ow that I think the problem is there's no map that's gonna fulfill all of the things that we want. And part of the way this came into being is looking at or thinking about a six ward map that like Councilor Barlow just said, that then still, because a six ward map to some extent keeps a lot of the neighborhoods intact that folks wanted to see. But, and at least in speaking to some of the initial folks in the old North End, they said that they would rather have one Councillor than potentially have a voting place in the new North End. And I feel like from what we've heard some of the new North End folks feel the same. We know that there's issues with the eight ward map in terms of potentially having too many Councillors that we won't be able to pass through this body, given some opinions on that. The seven ward map has similar problems. So I think, I don't know that this is for sure the one that we want, but I think that this may end up being a compromise. And I certainly think that it's gonna be worse looking at an official map and having it the same way that we've got the an eight ward example and a seven ward example on the official city website to have something that looks more like a six ward that's potentially breaking up the old North End than the new North End. So appreciate the initial maps, like Councillor Barlow said, it's so helpful to be able to have, yeah, folks help us be able to conceptualize what that looks like quickly. And thank you for that. But also, yeah, I hope that the council can support having this map. Thank you. Great, thank you, Councillor Hightower. There are other councillors that wish to comment on the resolution. Councillor Travers. Yeah, I wanna thank Councillor Burke. I just did it too. Hmm, Councillor Barlow. Sorry. For bringing this resolution forward. I think it's also worth noting that there's a number of folks who have volunteered their time from the community to suggest a number of maps. Two of them are here in the room in Robert Bristow-Johnson and Chris Haseley. We also had on our agenda maps suggested by Barbara Hedrick. And these are among folks who have dedicated a lot of time to providing suggestions to us. I just agree with the comments that the maps we've seen thus far have their benefits. They also have their problems. I believe that in asking for this map that we will have a full menu of options that hopefully we can find a path forward on. We heard in public comment a suggestion that we should survey voters once the menu of options are out there. One way or another I think that that is the next step here. Once we receive this map, truly hear from the public, have some more public hearings on this such that we can get a real sense as to what the community is looking for here. Thank you, Councilor Travers. We'll go to Councilor House followed by Councilor McGee. Thank you, President Powell. Yeah, thank you to the people who took the time to put this together. Personally, I'm still in favor of the eight word to rep map. I know a lot of people feel like that's too many people in the council. I personally don't think we can go wrong with more representation, but I understand that it's hard to get a map where everyone's happy and so I think that this could be a compromise and I really do appreciate line 10 in this, which is distributing student population across multiple wards, I think. Again, I love word eight, but I don't think it ever should have happened. And I think that whatever map we decide on really needs to address that issue. I've heard from a lot of constituents who, a lot of my constituents who feel that same way. So yeah, thank you. Thank you for that consideration in this. Great, thank you, Councilor House, Councilor McGee and maybe then we can go to a vote. Go ahead. I will be very brief. I appreciate the collaboration that we've seen so far from members of the community writing or drawing maps for us to consider that weren't part of the initial drafting on the city's part and appreciate members of the council collaborating to get us to this resolution tonight. Myself, I'm also still supportive of a map that has eight wards and two counselors per ward, but I do appreciate that this resolution asking for a seven ward map recognizes the sentiment that we would like to keep the Old North End and the New North End as distinct neighborhoods. So look forward to seeing this map on official city website soon and look forward to having more conversations about this. Thank you, Councilor McGee.  I wanted to go to you and I believe Councilor Hightower is your hand. If your hand is up again, I certainly can go after, no? Okay, thank you.  Yeah, thanks. I agree with others and I was surprised to see this. I didn't know that folks were working on this but I'm glad to see it. And I think, yeah, we need to find a path forward and try to get this to voters and to the community and so that we can move forward and have kind of relating back to the other issue of all resident voting. This is an issue of representation and one person, one vote, people having a voice and achieving better local democracy. So I feel there's urgency around that and we should strive to keep this moving forward and kind of in line with that. I'm wondering if anyone has a sense of timeline of when this map would be created for us to review. I don't know if any of the co-sponsors or the planning office can answer that. That's a good question, Councilor Hanson. Councilor Barlow, did you want to speak to that? I do not know. I was going to ask them when they could have it available to us. I believe we'd wanna have it by one of the, maybe ideally our first meeting in September, but I don't know if that's a realistic timeline or not. Well, I know there are other considerations in terms of the mapping specialist and wanting to get it in the queue to be able to do this in March. So I don't know, Mayor, did you wanna speak to that or do you have an idea of the timeline? I know the team involved is aware of the request and has done some initial thinking about it and I think they should be able to respond to this relatively quickly, but I can't give you a specific date at this point. Okay, thank you, Mayor. Councilor Hanson, did you have anything else? No, just to be at request that that be prioritized because we are, it does creep up on you in terms of getting things on the March ballot. And so the sooner we can see this, the more effectively we can debate as a council and as a community. Thank you. Thank you, you're absolutely right. The time does creep up. With that said, we'll go to, we have a motion and a second and we'll go to a vote. All those in favor of the motion to waive the reading and adopt the resolution, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say no. The motion passes. Thank you to all for your work on this and for moving redistricting forward. We'll go to item 6.07, which is an authorization to execute contracts for the Elmwood Emergency Shelter Community. This also came before the Board of Finance and we'll go to Councillor McGee for a motion on this item. Thank you, President Paul. I would move to approve and authorize the director of the Community and Economic Development Office to execute the following contracts for the development of the Elmwood Emergency Shelter Community pursuant to previously earmarked ARPA funds and subject to the final review and approval by the office of the city attorney. Site work contract with Goliath Tech-Fermont for up to a maximum limiting amount of $283,000, $283,622.59, modular bathhouse and community center contract with KBS builders for up to a maximum limiting amount of $338,429. Shelter product and community services contract with Pallett with retroactive approval back to the effective date of March 8th, 2022, and with a maximum remaining amount of $215,280, the shelter pod contract with upend this LLC with retroactive approval back to the effective date of March 7th, 2022, and with a maximum limiting amount of $228,090 and a construction management contract with second gen builders LLC for up to a maximum limiting amount of $420,869, and would ask for the floor back after a second. Thank you, thank you, Councilor McGee for reading that long, long recommended action. So the motion has been made by Councilor McGee seconded by Councilor House. Thank you so much. We have with us from CEDO, Samantha Dunn and Sarah Russell to discuss this item, answer any questions that we might have. The majority of the five items were voted on at the August 8th Board of Finance and then there was one addition earlier this evening. So didn't know if you wanted to give us any background if you just wanted to answer our questions. What would be your pleasure? If you could just make sure your microphone's on, the green button, green light. Okay, I can give a brief background. These are five separate contracts that are required to the physical development of the site to create an emergency shelter community on Elmland Avenue. So they include everything from making water, wastewater connections to up to and through the actual shelters, the bathrooms, the community space, the fence, the paint that's gonna be required. So pretty inclusive with five separate contracts. And I think mostly happy to answer any questions. Great, Sarah, did you have anything you wanted to add? By the way, welcome. Good to have you here. Thank you, thanks for meeting you all. I don't have much to add other than what Samantha said around the contracting, but I'm happy to answer any questions that you have. Great, thank you again for being with us and for hanging out with us at this hour. Councillor McKee. Thank you. And I just want to extend my heartfelt thanks to both of you and everyone else at CEDO who's put in quite a lot of time to get us to this point to authorize the contracts and finally get the site work started. I know that we'll hopefully have an announcement on a manager soon. We're not quite ready for that yet, but we're moving forward and hopeful for a November 1st open date. And look forward to continuing the community outreach whenever we find a manager, working with them to continue to build community with neighbors and get ready for folks to move in there. So just wanted to say that. Thank you for sticking with us. Thank you, Councillor McKee. Are there other Councillors who wish to speak to this motion? Seeing none, we can go to a vote. All those in favor of the motion with regard to these contracts, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say no. This motion passes with the Council's thanks and appreciation to both of you and the team at CEDO for all of the development work that you've done and the community outreach and all that is yet to come as this project moves forward. Thank you again. Thank you. We will move on to the next item, which is 6.08. And I see a hand that is starting to go up because we are looking at the time. Councillor McKee, please go ahead. I would like to move to suspend the rules to complete the rest of our Council agenda this evening. Okay, so when you are saying complete the rest of our Council agenda, you are talking about our deliberative as well as items 7, 8, 9 and 10. Correct. Okay. So there's a motion made to suspend our rules seconded by Councillor Bergman. Let's require, yes, we will go to a vote. So all those in favor of the motion to suspend our rules to complete our entire agenda, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Great, so we will, that's wonderful. We'll be able to finish our entire agenda and also complete all of the other items besides the deliberative. So we will go to item 6.08, which is a request to accept Federal Aviation Administration Grant to update the noise exposure map and execute a contract for related services with Jones Pain Group Incorporated. Before we go to the airport staff who is here, we'll go to a motion and for that I'll look to Councillor Bergman. Yes, thank you. And let me just note that the document on board docs that we're looking at would be the very top one. It goes 5-2022-1508, noise exposure map, NEM, grant accept and JPG contract and the rest of that. But there is a slight difference in the two memos. And so just to be clear, I would move to waive the reading of the memo and request and move to approve and authorize the acceptance and execution of an FAA grant for the completion of the noise exposure map and to execute a contract with JPG for completing the noise exposure map and ask for the floor back after the second and the comments by staff. Okay, so a motion has been made by Councillor Bergman, seconded by Councillor House. Just wanted to note just to make sure that we're doing this correctly. So that is not the recommended action. I just wanted to make sure that that does not create any challenges for the airport staff or in terms of, or the city attorney's office. So the recommended action, if you could just clarify, please. So the section, the recommended action, there's a fairly lengthy recommended action. On board docs? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I was trying to shorten this. I can, by all means, I think they're consistent with them. I can read the lengthy one if the parliamentarian or some other attorney would like me to do it because really it's just the details in the memo that. Right, I think as long as it is, I see acting director Longo shaking his head, which I assume means that this is fine. So yes, so you had wanted the floor back and I think it's also important to note why the changes, why the, yes.  Well, just wanted to make clear the differences in the memo, which is why this was actually approved to my understanding by the Board of Finance. And when I saw this, I wanted to make it absolutely clear that we were getting noise maps that related to the time before the F35s were here and before the F16s used their afterburners. And that's important to getting real clarity in terms of what the impact of the Air National Guard is. And so I asked for that and director Longos indicated that that was no problem, that it was consistent with the FAA's authorizations or that they would authorize that. And it seems to me absolutely appropriate that we know exactly what the impact of the Guard is. And I see absolutely no harm in that and truly support the getting that information and wholeheartedly would support the grant and the contract with that information. Thank you, Councillor Bergman. So we do have Acting Director of Aviation Nick Longo as well as the Director of Ground Transportation, Shelby Lozier, who are joining us by Zoom. Thank you so much for being here. Don't know if you had any other comments that you wanted to make or we can then go to Councillor questions. No, I think that's great. Thank you very much, Council President. I think everything really is explained in the memo and as Councillor Bergman just announced to those minor changes in the scope of work, the action item or the recommended motion there really is just to accept this Federal Aviation Grant as well as contract with the Jones Payne Group to complete our updated noise exposure map related to the overall noise compatibility program so we can continue our work with sound insulation at the airport but no further additions to the overall subject there. Great, okay, thank you so much. Are there any Councillors who have any questions or comments? Seeing none, we can go to a vote. All those in favor of the motion regard. To this contract, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say no. The motion passes. Thank you, Nick and Shelby for your time for joining us at this hour and we look forward to future updates as the mapping process moves forward. Absolutely, thank you. That will bring us to item 6.09 which is a resolution the establishment of the Local Cannabis Control Commission and for that motion, I'll look to Councillor Hanson. I would move that we waive the reading and adopt the resolution. Thank you, Councillor Hanson. Motion has been made to waive the reading and adopt the resolution seconded by Councillor Travers. Did you want the floor back, Councillor Hanson? Is anyone from City Staff going to speak? Yes. I see. Okay, so I'll now give them the floor and that's fine. Okay. Great, thank you and thank you for your work on this. We have Megan Tuttle, the Director of City Planning and Cara Al-Nazwari, the Director of Business and Workforce Development with us. I don't know if either one of you wanted to speak to this first or if you just wanted to go to any questions from Councillors. I'm happy to just do a quick rundown and Megan please feel free to jump in as needed. I would first like to apologize for our delay on getting this memo to you. There has been a lot of confusion and delay at the state level and we have been working closely with the state to try and make sure that we understood everything that they were expecting of us. So we've been in constant communication with them the last few months but that has been part of the delay in this memo. In January of 2021, this body adopted a resolution regarding the city opting in to retail cannabis in addition to setting out some framework of how you wished us to approach this topic. Since you passed that resolution, Act 162 was passed by the state which did address many of the social equity aspects that had been brought forth in your resolution. And we did sort of break them down and detail them for you. And we are still working on a few further items with the state but the state did create a body that will allow, a system that will excuse me will allow social equity applicants to come to the top of the pile and be addressed first for their applications. They have also, they are establishing a fund to help my pocket social equity applicants and those who have been most hardest hit by our previous moron drugs to make sure that those applications are well supported as well as technical and business training to go along with that. I would let Director Tuttle address some of the zoning aspects of this and then just mention that the final staff recommendation is in the resolution, which is that we create a local cannabis control board that would have a similar mechanism to our liquor people. Thank you, Cara. I think just briefly I'll add it was not part of the council's resolution initially but one of the areas that we have been working with the state to better understand how the municipal framework would come into place is just around zoning. We do know that through the laws that have been established by the legislature and the guidance from the cannabis control board there are limited tools that are available for municipalities to more closely regulate cannabis establishments. That's one area that we had been working to try to get much more clarity around. And I think many communities in Vermont are still unsure exactly how the cannabis control board's guidance is really directing us in this area. We are recommending at this time that the city move forward from a zoning perspective with regulating cannabis establishments according to whatever is the closest existing land use in our zoning ordinance. So for example, we're talking about retail establishments tonight, regulating cannabis retail establishments in the same ways we would regulate other retail establishments in the city. We, I think you heard tonight in one of the public forum comments that the state law does already require that cannabis retailers have to be located at least 500 feet from a school that is defined as our public, basically K through 12 schools. So we will be working collaboratively with DPI to create a map that shows the buffers from these schools within our community and make that available both generally as well as to potential applicants for these establishments. And I think it's important to just note that the state laws are clear that those buffers only apply to retail establishments and not to manufacturers or cultivators. So I think with that, we'll continue to work with Cara and other departments as we start to see applications come into our local cannabis control board and advise if we feel that there are any other kind of approaches that we may need to take in terms of how the market rolls out here in Burlington. Great, thank you. Thanks, Megan and thanks Cara. Are there questions or comments from the council? Counselor McGee. Thank you. Thank you both for your work on this. It's important and a long time coming to see retail cannabis here in Burlington and so I'm looking forward to us moving forward with that. I do have some questions related to, I understand that the state is going to be ready to issue licenses on October 1st for retail operations. I wonder if you're able right now to speak to any sort of timeline from the city's perspective and if there's any delay from us passing this resolution and to standing up the local control board. I'm happy to take that. No, so the municipality, the way the legislation reads, the municipality does not have to have a local cannabis control board. So if we do nothing or if we delay this tonight and they issue retail licenses on October 1st, those establishments will be allowed to set up within Burlington because we opted in through the ballot initiative. By setting up the local cannabis control board tonight by using that mechanism and we're using the same council mechanism that you use for the liquor control, it will at least allow us to understand how many cannabis businesses we have in town and their exact location. Does that answer your question? I think the only thing that I would add is just a matter of the timing for getting this stood up is really just about working with the clerk's office to ensure that there are proper forms in place for applicants to submit applications to our local cannabis control board. We will receive notifications of permit applications in Burlington from the state board. So we just need to determine what are the proper procedures for getting them on to our local cannabis control board agenda. Great, thank you. That answers my question. And I just wanna be cognizant of the fact that licenses were meant to be issued by the state starting in May and that the council resolution called for us to wait until October to allow retail sales to commence in the city. So I wanna make sure that we're sticking to the degree that we can or sticking to that timeline. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor McGee. Councillor Hanson. Yeah, I think this is a longer conversation and it's late, but I think, I look forward to continuing to explore how we can use this framework that we're creating tonight to regulate the industry locally. Cause I think there's, I do think there's a decent amount that we can do beyond what's even laid out potentially in this memo as someone who's been on the local control subcommittee and the license committee. I think for my entire time on council, there's really a lot of discretion and leeway with those boards at least, where autonomy as a board and we can decide really what to do with applications that come in pretty freely. So I think there's potentially an opportunity here to align with our communities as we, as these applications come in. Great, thank you, Councillor Hanson. Councillor House. I mean, this may be, thank you, President Paul. This may be a discussion for a different time. Thank you all for bearing with us at this late hour. Yeah, so I guess just knowing that certain populations, specifically people of color have faced disproportionate rates of incarceration for cannabis related matters, especially during the war on drugs, as you all briefly touched on. I think it's worth having a discussion about how cannabis and cannabis culture has like more recently been co-opted by colonized institutions, especially like our government and medical system. And I think it's worth a continued and a deeper discussion about how our government as an inherently colonized institution can go beyond recognition and acknowledgement of the issue and actually combat this. And so I guess I'm wondering how the control board, and maybe this is something that you can't speak to right now or you don't have a vision for yet, but how this control board can actually contribute to this. I definitely support it. I think it's a wise decision. I'm just curious some more of the details if you all could speak to that a bit more. Megan, you and I can take turns. The way the legislation is laid out in the state, they definitely do make an attempt to have this be from the state down to a very top level. And we have been working with them to try and understand what we can and can't do. And in addition, we have been working closely, and this might answer your question more with our REID department and trying to understand from a health equity perspective and from as you talk about writing the historical wrongs, what methods we could use as this industry rolls out in our city? Yeah, I think I will just echo what you said, Councilor House, is that this will require continued conversation and definitely look forward to REIB's ability to help us lead those conversations. I think from a starting perspective, the state heard some feedback and concerns about the way that this process was being established and was part of the reason why Act 162 that Kara mentioned followed on the initial legislation that established a legal marketplace for cannabis, really kind of establishing those mechanisms for prioritizing what they call social equity applicants. So those are applicants to open cannabis establishments that have previously been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs and previous policies. So I think that's one aspect as well as the business development fund to help kind of go beyond prioritizing applications and also helping to develop economic development for businesses that are interested in participating in this now legal market. So those are just two kind of initial things that I could offer, but I agree it does require some continued conversation. Thank you, Councilor House. We'll go to Councilor Travers. Thank you, President Paul. I support the resolution to create a local cannabis control board in the interest of fully supporting Burlington applicants. I wanna echo Councilor McGee's points about ensuring that we are able to act timely on information received from the state. And just to follow up on those questions, I'm more specifically wondering, does the city anticipate? Well, I guess the first question is, has any Burlington applicant received their license even conditionally yet? My follow-up question to that is, do you anticipate any Burlington applicants receiving their license prior to October 1st? And then I suppose my final question is, if that is the case, I'm mindful of the fact that if we stand up this local cannabis control board, then I am assuming that the license committee would then have to act on any application for that retail establishment to open on October 1st. And I'm mindful of the fact that our last full city council meeting before October 1st is on September 19th. And I'm wondering if staff can speak it all to how that aligns with your timeline and what our expectations are as to when we will receive information from the state. The state has received several applications, I think four, if I'm not mistaken, but I don't know if we have confirmation. Received, I don't know if they have fully been approved yet of individuals looking to open retail establishments in Burlington, but if we create the local cannabis control board, those, the retail licenses would be, once we create the board, those applicants have to get the approval from our local cannabis control board before they can open. However, as Megan mentioned, growing and production don't require any act on this, from this body. Was Megan gonna add something to that? I apologize. Or if not, not if you don't, go ahead. It was timeline was the next, which councilor Traverse, I understand that you're asking us for. And as Megan had said before, we just need to work with the clerk treasurer's office and to have those applicants, if they are far enough along with the state, come to the next meeting. Thank you. Thanks so much. Did you have anything further? If I could just follow up. I'm just, I'm mindful of the fact that September 19th is five weeks from today. And of course the license committee, which will now serve as the local cannabis control board will have to meet some time before then in order for any approval that we provide to a retail store to come back before the full council. And so I would just want to sort of volunteer my own assistance if at all helpful, but also to suggest that we make sure that applicants understand that if they are interested in opening on October one, that we're going to have to act as a local cannabis control commission to take the steps to ensure that happens and we'll have to do it sooner rather than later. Understood. That is certainly true. Are there any other comments relating to this resolution before we go to a vote? Seeing none, we will go to a vote. All those in favor of the motion to adopt the resolution, please say aye. Aye. Aye. If there are any opposed, please say no. The motion passes unanimously. Thanks Cara and Megan to both of you and your staff for navigating with care this new area of business development. We'll look forward to further work as this goes forward. And thanks for sticking with us to this late hour. We have three last agenda items. The first is a public hearing followed by a vote on two ordinances in the public relating to the public hearing. So with that, we will open the public hearings regarding ZA 22-3 steep slopes and ZA 22-05 Burlington High School rezoning, or zoning, anyone wishing to speak to either of these ordinances, you can do so either by raising your hand on Zoom or in person, and we'll wait just a minute to see if there's anyone that wants to speak in the public hearing. Going once, going twice, and it doesn't appear as though there is anyone on Zoom that wishes to speak in the public hearing. So, and there's no one here raising their hand in con choice. So we'll close the public hearing and go to the ordinances, the first one being the comprehensive development ordinance on steep slopes, ZA 22-3. Councillor Travers, if you could offer us a motion. Move to waive the second reading and adopt the ordinance, and I ask for the floor back in return. Great, thank you so much. So motion has been made to waive the second reading and adopt the ordinance seconded by Councillor Barlow. Councillor Travers, the floor is yours. Thank you, I know we have Director Tuttle here. I spoke to Director Tuttle and thought that I could provide an update as to what the ordinance committee did, and then if any councillors have questions can go to Director Tuttle. So the steep slopes ordinance change was precipitated by a landslide along Riverside in recent years, which gave rise to a need for more regulatory framework around so-called steep slopes on board docks. There is a map outlining where the steep slopes are around the city, and if the council acts in favor of this ordinance change, what it would require is, among other things, of developments within that steep slope district in order to receive a certificate of occupancy for that development, having to present a certified engineering study. This ordinance change also provides neighbors a more notice of ongoing development in steep slopes in their neighborhood and more of an opportunity to be heard on these projects, which we've heard from some neighbors, maybe of concern. I believe that's about it. I don't know if Director Tuttle has anything else or if folks have questions. Thank you, Councillor Travers. Director Tuttle, did you want to add anything? Nothing else, thank you. Okay, thanks so much. Are there councillors who have either questions, comments, seeing none, we will go to a vote. All those in favor of the motion to waive the second reading and adopt this ordinance, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say no. The motion passes unanimously, which brings us to the last item on our deliberative agenda, the comprehensive development ordinance, Burlington High School Zoning, ZA 22-05. Councillor Travers will come to you for a motion. Move to waive the second reading and adopt the ordinance as amended by the Ordinance Committee and Councillor Travers and ask for the floor in return. Great, so motion has been made seconded by seconded by Councillor McGee and we'll go back to Councillor Travers, the floor is yours. So now that we've put a bond measure on the ballot for a new high school, there is one other important element to this, which is at the moment, our high school is a non-conforming use where it is. There is a need for us to update our zoning use table to actually allow for a high school where we would like to put a high school. There was a good discussion before the Ordinance Committee, that is what is accomplished by this proposed change. In the Ordinance Committee, I would say that our discussion focused on two issues in particular, Councillor Hanson had raised issues regarding maximum parking at the high school. There was a good discussion as well with respect to setbacks around the high school. Ultimately, the amendment made by the Ordinance Committee here was one to further limit maximum parking requirements at the high school. Our understanding is that the number of parking spaces planned by the designs that we've all seen still fit underneath those maximums. And the amendment by me that is here, it was one flagged by the school district team as well as by Director Tuttle that you'll see in the Ordinance. There's a number of other uses that are permitted as long as they're done so in conjunction with the high school, such as a conference center, community center, community garden, automobile shop, so on and so forth. One item that was flagged though, is that to the extent we want to sell tickets or the school district wants to sell tickets to outdoor recreation activities that we needed to add another permitted use to the table. So that is what is accomplished by this proposed change. Thank you, Councillor Travers. That's an excellent summary. Planning Director Tuttle, did you want to add anything to that? The one thing I'll just note is that in order to achieve the goal that Councillor Travers mentioned of allowing the school as a use in this district, is that we are also proposing that the district be changed to an institutional district and that we apply a specific zoning district with special standards for the high school itself on top of that. So that's the kind of key change that helps us achieve enabling the school. Great, thank you for adding that. Are there any Councillors who have any questions or comments on this ordinance? Seeing none. All those in favor of waiving the second reading and adopting the ordinance as amended by the Ordinance Committee and Councillor Travers, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say no. So that motion passes unanimously and that completes our deliberative agenda. Before we go on to item number seven, we can recess the council meeting and go back to the council with Mayor presiding. I believe Mayor Weinberg, are you ready to do that? Yes, I think we are prepared to continue the conversation and the parliamentarian has been reviewing quite a few different elements of the charter and the rules and is ready to make a ruling. All right, so we're recessing the council meeting at 1057 and opening the council with Mayor presiding meeting at that same time. Thank you, that's right. We are back in the, be clear, the council of Mayor presiding meeting is reconvened at 1055 and I will hand over. So when we recessed, there was a question as to whether the six to five decision to appoint a commissioner was sufficient or whether there needed to be a majority of the body, not just those members present. And I believe the parliamentarian is ready to issue a ruling on this. Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. And just to make it as simple as possible, the rules and regulations of this council, rule seven, provide that when one candidate for an office receives the vote of a majority of the council present at the meeting, that candidate is declared the winner. So it's my ruling that the vote of a majority of the council present at this meeting provided that there's a quorum is sufficient. We could backtrack this. There are other provisions, but I think that is the operative provision. Thank you. Appreciate that. Again, our being asked to fill in and help us sort of way through in this role. Given that ruling by the parliamentarian, I think we have elected a point, I think we have rendered a decision on the filling of this commission appointment and that Julia Randall has been, will be the planning commissioner for the term that I believe expires in the term we've been discussing. 25, I think is what it was, but I'll have it back up.  I believe, well, we need the parliamentarian again. That's right, and I am persuaded by the materials that the parliamentarian has shown me there was a concurring, although for slightly different reasoning email that I've gotten from Kim Sturdevant and Jared Pellern as well, who are watching the meeting and looked into it further. So I'm satisfied that my ruling is gonna be that we, that we accept the outcome of the 65 majority vote. So then I think, All right, so if you're asking not, okay. So I thought you were asking me to clarify that. Do you believe there's a provision for overruling the chair which requires some kind of vote by the body, right? If that's where you, I think that's a simple majority if I'm remembering the rules correctly. So if you would like, if are you, and that requires a motion and a second. Okay, so if there's a desire to over to go that direction, is it, are you signaling a desire to appeal the decision, Councillor Shannon? Yes, and I'd like to make such a motion and explain why. Okay, is there a second for that motion? Is there a second for the motion? I'll second the motion. Okay, so go ahead, Councillor Shannon. Thank you, Mayor. I served on the Charter Change Committee when we came up with these rules. And I very clearly remember we put in section 18 and made a clear decision that the appointments to commissions should be by the full body. And so section 18 reads, a commission or council appointment under the city charter or otherwise must be approved by a majority of the city council or the city council with Mayor presiding. We did not put the language in there, the said of those voting in present. At the time that we created this, we were extremely cognizant of the difference because we had gone through the Charter Change process of creating the language that for most of the actions taken by this body, it would be ruled by those voting and present at the meeting, not by the body, which is how all other bodies in the state of Vermont work. We made an exception so that we could pass our legislation just with a majority of those voting. But when we created these council rules, we made a decision that in order to elect somebody to a commission or a board, we needed the full, we needed a majority of the body. And it's reflected here in this language in section 18. That would have been my opinion as well. Were it not for the provisions in rule seven that provide that for appointments, nominations shall be accepted, excuse me. So as one candidate for an office receives the vote of a majority of the council present at the meeting, that candidate is declared the winner. So there's a question, rule 18 does say that a commission or council appointment under the city charter or otherwise must be approved by a majority of the city council or the city council with mayor presiding. So the question becomes, what does it mean a majority of the city council? Does that mean the entire city council or does that mean the council present? If it weren't for the very specific language in rule seven, I would have gone to Robert's rules and I would have agreed with councilor Shannon that the majority of the city council means the entire city council. But because we have this very specific provision in rule seven, this says when one candidate for office receives a vote of a majority of the council present at the meeting, I'm interpreting that as an explanation or a definition of what is meant by a majority of the city council in rule 18. You have two rules that arguably say two different things. I think the more specific rule has to be the one that applies. So I believe where we are is that there's been a motion to appeal of the ruling of the chair and a second is a further discussion of the appeal. Okay, seeing if there's no further discussion, I think we will go to a vote and this is again a simple majority vote on the decision to make the appointment based on the six to five vote. All those- Point of order. Go ahead. Councilor Bailiff. There's a vote in the affirmative in this case, a vote to uphold your decision. I believe you're voting on an affirmative vote is, well, the motion was to appeal the decision. So I think a successful appeal would be if you want to overrule the ruling of the chair, I think you should be voting yes. Do you agree with that? You can state it either way. I can make it easier for you. I will withdraw my motion recognizing that there's a clear conflict in our council rules. I believe that the language that is being referenced here is older language that failed to get removed when we created the other language. And I'll withdraw. I think it could go either way. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Councilor. Thank you, Councilor Shannon with the appeal withdrawn, the decision stands. Congratulations to Julia Randall and thank you to both candidates for their, your interest in serving the city. And with that, the city council with mayor presiding is if there's no objection adjourned at 11, 05 p.m. Thank you, Mayor Weinberger. So we'll reconvene the city council meeting at 11, 07. And there are just a few items left on our, complete on our agenda. Item seven is committee reports. Are there councillors who wish to offer a committee report? Councilor McGee. Thank you, President Paul. I have a very brief committee report. The Public Safety Committee will meet at five o'clock next Tuesday, the 23rd over Zoom. And that's all I have for right now. Great, thank you, Councilor McGee. Any other councillor, Councilor Hanson? Yeah, the Transportation, Energy and Utilities Committee will meet at that exact same time Tuesday, the 23rd at 5 p.m. Great, thank you, Councilor Hanson. Any other committee chairs who wish to offer a committee report? Yes, Councilor Shannon. Yes. Yes, I actually wanted to report on the tax reassessment committee. There are two public comment sessions. The first is Thursday, August 25th at 2 p.m. And the second is on Thursday, September 22nd at 6 p.m. Both will be in the Sharon Busher conference room at City Hall. And the purpose of these is to get input from the public about the reassessment process, how we can improve it. And I also will be sending something to councillors so that you can share this on your front porch forums because we want to do all we can to get word out to the residents that there is an opportunity for them to weigh in with their hopefully suggestions. Great, thank you, Councilor Shannon. Any other committee chairs? Seeing none, we'll close out that item and move on to item number eight, which is City Council General Affairs. Are there councillors who wish to offer comments on general city affairs? Councilor McGee. Thank you, President Paul. I just wanted to take a brief moment to acknowledge a number of incidents that happened in my ward and throughout the city over the weekend and over the last couple of weeks. You know, I think it's quite clear that so many people in our community are struggling with mental health crises right now. And unfortunately, this weekend, it was made clear yet again that status quo policing is not how we address these. We've seen several incidents over the last couple of weeks, someone taking their own life at Rock Point who had had 14 previous encounters with Burlington Police since June 1st. We have to do better, we have to do better by our community. When people are struggling with mental health crises, they should not get shot in the leg. I think we have seen that there are a myriad of better ways to deal with mental health crises that don't involve armed officers responding to those. And I'm hopeful that we'll have the crisis response team up and running sooner rather than later. I think the weekend's incidents highlight the need for that. I don't believe that the response to gun violence should be 10 more armed officers in our downtown. I think had there been another incident of gun violence on Saturday night, it only would have resulted in a shootout that could have been far worse. We have to do better at addressing the underlying issues that we have in our society. And unfortunately, we haven't done that. And so I look forward to working with other members of the council to make progress on this, working with members of the Public Safety Committee to make progress on this. And that's all I have this evening, thank you. Thank you, Councilor McGee, Councilor House. Yeah, I wanna echo what Councilor McGee said. The events of this past weekend are absolutely heartbreaking. The people of our city deserve a whole lot better. If there's one thing that I've seen as a social worker, it's that the issue of crime is complex and it originates largely from longstanding systems of oppression. And adding more police officers to our streets is not going to solve the root causes of the issues that are facing our community. And oppression, it's woven into the fabric of our society and it's perpetuated by the systems in which we live and operate. And that includes our own government and policing as it exists today. Relying on more police does not solve these issues. It drives them deeper into the fabric of our society. It creates massive amounts of collective harm.  Our community has to take a holistic approach to crime. We have to consider the motivating factors of crime, which includes a lack of support for people who are experiencing mental health crises and other challenges. We have to lean into projects that are gonna increase our sense of community and belonging. We have to invest in social programs, our schools, our kids, we have to invest in opportunities that are gonna create meaningful community connection and crisis response, increase the number of community outreach workers and also provide these workers with the support that they need to respond to crises. I think there is hope. I think that if any city can come together and learn how to address the systemic factors behind crime, it's us, but we have to demand that de-escalation and I mean actual de-escalation, not the kind that ends in someone suffering with the mental health crises being shot in the leg. We have to demand that that becomes our only way forward. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor House. Councilor Carpenter. I just wanna remind us all that next week, the city in combination with the United Way and a whole variety of service providers is having a mental health summit and I hope we all take the time. It's hard to take time out of your day, but we ought to be going. It's the 23rd and 24th from noon to three and it's online. Thank you, Councilor Carpenter. That was the idea for the mental health summit came from the police commission. They wrote the resolution which they passed to us and which was approved unanimously by the council some time ago. So yes, thank you so much for reminding the community of that event. Are there other councillors, Councilor Travers? A number of items on our consent agendas often go unsung because of their nature of being on the consent agenda, but I just wanna take an opportunity here to recognize that for a decade now, a group of dedicated residents in our parks department have been working to build a universally accessible playground at Oakledge Park and because of the actions the council took tonight on our consent agenda, we are a few months away from that finally coming to fruition. So I saw Parks Director Cindy White here earlier. I suspect they're not tuned in any longer, but I ran into Project Coordinator John Adams-Coletz in coming into City Hall this evening and they, among many others, are owed a great deal of credit for what will be, I think, a great achievement in addition to our park system. Thank you, Councilor Travers. Thanks for mentioning that. Are there other councillors with comments on General City Affairs? Councilor Shannon. Thank you, President Paul. I wanted to draw the council's attention to a notice that went out from the Burlington Housing Authority to Burlington landlords, including Burlington Section 8 housing providers. A few of the highlights from this communication include, if you want to keep renting to Airbnb, VRBO, et cetera, or want to start cashing in on the lucrative short-term rental market in Burlington, the Burlington Housing Authority has your solution. Further on, it goes on to say if you've ever considered joining the lucrative short-term rental market here in Burlington, you may have missed your opportunity due to the new regulations. Luckily, you have an alternative route to continue or begin accessing this lucrative market. The Burlington Housing Authority is actually encouraging the conversion of long-term housing units to short-term housing units in order to take advantage of the loophole that we put into our ordinance. I think this is a problem, and I think this council should seriously consider addressing this. So I look forward to working with any of you who don't think that we should be encouraging landlords who will have long-term units to convert to short-term units, which seems to be an unintended consequence of the action that we took. Thank you. Thanks, Councillor Shannon. Any other councillors with general city affairs? Okay, so we'll move on to item 10, or actually item nine, which is city council president updates. The only thing I just wanted to mention is just call your attention to item on the consent agenda item 5.09 and 5.10, and a shout-out to councillors Hightower and Hansen who have completed, for their committees, have completed their mission statements. No pressure to anyone else who has not completed their mission statement, but more so just simply thank you so much to Councillor Hansen and Councillor Hightower for doing that work so expeditiously, and we will look forward to the others coming in very shortly. With that, we go to our final item, which is item 10, updates from the mayor. Mayor Weinberger, the floor is yours. Thank you, President Paul. I wanted to bring the community's attention, the council's attention to three important upcoming events. One of them has already been mentioned tonight, the Mental Health Summit, that is taking place over two days next week on Tuesday and Wednesday. The 23rd and 24th, they are midday, meeting times are at noon on both days and people can't participate by Zoom. Lacey Ann Smith from the, who's heading up our CSL team at the Berlin Police Department has been instrumental in working with the Police Commission in planning that event and I second, Councillor Carpenter's point, that it would be great to have numerous Councillors attend. We, tomorrow night, there is a remembrance of the life of Bill Truex that is taking place at the Sailing Center. From 5.30 to 7.30, Bill, as we have discussed before at this table, was a real giant here in Burlington, a community leader for decades, whose accomplishments included really the conception and execution of the church team marketplace and in more recent times, the rebuilding of the Northern Water Throne as the chair of the Public Investment Action Plan process that has resulted in so much of the millions of dollars improvements to public infrastructure north of Water Throne Park in recent years and I'll be attending and I know it'd be meaningful to the family if there is a significant participation from the city that Bill gave so much to. And finally, a third event that I wanted to invite Council to and public to is we will be swearing in three new officers at the Burlington Police Department this Friday. This is the most significant increase in officers that we've had in the last two and a half years and it is hopefully the beginning of the rebuilding efforts that we have worked towards achieving together through recent decisions. That is what I have for tonight, President Paul, thank you. Great, thank you, Mayor Weinberger. So that brings us to the end of our agenda. I would ask for a motion to adjourn. So moved, made by Councillor Bergman and seconded by Councillor McGee. We are adjourned at 11-23 and thank you so much for joining us for our meeting. Just wanted to note that our next meeting is Monday, September 12th. In the meantime, we hope you have a good last few weeks, official weeks of summer and a happy Labor Day weekend. Thank you again.


CHAPTER XIX It seemed to Mrs. Payne an endless time before she heard the steps of Gabrielle returning. She thanked Heaven when she knew that she was coming back alone. The bedroom door closed and the sound pulled her together. It suggested to her that the time had now come when something must be done. And though it would have been much pleasanter to let the matter stand over until the morning, she knew that nothing could be gained by waiting, since all of the three people concerned were at that moment awake and the crisis of the affair had been reached. The reasons that had dissuaded her from tackling Arthur himself when first her suspicions were aroused still held. She regarded a scene with him as dangerous, for she could not be certain that a big emotional disturbance would not throw him back into his old nature, quite apart from the fact that it would wound her motherly heart. Against Gabrielle, on the other hand, she knew that she could steal herself. Gabrielle was a woman, a woman younger than herself, and what was more, a visitor in her house. She was satisfied that she could tell Gabrielle what she thought of her, and in a single interview bring this most uncomfortable and dangerous state of affairs to an end. She got out of bed again and dressed methodically. This time she wasn't going to put up with any condition that detracted from her dignity. So having done her hair afresh and satisfied herself that all traces of her breakdown had disappeared, she set out with a high degree of confidence to Gabrielle's room. There was no light in it, but while she stood at the door she heard Gabrielle softly singing to herself inside. The singing! Mrs. Payne hardened her heart and knocked at the door. The singing stopped. There was no other sound. Then she knocked again. She heard a soft rustle as Gabrielle stepped to the door. The door opened, and Gabrielle, in her nightdress and bare feet, stood before her. She stared at Mrs. Payne. Who could guess that she knew the reason of her visit? She only said, Oh, it's you! I wondered, May I come in? said Mrs. Payne in a hard voice. As a matter of fact nothing could have stopped her going in. Of course, said Gabrielle. Do! She shivered slightly. You had better put on a dressing gown, said Mrs. Payne firmly. I want to talk to you. Gabrielle obeyed her like a small child, slipped an embroidered kimono over her shoulders, and stood facing Mrs. Payne. She looked her straight in the eyes and said in a low voice, Well, what is it? We won't pretend, said Mrs. Payne. You know quite well what it is. Yes, I suppose you mean Arthur. And you? You saw us go out to-night? Heard it? Yes. Gabrielle made a gesture of impatience. Well, why shouldn't we? It was the nightingale. Why shouldn't we listen to a nightingale? I'd never heard one. I followed you into the garden. That was a mean thing to do. Perhaps it was. No, I had a right to do it. I saw everything that happened. When we kissed each other? Mrs. Payne nodded. Gabrielle looked at her, challengingly. It was the first time, she said. There was a pause, and then she burst out passionately. I love him. We love each other. You can't stop us. It's got to be stopped, said Mrs. Payne. Gabrielle turned away and perched herself on the end of the bed. She appeared to be thinking, and when next she spoke it was almost dreamily. It was the first time. We didn't know before to-night. There was nothing dreamy about Mrs. Payne's reply. She believed that Gabrielle was acting apart and had no patience with her. That's rubbish, she said. I don't believe it. Gabrielle jumped to her feet and faced her again, blazing with pride and anger and amazingly beautiful. You don't believe me?  I've told you that we didn't know. I don't tell lies?  She was so passionate that Mrs. Payne was almost convinced. She softened for a moment. After all, you ought to have known, she said.  Married, Gabrielle repeated. Yes, but I didn't know. I've told you I didn't. That's enough. Well, if you didn't know, I did, said Mrs. Payne with a laugh. How! Tell me how! It wasn't difficult to see. I can't imagine it. But I know nothing of love. Only once, and Gabrielle relapsed into her dream, standing with her hand on the bed post gazing towards the window. After a second, she turned again quickly. Then, if you knew, was that why you invited me here? Mrs. Payne said, yes. Why didn't you tell me instead of doing that? I wanted to make certain. Why didn't you tell my husband? For your sake, I wanted to save you. No, you didn't. You weren't thinking of me. You were thinking of Arthur.  She had left her room in very much the same frame of mind as she would have adopted in approaching the dismissal of a servant. She had expected to be met with passionate denials. Had prepared herself, indeed, for a stormy scene, instead of which Gabrielle appeared to be curious rather than disturbed about her discovery, and a great deal more interested in the psychological than in the practical aspects of the case. If she had offered any violent opposition to Mrs. Payne, Mrs. Payne could have given her violence in return. But she didn't. The mood of exultation into which their love-making had lifted her made her regard this woman with something nearer to pity than dislike. Her attitude implied that to consider the practical aspect of the affair would be in the nature of a condescension. Mrs. Payne naturally resented this, but in any case Gabrielle had taken the wind out of her sails. They were drifting, rather unpleasantly, away from the object of her visit. She pulled herself, and then Gabrielle, up short. "'You can't pretend not to realize the seriousness of your position,' she said. "'You're a married woman.  I'll be candid with you. What happens to you doesn't matter to me. But what happens to Arthur does. Can't you see the end of it?' "'No. It's only begun. Then I'll tell you the end. Your husband will divorce you.' "'Then I shall be free?' "'And why not? We don't love each other. Why should we go on living together? The thought of him makes me shudder, now.' "'That is your affair. I'm afraid I can't help you in it. But Arthur is mine. I'm not going to see him dragged into this impossibility. No. We can't discuss it like this. You may be as innocent as you pretend to be, though it's difficult to believe it. You imagine you're in love. You're drifting out of an ordinary sort of friendship into what I saw tonight.' "'Well, that can only lead to the most awful unhappiness for all of us. You must consider it finished. We won't have any disturbance, but all the same you can't see Arthur again. We'll invent some reason to explain you're going away to-morrow. Something plausible to satisfy him.' "'With your husband it will be more difficult. But I'm prepared to help you. It can be managed without any scandal if we work together. I'm sure you'll agree with me and be sensible about it. If you won't, I can't answer for the consequences.' Mrs. Payne was presuming too much. All the time that she spoke Gabrielle sat with lowered eyes, motionless but for little protesting movements of her hands. Now she turned upon her, speaking very low and rapidly. "'You think I can give him up? You think it's possible? Love, the only thing I want, the thing I've never had. Happiness! Why should you ruin our happiness? You've had yours?' "'Oh, you're selfish. I shan't give him up if he wants me. Ask him yourself if he loves me.' "'Ah, you're afraid. You darent. You darent!' She almost laughed, and Mrs. Payne knew that she had spoken the truth. It looked for a moment as if she were going to be beaten on this point, for Gabrielle snatched at her weakness, repeating the unanswerable, you darent.' Then suddenly, without any warning, the girl's triumphant spirit collapsed. From the verge of laughter she toppled over into tears. She put her hands to her eyes, and then, turning her back on Mrs. Payne, collapsed on her bed, weeping bitterly. At the sight of this, thankfulness flooded Mrs. Payne's heart. But beneath this dominant emotion, which came almost as the result of her conscious wish, float another that she would gladly have suppressed. Pity! Nothing less, for the child who lay sobbing on the bed. A minute before she had seen in Gabrielle her most dangerous enemy in the world. Now, even though she rejoiced in the girl's sudden collapse, she felt that she wanted to take her in her arms and kiss her and comfort her. For a moment or two she fought against it, but in the end, scarcely knowing what she had done, she found that she was fondling Gabrielle's hand and being shaken by the communicated passion of her sobs. One thought kept running through her brain. I've won! I've won and can afford to be generous. And this, together with the curious physical liking that she had always felt for Gabrielle, disarmed her. She set herself to comforting the child. It was the last thing in the world that she had intended to do, but it came natural to her motherly soul. She was glad, indeed, that Gabrielle did not resent these attentions, as she very well might have done. Gradually her sobbing ceased, and she began to speak, clinging all the time to Mrs. Payne, herself not guiltless of a sympathetic tear, while she told her story of her early years, of the wildlife she had led at Roscarna, of Jocelyn's debauches and Biddy's rough mothering. It was the first time that all this flood of reminiscence had been loosed. Gabrielle had never made a confidant before, and it was an ecstasy of tears and laughter to dwell upon these memories and to rehearse them. I was so happy as a child, she said, so awfully happy. But now there's nothing left. Mrs. Payne, still sympathetic, found herself suddenly plunged into the ardors of the Radway Affair, the miraculous meeting on the Glendareff Road, the Halcyon days of August, and then the overwhelming tragedy. They made me marry him, said Gabrielle, clutching at her hand. They made me. I didn't understand. It was cruel. It would have been better if I had died like my baby. She relapsed into tears, and Mrs. Payne quite bold over by the piteousness of her case, tried to soothe her with caresses. It was a curious end, she reflected, to the punitive expedition on which she had set forth. Holding Gabrielle triumphantly in her arms, she did not realize the mistake that she had made. It wasn't the end at all. It was merely the beginning. You see, what a terrible time I've had! Gabrielle pleaded, drying her tears. I always felt that you were the only person I could talk to about these things. I knew you would sympathize. You're so human. Now you can understand why I can't live without Arthur. Do you see? She looked up, pleading into Mrs. Payne's eyes. Her quiet words staggered that good woman. She had to pull herself together and to begin all over again. It wasn't easy, for the sympathetic mood into which the girl's story had betrayed her had subtly weakened her purpose. She felt that her position was false. She must reassert herself, and so she hurriedly freed herself from Gabrielle's arms and stood with her back to the door. Gabrielle, too, rose and faced her. Her tears had put an end to the dreamy mood in which Mrs. Payne had found her at first. Now she was determined, dangerous, ready to fight with all the quickness of her wits and the suppleness of her youth against the elder woman's dogged devotion. They faced one another, ready to fight to the end, for the possession of the thing they each loved best, and both of them realized the bitter nature of the struggle. We can't speak of that again, said Mrs. Payne. I thought that was understood. Surely you didn't imagine that by playing on my feelings you could make me change my mind. I'm sorry you misunderstood me. I will write to your husband to-morrow. For Arthur's sake I hope you won't tell him the real explanation of your going back, and of Arthur's staying here. I think you owe that to us, even if you don't realize that it's also the best for yourself. She turned towards the door. I think we had better say good night. There is a train at 7.50 in the morning. I'm sorry it's so early, but there's no other. As I may not see you again, I'll say good-bye now. There's no reason why we shouldn't part, friends. She held out her hand and couldn't think why, but as she did so Gabrielle clasped it. No! Don't go! she pleaded. There's nothing more to be said. But Gabrielle still held her hand and would not let it go. Only be merciful to me, she cried. Let us think about it. There must be some other way, supposing that we go back to Lapton just in the ordinary way. Supposing that I promise you faithfully that nothing more shall happen. Listen, we never, never kissed before tonight. I'll give you my word of honor that it chants happen again if only you'll let him go back to us. Isn't that fair? Surely it's fair, Mrs. Payne shook her head. You mean that you don't believe me? You won't trust me? I can't trust both of you. Do you think I don't know what love is? Don't think. Think of all these months in which we've been so happy together without a word of love. I love him. You know I love him. I believe I love him more than you do.  Don't you think my love is strong enough to prevent me from doing anything that could possibly harm him? Can't you believe that? No, it's too dangerous. You can answer for yourself, but you can't answer for Arthur. Oh, if you loved him as you say you do, as I believe you do, wouldn't you trust him? I'll talk to him. I can tell him anything. I'll tell him exactly how things stand. I'll tell him what I've promised you. Only don't take him away from me altogether. I couldn't bear it. I couldn't. She turned back on herself. Why won't you believe in him? You should know why that's impossible. Haven't I told you his history? You've only known him for a year. I've had him for 17 and loved him all the time. She became almost passionate.  You know nothing of them. You can't realize how I've struggled and schemed, and had my hopes raised and dashed to the ground time after time. To see the person that you love best in the world, a part of your own body, living without a soul, a thief, a liar, that's the plain truth, inhuman and cruel. But you know as well as I do what he was. I do know what he was. And now, thanks to your husband, God knows I'm grateful, he's better. He's what I knew he ought to have been all these awful years. And when you came on the scene, you, who've born nothing of all the years before, and began to drag him down again. You must be mad to think I could risk it. But don't I know all this?  Only trust me. Trust me. His future. Think of that. Mrs. Payne laughed bitterly, but Gabrielle persisted. His future. My husband says that he can make a success of him. He can take a high place in a government examination. He can get into the diplomatic service. Just believe that I love him too much to stand in his way. Why, I can even help him. If he does this, I know that he'll want influence. You haven't influenced to help him. I don't want to belittle you, but I know you've nothing but your money, while I can help him. My cousin is Lord Halberton. He's been a cabinet minister. There's no knowing what he mightn't do with his help.  That's what I'd do. I'd think of nothing else. I'd give all my thoughts to him. And I promise, oh, I promise faithfully that I won't let him love me. If only you'll let me love him. Mrs. Payne stiffened. You're trying to bribe me, she said. And I'm not the kind of person who can be bribed. I don't care that much about his future. Until the last month I never so much as dreamed that any future of that kind was possible. It's quite enough for me that he should settle down here into the sort of life that his father would have lived if he'd been spared. I don't want to share his successes with you. Ah, you're jealous. Of course I'm jealous. I've reasoned to be. He's mine. But even if I could trust you, and I believe I could, Arthur's future wouldn't tempt me to risk his present. No, it's too dangerous. Dangerous, Gabrielle clutched at the word. Dangerous! She became suddenly quiet and intense. I don't believe you know where the danger lies, she said. I can see the most obvious danger, and that's a love affair with a married woman. You can't see any other? You said just now that Arthur had changed thanks to my husband. Perhaps my husband took the credit for it, and you believed it. But it isn't true. I've seen the change coming hour by hour, day by day. Every moment of it I've watched and treasured. He did not change because he worked with my husband. He changed because I loved him, and he loved me. I know it. I've known it all the time. What did your love do for him in all those years? Nothing. Nothing at all. For heaven's sake, don't think I'm boasting. Your love never changed him a hair's breadth, and you know it. Mrs. Payne gasped. You don't realize what you're saying. But I do. I do. You say his body's part of you, belongs to you. I'll give you that. But this soul, his new soul, is mine. That's part of our love, ours and nobody else's. Mrs. Payne choked back her emotions. I don't grudge at you, she said. I only thank God for it gratefully, gratefully. But you don't see what I mean, said Gabrielle slowly. Arthur has changed because he loves me. He ceased to be cruel because he knows that for him to be cruel pains me. He's learned to see things just as I see them. And now you want to separate us, even after what I have promised you. Can't you see what I'm afraid of? She paused, and Mrs. Payne was silent. Gabrielle quickly pressed her advantage. If you separate us, if you try to destroy our love, you'll be taking away from him the thing that saved him. How do you know that he won't slip back again? You can take his body from me. I know that. But you may lose more than you get. Mrs. Payne stood staring straight in front of her. Then you will know what you are worth to him. Gabrielle's tone was almost scornful. You see how it stands, she continued. We both of us want him for ourselves. We want him as he is today. And we can't either of us have him without the other's consent. You hold his body, and I hold his soul. Let's be reasonable. Let's compromise. I'm ready to do my part. Oh, I beg you to be reasonable.  But you see that I'm right, Gabrielle persisted. Mrs. Payne summoned all her strength. No, I don't. I don't believe it. Ah, you pretend that you don't. But you're bluffing me. I know it. Why did you come to me about this instead of to Arthur himself? Because you were afraid. That was the reason. The shot was made at a venture. But Gabrielle quickly saw that it had taken effect. She followed it up. You thought that if you upset him he might lose what he's gained. You don't know, we, none of us know yet, how deep the change is. You didn't dare to face that little risk. But it's nothing compared with the one you want to take now. That's what you've got to face. She could say no more. When she stopped speaking Mrs. Payne knew that the girl's eyes were fixed on her eagerly, desperately, trying to search into her mind. The older woman stood there still and bewildered by the choice that had been presented to her. It was the most awful moment in her emotional life. Her mind was a battlefield on which her love, her sense of right, her acquired conventions, her religion, and her hungry maternal passion were pitted against one formidable dread. She wanted to shield Arthur against harm, from a social disaster no less than from what she considered a mortal sin. And above all, after these years of patient suffering, she wanted him for herself. It was neither religion nor morality that drove her to her final decision, but a thing far stronger, her passionate instinct to possess the sun of her body. Even if she were to lose him to rescue no more than the changeling that she had always known, she could not bring herself to share him with any other woman on earth. He was hers and hers alone. She did not know if she were right. She did not care if she were wrong. The decision formed itself inexorably in her mind. She could only obey it. Gabrielle, watching her narrowly, saw a sudden peace descend upon her agonized face. Mrs. Payne gave a long, shuttering sigh. Then she spoke, dully, mechanically. The train goes at seven-fifty. I will order the carriage. I will write to Dr. Considine in the morning. Gabrielle clutched at her breast. You can't realize what you're doing. It's too great a risk. Think of it again. I beg you. No, said Mrs. Payne slowly. I've made up my mind. We must invent some plausible excuse. Illness will do anything. And you must help me, if only for your own sake. Desperate tears came into Gabrielle's eyes.  If you love him at all, you can't drag him into a social ruin. Well, I've made my decision.  We must make the best of a bad job. Don't think I'm not sorry for you, my dear. This final tenderness was too much for Gabrielle. She broke down, sobbing so tragically in Mrs. Payne's arms that the older woman was almost ashamed of her victory. She knew that she could afford to be kind. She felt that she would like to tell her that under any other circumstances she knew none whom she would rather trust as Arthur's wife. But to say so would have been a bitter mockery. She waited in silence while Gabrielle mastered her own feelings and raised at last her haggard eyes. What can you say to my husband? she said. We must say that I am ill. That will give you a good reason for returning. And Arthur? The same reason will explain why he doesn't go back to Lapton on Tuesday. After that I don't know what I shall do. But I can see him before I go? That would be quite useless. It might even do harm.  He'll wonder. How can we satisfy him? What can I do? You had better write to him. Tell him that after tonight it's impossible for you to stay. Only, only please don't mention me.  Or save him. It's the only thing that you can do. I'll write it now. She went over to the writing-table in the window, and there, with streaming eyes, she wrote her letter. It took her a long time to do, and when she had finished she brought it with the envelope to Mrs. Payne. Do you want to read it? she asked. No, of course I trust you. Thank you. She fastened the envelope and addressed it. I feel as if I were dead, she said. You're young, said Mrs. Payne. But you'll let me know what happens. You'll write to me? Yes, I'll write to you. I have a dread, an awful dread of what may happen. I can't be sure that we've done right. Neither can I. I had to make a decision. I pray God that it will turn out well. We can do no more. I know now that you love him. I'm glad to know that. Did you ever doubt it? But for me there's nothing left, nothing. Gabrielle stood for a moment in silence. Then she said, I'd better pack, and Mrs. Payne, clutching at any refuge from the intensity of the moment, offered to help her. No, said Gabrielle. If you don't mind, I'd rather be alone. We'd better say good-bye. I don't like to leave you, said Mrs. Payne. But perhaps you're right. With a sudden impulse Gabrielle came over to her. Mrs. Payne took her in her arms and they kissed. I could love you, said Gabrielle. You have Arthur's eyes. Mrs. Payne left her. End of CHAPTER XXV of the Tragic Bride. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. The Tragic Bride by Francis Brett Young. CHAPTER XX. Much to the disgust of Hollis, who was in the habit of making the most of his Sundays, Gabrielle left Overton by the early morning train, while Arthur slept undisturbed after his night of wonder, and Mrs. Payne rose anxiously to face the certain embarrassments and the possible bitterness of her victory. She had not slept at all, for though she never for one moment dreamed of going back on the decision which her conscience, amongst other things, had dictated, she was still in doubt as to whether she had won her son or lost him forever. She almost regretted the burst of generosity in which she had refused to read Gabrielle's letter of renunciation. For all she knew, the wording might be provocative and calculated to wreck her plans at the last moment. The letter lay sealed upon her dressing-table. It speaks well for her sense of honour in a bargain that this pathetic document remained unopened. Meanwhile she only prayed that the hours might pass and her fate be revealed. She could only rack her brains imagining some means by which the severity of the blow might be tempered for Arthur. Next morning he came down ten minutes late for breakfast. He missed Gabrielle at once. "'Where's Mrs. Considine?' he said. "'I called at her door as I came down, but I don't think she's there.' "'No,' said Mrs. Payne. She had to go back to Lapton by the first train. An urgent call of some kind. "'A telegram? The old man isn't ill, is he?' "'She left a letter for you,' said Mrs. Payne, handing him Gabrielle's envelope. "'What a rotten shame,' he said as he took it. "'It's a splendid morning for a ride. I hope it's not serious.' He opened the letter and read it. What Gabrielle had written Mrs. Payne never knew. For even in later years he did not tell her. He had expected a terrible and passionate outburst and prepared herself to meet it with argument and consolation. But no outburst came. She saw him go very red and then white. Then he steadied himself and said in a curious voice, "'Mother, if you'll excuse me, I must go out.' She put out her hand to him, but he pushed back his chair and went quickly through the French window of the dining-room into the garden. She wanted to follow him, for she feared that on the impulse of the moment he might do something terrible, but controlled herself in time. She stood on the terrace, impotent, watching him as he crossed the lawn and made for the fields. It was a terrible day for her. She felt that she couldn't go to church in her usual way, but stayed at home tortured by the most hopeless and tragic anticipations of evil. At lunchtime he had not returned. It was with difficulty that she restrained herself from sending Hollis out over the hill with a search party, but the curious fatalism that had settled on her when once her decision was made compelled her to patience. It was his own battle, she reflected, and if he had wanted her help he would have come to her. Evidently he had decided to fight it out alone. She went to her own room and prayed desperately for his salvation. In the evening he returned, tired out with ceaseless wandering. He had eaten nothing all day and looked very old and haggard. He had expected a tender scene of confidence and was ready to overwhelm him with the consolations of her love. But even now he said nothing to her, and she dared not take the first step herself. From his silent misery she gathered that Gabrielle had not told him that she knew of the secret. Evidently and very wisely she had given him general and conventional reasons for her renunciation, treating it as a matter that concerned themselves and no one else, denying Mrs. Payne the privilege and pain of sharing in Arthur's disillusionment. Therefore his mother judged it wiser to behave as though she knew nothing of what he was suffering, though she saw by the steadiness of his demeanor that he had taken the blow squarely and come through. The fact that he didn't break down miserably, as she had expected he would, convinced her more than ever that he had become a man. She felt certain now that she had been right in following her instinct and facing the risk that her action involved. She believed that she had triumphed. Certainly the boy who faced her at the dinner table in suffering and awkward silence was very different from the Arthur of six months before. There was a look of determination in his eyes that made her confident. He kissed her good night without the least tremor, and she went to bed herself full of serene thankfulness. Nor did she forget how much she owed to the girl who was breaking her heart in the loneliness of Lapton. She wrote to Gabrielle that night. I think it is all right, she said.  He never mentioned Gabrielle's name to her again. Next morning, in a calm and serious mood, he approached her on the subject of his return to Lapton. Would you mind very much, he said, if I don't go back to Devonshire? I feel that I'm rather out of place there. You see, I'm older than the others. Do you think it could be arranged? At first she feigned surprise. She could do nothing else. But in doing so she cleverly contrived to make it easy for him. If you wish I will write to Dr. Considine, she said. She didn't suggest the elaborate falsehoods in which she would build her letter. I think you are old enough to decide, she told him. What would you like to do? Is there any reason why I shouldn't travel? he said. I feel that I want a change. I should like to see something of the world. So without further difficulty it was arranged. She sent him round the world with a new tutor, waiting placidly and happily at Overton for his return. It was in these days that I became acquainted with her and conceived the admiration for her that I still hold. She often spoke to me in terms of the most utter devotion of her son. I imagined her an ideal mother, as indeed she was. After a year or more abroad, Arthur returned, very much the man of the world. At his own desire he went up to Oxford, where he passed a perfectly normal three years and took a decent degree. In his last term he fell in love with the daughter of a neighboring person, whom in due course he married. The following year the young couple went out to New Zealand, a country to which Arthur had been attracted on his travels, and that is all that I know of him. During all this time Mrs. Payne corresponded regularly with Gabrielle. Now that Arthur's safety was beyond question and even in the earlier debatable period she had not the least objection to sharing him with her rival at a distance. She even sent her his letters from abroad. In this way they arrived at a curious and altogether happy intimacy. Gabrielle's letters became a part of her life, and when, in the autumn after Arthur's engagement was announced, they suddenly stopped, Mrs. Payne felt that she had suffered a loss. She wrote two or three times to Lapton, but received no reply, and it was only by the chance meeting of a friend who had been staying in Devonshire that she learned what had happened. It came to her as a piece of idle gossip, but the shock of an extraordinary coincidence upset her for many days. It appeared that Dr. Considine, by this time a well-known figure in the county, had gone out one evening rabbit-shooting with his wife. As they were returning from their expedition down one of the steep slopes above Lapton Manor, he had slipped in getting over a gate and fallen. It was the usual type of shooting accident that no one could explain.  He was terribly mutilated about the head, said Mrs. Payne's informant. She did not know what had happened to his widow. Probably she had gone to her cousins, the Halbertons. In any case, the jury had completely exonerated her. Mrs. Payne flared up in Gabrielle's defense. Exonerated! It was well known that they were not on the best of terms, said her visitor discreetly. CHAPTER XXI I do not know what has possessed me since I began to write this story. I have grown tired of this river, where the trout are always shy, and more tired than ever of Colonel Hoylake's fishing stories and his obituary reflections. The place is haunted for me by the tragic image of Gabrielle Hewish. It is strange that I should be affected by the loss of a woman whom I have never seen or known. But I feel that I cannot stay here any longer. Wherever I go in this valley I am troubled by a feeling of desolation, a curious feeling as though some bright thing had fallen, a kingfisher, a dragonfly. END OF CHAPTER XXI END OF THE TRAGIC BRIDE by FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG


It was time for the back nine at Presswick and with David driving the ball solid and my short game being my saviour We'd managed to get to two under the question is can we continue under par on this back nine? Yep, that's good. The better ball. Yeah, that's who that one a bit. Yeah, it's good Cross it only strike sounding pure that just stay right be right. Oh I thought it was a bit long Good under the pressure each time I I'll lift your anger a bit there tonight. Yeah, we're all right. We won't go to dry Not high enough great roll Good roll plenty of movements in that isn't there's a lot of movement. It's oh You probably had the line. Yeah, I'm gonna say quite fancy that Yeah Yeah I'm today Yeah, it's good now is it oh I've just got a glimpse of it there Really close. It might be a wee bit short, but wow. I think it was just What I was about to say there was a par five. They were just a massive try what sort of business was a drive. Do you think? 300 anyway, so I had 180 so maybe like three. Yeah, 300 yard drives Who's put us writing a good nick there and he's just did it So it starts out right did it do it? Yeah, just use the contour so I think I'm out to go Would you say 185 183 you think it was a Lost it a bit Lost it up Over to you David right that's right on the on the line at the moment the closer we get I don't know what you're guessing Tough to say from here, isn't it? Yeah It's certainly a great chance of eagle anyway, it's a big game changer. I'm thinking if I miss it I know you're definitely going to be there was it It's a good job done something because that was again a couple of Last few this looks close, you know If I had just filmed all that commentary I'd have edited that so I made it look like you put that one there I said you you know I can take it Oh I hope I can do something on this all Come on. They're just off. It's yeah, you can see it just drifting away, but that's Right to left Unlucky better effort than mine. You had to pass the hole. I thought I had that as well. It's not a birdie Birdie. Yeah, 300. Yeah, right. This is the 12th hole Just want to stop to show you something I watched I think it's about a year ago. That right? Yeah Yeah, so David's son Oliver did this on this green Right, so that's the way you do it. We're gonna have a little bit of a roll of it It's probably the greens probably not as quick at the moment Oh, yeah, I think the pens maybe not helping as it's nice to be a bit closer to the slope But so we're going straight up the hill. Yeah. Yeah, you're gonna have a go first one The higher you go the bigger the more momentum we've got. That's not bad effort Oliver, I think you can see that's wasn't as good as yours. I was nowhere near it. I'll give it a go I'm gonna say I didn't think I was gonna come back down at one point It's gathering a bit of momentum, but we're not gonna try to do it. I think I think We all need to learn from from the way Oliver did that. I think well done, mate Yeah, that's good. It's not bad. Is it like that? That's gonna play You keep on a bit Should do. Yeah, I think I'll be perfect. I'll just hit one. Okay, bud Whoo Good to see one go away This man's ripping it in a minute Absolute shot again that well done That's a golf shot. Just hold the line. Just drifted a little bit Stay there No, it's coming by down. Yeah, I mean this green is ridiculous That's excellent. Yeah It's good. Not bad pace How did that look? I know Good. He's got four on there though. Yeah. Yeah. Super strike. Thanks So David as far as professional career, how long have you been at this place? Yeah, so 2004 October 2004 came in took over after Frank Renny who'd been here for 42 years. So It's fantastic. And prior to that I was director golf at Carton House Golf Club in Ireland, right? And I was a pro down at Turnbury up until 2002 Yeah, I know it's good. So are you fine? So that's how I'm working out quickly.  So I've been, yes, a turn pro at 18. Yeah. Did my PJ qualification. So by 21 I'm 40-45 now. So yeah, I've been at it for a wee while. Yeah. Yeah, I love it.  I've said I've said on a couple of Different videos that we've done. We're putting together though There just seems to be when I arrived that last year when I first met you There just seems a magical kind of horrible place. It's just the whole historical context I don't know. I know and you think you know, you think the first-ever Open championship was played here the first-ever professional tournament.  No, it's brilliant. It really is. That's a real treat. Good I was just already said that clearly I've noted the driving is a strong part of the game Yeah, definitely is.  But I'm determined to, you know, to keep it that part of it Keep playing games. Solid. Solid. Sick. Liking it. Liking it. Go in. Sick. Super shot. Go on. Big bounce. I just needed a bit more, I think. Go. How you gonna roll? Jeez. Right over the edge, you guess. At least twice. So it's called the Narrows. Yeah. And it is single-file walking. I mean, it's pretty narrow. Fantastic. So I've just gone 86. I just lost the ball on the last I was hoping we got away with that drive We could have taken it, but we couldn't find it. So we're back to 86. We're still 300, which is a good news. But I really need to get one away and we're on a hole called Narrows. Yeah, I've broken the bad news too. You can just smash it down the middle. It's fine. Head driver. Oh, it's getting worse. It's getting worse. Oh, I really can't believe how poor I'm driving. Maybe I should have hit five with that, I think. Ah, hand. Yeah, lovely strike. Green ball. David's just walking through his ball here. Super iron and I'd gone left. We found the ball, but we'd have had a real tough shot in. So we decided executive decision to take.  It's that simple. A superb golf ball, but when you're not driving too well, which I haven't been today, it was, I wasn't good enough to find there. So fingers crossed I can do it with two to go. Oh, it's a good line. Is that good? That could be really good, yeah? Oh, my game's gone to pieces. Right, we're in good shape. My game has gone to pieces. Come on, hand. It's some game. Oh, terrible. Oh, my goodness. Turn back. Turn back. She's going. Turn back. Oh, you've got to be kidding. Just half of a tee. Is it going to go? No, it's not. Oh, my word. That's crazy. Actually. Is this for the winds even blowing that way, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It doesn't need anything else, does it? Oh, my word. How long can we wait around for? It's just not got quite enough to hang around for. Oh. Oh, dear. Good. That's perfect. That's pretty solid, that one, I think. Yeah, no, it's fine. Yeah, happy with that. I'll keep it going and keep it rhythm. I don't know how much you can catch a sigh of relief on the microphones, but I've just let one out. OK. Yeah, nice strike. Right, hurry on. Yes, come on. Not daft. That's good. I'm happy with that. Grab. I'm lucky. Go on, ball. We're suffering. It's absolutely grossest to do. Hold on, there's still three. That's good. Just drop it. Yeah, just on the edge. It's not bad. Nice flight on that thing, actually. It's quite powerful, isn't it? Yeah. Come back a bit. OK. Yeah, it's going to be in the rough, but it's not good. You think pretty straight? Yeah, there's not much in it. I'm lucky. You don't need a club, then? No, I don't. This is your drive. I can say this is the first time we've got to a team where it's been on kind of one player. I was hoping that one player would never be me. Right. I think coming at the moment, that's it. I hope so. Golf shot there. Yeah. I think you're on. That's great. All I can say is, that's my eighth drive. We're above ground. Last all, not only... I got the drive away and we're on the green. Yeah, you had all the pressure. Your drive had to count. So just drive up R4, that's it. Yeah, yeah. So we've got, I don't know, what's that? 34th? Yeah. For an eagle finish. A two or three would certainly tidy up the car a wee bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How nice is that one walking back into this clubhouse? It's a good-looking building, isn't it? Yeah, it's fantastic. And it's called Clock, for that reason, at 18th hole. So nice. Ah, it's been a privilege, hasn't it? It's been great. We really enjoyed it. You were right about the line. I completely got that wrong. Not bad on pace. It's a good roll as well, wasn't it? Right on line, eh? Yeah. Very good. I've been short most of the day. It's a birdie finish though, isn't it? That's it. Four under. Well done, both. Fantastic. Enjoyed that. That was really good. Thanks very much. Right, as ever, thank you to everybody that watched us. Thanks to David, thanks to Presswick Golf Course. It's been, you know, you can see how good it is. We've got plenty more that we've sort of filmed on the course that you will see on the channel in the weeks ahead.  And I'm happy with that. Yeah, listen, I mean, part 71, we're round in 67. Take that, yeah? Yeah, any day. It's not a flat cam. There's a wee testin' breeze. Yeah. But it was great fun. Very good. Now, I enjoyed it. Thank you very much. Thank you.