motion passes we will now vote on councillor tracy's amendment which is up on the screen or was up on the screen all those in favor of councillor tracy's amendment please raise your hand i see one two three four five all those opposed motion fails seven to five we are back to the underlying resolution from council right anyone like to speak councillor busher yes um i'm going to make one attempt at this i would like to move to amend starting with line eight and to say whereas some comments by the public and council about our police department and then pick up with line 10 have served to demoralize many of the sworn officers of the berlington police department that's i think that that is accurate and that's my motion that's my motion to amend clear treasurer's office get that yes so there's a motion on the floor to delete officers starting on line eight deleting all the way through the more uh to department right exactly on line 10 any discussion on the amendment point of clarification yes councillor freeway excuse me hanson where does it begin sorry line eight after the police so striking the starting with the word officers replacing with department and then striking out including suggestions to reduce the size of our police force and conversations about potentially de-weaponizing the department would come out so then it would just leave whereas some comments by the public and the council about our police department have served to demoralize many of the sworn members got that or no it would pick up at department is that what we that is correct up on line 10 okay thank you any other seeing none all those in favor uh yes council roof um i think i thank you i think i appreciate what council bush was trying to do here but um you know a lot of this debate has revolved around facilitating healthy democratic debate and the solution old saying right the solution to speech you don't like isn't less speech it's more speech and and from my perspective and and i'm i'm just trying to be consistent here like that it may not be a complete account of everything that may be demoralizing our cops but that's a matter of like that's a matter of fact it says i mean i'm just trying to work through this here and my apologies but i wasn't ready to vote so here i go rambling i don't think i can support this i mean it's first of all that there's no policy implication here folks like this isn't going to impact any directive or or policy this is this is all sentiment we're we're just sort of this is an academic exercise um i'm sorry on the basis that you know less if you wanted to add in a whole bunch more pages to capture this just right sure but i'm i'm not advocating for for less speech on this especially something that i consider a matter of fact council right thank you i'll be brief um i will also oppose this it is in my view not as bad as the previous amendment um but i think that just taking it out is just not being real or not being realistic i mean frankly the discussion earlier um there was discussion here tonight talking about very serious incidents that happened no doubt and we've had those discussion here but to suggest that the serious incidents that happened before are a reason why somebody wouldn't do a ride along with police officers that didn't do those things that that further added to this issue in my opinion so to take this out is just not is not being real um it's it can take it out but it's it's really just not being realistic council shannon i move to call the question sir second seconded by paul all those any discussion seeing none all those in favor of calling the question please say i any opposed question is called uh all those in favor of councillor busher's amendment please raise your hand in one two three four five all those opposed seven the amendment fails by a vote of seven to five back to the underlying right resolution anyone like to speak at this time councillor hanson so i i can't i can can't support this resolution without councillor trace me's tracy's amendment because the amendment is seeking to balance was seeking you know it failed it was seeking to balance thanking acknowledging officers while also acknowledging not only the harm that was caused recently in our community um and to individuals in the community and the community as a whole but also our commitment to moving forward to healing and improving um there was there was a statement that we don't need to acknowledge the committee because we already created them i don't think that i mean by that logic we created and funded and continue to fund and ratify the contract to the force i don't think that means we don't you know that eliminates the need to thank them or acknowledge them just like the creation of the committee i don't think it eliminates the need to speak to it especially when we are trying to balance this um i think this this is not simply giving support to our police it's not simply the where the resolved causes there are whereas causes which are reasoning behind that need and it identifies comments and discussions around reforms around attempts to improve and do better and heal and respond to serious injuries we're talking about we use the word demoralizing we're talking about the demoralizing um a community member suffered a brain injury another community member died this is very demoralizing to the community very demoralizing to these families in that moment when we're trying to heal we're trying to move forward we're trying to grapple from this and be better in this this moment of trauma and responding to this trauma i find it inappropriate to simply own you know to only focus on supporting and thanking the officers while not speaking to those who are facing that trauma and when we're still really just beginning this process of of trying for reforms and trying to do better so i i i think i can't support it based on that council tracy thank you acting president mason i would just reiterate that i feel uh that this resolution is uh playing politics i think that on its face it's meant to look like a very neutral thing and a statement of support and i think that we can do that but i think that we also need to at the same time that we do that recognize that criticism is valid and in fact incredibly necessary and that not only police are demoralized but that members of our community who have experienced police violence who have disproportionately experienced traffic stops are also feeling a lot of pain and that we need to recognize that as well and balance that i think also that we need to understand that within the resolution that we need to be having a vibrant and active debate by voting down an amendment that recognized the importance of that debate i feel like this resolution instead of being more balanced is really in is imbalanced and does not welcome that that criticism and feedback and does not do so in a way that moves our community forward i think that and as a result of that i will not be able to support the resolution but i want to make sure that that the folks know that i mean and that the officers know that you know i understand the challenges that they face but i i think that this is unfortunately an attempt to play politics with the officers point of order council right the member should is violating rules by actually imputing motivation to to counselors counselor face i would ask you to stay away from directly imputing any motives to the maker of the motion okay fair enough well i've stated what i what i feel about this resolution i think that we need to to really make sure that we are standing up and that we are not you know that we are moving forward moving our community forward when it comes to these conversations around accountability and restoring trust because i think that that will really help to to to create the the just systems that we hope to have in burlington thank you request a roll call mr president councillor shannon as well is there a motion to call the question seconded by councillor shannon all those in favor of the motion to call the question which is a non-debatable motion please say aye hi takes two thirds by the way okay thank you all those who vote well let's raise let's do a show of hands that's all those in favor of the floor councilor right made the motion you seconded actually point of effort i apologize president mason point of information yes i actually requested a roll call thank you it's the let's so noted is there a motion that doesn't require a vote so let's go back to who is in the queue councillor shannon do you have a motion you'd like to make may i make a statement first floor is yours thank you um i just want to say that this um that this resolution is simply in support of the members of the burlington police department it is uh it does not say that that um every member is perfect it doesn't say that every incident is handled perfectly and it doesn't say that there isn't room for improvement and it doesn't negate the work that we did unanimously to create a citizen committee to work on improvements in our policing but to vote no and i i don't really understand how you can vote no and not support the members of the burlington police department who i think are held in very high regard by all of us and and many such statements have been made tonight um but with that i also think we have had a tremendous amount of conversation about this i'm not sure that there is much new to be said and i will call the question councillor jing has the recognized before councillor jing he was in the thank you actually president um i think that takes precedent all right knew it this is there a second on the motion to call the question second seconded by council right all those in favor this requires a two-thirds vote in order to pass all those in favor of the motion to call the question please raise your hand one two three all those opposed councillor jing the floor is yours thank you councillors um so i think it's important for us to debate this very well and also for the police officers to understand voting no on this or voting on yes on this at least for me does not change the love the work that you do that i appreciate does not change anything about it this resolution i see it as responding to a comment not a proposal that came here in front of us as city councillor and this resolution was brought up by a city councillor the president of the city councillor but i also have so many questions do we really value do we what have we done as a a body to victim who were maltreated by the police what have we done have we sent a letter to their families have we checked on their trauma level for people who have died have we sent a letter to their families what have we done as a body and i think we did not respond to that effectively but in front of us is just a comment and comments that i do not agree with to disarm our police i don't agree to reduce the number of police officers i don't agree this resolution also fails to recognize that people who work at the burlington police department are not all officers we have data people there they're not mentioned here so they're not demoralized we think we have social workers who are also every single day in front of some level of trauma don't we think that they demoralize we need to think about the police as a family we need to think about ourselves as a family and we need to move forward we already established a plan to move forward that plan is what we need to focus on and do not bring trauma again to people that's how i felt i am not going to vote for this resolution thank you councillor punn i just wanted to close with what i think for me is the the most important issue as an elected official here is that we are in a democracy it is not only appropriate but desirable to have people criticize and question what we do as a government that is essential to being in a democracy and to portray people who question and criticize as somehow our enemies is completely missing the point of a democracy we are resilient people our officers are resilient people we take good care of them i think we ought to remember in a democracy we should tolerate every level of discourse in dialogue whether we like it or not thank you council right and then council freeman i'm sorry i didn't intend to speak again but again there is nothing here that is talking about not being able to criticize that stuff all happened we heard comments here tonight they continued down that path so that is just simply not accurate councillor freeman then i'd like to vote sure thank you um yeah i would echo councillor pines comments i think those were are really well articulated and i think the reason why i feel comfortable voting no on this resolution other i mean it's uncomfortable to feel like i have to choose between supporting our department and making sort of policy recommendations or weigh in on whether we can have an open conversation about policing practices but the reason why i feel comfortable voting no on the resolution is that i think the overarching goal in our in the department or in our this system is to create public safety and to have a less violent society and community and this doesn't really this doesn't really speak to that it doesn't really it doesn't it doesn't prohibit our ability to continue to to work towards what that would really mean and what it would mean to have safety for for everyone and i think public safety is the goal community safety is the goal i think we need to de-escalate violence in our communities period we are really desensitized to violence in this country incredibly so incredibly so that we we have people die constantly violently and whether it's in interactions with police or with each other and i think we just think it's normal and we do we think it's normal and it's not it's not normal we should not we should not live like this and i am i'm very committed to moving towards a more peaceful society and i don't and i think voting no on this does not prevent me from moving towards that goal thank you thank you can i have a clerk call the roll please councillor busher we're calling the roll sorry the the motion is and either we're voting on council rights underlying resolution now so sorry lori's calling the roll councillor busher yes councillor hanson no councillor jane no councillor paulino yes councillor freeman acting city council president mason yes councillor paul yes councillor pine no councillor ruf yes councillor shannon yes councillor tracy no councillor right yes seven eyes five nays thank you i will turn the gavel back to council president thank you councillor mason we will move forward on the deliberative agenda five point oh eight is a resolution approval of creation of the position of diversity equity and inclusion director councillor busher um yes i'm going to move to wave the reading and adopt the resolution and after a second i'd like the floor back seconded by councillor paul councillor busher you have the floor back thank you um this was an item that came up this evening at the board of finance and it was unanimously supported and referred to the full council for consideration um i wanted to just highlight just a couple of things one is that we as as members of the board of finance look long and hard at adding any new positions because we understand the budgetary impacts um and so that was discussed just briefly but um what was overarching that conversation was the need to have diversity equity and inclusion be part of daily conversations to have that position be part of the administration to be part of weekly meetings with other departments so that it was front and center all the time looking for ways where we are doing our part where ways where we could do better and ways and times when we miss the mark and so a lot of hard work went into the um uh drafting of the job description there was a lot of input um and so it was a model process i know the hr directors here tonight if there are questions from the full council um but i think that they did an excellent job and i look forward to seeing um if we're successful and really more effectively making sure that we really that it's more than just what's on the printed page that that's really part of our our dna and who we are going forward thank you thank you councillor busher is a discussion by the city council hearing none all those mr mayor thank you president right i appreciate the opportunity just to share a couple words on this uh you know we've been debating some of the most serious uh issues in in america tonight talking about climate change talking about police reform you know our so we have another weighty one before us tonight there the uh there's an event later this week that we're reading the color of law and the mayor's book group this discussion of the uh what the what state federal and local governments have done to discriminate and really segregate this country and what jumps out in that book is just the incredible creativity and persistence that governments made to uh segregate this country and create racial harm and i think if we're repairing that legacy is an enormous task and one that is going to require comparable creativity and sustained effort if we're going to hope to to get anywhere with it and we have we have we have believed that as as an administration for the last seven years but we have struggled to to bring the sustained focus on racial justice issues that um uh are are necessary to uh in in this community and i think this creation of this position is uh an important step towards creating a structure infrastructure within city government to do the work that needs to be done and i hope the council will be supporting it unanimously tonight thank you mr mayor further discussion councilor jane thank you president um just wanted to also take the time to thank dina poluba for her incredible work putting this um job description together as well as consular pine and consular freeman not to mention um what's his name mark huge who also came to the meeting um to discuss the resolution i think we all agreed that this is the right way to go and then we'll revisit from couple years from here and also thank you for meeting the important deadline today and reporting thank you thank you councillor jane further discussion comments by the city council hearing none all those in favor of the resolution please say aye aye any opposed that passes unanimously item number 5.09 is a communication from brian pine chair of the community development and neighborhood revitalization committee regarding the neighborhood project councillor pine thank you mr president the report that we provided you is um the work of our committee over the course of three meetings uh we did not meet our deadline and uh rather just keep working and then ask for forgiveness on this kind of thing but um thank you to uh jillian nanton because this was a huge task and we did it in three meetings largely because of her incredible focus and disciplined approach to doing this kind of work so i will hit a few bullet points just because i feel like it um this there are certain items that we want to try to take in a one-year time frame sort of the more urgent items um and items that we think can we can achieve some um measurable impacts um over the next year reviewing the minimum housing standards ordinance and make recommendations on the city's existing quality of life tools with the view to strengthening both um creating a required rental kit to be distributed by landlords to tenants citywide engage major employers to discuss the potential for enhanced engagement in housing issues and present and present employer assisted housing concepts the idea of getting employers to think of housing as something they can contribute to solving this issue when they are thinking about their their company enabling modest infill development where appropriate and making some clarifications to the housing replacement ordinance that um would assist us in moving toward a more balanced housing mix in neighborhoods that are predominantly neighborhoods that have less of a balance over time between long-term residents and students enrolled in in one of one of the universities there's other high priority action items that will take a longer trajectory creating more student housing on or near campus establishing an investment fund to acquire single family homes in or near sort of the subject area of the focus of this project and targeting program funds for rehab of owner occupied historic properties that may otherwise be unable to comply with historic standards so there's in a nutshell those are the main items what we're asking for here in action is um to hereby accept this memo and the attached cdnr committee recommendation summary which does include the table by the way the matrix and formally make a request of the administration that it report back to the full council within 60 days as to a proposed plan for implementation of those recommendations so moved moved by councillor pines seconded by councillor hanson um discussion by the council councillor busher so i just want to i'm sorry councillor hanson was well i'll get to you after councillor busher my apologies okay sorry here you have the floor oh okay sorry um so i just want to compliment um the chair um councillor pine and councillor paul and councillor dang for keeping um getting it done in three meetings but allowing a lot of input a lot of debate from the community members that came and councillors that attended i thought it was really healthy and good exchange um you had representation from uvm i don't know if you had representation from champlain i don't think you did but um but anyways um i just want to compliment you on this and i look forward to seeing um what we actually can do a lot of innovative and really good ideas that have been batted around in the past but hadn't really been distilled into an action plan um or a proposal for an action plan so thank you thank you councillor busher councillor hanson thanks i just wanted to say briefly um i do i do support this and appreciate all the work that has gone into this and happy that we're moving forward i do have several kind of in in the weeds comments and feedback but i think uh seems like there there'll be plenty of time after tonight to to be able to do that so i look forward to following up and and continuing the process on on this one thank you for that councillor hanson councillor pine thank you mr president just one more item because a um a member of the audience um spoke up about this i want to at least address um this concern that that this report and i don't think i think the council would agree uh on this issue is not intended to point blame and point fingers at students as the problem what it's attempted to do is to say they're caught up in the same cycle if you will of absentee ownership of owners not taking care of their properties property owners that are cramming more people into units that are appropriate of you know front yard parking and of all the issues um students have to live with them as well and the conditions the rents they pay the conditions they live in um are just as much their issues they are the rest of us what we're trying to really focus on is is dealing with the root cause um both by uh stabilizing neighborhoods bringing in a little bit more balance into neighborhoods that have become you know used to have more of a mix and now have less of a mix so it's really i want to be careful that we're not pointing fingers and blame blame blame on the students aren't the blame they're not the problem really so thank you councillor pine councillor mason um thank you for his right um my question relates to maybe a disconnect in my mind because it's late on the proposed action and what's in there it refers the action refers to a proposed plan for implementation of the recommendations are you looking simply for a time frame or are we because my concern is i appreciate all the work that's been done but i've done nothing other than read a memo and i'm not sure that i would agree that all of these need to be done and i want to make sure you're not by voting yes we're not saying yes do all of these we're just saying if you were to move forward what is the time frame that's correct okay thank you i was confused by the action letter of the language thank you thank you councillor mason for that clarification anyone else on the council mr mayor i appreciate a question from councillor mason and the answer from councillor pine i i do think um we will definitely the administration will work to respond within the 60 days as uh requested here and um this certainly you know the CEDO team is a team with a lot of demands on its time already and in a period of some rebuilding and and re-resourcing so we will as part of this review be um responded to you know we may be coming back at the end of that with some additional thoughts on on some of these provisions but we'll welcome all the work that's taken place on in this already and the opportunity to advance it thank you mr mayor are we ready to vote all those in favor of this please say aye opposed that passes unanimously the last item is 5.10 it is a communication Stephanie Reed human resources manager regarding recommendation step placement randy mayo water distribution field technician that was not that's not on the agenda that was removed it's 511 it is 511 okay well done councillor busher we can only have one of us at a time 5.11 which was 4.18 an agreement with the city of berlington and university of vermont agreement to extend 2009 memorandum of agreement regarding student housing that's correct that's now 5.10 though thank you that's what i was trying to do i don't understand okay we don't need to um who wants to move this council roof council roof enthusiastically uh what am i moving uh i don't know i'll move 5.110 uh move to authorize the honorable mayor morrow winemaker reading uh to execute did you put that word in there mr man oh goodness um what am i doing to execute what are you doing execute on behalf of the city of berlington uh excuse me i'm sorry on behalf of the city of berlington the city of berlington and university of vermont agreement to extend the 2009 memorandum of agreement regarding student housing in substantial conformance with the agreement attached here too subject to the final review and approval of the city attorney second second second by councillor mason discussion councillor busher um yes thank you uh i had a question it seemed important it still is but you know at the lateness of the hour um the uh resolution or the action says the parties commit to a process for drafting a new agreement that will have at least three in-person meetings and you state the dates um and it will come forward to the council um and the uvm board of trustees my question for you is is there any process for residents before it comes forward to the council and the board of trustees mr mary could you respond to that i mean i think councillor busher like any um weighty decision before this council there will you know of course the public decision making around it depending on what um strategies are agreed to here there may be a need for additional uh public engagement i think it's a little uh you know i hope there is enough progress in this um effort that uh we'll need more public engagement beyond um a typical council item but i beyond that i i don't think i have a full answer for you at this point you may continue councillor busher thank you um so i think i understood what you said um but i i guess i wanted to go back to the 2009 agreement which did have some discussion with the public um and so i just would request that um certainly i think people are interested in in an agreement between the city and the university regarding student housing and i would hope that they would be given an opportunity to um comment so the city would understand the opinions of the citizens so um that's what i'm going to state thank you thank you councillor busher councillor paul thank you i'd like to echo what councillor busher said i think there is a tremendous amount of interest on the part of the community and part of the public um and hope that they will be given that opportunity so two things is the hour is late um the first is that uh i will support this uh i do think that the lat that sometimes when we agree to these extensions that we don't hold ourselves to the date and uh i'm going to trust that we're not going to do this this time because we did it did it last time there was a new president at uvm there also was a new mayor um but it went on too long and we can't do that again um so i hope that won't happen um and then the other thing also is that part of the reason that i am supporting this is because of the resolution that we passed several months ago which um after the the university has completed their housing study and will be releasing their plan my understanding is in the very in the very near future that there will be reports and quarterly updates from the administration and consultation with the university to discuss student housing and to move forward with this we we cannot wait five years we need to be moving forward on student housing if we're going to address all of the possible ways that we can address housing in this community thanks very much thank you councillor paul further discussion by the city council hearing none all those in favor please say aye any opposed that passes unanimously and moved to adjourn so moved moved by council roof seconded by councillor shannon all those in favor please say aye opposed we are adjourned


We're here today in front of the New York County Supreme Court and inside there's a trial going on and it's a state of New York versus ExxonMobil. So this is a liability lawsuit suing ExxonMobil for essentially defrauding its shareholders because they systemically lied and covered up the true impacts that they knew decades ago about climate change and that obviously has impacted the price of their share. The reason we're here today and so excited about this is because it's the first of what will hopefully be a flood of lawsuits and other sorts of liability actions to hold big oil fiscally and legally liable for the destruction that they have knowingly caused. So just over the past week or so that this trial has been going on we've already seen other states and counties announcing that they will hold similar legal action. So Maui County actually just announced that they intend to sue big oil for liability as well. The state of Massachusetts just announced that they too will launch a lawsuit. We saw big oil testify at Congress. Rex Tillerson was inside this very building testifying just a few days ago. So we have the youth strikers with us today. This is actually the same exact spot that the September 20th, one of the largest climate strikes ever, started and took place. So we're back today to continue to escalate this call that big polluters need to pay for the destruction that they have knowingly wrought and we hope that this will just be the first in a growing wave of liability actions.


The results of this survey show that most CTSAs are utilizing various resources and mechanisms to help investigators successfully recruit study participants. Registries, feasibility assessments, study listings, and EHR utilization were all reportedly used by more than 80 percent of the CTSAs. Additionally, 73 percent of the CTSAs offered recruitment consultations, 47 percent provided assistance with study materials, and 47 percent offered social media assistance. Furthermore, many CTSAs reported success in recruiting patients and healthy volunteers, but difficulty in recruiting special populations such as non-English-speaking persons and rural populations. Innovative solutions in the areas of social media advertising, identification of participants from special populations, and research volunteer engagement could be explored further to improve recruitment efforts. This article was authored by Naira Mujeshani-Ibezi, Scott McIntosh, Brenda Lee Hudson, and others.


Welcome to Toffey TV, this is the start and the 11th show for Everton vs Huddersfield Town, tomorrow at Goodersham. Let's get into it. Jordan Pickford back in goal for me, given the night off on Wednesday when Martin Stecklenberg came in. Jordan back between the sticks tomorrow, yes please. Sheamus Coleman in a right back John Jo Kenney, deputised for him the other night, had a good game I thought, but Sheamus should be captain and will take his place on the right hand side of that defence. I've gone for Holgate and Zuma, basically because Michael Keane, Phil Jagielke and Yerri Mina are all injured, but those two did play well, both quick and hopefully the partnership between them can grow the more games they play together done well the other night, so long may that can sing you. Left back, Leighton Baines, hold your horses people. Obviously it was that fault for a couple of goals last week, but it started off the season quite well. Had we had other players available further up the pitch, there might have been a difference in the left back position, so just wait. In midfield obviously Garner is ruled out with a knee injury, Morgan Snidlin, who I think would have played anyway, comes back in that position. I've gone for Tom Davis on one side and Guilfee Sigarton on the other side of Snidlin, making that me midfield three. I think Tom Davis, captain there at the other night had a good game, Guilfee showed his class and has been arguably our best player so far this season, so him in there. On the right hand side Theo Walcott, two in his last two games in the Premier League and one of our most attacking threats really being excellent for Everton since joining him from Arsenal. And on the other side, I've put Lucas Dean in there, thought he was excellent the other night against Rotherham United. I think his pace and his ability with his left foot to whip crosses in has got him into that position. Obviously no ritualism, Bernard ruled out with an injury as well. Adam Ola Llockman will be in the squad, but I don't think he's going to be fit enough to start, he hasn't really played any games. So rather than shoe on Dominic Alvert Llewman out there or push Guilfee back out there, I thought about Cairn Dall, but I've gone for Lucas Dean because I think he's naturally left footed and has got good pace and can get up that line. I think he deserves another game because he was excellent the other night. And up front, Jeng Towson and then back in Jeng to get off the mark tomorrow against Huddersfield. That is the start on 11, I want to see. There could be some variances, obviously, Dean could play left back or he could not be in the side. Guilfee might get pushed out, Cairn Dall might play inside or Dominic Alvert Llewman might play, might go 4-4-2, but that is the team I would go for today. And that is the team I will be confident of beating Huddersfield sound tomorrow. Let me know what you think in the comments section below. What changes you would make or do you agree with me? Let me know. See you later on toffyTV.