Good evening everybody being 602 we will call to order the meeting of the Wenuski Community Development Trust Board of Trustees We are sitting in that capacity this evening in order to take Action on one item, and then we will adjourn that meeting and reconvene as the Wenuski City Council So I would love us to all stand and do I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all As I said we have one item on the agenda for the Community Development Trust Board of Trustees Turn it over to Heather. Hello So as part of City Council's for FY20 budget Funds from the Wenuski Community Development Trust are proposed to be used for the Community Development Corporation budget So as part of the budget approval process staff request that the Board of Trustees allocate $150,000 of WCD trust revenue into the general fund for this purpose And this is reflective of a budget that we've already approved. Correct. This is a procedural correct Step that we have to take in order to make it official. Yes Okay, so as the City Council you've approved the FY20 TIF budget paying this note And then you allocate the note payment back to the CDC budget, and you'll see later on your council agenda the approval of that budget Anybody have any questions? Okay, any questions or comments from the public and I would entertain a motion to approve the FY20 WCDC trust fund allocation in the amount of $150,000 to the Wenuski General Fund for Community for the Community Development Corporation Second motion by Eric second by Hal all those in favor Motion carries Entertain a motion to adjourn the Wenuski Community Development Trust Board of Trustees Second by Corey all those in favor We are adjourned and we have one minute That's how we will convene 20% efficiency there Although there's some inconsistencies here because it says the meeting starts at 6 o'clock and then the public hearing Those songs are not early, right? Right. Okay, if you have copies now you can give them out We'll wait to get those and then we'll convene. We'll convene. Thank you Thank you Okay, so being 605 we will call to order the Tuesday, February 19th 2019 meeting of the Wenuski City Council to ask everyone to rise for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilor Halclostin I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America And to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God Indivisible with liberty and justice for all Agenda review. I'm not aware of any changes that need to be made to tonight's agenda Next on the agenda is public comment This is an opportunity for folks who are here tonight to address the council on something. That's not on the agenda Is there anyone who would like to address the council? At this point in time Okay We will move to the consent agenda. We have three items City Council approval of the city council minutes for February 4th approval of the warrant ending February 15th 2019 payroll of January 27th 2019 to February 9th 2019 and subsequent to pay out for December and the approval of the certificate of highway mileage Think we were all here on the 4th. So Don't see a need to split it up any questions or Okay, then I would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented By Eric second by Hal all those in favor Okay, city update great. Thank you. I have quite a few updates this evening So we are two weeks away from town meeting day So I wanted to give the public and mind the council about some upcoming opportunities Balance are currently available at the city clerk's office So anyone interested in voting in advance of town meeting day is welcome to come in during office hours 730 to 430 and vote here at City Hall or call and we will mail you an absentee ballot a reminder that the community dinner where the Mayor and I will do the city's FY 20 budgeted ballot presentation and the schools will do their budget presentation It's tomorrow night at the OCC at 5 30 And then we have the pre town meeting Evening the night before Monday the 4th presentation is normal up at the school and that starts at 6 o'clock Additionally, the annual report is now available on the website and will be available in hard copy. We have hard copies at the senior center the CCTV Presentation on the budget in the ballot items is linked off of the city's homepage So if you want to in the comfort of your home go and watch Nicole and I talk about the budget Feel free to do so and thank you to CCTV for hosting that event And then additionally Paul sorry on our communications coordinator has put together a one-pager trying to simplify that presentation down to its essence And that is you have that on your tables today. There's a packet for anyone in the room who's interested There's a bunch on the back table It will be on the website and it will be at the senior center at the library Here at City Hall and we're happy to give out additional copies to folks if they want to them for other purposes Those are all of our town meeting day prep activities Moving forward I've talked to both of the mayoral candidates about having a March 11th City Council meeting That will be the Monday following town meeting day we are Knowing that we have a lot on the agenda coming up in the next couple of months We really want to take some time to do an intentional orientation for the new council so it's not notice yet, but just as a FYI to folks for scheduling purposes want to share that we plan to do have post that orientation on March 11 Couple other updates on things going on in the city on Monday I'll be participating in a infrastructure round table with congressman Welch to talk about infrastructure needs in the city in the hopes of Educating him on what we as community need and what the state as a whole would appreciate from federal funding for infrastructure We continue to work on the equity and diversity summit that's scheduled for for April 6th So that's a summit for leaders in the city to come together and talk about structural racism unconscious bias and Have a community conversation about breaking down some barriers On Monday, we have a planning session with some key community leaders to help inform that discussion on the 6th additionally Paul And others have been working with a group of students from the high school to put together some history and some data That will inform that conversation as well, and then those students will come and participate in that day as well Big thanks to I don't know probably the 25 or 35 people who came out for the East Allen scoping study Meeting local concerns meeting on Valentine's Day It was a great event here at the council chamber is a lot of community feedback on how to improve East Allen Street do pedestrian improvements slow down traffic, etc We made two big announcements last week two big grant announcements last week Good work of ray coffee and a lesha and their team We received a hundred forty eight thousand five hundred dollars from the land and water conservation fund to fund the pool Which is a huge win for us Ray and Angela also put together some analysis to show it's not only the 148,000 that that we will benefit it's by buying down that debt It saves an additional seventy thousand dollars of interest payment over time So it's really a significant win as we move that project forward Additionally ran his team got the National Recreation and Parks Association We were one of ten communities that got this ten minute walk grant of forty thousand dollars this year We're only one in Vermont with that those funds We will be doing an open space plan for our parks and looking at accessibility in our green spaces So excellent job to the community services team The city has finally signed our MOU with downtown Winooski and are often running with the implementation of that shared agreement The executive director posting has now closed and the board is meeting on Thursday To start the review process. The hope is to have a new executive director on board by April 1st Heather also released last week the RFP for the Wayfinding signage plan We talked about that recently and that's again funded by a municipal planning grant I e grant funds that we brought into the city to do this work and that will really focus on Using the new branding to do Comprehensive wayfinding signage across the city and specifically around parking. We hear that complaint a lot And then finally a few other community service program updates Community garden plot registration. It's now open for returning users and will be soon for new users as well So if people are interested in community guarding it in the city check out the website Public speaking starts a course on public speaking starts Next Thursday and goes for a series of Thursdays about the OCC and registration for that ends this Friday People are interested in that Next Thursday February 28th We are also hosting a black history month celebration at the OCC from 11 to 3. It's during school vacation week And Alicia and her team have put together a whole series of events and kind of workstations to explore history and the history of African-Americans in Vermont the history of You know structural racism in Vermont famous people who have lived here and contributed as well as exploring the individual participants knowledge and experience of freedom in Vermont They Alicia and her team are also starting on April 1st on Mondays at the senior center a program called girls rock Vermont which is a music-oriented program to Learn about instruments and singing and composition and choral arrangements and whatnot so registration for that is now open And of course, we also have yoga on Thursday evenings and a ukulele program starting up later in the spring That's what I have. Thank you. Thank you very much Council reports. I believe we started with how last time so Sure. Well also on the 14th. There was another additional meeting That was a little before with a planning commission and public works That was with local motion and they were coming up with a bunch of quick build project ideas for the To be implemented this spring and summer. So, you know, I think they're going to come back Later in March with some a more formulated plan, right? And we'll be looking to implement some of those Jesse covered a lot of the activities that we've been doing together in terms of the budget presentations We did present at the senior center of A week ago A week ago the same day we did the CCTV program really want to encourage Folks to share that link that's on the homepage to the website. It's about 20 25 minutes And in a pretty decent if I do say so overview of this budget which is You know has has some complexities to it and if you're your first exposure is at the ballot box I think the opportunity to be confused is Is definitely present. So I'm really pleased that we have these information sheets I think it does sort of boil down what the key pieces are and looking forward to a Great night tomorrow night. We get a lot of turnout. I am planning to do a Post on front porch forum just making sure folks are aware of the different resources that are available on the city's to inform their processes they Think about passing their vote on an honor before town meeting day and Also did a newsletter article. I'm not exactly sure what the newsletter will be out But probably the next week or so so trying to hit a lot of different bases a lot of different ways to get the information Appreciate all your help in doing that I So I met recently with Jesse and Eric or Walt and Wanted to hear and understand from them. What's on their radar with regards to issues in Montpelier so I intend to you know meet with them on a regular basis to Keep them posted on what's going on. I was unable to make the recent Public Works Commission meeting I got detained in Montpelier. So I regret I couldn't be there Okay, the next I will move to our regular items with some introductions of new staff Three very exciting introductions tonight. So let's start with the parks and rap team. We'll show you want to bring your staff up Sorry, can you grab one extra chair? Hi, so this is my new parks and rap team And Claudia Brown Already they have hit the ground running. I am super impressed. We have been busting out programs and man They're so organized. So we're just doing amazing things our systems are really getting honed in and everything And I think we're I think we're gonna do an amazing job this year. I think you guys will be blown away Thank you So you guys want to say a little something? Yes, if you wouldn't mind just telling us a little bit about your position and what Cost you don't want to work with us I'm Sarah and I started mid-December as an American member for youth programming So I feel that youth programming is super important. I've been empowered youth is something the community needs So that's something I'd like to focus on. Great. Thank you for joining us. Thank you My name is Claudia Brown. I'm the Recreation assistant. I found that recreation is really important especially in our parks Making sure you utilize protected areas so people in the community know why it's important to have these protected areas Excellent, what are some of the projects you're most excited about as you hit the ground running? Well, I got the black history event up and going so It's Ready and going for next Thursday, so I hope to see everyone there Tell them a little bit about your background and how you're gonna be amazing with parks I Have three degrees. I am have a bachelor's in environmental science and studies I have a master's in Interdisciplinary studies, but a focus on environment society and a master's of science in environmental science and policy Great, so and I've worked for the National Park Service So we lucked out Have experience in parks and I look forward to it. That's fantastic and we have for such a small city We actually have a lot at park space that You know, it's a real asset to this community, so we're lucky to have someone with your background expertise Working with us. Thank you And then I'll invite Chief Heber and Officer Fay up as well Good evening. How are you? So this is Aaron Fay. I'll let him do his his story But he comes to us from the South Brompton Police Department with three years of experience really super excited to have him join our team Thank you As I said, my name is Aaron. I worked in South Brompton for three years I've lived in Vermont for three years. I grew up in Connecticut and I moved up here to To work for that police department, so I'm excited to be here Chief Heber has created a really great environment downstairs Looking forward to being a part of it. Great. Well, thank you for coming tonight and introducing yourself I've heard a lot of great things about you already If I can share just a quick observation. I haven't said this to you yet So in my experience, I have done a lot of public safety hiring I was the HR director in Somerville Mass for a couple of years in a period of big upswing and public safety hiring So I've probably participated in about 150 police officer interviews in my career I would say Aaron's interview was top five interviews. I've ever sat in on his Ability to articulate what community policing is why it's important and why he believes in it I was incredibly impressive. So I think he will bring a lot of a Lot of energy to our community and really understands why Policing in the community is so interesting and exciting. Yeah, what brought you to Make this the transition to a new ski. Um, just just kind of touching on Let's see manager. It said there's you know, there's two environments face of policing There's an environment inside the police department, which is kind of like this microcosm of the outside world and then there's the outside world So I wanted to come work here, you know, half the reason was because the environment side of the police department is great You know, there's a lot of freedom to do the kind of work you want to do and Give them a lot of tools training things like that. So that environment is great. And then What I really enjoy doing in South Toronto is like the community stuff getting out and doing the block parties and stuff like that playing basketball with kids That's fulfilling for me So I see when you see it's the perfect place to implement that style policing And it's really just where I always said pictured myself policing a more urban community like when you ski versus a more suburban community Like some surrounding cities, right? Well, thanks sounds like a great fit. Yeah, absolutely Any other questions? Welcome Thanks for coming tonight So next on our agenda is a public hearing on the draft 2018 master plan This is the first of two public hearings Yes, and the second of which will be held when the new council is seated So we'll turn it over to Eric Yes, thank you very much. So it may appear as though I have a presentation for you tonight But in fact, I do not Tonight is the first of two required public hearings for our master plan You received a presentation on the plan back at your January 14th meeting So I do have that presentation here queued up if you have any questions or want to want to get into any information but really the purpose of tonight's public hearing is to solicit input from the public on on the plan itself and To determine if there's any direction you want to go with any public comments and then also formally second hearing for March 18th as we had discussed at that January meeting as well with possible action at that March meeting also so for the public who may be here and maybe didn't Watch the president and not suggesting we go through the whole presentation But could you hit the high points in terms of the areas of the master plan why we need to have a master plan? Sure, what role you see it playing in terms of the city's Work moving forward. Yes. So the the master plan is a is a statutory requirement for the municipalities that want to be eligible for certain state programs, there's I'm gonna get the numbers wrong here, but I believe there's 14 required There's 12 required elements and 14 required goals that a plan needs to be consistent with The city of Winnowski last did a full update of their master plan in I believe 2004 So this is the first comprehensive update that's occurred since then This particular plan we made a very conscious effort to align it with the city's strategic vision So that we have those same for Programmatic areas with economic vitality municipal infrastructure housing and safe healthy connected people We also wanted to not overlook all the other work that has been going on over the last several years with the city with the various Other planning efforts so the transportation master plan the main street revitalization plan the economic development plan Parking management plan all those other Projects so we've incorporated all the work from those different planning documents into this plan as well So we're not really creating new goals or policies. We're really referencing all of those other documents to to use those as the guiding The guiding force for moving forward with this document. It's really intended to be a roadmap for the future of the city It's it has a Statutory life of eight years, so it'll need to be updated to probably in about six years. We'll start looking at the next update to this plan Additionally we solicited input from all the standing Commissions and committees of the city to make sure that their thoughts were incorporated as well So we really and lots of public outreach in this process So we really wanted to make sure that we were using this document kind of to To solidify all the other planning efforts that's already going on in the city and use that really is the basis for how we move forward Thank you. It's very helpful and the planning Commission really led this this absolutely. Yeah Yes, the planning Commission was was instrumental in the development of this plan as well as the Chittin County Regional Planning Commission Their support through a municipal planning grant really made this made this effort possible to bring it together in the last six months So I want to just express my gratitude to the to the members of the planning Commission for I know The I think that once you join the team Eric the pace of the work became pretty rigorous and In order to meet the timeline that we need to meet and I know you know individual commissioners took on a lot of work themselves to see this Project through to completion on on the on that timeline. So I want to just express my appreciation to those who put in a lot of volunteer hours to To put together a really comprehensive vision that is reflective of where we've been and incorporates as you said a lot of Great, you know great study and research and planning into a single piece that really Articulates where we're headed as a community So thanks to everyone involved into you also for joining the team and really diving in and getting it done Thank you. Thank you. I also want to point out that the the current plan expires April 21st, I believe so getting the new plan adopted by then is kind of the One of the the goals that we're shooting for which is part of the reason why we have the second hearing scheduled So soon after town meeting day, we want to make sure that we have enough time built in That if the new council needs another meeting We still can make that that April adoption deadline without having the plan expire, right? And I would assume that one of the topics of the orientation Would be sort of orienting people to this process and why it's so important But we had discussed the importance of the new council really owning the plan I mean, we could have held a few pretty rapid succession hearings and gotten it done But given the fact that this is a roadmap for the next eight years It felt important that the new council really understand the plan and take some take some ownership of it. So So tonight, I think it's an opportunity for members of the public to ask Questions or provide input on the plan. Does anyone on council have anything to say at this point about where we are? Maybe your last opportunity Okay, is anybody in the public here tonight want to speak to the draft 2018 master plan Okay, are there any Anything you think is important to flag Eric at this point for folks no changes were made since the presentation Yeah, correct. Since the draft was completed by the Planning Commission and forwarded to council We have not made any changes to the document. So it's exactly as it was presented. The draft is available on the website There is a separate page on on the website for the master plan that that has not only the draft plan It has the comments that we received during during the comment period and also includes links to all the the referential documents That are included in the plan. So it's a really good Compendium of all the information that's in this master plan. People can sort of walk through the history and Input that we've received today And so if there are people at home more interested in this They could spend some time in those documents in the next month or so and come back to the March 18th public hearing and still Great, I just also wanted to point out that the the regional planning Commission's planning advisory committee met last Wednesday and Recommended approval of the master plan to the full regional Commission for it. So that would happen after it gets adopted formally by council great Any other questions here Last chance for the public. I've appreciated the way it was put together When I was participating on the public Works Commission, you know, we had an opportunity to review that section So I feel like there's been a lot of broad base and it hasn't happened overnight. So With a good amount of input, thank you. Well, thanks again. Absolutely. Thank you I don't know if we don't have close the public hearing. Yeah, the one thing we may One thing that may be appropriate to do is to formally set that second public hearing for the 18th So that we can advertise that as a as a word. Okay, so that's March 18 March 18 correct. Okay At the regular city council, correct Do you need and you need a motion for that? Okay, so I would entertain a motion for the second public hearing on the draft 2018 master plan for Monday March 18 So move second motion my house I can buy Eric all those in favor Okay, we have a date. Thank you very much. Thank you We'll move on to regular items or go back to regular items item B approval of the permitting of a hotel and garage on lot seven D Great John Jesse And again, Stephanie Haley from William Burke is here as well as Pete Kelly from DEW the hotel And great Robert do the art attempt Very happy We also got some input from members of the planning commission and developed a new board that asked us to sort of reconsider some aspects of the design and is Kind of what I like about my work. I like a challenge Because we had a diagonal building Design community was that we needed a stronger connection to the street. I think that was the biggest takeaway message There were some detailing things, but I'd like to draw your attention to this site And what you'll see is that we Swear the building up to the street corner and shifted it we call this a z-shaped plan, although it's not really z-shaped and Immediately found a number of benefits for the doing this to address the design concerns raised by By the public the first thing I can point out As you'll see here, I put the floor plans for the guest rooms on there on the site plans So there you stand You weren't reorienting the guts of the bill that we've turned a whole bank of room space in the street In fact, once we got going on the idea we realized there was a lot of potential here so that you now have guest rooms facing the street flank of guest room space in the park and Like guest rooms facing towards the river As it worked out it's fantastic because only only a few rooms four rooms on each floor will be facing towards the garage So the first thing this does in terms of animating the streetscape is it really turns the active face of the building to the principal streets at the same time by doing this you can see that Sort of opens this water cord up, which you know in one point was diagonal squaring up to the street Enhances increases this space so that there's more storage volume for cars who are waiting to go in the garage after checking in The process for a typical guest review that they arrive from an active way and in the auto court here Which is also one big brick paved surface They can pause park along the park along the entrance check in then hotel guests will go into the garage from here After that the legs of the two here the general public who's only coming to use the parking garage will come and go from the principal entrance I'm having a way Could you change to the next image that? Here's the view of the building with this reoriented design and if you can see Facing an active way guest rooms You know also the basic part You've taken those two principal masses that are formed by that z-shaped plan and articulated and each with their own kind of personality And that that starts to take a what is one big building and make it read as Two smaller masses in addition. I'm going to ask you to draw your attention to the street level Where the guts of the lobby have been reoriented the stairs have been moved out of the way So that all the active spaces on the lobby level are overlooking have an active way or when it falls away And I think that gets directly at what was what we were challenging You can also see there's this really strong sculptural here on the corner Which is intended to sort of act as a sort of monumental gesture to the to the length of Avenue I don't know what news he falls away so that as you matter when you see from from the Burlington side of the bridge And you look down This will be there as a sort of reward for that long visual axis Extra Here you see at the street level now There's large spaces of glass and inside there is very active space true hotels are kind of fun and that they have Fuseball tables or pool tables. They have active Recreational things in the lobby as opposed to just sort of seating areas. There's also sort of a core that Serves as a sort of nerve center for the whole lobby level So there are casual seating areas places to get on your computer places to sit eat a little food and All of those are now dressing directly to the street And you can see here a sort of more articulation the materials I'm doing something here, which is kind of a magic trick But we're actually dropping the glazing down below the floor elevations to This sort of strength and connect connections that you know windowsills aren't it over head And you can see we've jazzed up the materials Press the next slide Yeah, I think I Think this reinforces that again You see this the strong presence on the street the women's face in this way and then the last one I guess Just another view of the same You can see also on the garage. We've made a few changes before we sort of enhanced the The grill eyes that we're proposing to wrap the skin of the building in so that it goes around the corners it's a little more dense and You know, I Think the goal of this is to take a simple concrete structure and give it some sculptural value some texture on the outside So so we've just enhanced that feature to work better with the overall design Is Dave's plan next door so here here in the civil engineers plans you can see a sort of More clearly articulated view of these things a sort of detail level one of the exercises This was about was How does our trucks and buses and stuff come to the hotel? Well This shift is the his guest rooms the shift. This is Levels is the lobby activities. We're just sort of nexus between them, but the elevator lobby is right here It comes down and lands Sort of little pocket park So as you go along the streetscape on the sidewalk the space opens up to a secondary kind of main entrance to the hotel If you went in those doors there you'd be confronted with the lobby with the elevator back at the lowest level and Then wrapping this corner of this at the lowest level is the fitness center and so If a bus or a large group of people came They would be directed down to here where there's plenty of Maneuvering space for them to move around and get back out It would go directly into a sort of separate lobby area Which had enough volume to handle the stacks of luggage and stuff that comes with hockey teams say and then That that can all happen here independent of this main entrance up here So they don't have to worry about how does a bus get into that out of court? And you know, how does fire department access work? because conditions Street access that they a fire department would have and this is this is a good size place for our truck deliveries and like I said buses that sort of thing it also provides a sort of seamless Opportunity for people using the hotel to come down Have this sort of know here right before you go into Casablan park Here we can go back to my rendered site plan because it's got a few features on there There and you can see a sort of articulated benches in here and we've called for us for this Involving gateway right the entrance to Casablan park so that that will experience and coming down the news he falls ways Delivered you to a point where you can access the hotel or the park Much better set of relationships over what was you know discussed in our last meeting Secondary benefit to that is the building overall It's east-west orientation gets a little bit shorter and that's going to help us on the construction side because Just off the property line this area here Matt went lambs that have a underburden of archaeological so That's that was an internal goal for us, but it's still positive coming out of this plan change So you can see the Forms got somewhere with the massing got bolder I think rather than just having a few bumps and grinds on the building You got a substantial shift in the footprint makes for a much more sculptural kind of approach to this and then reinforce with the Jazzy materials that we Have been illustrating over back to the first render event You know, we've articulated a natural stone finish at the street level It's a narrow kind of stone kind of modern look to it and two different types of cement dishes panels with large foot moldings tops of the window banks So that We're trying to get away from this thing where buildings kind of come up and end in a kind of fake cornice and And this is this is a much pure kind of form those elements show up as continuation of window package And so in the main I think we have established Active uses at the streetscape level open to the street Through windows, but we didn't stop at the ground floor right up through the building so that Realistic saw really interacts with the street. Wow And I think in terms of the parking garage, there was some talk about I don't know if we can go back to my site plan for a minute The park the guts of the parking garage Reworked where this was a stair is now an elevator with openings on both sides so that people from any level of this of this bipartisan garage can Can access the elevator and then the stairs have been reworked to put one closest to the hotel and another one over here which really meant to serve people having a CCV and We talked about accessible parking spaces Those are laying this is the land of the first of the street level of the garage There are actually two levels of garage below this But you can see that as you come in there's a bank of accessible spaces right in this area here closest to the street for all users and We calculated for this many parking spaces with by code between three or four parking spaces would require eight handicapped spaces or spaces for the disabled and We will have those as well as that eight would include two van accessible spaces Which generally they all have the lines faces with them with the large unhoting area But the addition of an overhead height is what I think is really important for the van accessible spaces So I think we got to what we were asked to do and I'd like to find out if people have questions or comments about that I Had one question about We could go to the rendering at the front of the hotel Even a closer the closer view. Yeah, so one of the issues we talked about was accessibility to the entrance of the hotel for Folks who may have mobility issues and it looks as though The barrier between the sidewalk and the building is still still make force folks into the driveway So if you were trying to access the hotel not by car But using the sidewalk does that barrier? It's still push you into the the way it's illustrated here is Okay, I noticed it was correct in your your site plan, right So it's not so you can read a site plan So we're not right so that the issue the concern around forcing folks into a driveway Great Great issues discharge from this exit stair, okay Any other questions from the council that was the only thing that really jumped out to me as well But I think this is a drastic improvement from last time And I know that probably could have been a difficult meeting to get to the end of So I appreciate you coming back with us. I think it's a much better fit for the neighborhood challenge Shift to the z-shaped plan You can see We have guests on the lobby love their wells all the way from the public spaces and it seems young I Think it's a great space probably going to get better over time, right? But I think I mean in terms of incorporating a lot of the feedback and input in terms of access to Cassavan I think that that experience along Winnowski Falls way seems much improved to me in terms of being really intentional in the flow and access, so I Think that's great. I am and the the Interface with the street certainly feels Yeah, it's just a lot more active and experienced so Thank you for on such a quick type frame turning that around and Eric I believe the Planning Commission had it. Did they talk about this on the 14th as well? They did. Yes, yes At the meeting on the 14th the Planning Commission did discuss the hotel in your agenda packet is a memo from me that outlines the the comments and responses to those comments from your first meeting The last meeting when you looked at this and then also it was a pen to include the comments from the Planning Commission at the end so Comments 16 through 21 relate to the Planning Commission's discussion I think in general they felt that it was it was a much improved design from what they had previously seen There was a few a few issues that I think had had come up which Greg mentioned a few of them already with the The Large vehicle access to the back of the to the back of the site There was I don't think anything that they provided comments on or Let me start that over I don't think they said they mentioned anything that can't be overcome with some some simple design I think like the on-street parking. I think that can be incorporated as necessary the green space Along the road I think that was more of a response to the Documents that we presented to them more so than what the final design is going to look like The other item that I wanted to draw your attention to the last comment Yes, thank you specifically about design guidelines and There there is some language in the design guidelines that was That were included with the original active 50 application These were in your agenda packet at the last meeting as well, and there are several references to maintaining right away along along the riverfront and maintaining view Views to the river, but I believe I would say in my opinion this design doesn't impede upon any of that Does any of those items that there is there are corridors that are maintained through downtown into Down through the river Specifically the other item that came up I guess I should back up to is the projection at the corner of the building and there was a concern about if that might block light into the into the the general area of the buildings or and I wasn't sure if that was in in response to the comment about Trying to screen the power lines into cast event so It wasn't clear at that point, but that was one of the other comments that came up, but other other otherwise the the planning commission was They really they really appreciated the work that was done and were very receptive to the design So just to be clear you you've done a review of the design guidelines and you're in your opinion This design proposal is not in conflict with those correct those guidelines correct So the planning Commission had asked for that review to be undertaken. So thank you for doing yes And I did spend some additional time today looking through large binders full of Documents that I really don't understand So and I didn't I didn't find any other discussion of covenants related to this to views or anything like that So I'm comfortable that this is in compliance with the design guidelines well I think in terms of the community's access to a relationship with the river Locating this property down in this location definitely alleviates some of the significant concerns that were raised by residents About and now we have a lot too, which is going to be green space which definitely is I think We're going to have we're going to have a building on this corner. There are going to be some you know Barriers associated with the construction of any building But I think the fact that guests are going to be able to experience the river and the park Through that The you know the new design of the building I think is Actually promotes this the resource that we have in the community and Locating it here means that we have that green space right at the center of town And we have already a lot of infrastructure built up for residents to access the river Appreciate the concern and I think this is probably the best location May see for this type of a structure in our downtown I would say I looked at three of the locations for That you write this has a natural fit to a We usually can tell this snap right in place, so I think this is the right location And hopefully people can remember the right now that everything you see here at the buildings is just a graphic Was their discussion about the prior comment for tie-in to Kind of that lower Roadway behind CCV in the parking garage. I remember that had been one of the comments You know we'd have to burrow through the hotel to do it and I think one of the goals that we started with this process once we came on seven Was that by by doing it in this way? We can separate the city's interests from the hotel's interests There's a property line that will follow the southern wall of the garage and That way the city owns what owns and hotel people own they own Even if there are reasons to agree with each other on shared maintenance issues and things like that Those those clean titles make it easier for the developer to finance the hotel and for the city It's not impossible to do but we What's the total number of parking spaces in that new redesigned garage You know Yeah, how is that different from earlier? No, I think it's the same number as we present Reorganizing the stairs Created spaces in the back So trash and everything will come out that back entrance on When he falls away all the building services are located at the lower level as well as the fitness center Yeah So large truck deliveries would come to the lower lobby There's a service corridor that accesses to the stairwell For most coming down That's good for the hotel So that corner on the southeast that has that projection coming off of it There's some windows that are in there. They're gonna have some pretty deep wells there. Is that just how it's going to be? Yeah, you know that sculptural element does a couple of things. No one identifies This is true Franchise And yeah, you know, I mean we're sort of sacrificing that a little bit to to having a gesture Really it announces itself to the street, which is something we talked about in our last meeting So somebody pulling in a downtown news key has something like a beacon to tell them where to go So I'm making that sacrifice So in terms of process And I think Eric your comments caused me just Some changes or modifications may be made along the way our role here is to approve generally this design I mean sort of how locked in are we on you know, it's going to be a yellow building these specific materials with that specific Having on the sidewalk Can you just help us understand sort of? Yeah, so What what action if we take action tonight what that means right? So the way I understand it is what we'll need to go forward with the act 250 permit application Will include some of those specific design elements to at least be able to evaluate Consistency with the design guidelines and any other permit conditions that have have occurred prior with prior amendments, so I Believe there could be some room if you wanted to make the the yellow a little different or something like that I think as long as you're comfortable with the with the overall design and look and tend Yes, I feel like some of those specifics could be worked out if we still need to for example parking along the street that might be something that is Not not necessarily relevant to the overall design per se But is something that could be could be worked out after but what's going to go forward to To the district commission will need to be fairly well dialed in right to make sure again that it can be evaluated against The previously previously approved permits in any other conditions that might apply But I guess I would add to that that in this particular case the city is both regulator owner So as we prepare applications for active 50 or any other, you know permits At the state level the city will be a participant and I expect that we'll have to return back to this board for signatures or authorization to move those forward I'm never satisfied. I think there's a lot of room for improvement here And I we would like the opportunity to make those improvements as the plan develops but generally speaking you know in terms of color and things like that that That's the process will some sample panels and have field approval of those and stuff. So I'm receptive to the idea of additional input as we move forward Although I think that I think there's a need to definitively say yes, we want to do this project right into the bonding, right? so I Know you'll be seeing this again as it moves forward But I think you are asking you for some love over people tonight so that we can go to the town meeting Clarity And just to add a little to that I there you know, this is going to be one of those projects that the council will vote on several times, you know the vote tonight is really the Approval of the concept of this development and approvals that of the design as is it'll you know my interpretation of What Eric's role is to the extent that changes are really administrative? He has the authority to approve those to the change to the extent that anything is substantive, right? We would need to come back, but I think it helps the voters understand the project I think it helps us move forward the act 250 permit. I think it helps us just generally move the project plans forward to have Vote from you all tonight of this concept Additionally assuming the bond vote passes in the community also values this project There will be a number of other non-permitting votes that you will need to take you will need to subdivide the land You will need to enter into all the contractual agreements. You'll need to authorize the debt So one vote tonight isn't saying this is also this is definitely moving forward There's a lot there are a lot of other authorities you carry associated with this project that The future council will have to act on great But I think it is important in my view that we Take action to approve this design tonight so that we can't be really clear with the voters What what the design of the project is that we're asking them to vote on March? Okay Any other questions or comments from the council? Thank you, it was a huge change and I know it's like only two weeks, so I really appreciate you looking into it We're energized by the possibility Good Okay, any questions comments from the public on the new design of the hotel and garage Potential suitors for the hotel have a say on the design of colors So to speak orders that we're gonna build a building and then Some chain of hotel comes in and says well Lisa's building no first of all there is a defining owner for this project There is okay. I'm gonna see hotel. I'll see and They've been working with the city for three or four years now Trying to get out downtown Franchise organization that manages truly we've been bouncing this stuff off of them as we go they care mostly about the program elements inside and They understand in downtown So as long as we find them away that they're Element and the guest rooms in the lobby areas aren't fitted out the way they're supposed to be They've looked at the site plan Great, so I don't I don't expect It will be a true hotel Thank you for the question any other questions comments Yes I'm very grateful Anyone else so at this point no one else has anything to add entertain up motion to approve the permitting and design of the hotel and garage By Eric second by how all those in favor I Motion carries. Thank you very much all of you for your hard work Make some responses So we will move now to item C a discussion of the liar's cool rehabilitation and project updates from a director of public works and director Hello, hi So you just wanted to give you an update there's going to be some movement with the project before our next council meeting on March 18 So I provide a brief memo just to Give you a schedule update on how the project will proceed into the bid phase So right now Talking with our consultant we're proposing to advertise for bid next month March 13 And then you know probably about equal 10th. We'll have a bid opening We'll get we'll get bits back from contractors And then we're looking at early May we were to provide a The bids to council for Award and we'd also be including those add-all items that were discussed previously. So things like the slide that the Disinfection and ultimately what will come out of that is the bond amount that we'll be going to bond make with So that's going to be the next sort of big decision point for for the council It's the some new counselors that come on board at the time meeting And then just just a few so I just want to underline that point because that's kind of a drop-dead deadline for Fundraising activities and the decision by the future council of how much debt we're actually going to incur how much of that debt We can buy down right we of course can continue fundraising beyond May But it will be fundraising to pay debt service not to Pre-pay that interest. So that's that's really important date to keep in mind that early May date. So but it's also important that the Job that's being bid on is the engineering design that was approved by Which is the two pool I mean so so the the decision points for the council are going to be around those add Alt items correct not Potentially, I mean I suppose a new council can do whatever they want But the bids will be to to build the pool that was designed that was approved by this council A few months ago. Yeah, correct. So those those adult items are things that Kind of plug in plug out a project that don't disrupt the project majorly like those, you know UV disinfection which is belts and suspenders the slide for example We'll have a kind of small medium, you know high slide and we'll have good results for each of those Shade structure that sort of thing, but the building and the two pools are as originally Designed and that's what's being final design now and what will be bid out The only way that would change in the future is if a future council came back and said go back and redesign This pool right now. It's all the work done thus far has been on the two pools and the building structure And there was a cost associated with the design for this to cool plan Yes, so that would be a Cost that would have to incur if they were going to change course so Can you talk about The liner system change and what in what implications that has yep So since the I think I believe the council saw this string DD phase and at that point We're still carrying the Murtha stainless steel liner that We chose to go that route because it hasn't a longer lifespan easier Easier maintenance Unfortunately with some of the new tariffs that have come into play That system when you went out to get pricing increased by about 350,000 So we've since gone back and now we're using the concrete liner is the basis of design I mean 350,000 even looking at the cost benefit during the life of that system It doesn't it doesn't make sense unfortunately and so is there any functional I mean so The Murtha system has a longer Lifespan, let's say, but what's the functional impact for the user or for Notable difference So in the future you could repair the concrete liner Just as easily not just as easily necessarily, but It won't mean that we'll have to rebuild a whole new pool if we have a concrete liner And if and when that fails And Congratulations on the grant. Thank you Ray. That was fantastic effort on your part and Was happy to participate with you and yeah, folks data Montpelier No, we day, but that that was really all you so thank you for that and that amount is going to be applied towards The specific items that you laid out here. Can you just talk a little bit about sure sure so we targeted You know generally my my understanding from the funder was that so we're setting it up So as long as at the end of the two-year grant period a pool has been built And the funds have been expended towards that end we're good to go But we did target items that were kind of free and clear of some of the restrictions that come with a federal grant So we're really targeting the pool decks of the concrete and the point of concrete some of the fixtures within the bathroom and just some of the I Guess finishes on the building as well And then the shade structure is included as part of our match So that is one thing that if we do choose to pull it out We'll have to Cycle something as as match to kind of plug that but we are exploring some other ways to potentially get a shade Structure done that could be counted as in kind towards that So we're hopeful that that will stay as part of it But yeah, we're trying to be strategic about the pieces we're picking so that we don't get into some of the federal regulations that come along Right with the federal funds, right? Well, thank you. I think it's Jesse said that's a that's a huge benefit to our taxpayers. So really appreciate your responding to our Call for creativity and turning over every rock. Thank you Anybody have any questions about this Have we done any like borings or anything do we know about Soil condition that we concerned at all about urban soils or So we've done a full subsurface investigation report We've done environmental sampling as well. So currently there's based on the borings that we've taken. There's there's no concern We have had to design the pool for There's underdrains for potential seasonal groundwater. So that's you know, that's something we that's included in this line Yeah, nothing nothing we've concerned Okay Any other comments questions Comments or questions from the public I have one. Yes my pliers part of my school foundation On the Crown is very clean because of all the water we've lost. I'm so I'm sure with all the chlorine that's been through the ground I do have some questions for the city staff Have you guys considered getting together with my foundation on our efforts? Because the city was we were asked to raise a certain amount of money for certain amenities such as the state of structure And I want to know if Is there been news miscommunication excuse me miscommunication on this because there are some things in there that We have actually already done If it's our fault or it's just we just have not together That I Pretty sure the state of structure has already been donated to us for the Myers Foundation That's so that's great to hear. So I don't know. I mean, I think that money can be allocated somewhere else And To go back to the liner I think we've learned past the concrete pool. What's the lifespan on the concrete liner? 20 years And that's about 40. Yeah, it's so With the money that we're raising Is there a chance for that to be A table top because I think we've learned that Pool isn't as easy as it is and the original design was for that for a year for here And I realize it's $350,000 a lot of money. So it's an old rain or really to go to concrete one But how do we I think it's a conversation with the Myers Foundation for sure so sure I mean for us to Convert back to the the mirth liner if there's additional funding available It's not it's not a difficult task for consultants because it's Basically, it's already designed So if pending funding that is something I guess that could be looked at I Think the challenge with funding it internally though is that the cost benefit Doesn't outweigh the additional cost up front of the liner at this point So I think if someone were to come in and say Here's $350,000 we want you to build this steel structure instead of concrete structure We would probably happily consider that but right now for us We are not seeing a way that we would capture back the increased cost Up front over the life of that, you know those those extra 20 years aren't going to save us $350,000 essentially so So I think it's something you know if the foundation has great success and it's a million dollars then let's talk Oh I mean we've we've done some we kind of paying it for sure like I said I'm actually not 100% sure, but I'm sure enough to say that the state structure has been going so So if I can just make a comment about that I don't I don't want there to be any misunderstanding We're not Programming out the straight shade structure the way we're doing the design and the bidding is to try and under the full project is Designed and engineered The way we're doing the bidding is to understand what each piece actually cost of those additional things above the baseline that we have to Build to have that two pools structure that the council previously approved. They're not out of the project We're just bidding them in a way. So we understand what the real value of Of that of those elements are so when we sit with the foundation and say here are our options How would you like to best partner on this? We have real solid information to turn back to and certainly You know I think having a meeting in the next couple of weeks with the foundation to Walk through what those documents look like is a great idea But I don't want you to think that something has been designed out. That's certainly not the case I'm just doing all the time Money that's coming from the ground. It's something that we've already done Right. I think it's important that we do have a meeting. Yeah, the music. I don't give us any page. I think a little bit On a lot of stuff Thank you any other public comment Yeah, well, I was just wondering since we've got since you're here in the crowd tonight If there is any update you can share with the council about the fundraising efforts and where things stand right now You know, I don't have I'm not prepared to discuss that tonight And I don't know if I have the authority to discuss that so I'm not part of the The board. I'm just a volunteer. Um, that would be something that we have to sit down as a as a committee to discuss before we Release anything. Um, but I do know that our efforts are been we've been hidden We've been we've been trying to do our doubts. We have a deadline in March. I believe right Jesse And so we've been trying to eat that Um, that's it So it sounds like a good next step is to coordinate an opportunity for Folks from the city to sit down with folks from the foundation to make sure Everyone's on the same page too. I just don't want them to waste your time. I mean, I want to save time Right because I mean, are we looking to start the day tonight or are we starting the day in June? Is there going to be another summer that we're And when The timeline that they've shared in the memo today has construction starting late May early June So I think we've stayed generally stayed on on schedule to the extent these projects could adhere to a rigid schedule because um, there are factors outside of Our control, but um, I think this definitely Lays out what the next steps are and it's really going to be in the hands of the next Council to make some of these key decisions about these for The slide the uv disinfection system the shade structure and any additional amenities that May be part of the final bid award Which they will then do So thank you for the update any other questions I did have one other thing. Uh, are we going with just a little bit selection or is it going to be qualifications based? And are we considering any kind of pre qualification for contractors? So there'll be qualifications I mean typically it's it would be low bid If they're qualified, so if there's you know, for some reason that contractor comes in low bid and nobody's ever heard of They don't have the experience required to do the project More likely we would go to the site as long as we're considering some somewhere in the bid documents That's not doesn't just say, you know, low bid will be awarded. It says, you know, long qualifications Okay, I'll build it for 50 bucks When that whole bid price comes in Is that on a contractor and that always comes in the fact because you don't always go with the whole bid because As soon as you know, hey, you know that make your final bill and it's $350,000 more Thank you very much Okay, so now we get to see the new website preview So Paul and Heather kind of fun to see all these things like So I'm just going to introduce while Paul is setting up and and really the reason I'm up here is to point out that This really is the culmination of the work of this council and several councils before So this is decisions that were made about doing a marketing and branding initiative And about having a communications coordinator without whom we would most certainly not be previewing a website right now And the funding for the website itself and I also wanted, you know, take a moment to say that Paul has recently really been Carrying a lot of weight putting together the annual report and put it rebranding all of them. You don't see it By the way, this is a gorgeous document Paul. It's really anybody who doesn't have one of these Stop by city all of senior center. It's beautiful And he really he took the lead on this project And if it weren't for his knowledge of websites and the technology involved I really don't think we'd be where we are right now And that's not to mention the hundreds of documents that he has rebranded Personally and we'll continue to be rebranding for a while. So I'm going to turn it And the just general maintenance of our communications Yeah, so I can't say enough about what a great move it was to bring on a communications coordinator and Paul specifically So I'm going to turn it over to Paul. I agree Just a couple of opening notes before I pull it up the official launch will be on march 11th Some of the content and functionality is still being finalized. So you'll have a chance to see this and and quite possibly Look at at home, but it's still a little bit of a work in progress. So there's some stuff that needs to be plugged in still It'll be just about ready with the winewski.gov address so Earlier in the meeting. I sent you the link to your emails if you if you feel like it We could do this a little bit interactively You could pull that up look at it on your phone the mobile layout is most excellent. So Please feel free to to tag along you can do it on your laptop or your phone and just to say to the public We're not intending to violate any transparency here because it's not Complete yet. We're not making the site live. So you all looking on your on devices now are looking in a test environment Right. I'm not in a public environment Don't add anything So here we go So the first uh, I think the first noticeable, um, improvement obviously is the overall Sort of modern design style that's been integrated. Um, simplified user friendly global navigation Um, so, you know, it's it's like any other website in that, you know, you have your main navigation But there's a lot of really cool Things that were integrated into it. Um, one of the first things I think I want to go over regarding to um, the the navigation is The how-to-wide tab, um, which was Sort of a feature of most of these civic plus websites, which is really great But what we've done here is essentially taken, um, the top seven of the most requested services and made it really easy You'll notice that find and pay for parking is at the top here Both because most everything on the website is organized alphabetically, but that just so happened to be at the very top there Um, the the other thing about the main navigation is the department's tab So we're all here now, which is the first time ever, which is really great Um, so each uh, each department is there and you'll see all the sub departments feel free to You know click on it when you're going through The library and the police website have been uh, integrated into this So those separate URLs will also go down the day we go live on march 11th So, uh, the libraries is uh, the wordpress website So they have wonuski library dot wordpress.com and wonuski police comm those will come down And they're just integrated here In the department's tab Up top you'll see the social media links. Those are really great. Uh, Heather and I are pretty excited about the youtube link So right now it's linked to the to the channel 17 Videos, but there is there is some room there for us to do more You know have some some marketing capabilities there to start doing a whole bunch of really cool marketing videos and Recruitment videos for legacy campaign. Yep The search function is really great too It's because it's not live yet. You can't use it, but just to give you an example Our friends over in portland main also have a civic plus website And this is what the so this is what the the The search function looks like you can see if you just look up something like parking ban It'll come up with all of the different types of documents that are related to that. Um, it's mostly chronological and uh, um the The integrated graphic links to services is the next really cool part and I'll go through sort of one by one on each one of these I think the most impressive one is the community services Graphic button here So civic plus is the company that provides all these services civic Engage is the website service Civic rec is the is the recreation catalog service. And so our Our community services departments have been pretty hard at work here getting all of their programs dialed in It also looks really great on your mobile device if you want to pull it up there as well Just to show you a couple of examples. Uh, here is the landry park community gardens We'll get public speaking One of the biggest benefits here is not going through another third party service So currently we're using my rec and they've you know, they've been great, but Kind of a benefit to doing a one-stop shop with The second thing is the Nixle emergency alerts. So we decided to carry that service over civic plus does offer an emergency alert system Um It's kind of a lot to integrate and to ask 3000 people to sort of switch all at once So we decided to just stick with that. We work grandfathered into Nixle's free version, which is great So no additional cost there, but that You know just sort of links outside for people to sign up for those text messages which you've all been getting recently One of the other impressive things is the agenda and minutes module Currently as you've seen, you know, we house everything in a google drive. It's sort of separate and When we upload those packets and make them available, they're all sort of scanned in as one run Sort of pdf. Um, what's great here after we launched it in In march you'll be able to really get into these but it has its own sort of uh housed Modules for each one of these agendas and stuff but right now, you know, there's the you know Some of the old ones that we pulled up but Each one of the agenda items will be linked to the specific document related to that item and then when you click on the the minutes you can see That has its own minutes set, which is really great as well How far back well library go? It's got everything that's currently on our website. They're just up uploaded as pdfs. Um, but It's technically infinite Do you or if those agendas actually built up? So this is uh, this is not built out yet. So just can you stand that so Just gives you If you go back So this will give you a sense of when it's built out You'll see your agenda there and then the documents will be linked by agenda item So now instead of having a full packet that you scroll through you'll be able to flip back and forth between the documents for a particular agenda item So I think that will be a Improved service for you all and for public trying to Follow an issue if I remember correctly there will be an option to look at the full bundle packet Yep, so it has a packet button that you can just click on and then it'll download The entire agenda as one pdf and then each one of those items separately Which is very helpful Our employment opportunities is a greatly improved operation as well as you see here We're not currently hiring for this position, but this is a sample sample position I posted here. You can see all the job details. One of the biggest Uh improvements here is the online application So if you wanted to you could download the the full job description and our employment application and send it in But we have built out a fully integrated online application Which will be make julie's life a lot easier So the news updates just the same as we do now where you can sign up for those via email It's pretty straightforward. We do those sort of like blog posts And every time one of them goes out, you know our current email subscriber list will be just ported over It will ask users to sign up for an account The the module that you use is called notify me. It's just some sort of not proprietary notification model that they have but Currently all of so like I said all the old users will come over and people can sign up for those Very easily And then of course we link out to our friends at downtown muski Make that easy for folks to find there One of the other really great things That we've integrated is uh, you know on our current website We have the current initiatives tab and what that helps us do is it helps Community members get to those items rather quickly We decided to sort of integrate this this graphic layout for each one of our current initiatives It fits six pretty comfortably, which I think is is more than anyone, you know, who's looking to really dive into the initiatives we need I'll show you a sample one Main Street is a really good example You can see here most of these project pages Will sort of look the same Get your project context on top your sort of introduction and your project updates history There's always really cool sort of little modules that you can sort of Plug and play anywhere you want Uh, most notably the related documents is is is pretty great. So if you're looking at presentations, you know as they've happened We just integrate really nicely The FAQ section is pretty excellent as well. This was actually a surprise I there was lots of little things that we found as we were going through this process Um, that were that were really great. So if you're looking for a lot of these just basic questions It's a really nice layout to sort of come here and have them all house sort of in its own section as opposed to like You know, there's one long run on webpage One of the coolest things that I think that they've done is they the translation instead of having just sort of a static thing of this Google Translate widget will follow you every single place you go on the website The Google Translate Service is is our best option because it is you know, it is Google. They are The biggest tech companies in the world and they're sort of at the at the lead of The the sort of real-time translation Services a little look at It's instant. It is instant. Yeah Right there Let's look at Poly and so on Yeah Say what you will about Google but then do we have this feature on our Yeah website now. Yeah, most any website is really easy to just sort of embed that little widget and what it does It just kind of sits at the top. Yeah, you sort of have to think about okay Do I need to go to the bottom of the top of the page to do this the cool thing that we They very easily do for us when we ask is to integrate it so that it just follows you everywhere you go Fantastic Yeah So the the next piece of this is um is the featured legacy campaign or brand story in the landing spot through that Which we kept right below here So this section here just sort of introduces our new brand story as you've seen, you know, we are now Vermont's opportunity city We thought it would best to sort of Just start with a committee ask when people are looking at this so we can build that out Heather and I have been bouncing some ideas around and there is a An influx a huge influx of interest in the community and from a ton of people from from basically everywhere To get involved. So we're trying to be thoughtful about how to intake that and I think this basic landing spot At least to get people started and start talking about that advisory committee is the best thing to do And we're looking at it as rolling as well Just because it's supposed to be an open source And so the more people want to come on the advisory committee and give input the better So, you know, I just recently met with a high school student who has a lot to bring to that table Very impressive young man The students I just that that's that interest that spark there has been really inspiring to see Sorry We've used that statement in our budget presentation. Um, so the branding has begun. That's great That's great. Well, a lot of the stuff we sort of knew was was going to be sort of like us There was going to be sort of a soft opening and things would sort of reach out and they'd get a big reveal and more Well, I think it's a wonderful statement and a great way to start a conversation about how we invest in what we value And so It's great Um, it's our news updates section You'll notice currently on the website the way that a work rest website works is that it's essentially a blog and you're You're basically pretending that your blog posts are our news updates is the way that that works And you'll see there's a very just sort of boring list Uh, that's there and that's just sort of tied to the limited functionality of that This is actually pretty great and that we'll be able to sort of keep those those newer items fresh in this sort of Moving carousel, which is uh, which is pretty excellent But um these again, you know, you can subscribe through the the graphic link Or you know while you're in the module if you read on Just click on the notify me button um and sign up for that service again You will have to create an account to be able to do this the cool thing about having an account is if You are a community member and you were perhaps looking for an employment opportunity You can use the same account to do that Which is really great Of course easy social buttons to share and then um, you know, you can go through these. It's also really great There's cross functionality with this module. So if if I was at the main street revitalization page and I wanted to Um embed one of these updates there. It looks it looks really great. That's very easy to do The calendar Is a huge improvement. I don't know if anybody Has seen our current iteration. So when we switched over To the outlook exchange, we lost Embedding the google calendar and the easy fix there was just to Embed the outlook calendar doesn't play very well with the with the wordpress website So this module is actually a huge improvement. Um, I It's not obvious obviously a meeting that's happened But just to show you what this looks like and again You can there's a number of ways that you can sort of get notified of these updates Um, which is actually really great. And of course all of our our regular meetings and our commission meetings and stuff They're all just sort of populated And so you can as a community member if you have an interest in getting an alert About a meeting or about the commission You can sign up for that. Is that that's a great question. So technically yes Yeah, the way that it I think it works as far as our collective work plan goes is that most of all of the City council and board and commission meetings, they're they're set out.  There's messages and tweets and everything is just it's a It's a tiring insanity. So, um You know, we're trying to be thoughtful about that You can very thoughtfully turn off and on a lot of these modules And I think as we grow and build out and look at, you know, other Other opportunities, there'll be there'll be chances to maybe turn some of those on But for now we are there any way to like link to the materials that might be a part of that Yes, so each one of these calendar updates the same as the agenda center same that that way It's all connected. So there's a huge document center and image repository and all these things that very They integrate very easily. So if there was a posted agenda for this, I could link it in there very easily So the other basic functionalities, um at the bottom We have your you know, your regular contact us your quick links and your site links This was kind of just a a discussion that we had about, you know, what kinds of things should be readily available and that's the other that's the other big thing about this whole process and this website in general That's the biggest upgrade Um is the redundancy. So they Again civic plus, you know, they have municipal websites in every single state They they've really got this down to the science and I think a big part of the reason we chose them was because of that expertise And so the redundancy piece, um, which was also a surprise as I was going through this process is It's pretty smart. So they have really interesting ways that they Repeat things for you, but not it's not aggressive. They're just kind of really good about Putting putting information where it needs to be easily found People don't have to go hunting around exactly. Where is that? Which? Um, just to show you a couple of basic sections. Um, I know this is going to sound really dirty, but my, uh My favorite section is the regulations and ordinances And the reason the reason that it is is because this to me is is the is the is the best example of the Website project and the branding coming together. So you can see every single chapter Um of the the ordinances has been rebranded. It's all in the city's font And so it has this unified look which I know sounds it sounds mild, but it's it's a big deal for us He's been a lot of time It's text searchable. It's all I care about. Yeah, well, that's the other huge thing You went back like when I showed you the um, the portlands, uh, the search bar there That's huge because right now the way that it works is It's similar, but it's still it's still a dig. Um, the other thing that I've been experimenting with and I think will Will stick especially as we expand is, um, referential ordinances So if you're on a specific page or a specific project page and there's ordinances that sort of relate It's very easy to just put the select chapters that relate to them, which is really great So there's a few spots where those kind of come up Another big one for us is obtain a license or permit. That's another place where you can see sort of the the newly branded items As of right now and I'll get into this later A lot of this is as pdf. So If you're looking for one of these forms, um, you do have to download it fill it out Send it in there is the option depending on where you are on the website to email those This is a fully functional online form Website where all of this stuff can be turned into online forms It's it's just been built into sort of a phase two after launch, which just begins on may 12th or season march 12 I know I know what time So yeah, uh, you know building this out getting the information, you know using these these FAQ modules It all it all kind of just plays really nice Show you another quick page here We'll look at the police department department page So again, all of this stuff that we brought in and consolidated. Um, it's just it just integrated so nicely Lots of opportunities for for cross-run You can see the co-brand there as well Um, there's a school resource officer page Mr. Zeider is not here, but shout out to him and the important work he's doing. This is great It's just nice to have a space to be able to celebrate the work that we're that we're doing Uh, just a couple more here Fire department It's another example of a page that has not existed historically on our website, but now it's easy to do This amazing firefighter staff. Yeah, there they are Thank you chief And then, you know, it's sort of the last real functional piece is the is the staff directory. So this is huge for us. It's not just one run on list Which looks really great. So if you're trying to look at all of the sort of public safety, uh Staff that are all here. It's all listed very nicely each address comes out to its own map and location and First name basis. I thought that was a nice touch being able to email us by first name is great And again when this goes live, you know, everything would be at the dot go So again the the face to stuff it's the online forms The big one which isn't here yet is the payer bill or fine So that's really connected to the the credit card payment processing which we we just We're almost I think moments away from looking at Angela closing the RFP on that Yeah, so we're meeting with gov pay on on friday So once that is all figured out internally with you know, how to process credit card payments another piece that has been long overdue That'll be live soon and then John and I have been Having conversations about a request tracker much like c-click fix It's it's a it's a product that's available through the asset management program that we use now next gen So they're in conversation. It would be a third party module But it would be easy for folks to sort of use that and integrate that into the paid as well questions Thank you The only question I have is around ADA accessibility. Yeah, it says website fully compliant It is it's it's actually more than fully compliant So I this was another real educational piece for me as far as what ADA compliance is how it works and how it grows. So a big part of the reason we chose civic plus is that It's that's their wheelhouse and they're they're looking at that stuff every single day So it is fully ADA compliant. It will be as as long as we hold this contract Great. So they're part of their responsibility On on their end is to make sure that we maintain compliance. It's all baked in which is really great. It's all sort of in the code as they say Thank you. This is thank you. I think in terms of transparency and accessibility of government This is a huge step forward and really allows our residents and visitors to Get the information they need in a way that in whatever language they Which I I think just visually Graphically, there's a lot of cues for folks about, you know, how to get information that's going to help them either be You know participate in our in our government or access services that we offer or Just get information about the city. So thank you. Thank you Gotta love that mobile drop down menu It's so good. That's a different world. I know You know, I reserve some I was a little concerned because it's not it's a it's a hard science getting this much information to cover this much ground over these many departments and XYZ To fit nicely on your phone. I mean let alone one one website and so I I was a little skeptical going into it because I didn't think that you know that anybody would be able to really provide Something that was going to work and so for me to be pleasantly surprised and really really happy with that Was great. I actually called them after I had tested it once they made it alive And I was just like I was floored by I don't know how easy it was to use so really happy Has the your testing been pretty much internal with staff? Yep, it has we You know, we still have some some work to do and sort of plugging the rest of it in I I think it's pretty safe to say and civic plus has made us pretty confident that you know, it'll be It'll be launch ready when it's launch ready. It is user friendly enough I think that if folks have questions about it, there's plenty of space for them to contact me directly And ask questions about the the usability of the the site Yeah, it's just wondering about if you had thought about Bringing other you know users folks who would be using our website as residents And to do a round of testing just to get their thoughts and feedback on somebody who hasn't had their eyes on as someone Who's not super familiar with our city departments To have some people beta test from different backgrounds That's just something we've done in the secretary of state's office with our different it projects and it's yielded Really good results. Yes. It's a really good idea. Yeah. No, that's I mean, it's obviously very easy to put together We'd be happy to sort of do it. You know a week of that or however long Um Well, what thoughts do you have about rolling it out to the public so they know that we have a new site that there'll be a press release There'll be a little you know, there'll be a couple days of the buffer, you know I'm going to send an email out directly to our email subscribers letting them know There is a bit of an overlap piece and Ray feel free to chime in here with the users of our current recreation Platform on my rec with being able to switch those accounts We're trying to make that as as barrier free as possible You know with any change there's going to be Going to be some pickups But it's it's looking like it's going to be a really smooth process and with the redirects I mean, it's it's you know, even if somebody tried to go to the old website or the police website or the library website It's all going to look back here anyway, sort of without anybody having to think about it Okay Questions or comments for paul Another good work. Yeah. Thanks. Excellent amazing. Any questions or comments from the public? I saw Looks pretty easy to navigate through such as someone's technically challenged I think very very well, thank you Yes civic plus they put a lot of of thought into sort of the the architecture being I mean It's it's supposed to be a website for anybody and everybody This is a lot of thought that goes into just making it easy And you know websites have come a really one-way period. I mean, they're just there's so much more user friendly than they've They've ever met Okay, thank you so much. Thank you. Looking forward to the live. Thanks for having me. Thanks a lot Thank you paul. Thank you So we'll move on to item e Approval of the downtown transportation fund grant application. Heather, you'll be staying with us. I'll be staying with you for the next few items So what I'm seeking is approval to apply for $30,000 for the downtown transportation fund grant It requires a 50-50 match and what I would be applying for is the fabrication and installation of wayfinding signage So with the municipal planning grant that we won in I believe it was awarded in december We are doing the planning process and that's the rfp that was just posted for planning our wayfinding signage This would be for the next step to actually do the fabrication and installation of those signs and it happens to fall That we should have the wayfinding plan completed by march 2020 according to the rfp And this would have to be started by october 2020 So it works out perfectly for us. Um I have looked at we're allowed to use in kind match for this And I included in your packet A little spreadsheet that joe scha put together for me about what those installation costs would be Including use of our equipment and the staff time And we pretty much could do entirely an in kind match Assuming a certain number of signs But we also have within our garage cip and our on street cip $10,000 each in the cip for signage So we've got the match more than covered and I think what I would do is I would reach out directly and see You know, how much in kind can we use? I know that there's a preference for there to be some cash match So happy to do whatever would make them feel comfortable It is a project that the state is already familiar with I've already talked with them about this so they're expecting this this will come through So I'm just asking for your approval to apply for it great and just For your benefit quarry. I think anytime we we go to apply for funds council Has a role in an authorizing staff to go ahead and apply for a grant I've been asked to counsel to apply for funds About anything but I think particularly when there's an in kind contribution It's important that council's aware that We're essentially signing the city up for some sort of obligation if we in fact receive the grant So I thank you for you know clearly being out in front of this Issue and knowing we're going to have a report with some recommendations and then what? So So thank you for being on top of that and seems like a Great opportunity for us to make sure that we Get those signs up It's also part of implementing the parking plan right parking study. So it is a strategic priority as well, right? and Is that You know with the addition potential addition of a new parking structure downtown Is that going to throw a wrinkle at all into the recommendations? Or you feel like the timing of all of it will be Be sufficient to include that facility as a I think depending on the choices that are made by our community in the near future I will be able to start off with a consultant talking about right. So the rfp has just gone out Right, you will know by the time The work gets underway for our facilities Maybe looking like Directions people might have Okay, any questions for Heather So this is Potentially $80,000 in signs, but we don't know where the signs are yet where it starts with the rfp is for right? It would be $60,000 of fabrication and installation Total but oh, okay 30,000 in and then 50. Yeah So no, we don't know yet because the rfp that I just put out is for the wayfinding signage plan Okay, so we don't have that it's tbd. Okay, right. This is just once that plan is approved We'll have the money to implement correct correct. You have the time On these happen to work out so that we have the time to complete the planning process and then fabricate and install after And I think it's important to know that agency of commerce. This is not unique to a new ski accd Regularly gives out these two grants in parallel So a municipal planning grant for the plan and then a downtown transportation grant for the implementation And that's happened in a few other Vermont communities as well So there's some precedent to to follow kind of good money after good money great Yeah, and frankly, I've had that conversation with the state that presides conversation. So I feel like there's a good possibility Any other questions Any questions from the public on the downtown transportation fund grant application? Okay, so I've entertained a motion to approve the submission of the downtown transportation fund grant application So moved second motion by Eric second by Corey all those in favor All right motion carries. Thank you. Thank you very much Now you're with us Friday. Yeah, I'm saying I'm grabbing another chair. Okay So this is um this item is discussion And or approval of the winewski small business loan application recommendations Yes, so um, this is another one that's been a long time coming and has been through several councils so a bunch of decisions have been made in the past in 2016 We put 250 thousand dollars with ocu for a winewski small business loan program and then afterwards Built out the program guidelines and those were in place in 2017 What we're looking at tonight are the first three loans that have come through that process through ocu And the way that it works is opportunities credit union does the credit analysis And we have specifically we have a committee in place that specifically looks at scoring criteria to see Which loans we think would meet the criteria that were established by city council for The types of businesses that we want to incentivize and I have included in your packet a sample scoring form So some of the criteria are Businesses that fill previously vacant commercial space improve previously deteriorated commercial spaces or properties create jobs or retain jobs assist The loan that will assist the business in complying with city code requirements Adds business types currently underrepresented or lacking in the city and desired by the community and also certified Minority owned business or women owned businesses So those are the criteria that we use and we do have a winewski small business loan committee That's made up of three staff people city manager finance director and planning manager and then two community members and we met A couple weeks ago now and looked reviewed these three loans and we are Recommending approval of all three of the loans based on those criteria It's important to note that one of the points of this Revolving loan fund was specifically to give people who would have less access to traditional forms of credit access to that so When we're looking at loans that come through this program They will primarily be tier three or higher risk loans So we know that going in and it's not the committee's concern to look at the risk of the loan It's really to look at is it filling this niche that we're trying to fill and offering people access to credit So I would be happy to walk you through the Businesses and loans and introduce you to the business owners that we're recommending for approval application number one And we are recommending approval for this business is sweet babu. This is shana goldberger And i'm going to give shana a moment to tell you about what her business is and what the loan application is for sure Yes, so sweet babu is located at 25 winewski falls away sweet 110 I've actually been operating out of there since last june As a sub letter and then I took over the space in december as the primary tenant the previous The previous tenant took everything with her so it was an empty space So over the last two months, I got an equipment lease. I fit up the kitchen again Refurnished the front of house area rebranded redecorated And we're actually opening on thursday so Yeah, it's exciting So we're a bakery and cafe And dessert bar and then I also have a wholesale packaged baked goods business I sell all over vermont to mostly co-ops Um, so yeah, we'll be open on on thursday in the morning We'll have pastries coffee drinks beverages to go and then we'll be serving lunch from 11 to 3 monday through friday thursday friday saturday night from 5 to 10 30 more dessert bar where people can get plated desserts and wine and beer Which is something that um, we don't really have a winewski, so Yeah, I've got three employees one of which is a winewski resident And we're just really excited to be part of the community and enrich it and bring something new that It doesn't have already The loan sorry, uh, the loan is going to be used for working capital primarily Like I said, we have pretty much all the things that we need. There's a few items Still, but it's mostly just to keep us going during our ramp up period before we're really hitting the numbers in our financial projections And just to allow us to really grow the business so yeah So I don't know if you want to take it one by one and do approvals as we do the presentation Or if you want to go through the presentations and then Take those Um, I think we could probably go through the presentation. Okay, great Great, then I am happy to introduce you to our second loan applicant Um, this again the committee recommends for approval. Um, this is Maggie hazard and um, her business is wise road And she is operating at 71 main street. I'm going to let her tell you a little bit about her business and what the loan is for Yeah, so I'm Maggie hazard. Um I'm an esthetician and a cosmetologist excuse me. Um I have been renting a little teeny tiny studio actually come across the street, uh doing hair and skincare and Um, I have the opportunity to grow my business. Um I'm looking to do microblading which is A form of semi-permanent eyebrow makeup. Um There are not a lot of people that do this in vermont. There's actually only four that are Uh licensed to do it in the state and only two that are actually practicing the state Um, specifically in wnuski Um, there's one other aesthetic business and they have someone coming from out of state on someone to be doing this And that person is here for two days and does about six people a day For this one specific thing and then works at a burlington Location for another two days and does the same about people. Um, so this is one of the most popular makeup techniques in the world right now. Um, and something that I would love to focus on more and bring into wnuski in specific because It's so very up and coming and You know just like having a dessert bar like you have a dessert bar in the city and you can get your eye Really It would be lovely to to get more of that in wnuski. Um, the loan would be for my education Um, and some of the equipment involved with that um Because vermont is so small We don't have any schooling or training facilities in state So and they actually the state of vermont Has only approved three schools throughout the entire country that you can go to so I would either have to go to orlando uh, san amaca or So thinking the orlando So you have to go to school out of state, which is pricey And Then you have to do a 40-hour apprenticeship under a licensed tattoo artist, which For a lot of tattoo artists in vermont. They don't have any sort of financial investment in that Um, I actually have a friend and colleague that just opened her own tattoo shop and is willing to let me apprentice And then I can get my license and when I can get going um Bring all this here Yeah, thank you. Thank you The third application, uh, we don't have the business owner here tonight. Unfortunately, I wouldn't make it. Um This business is ash and gold llc And it is taking the space across the street at 35 west allen street where full circle just vacated It's a salon and beauty services startup business And the funds will be used for inventory furniture fixtures and equipment for the business and the loan amount is $22,000 Happy to take any questions So anybody have any questions for heather or um the business owners join us tonight How many applications did you receive We received three we take them on a rolling basis. Um, so these are the first three that we've received period And the total combined total would be 54,500 So leaving approximately $195,000 Can you say anything about the terms of the loan? Um, that would be useful for I can I can give you what the length of the term is that was requested on each of those Being really careful not to cross any confidentiality lines Um, so for sweet baboo, that is a 60 month loan. Yeah. Yeah Um, it is a 36 month loan term um for wise rows for meggie And it would be a 60 month term for ash and gold The opportunities is the one who's servicing the loan. Correct. Correct And this we only recently started really getting out information to the community about this Yeah, we had I don't know if you'll recall but we initially tried to set up a committee made up entirely of community members and Did not get the response that I expected we would get but we we didn't get so we had to restructure the program So I think really we started pushing it out early 2018 yeah early 2018 And I I think part of our hope well one each of these applications was Well vetted by occu and by the committee But I think so we're in full support of each application But I think one of our other hopes is that One of the best advertisement tools for this fund is successful businesses making use of the fund And so the stories that we will hear through these local business owners I think we'll You know can't be what you can't see we'll put that vision in other Entrepreneurs minds that this resource is is here and available to them. Right Also, I think it's important to note that um the person who was our uh partner at opportunities credit union Left opportunities um during that first year and it was passed on to someone else. And so I think maybe some of it got lost there Just in that transition. So we now have a really strong partnership with a new person. Great And can you say something about the community members who So there are two community there are two community members who are part of the committee Only one of them was able to attend our meeting but he actually works in the banking industry and so He brought a lot to the table and actually I think significantly improved our process for next time. So yeah, great Yeah, I just wanted to ask as we think through how we promote this resource that we have for the community How each of you heard about the opportunity to apply? I think I heard about it from heather first But I also I work with someone at cwe the center for women enterprise and they also recommended that I apply for this one great, yeah I heard about this loan through actually I saw it on the opportunities credit website um bird folk was occupying half of our building before it became all hair studios and Nicole's doing an awesome job Um, I love her store. Yeah, actually both her stores now. Um So I kind of saw that and then I believe they gave a loan to Waking windows So keeping it in when you ski. I was like, oh, they're really supporting when you ski based businesses and that's what I am Right. So that's why I look to stay in the town Great. Thanks. Thank you. Any other question? Any questions from the public about the program with the application recommendations? Well, I'm really excited to have you in when you ski. It's really fantastic and I'm excited to see the program Uh, you know being being implemented and supporting such, um, Great business owners. So thank you. Um, I think Folks okay with approving the slate of applications. Um, so I'd entertain a motion to approve um The application for a small business loan from sweet babu From maggy hazard dba wise rose and from ash and gold As presented this evening Second Motion by eric second by how all those in favor Hi, hi Motion carries Thank you so much Okay, item g is approval of the f y 20 mnuski community development corporation budget So this is the follow-up item to our mnuski community development board of trustees item What staff is seeking is for the um in keeping with the city council approved f y 20 budget Staff request approval of the community development corporation f y 20 budget in the amount of 150,000 So just to say a few more words about that So at your last meeting in january, you approved all the f y 20 Budgets the general fund budget and all the other fund budgets You did not approve this one because the funds haven't been allocated into it yet. Um So just in keeping with those presentations we see here the f y 20 cdc budget and important to note is this Maintains all of the previous staffing and activities related to Heather's community and economic development work and and a lot of paul's work and also retains the fund balance of $200,000 that May be tapped for to seed the Reserve fund for the abanaki garage in the future. Okay, or any other So the Can you talk about the positions specifically that are so the the there's a difference in terms of the Salary budget and I'm wondering does that constitute a shift in Portions of positions now being funded elsewhere. I think the planning and zoning We move some of the planning and zoning manager into this as well. Okay You move some into it or out of it So this f y 20 proposed for last year. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yes lower than the f y 19 I'm comparing it back to an earlier budget within the budget process So, yes, we we moved some out and then we moved a little bit back in Okay, yes, I apologize. So, but this this represents a change in the planning and zoning position From f y 19. Yes y 20. Yes. It's being planning and zoning is being funded more through the general fund. Yes, correct Any other questions for heather or jesse? Hearing none any questions or comments from the public All right, so I'll entertain a motion to approve the f y 20 winewski community development corporation budget So moved Motion by house second by eric All those in favor Motion carries. Thank you. It's been a pleasure spending the evening Okay item h approval of the fire department request for the use of reserve funds chief body Good evening Good evening, you know, there's trouble John and john Thank you for being here first day out of the house for a week. Yeah, so fighting cold I'll try not to get it too sick Better fighting cold than fighting fires That's right. That's right So we're before you tonight With some emergency funding request. Um, I included three summaries They're critical items that We're not on our radar as far as having to do an emergency repair or replacement You know, john roushers done a great job building the cip and The heating units within all of our facilities are supposed supposed to go on to You know, so like the heating units for all our facilities and the critical infrastructure of the buildings is supposed to go on the cip You know, not unlike any of these facilities our heating units in the firehouse are 22 years 23 years old They're modine heaters. They're a warm air furnace. Essentially It's our it's the major It's a major sense, you know systems of the heating And during servicing they red tagged them so that means they have cracks in the heat exchangers In fact, we've shut one of them off. So we're down the two modines within the building So the dangers is number one, they're not reliable. Number two, they could be emitting seal Into the into the workspace So that's the heating one. Um, there is a part of the air exchanger that I included If not to exceed $5,000 we do have a Heating exchange unit so that when the doors are open this unit is supposed to run and buffer When you overhead doors are about to open The cold air rushes in this unit is supposed to start before the modines and try to buffer some of that cold air So the modines don't have to run so high and keeps our energy uses down It senses the outside air and That sort of thing and we don't know it's all intertwined with the modines And again those controls and how they interact is 20 30 year old technology 20 to 23 year old technology Excuse me, and we just don't know exactly what it's going to take to get that kind of stood back up It's an important piece that we want to keep in the system We don't expect to spend $5,000 but to do that but This is a priority enough so that If we're lucky enough to walk out here tonight these units will be Installed on Friday That's how the the life safety issues that we're worried about with those Questions on the heating units. It's hard to be a little clunky with it Um, the radio systems again, you know, there's there's I could talk all night about the infrastructure the radio systems Um, you know, essentially the dispatcher you just heard downstairs is working off the console And when they push the button it goes through a series of Pieces of the infrastructure to open the pager that you're in allow them to give us a message Um, again this this infrastructure Um, I don't know all the history, but I can tell you it is 25 26 year old equipment We've had some pretty major Failures We do have backups So I don't want to paint a picture that we haven't been able to get to an emergency But it has sent staff scrambling including the dispatchers to Alert us of emergencies and or for us as chief officers to be able to convey emergency Communications back There's again several pieces of it that are in this building and on the roof of the firehouse and in a closet of the firehouse And no one can say what's good and what's bad. So this allows us to We've obviously made some immediate pieces downstairs This allows us to take the pieces that are on the roof of the firehouse and Call a repeater and update those And kind of be on on new ground get them in the cip And start to pay attention to the replacement and the shelf life You know, we we're lucky the um, you know, this stuff has lasted as long as it has I can tell you when that stuff fails It's no fun being on the other side of it And then lastly is our exhaust system So diesel trucks we've all been at the firehouse when they start the diesel fumes Um, Ramona's a cancer presumption state You can't the diesel fumes are known health risk to staff Collects in our gear collects in on surfaces Um, and unfortunately our exhaust system has failed. I've been trying to limp it along trying to get it in the cip In the next three to four years, um, and we're out of options so It's not a not a single component that we can Put into the existing system and make it work. No one really wants to touch something that was installed that long ago and um, you know, try to Assure me that the system is going to work as designed So Plime event, which is I've sent you the information. They're they're all over the country, but very strong in new england Very well known. I'm very close to us in the city of burlington south burlington st. Mike's So that's where that one comes from So the last piece I want to add and obviously happy to answer any questions the last page of this packet We have included our reserve tracking balances Because this is a big emergency request. We want to tell you the full picture So you see on the page that looks like this We have 5.7 million on hand for reserve balances. That's not the total we have available We as her policy said it outside 30 days cash on hand of that that we never touch in case there's That we need it to manage operations. We then have another 2.8 million in restricted or assigned balances Leaving going left to right across this spreadsheet at the bottom At the end of fyi 18 the 633 thousand available In unassigned operating government government Dollars so with the assignments we've made over the last Now seven months and including this capital request We would have a remaining fund balance of five hundred and ten thousand dollars This is really where we are trying to look at these funds as our kind of emergency savings account You know keep those funds there and available for For emerging issues like this as they come up And not just expend them for the for the point of expending them once a year And I do also just want to give credit to the chief This isn't really while this is a big expense and we're we're sorry to have to bring you such a large request It is part of the modernization and upkeep of our fire department These systems have not been touched for decades and john's done an admirable job trying to kind of bubble gum them along And we're just at a point where That's not an option anymore Any questions for john? to your body Well, I guess that's what the rainy day fund is for I think the Safety of our community members is so incredibly important and the safety of our staff providing safety to our community members Is of equal importance So in the memo that you sent us about the exhaust system It said that it had been offline for two months So i'm just wondering What transpired in those two months that had us not aware of it during the budget conversation, but So we were we Since I became chief we I've been dealing with this exhaust system um, and There's one component of that is the motor that makes the big fan run and that's about 1100 dollars to replace We did that replacement last year and then the last two months I've been working with a local contractor who is not they're a they're a hv heating ventilating contractor locally That did not install the system but has tried to work with us knowing that Knowing some different components of it but not being able to get all the components So over this period of time we fully expected to be able to put another motor on it and Try to limit this thing along We we did not expect to When I say it's been offline We have been trying to limp it along kind of it works for two weeks Order apart and We've exhausted those options. We're too we're too like a very expensive control control box that runs it Another 1100 dollar motor because again, we You know through trying to troubleshoot this we've now burnt the motor that we put on last year at 1100 dollars um, so It's time time for a new system and time when I say it's been offline we've been Works for two weeks doesn't far away. We've been kind of waiting along. Okay. Thank you. Yeah What's the uh leg span of these units we're going to go in Like the uh the exhaust. Yeah, so the exhaust system I would look at angel, but I believe it's put in an O5 Ish But I have no documentation of any preventative maintenance on it So again With a new system for me into my watch would come with preventative maintenance of the components You know, we want it to remove all those particulates and those collect and those systems and if we don't clean it for 13 14 years You know It sticks to fans it sticks to components. Um, so there's preventive maintenance that I suspect will get us Longer life and uh, you know like prime event has these systems In these firehouses for years and years and years, so we'll be able to see What the life expect I like that it's installed in other areas too so that you know, you can share parts if needed Like if you need something that day you can get borrow it from you know Someone else and we can share some of the expense of the preventive maintenance programs You know if they can come up here and do five or six of them um It's cheaper for all of us so There's some past savings And with the john roucher's asset management system part of that is building out the preventive maintenance schedules So we get ticklers every six months or a year or whatever that design element is for that piece of Infrastructure, so we have that reminder to go out and clean and also to build it into the cip in future years as well for that Either significant part replacement or complete replacement when the when the lifespan ends You know the annual maintenance is how we found the cracks in the heating systems We've always called them when they're broken and we have no heat um, and we're getting to the preventive maintenance piece and Defensive Well, thank you for Being on top of you know incoming coming to us With this request Any questions or comments from the public in terms of the use of the reserves um for fund balance um, I see there's some You know future potential future um Asks coming down the road um I just think it's It's also important just to um the Next council to really understand You know what the options are in terms of using these unassigned fund balances, um, I think you know, there's One-time expenses on an emergency basis makes sense and to the extent there's a need for an infusion of Contribution to a housing trust fund for example or like there's policy choices associated with um, how those resources get deployed So I want to encourage the next council to have that conversation about how we ensure that We do have maintain our our capital plan and our Obviously have some funds set aside for emergencies, but that we're also being really strategic when a fund balance Arises in terms of furthering some goals of the city that we may not have the resources to You know We may see a windfall and want to deploy that in a different way than we've done Over the last year or two How often do we spend down that fund reserve? so um Like an annually like three three we don't zero that out every year Imagine so that so that's a policy choice of the council in previous years. We zeroed it out every year. So there would be a Meeting or two where we would come in with kind of our our I hate to use the term wish list, but this is the Where this coming to my mind with the list of things we would like to fund and zero it out Since I've been here. We have not done that. We've kept the balance, you know with the council's blessing We've kept the balance for those grant matches or emergency requests or things that are really, you know, we've looked at as Really those one-time costs that we don't necessarily need to raise property taxes for but the one-time expense We'll leverage other funds or we'll address an emergency or whatnot. So you can actually see the Below the balances here. There's the planning grant match the pool of communications. You'll see The times and the dollars we've asked for Fund balance use back to the beginning of 2018. I see. Okay, great. That's very helpful. Thank you Which I I do think it's a you know, we had had this conversation about spending down the prior years on a sign fund balance around the same time we were doing the budget and it became this sort of Weird exercise in terms of funding different projects all at once without a real plan around it. So I do think The approach we've taken makes a great deal of sense and I want to encourage a discussion around strategic use of those Reserves to the extent we've got a sizable fund balance Are we leveraging that In order to achieve some some of the council's objectives I think it's a great conversation for the future iteration of the body and I do think from my perspective philosophically Moving away from oh Gosh, we need to spend down this money now Is a good move, right? Because I think that just puts the city in a place where we're spending money for the sake of spending money And it can be done artfully and intelligently, but why create that additional pressure, right? right Okay, if there are no further Questions or comments I would entertain a motion to approve the fire department request for the use of reserve funds. Do you need the amount? In the motion as presented do it that way So moved Motion by pori second second by hal all those in favor All right motion carries. Thank you. Thank you chief. Thank you. Thank you All right The last item on the agenda is a discussion of the self health safe healthy connected people goal update So just in the interest of time and knowing we have an executive session coming up as well Yeah You know if you want to highlight a couple of things or if there are specific You know, this is our monthly update to you. This is I think our second one On this goal update. Um, there's a lot actually in here. Yeah, um, so We certainly can walk through it, but it covers a lot So I right if you want to call out a couple things sure, that's great and then we can Yeah, I think several of them here have been discussed in various points tonight related to some of the funding That's come in and supportive projects. So I think that's just important to highlight that we are Not only trying to further those goals, but trying to find creative ways to finance those So I think that's something I just I'm proud of and want to call out Um, I think there's a lot of sort of foreshadowing here too from our department We do have survey results and focus group responses for our rec survey. Um, so we're expecting those results Ready for public consumption soon. We have some draft recommendations in hand Um scholarship policy we've been working hard on so we're we're hoping to have that Ready for council in the next month or two Depending on some internal review So I think those are really important ones again those I think to your point earlier really get to some of the Philosophical underpinnings of what we've been talking about I'm trying to be really inclusive with the community building programs that respond to need and finding ways for people to access those who While also being able to have fee based programming. So Those I think were really really notable And I'm sorry, I'm just scrolling through here my list to make sure I don't miss any other pieces And then I think you know again, I think with the pool obviously things are chugging along That was one that was on the maybe list and kind of moved up to the will do list after The bond vote so that's been exciting and I think we're making good progress there And then I think again just we talked about it earlier, but the national rec and park grant I think is a huge deal for us as a way to further that goal of creating an open space plan I think that would have it was something we were going to do and work on anyway, but I think this gives us some resources and tools and connections to national and You know significant national agencies for technical assistance and guidance. So I think those are all ones I want to kind of call out For our department. I can't speak super well for the emergency services stuff And Claudia at this point in time is a really great opportunity to really leverage her skill set was just perfectly aligned with that project So we're really excited to get her plugged into that so you know One other one non community service that I'd like to highlight is the regional dispatch update I'm giving you a quick city update about this couple of weeks ago So I feel like we're kind of back on track with that IXB has identified a new point person and they'll be Our meeting next week, but I really want to call your attention to the italicized motion That is at the top of the next page so At the last board meeting the board passed a unanimous motion With this language here and the upshot of that motion is that any dispatch We at the board is making a commitment that any dispatcher At the point where our community transitions from self Providing the service to providing the service at the regional level any dispatcher who wants the job fills out an application and passes a background check Will be hired so it's a commitment to our current employees to keep them engaged To keep their minds at the table to keep their expertise at the table We believe we're going to need all of them to move through this transition So while we don't think that we will get them all I think there will be some attrition for a variety of reasons We wanted to put out there very clearly That our intent isn't to do this without them our intent is to Do this with them So just wanted to bring your attention to that. Thank you. I did wonder sort of about the back story there and you know Pleased to hear that the assessment is that we will need every everybody I know one of the goals of regional dispatch is better service But there are also opportunities to realize efficiencies potentially over time by sharing resources and so want to make sure that I'm not You know making commitments that would tie our hands in the future to realize those but if the assessment is Making this commitment now ensures we keep professionals engaged in the conversation at the table and we will need them in the end and Makes a whole lot of sense to me Anything else to call out or if any questions from the council about this report or update Yeah, I'm just I'm not sure this isn't the Chief Hebert's wheelhouse But I don't know if either of you know for the face-to-face services by town served in regards to the Howard center community outreach report I'm seeing Burlington only has 20 total And I'm wondering if you know the background for why that number is a lot lower than what I would anticipate it being So interest so that's a great question. Good catch So Burlington actually isn't served by this program By the community outreach program at all they are served by the street outreach program Which is also operated under Howard center also reports up through the same Chain at Howard center by the is its own funding mechanism This community outreach team is really the the six other communities having said that one of the things that we're really Careful about is people in crisis don't know political boundaries. So often In these 20 cases I think the reality is they were probably in crisis in another community and the outreach The outreach worker follow went with them to another Location, but technically this program doesn't serve Burlington. Okay. Yeah, I wasn't I couldn't remember the all things Just when we first passed my concern was that if they were a municipality that was served in there For some reason their service is so much lower. Does that risk the funding? Yeah, kind of calculation for us being a part of it. So thank you Thanks Come on. Does this memo get updated? Is it like an annual update? We're doing these quarterly. Okay, great. So we do a memo like this every month Rotating the four strategic vision strategic vision areas. This is good stuff Yeah, this is the way that we hold all of ourselves accountable So it's been a great tool for us at least Sure, the new council will look at how it wants to monitor Progress on areas of that it's identified as being important But certainly keeping these regular updates has really been helpful Just a lot of work happens that we don't always get to Hear about in a council meeting and creating setting aside time and space to focus on the things that we say we care about Matters because then we hear and the community hears about what's happening I'm excited to see the financial waiver process The iteration that goes forward in the future. Yeah, so thank you for your work. I'm really excited with where we are I think there's a little more, you know, the community service mind and the accountant mind and sort of emerging all those different perspectives and making sure that we're all Happy with it, but I think we're close. It feels really good where we are right now. So I'm excited to bring it forward as well Can you do you know when the I think the results of the Rec survey are going to be rolled out? I don't offhand. We have like I said, we have the results of the survey is and the focus groups in hand And some preliminary draft recommendations We're working with the consultant to sort of tighten those up And then I want to kind of run those through Jesse and just some internal channels before we burn them forward But I'm thinking if not the meeting in March then certainly April great the next couple months. Yeah start to station But I think you'll also see pieces of that already ending out with the black history month Right grand awards and I think we're starting to use those already. Yeah, yeah, great Can I just totally unrelated also to say thank you. Um, I should have done that during public comment But I think this is your final Time at the table maybe Yeah, so I appreciate you came up through the community services department and just it's been a pleasure to work with you. Thank you Right. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it Okay with that The next item on the agenda is an executive session. Um, and this is uh, to Enter into executive session to discuss pending litigation to which the council is a party um and to Discuss negotiations of real estate or lease options. Um, both items are Covered by our executive session law So we're authorized to go into the second section to discuss those topics with our attorney and I believe jesse is that We will be inviting tonight. So I'd entertain a motion to enter into executive session to discuss those items and invite Bob de Palma and jesse baker to join us Can I just jump in on something really quickly? Sure Just given on that note that this might be my last time at the table here tonight I did just want to say that it has been one of the biggest hours of my life to serve on the city council to get to work and meet and know you all and to all the staff that do such amazing things in our city Um, regardless of whether i'm here after march It has been such a pleasure to get to know you to work with yo