is Monday, August 14th, 2023. The time is now 5.37. Thank you so much for joining us in Contoy's Auditorium and online for the Burlington City Council meeting. We're gonna begin our evening with item 1.1, which is a motion to adopt our agenda. And I would entertain a motion to adopt the agenda as well if someone could please read the motion. Do I have a volunteer? Nobody wants to volunteer. Civic clerk. The motion is listed in there as up-to-date as I believe it is. Is that correct, Laurie? Yes. So there is a, not a lengthy, but a couple of lines there. I move to, okay, are we good? Okay, all right. I'll move to amend and adopt the agenda as follows. Add to the consent agenda item 5.47, special event outdoor entertainment permit application, two days only. The pinery, 377 Pine Street. Add to the consent agenda item 5.48, communication from Robert Bristow-Johnson regarding new erosion at Bike Bridge in May's Landing. Add to the consent agenda item 5.49, communications lean Colburn and Rachel Siegel, read double standard in the city's treatment of former REIB director, Tayisha Green. Note that agenda item 6.4, annual report for 2022-23 Parks Recreation and Waterfront Commission is postponed to the next council meeting, September 11th per city council president Paul. Thank you so much, Councillor Travers. Is there a second to that motion? Thank you, Councillor Bergman. Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, we'll go to a vote. All those in favor of the motion to approve and approve our amended agenda. Please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say no. That means we have an agenda. The second item on our agenda is 2.1, which is a communication, Mayor Murrow Weinberger and Airport Director Nick Longo regarding negotiation of an agreement with VTANG regarding capital investments. As it has been our practice, we often go to the administration if there is anything that can be provided in open session because this is a discussion of negotiating a contractual agreement and there is an expected executive session to follow. Supervisor Pauly, so you're asking if there's any updates for an open session? Yes. Do you have agreements that we are in discussions with the Guard about and it would be prematurely impact the public if we were to have discussions about them? So that's why we requested the executive session. Great, thank you. And I just say further, we're not expecting action on this tonight. Okay, so there will be no action that'll be taken on this item. This is simply for an update for the communication for the council. Councillor Barlow, if you could please make the first motion to go into executive session. Sure, I move that the council find that premature general public knowledge of information concerning contract negotiations of an agreement with Vermont Air National Guard regarding capital investments would clearly place the city at a substantial disadvantage with such negotiations. Thank you, Councillor Barlow. A motion has been made to, or actually this is just the first of two motions. Would there be a second to that motion seconded by Councillor King? Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, we'll go to a vote. All those in favor of the motion as presented by Councillor Barlow, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say no. That motion passes unanimously. Now based on that motion, Councillor Barlow, if you could make the second motion. Sure, based upon that finding, I move that the council go into executive session to receive information regarding agreement negotiations with Vermont Air National Guard under one VSA section 313A1A. Thank you, Councillor Barlow. Is there a second to that motion seconded by Councillor King? Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say no. And I actually neglected to add to that motion that in addition to the mayor and the airport director, there will be other, will there be anyone else joining us in that executive session? The CAO, the city attorney, mayor's office staff. Mayor's office, city attorney, CAO Shad, and members of the mayor's office. Okay, thank you. So we have planned for this executive session to last about 30 minutes.  So everyone can sit in here and be comfortable. We will be going downstairs and we hope to be back in about a half an hour. The time is now 6.09. We have a couple of minutes left before we get to public forum, which starts at 6.15. And with those couple of minutes, we are going to use them for the local control commission meeting that we need to attend to this evening. So with that, we will recess the city council meeting at 6.09 and call to order the local control commission meeting at the same time at 6.10. The first item on that agenda is item 1.1. Is there a motion to adopt the agenda? I move to adopt the agenda. Thank you, Commissioner Shannon. Seconded by Commissioner Travers. Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say no. That motion passes. We have an agenda. Our next item is item number two, which is the consent agenda. Is there a motion to move the consent agenda? Commissioner Shannon. Move to adopt the consent agenda and take the actions indicated. Thank you very much. Seconded by Commissioner Travers. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say no. That motion passes unanimously, which leads us to our deliberative agenda and item 3.1, which is a second class store liquor license application 2023-2024 for always full Asian market LLC. Commissioner Shannon. Move to approve the 2023-2024 second class state liquor license application for always full Asian market. Doing business as always full market Burlington 179 Bank Street with the following conditions. All city permits need to be closed out contingent upon fire marshal approval and with all standard conditions. Thank you, Commissioner Shannon. Seconded by Commissioner Travers. Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, we'll go to a vote. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say no. That motion passes unanimously. And seeing no other items on the agenda and hearing no objection, we'll adjourn the local control commission meeting at 612 and return to the recess council meeting at that same hour. I did want to also acknowledge that we do have Councillor McGee who is joining us by Zoom and we do expect to have Councillor Carpenter also joining us for the deliberative agenda. Councillor Jang is actually in Senegal working on a sister city relationship with a city in Senegal and is not going to be joining us this evening. And for those who missed when we first started the meeting thank you to all of you for joining us this evening. We will move on to the time is now close to 615 and we will move on to public forum. Before we begin the public forum, we have a lot of people that are here who perhaps have not been to public forum before and for that, for them and for all of us I will describe the process. For those that are in con toys, we have a timer system on the table that's in front of me and it has three lights on it. The first is a green light that will shine when you begin speaking. The second is a yellow light when you have 30 seconds left and the last is a red light that will shine when your time is up. We ask that you please complete your sentence if your mid-sentence or in the middle of a thought that you please complete that sentence when the light and the sound indicate that your time is up so that everyone has the same amount of time to speak and we can keep the public forum moving along. If you're joining us online and there are a number of people that have signed up to speak online, we have a timer system that is set up on Zoom. We don't have a light system but when your two minutes is up the clock will wind down to zero and we just ask that you complete your thoughts and your sentence at that time so that we can move on to the next community member. We have a hybrid system for public forum so if you wish to speak in person there are forms on my right in the back corner of the room. You can just simply fill out that form. It's helpful if you mention the item that you're here to speak to and just give that form to the clerk that just gave me a number of forms. If you are wishing to speak on Zoom and please do not sign up for both you can go to BurlingtonVT.gov slash city council slash public forum and a form will come up. Please complete the form and the answers to that form come into a spreadsheet that I have on my computer in front of me so that I can call on you in the order in which you submitted a form. It has been our practice that Burlington residents have first priority to speak. We will go to Burlington residents in contoys who have submitted a form in person then to Burlington residents online who have completed an online form back to non Burlington residents in person and then we will finish with online non Burlington residents during public forum other than keeping to the time we only have one other request and that is that you please use respectful language. We would like to remind everyone here this evening that there are a number of families who sometimes join us in person and also join us online who watch city council meetings as their connection with civic engagement and teaching their children about respectful public discourse. Please keep that in mind when you speak. Please direct your comments to me as the chair and not to anyone else at this table and do not personalize your comments. Again, we are here to very intently listen to your comments and it's a lot easier for us to listen if you do so respectfully. We will, with that, we will get started and I apologize, we are down in executive session so I don't have these completely organized but I do have two that are here. The first two are Burlington residents. The first is Jacqueline Posley to be followed by Raven Havens. And if you could come forward. Thanks, good evening. And you just need to press the button that's right in front, right there so the green light comes on. Hi, can everyone hear me? Yes. Hi. My name is Jacqueline Posley. I am a born Mississippian living in Vermont and this is something I wrote called Beneath the Surface, a black paper on Vermont's most diverse city. Please allow me to begin by congratulating the city's marketing team for a job well done. For many years, this city has had a reputation for being one of America's most diverse and welcoming communities. We all belong campaigns. All are welcome here signs. BIPOC this and BIPOC that, the list goes on. You have impeccably curated the image of America's liberal utopia, which in essence is exactly the role of the marketing team. Job well done. However, what is happening beneath the surface? Beneath the surface, you have multiple police chiefs who create social media accounts to target residents.  Beneath the surface, your only black identifying member of the police commission stepped down citing concerns of oppression. Beneath the surface, you cycle through black female equity directors like they are disposable and interchangeable. Beneath the surface, Burlington City Arts dismantles their already dormant committee on equity and belonging.  From the mouths of babes, children so young, they are barely eligible for a driver's license. We hear the same unified cry that black people have been screaming from the mountaintops for centuries. Hear us, help us, protect us. This place claims to be a sanctuary city and welcome refugees and assailees with open arms and is simultaneously doing everything in their power to stifle the voices of black people. Shame. The attack on Taish's character. If you can use certainly finish your sentence, please. Sure. The attack on Taish's character more than a year after she left this role is no different than any of the other tactics this city employs to keep black people in their place. This is a witch hunt that will be used to say see, it was her, it wasn't us. See, we have another black woman who is in this role and who is performing just fine. See, we are really a welcoming city. Please allow me to end by congratulating the city's marketing team for a job well done. Thank you. Yes, before, hold on just a moment. I didn't mention this as one of the requests that we make, but we do make a request that we not clap. And the reason is so that we can continue moving the public forum along. If you wanna show your support for a speaker, you can simply do it silently like this and we will see you. Raven, please go ahead, welcome. Hi there, thank you for having me. I've been a member of this community for quite a while living here in Vermont for 14 years. I'm a member of the Mohawk tribe, also Wyandot. And I just stand with solidarity with my brethren here and I am let down time and time again by the atrocities I see around the city, around the state. And I can't stand by it very much longer. I just wanna send my love and pour my heart out to these folks who all belong to be here with me. I love you all and I will stand by your side. Thank you. So our next speaker is Farine Parris-Meyer to be followed by Katerina Campbell. Good evening. Before I start, I just wanna make sure I understand the rules. I'm supposed to focus on you, Karen, and speak this narrative to you. I just wanna make sure. That would be great, Farine. And just make sure that you're close enough to the microphone so we can hear you. Okay. Thank you. Hello. My name is Farine Parris-Meyer. I am black. I am a woman. I am an educator. I am queer. I am an activist. I'm a Burlington resident. I'm a first generation student. I'm living with anxiety. I'm financially struggling. And I find myself questioning life. As someone who is a black woman who has to move through this community with such a mask sometimes, we're expected to hide our pain, hide that we are not doing well, hide all these different parts that unfortunately allows white people in white supremacy culture to think I am a robot, to think as if I'm not human, to think that I can keep going no matter how hard you kick my black behind area down. And I, Karen, am asking you to let me know what you will do as council president this evening to ensure that we are not aligning this agenda to support a mayor of our city. That has lasted a witch hunt on former director, Tyisha Green, since he was made scene for his mishandling of the CNA report of 2021. There's a reason why three years later we are bringing up finances. We are bringing up things that have been allocated and closed down. This is a witch hunt on former director, Tyisha Green, because Miro has done his time here and anybody who spends this level of energy and ego and pride and pettiness and surround yourself with yes people to take a black woman out means that you are in for something for yourself following your time as mayor.  And I'm going to put that out there because while we not check our facts, while we not do our due jillenters to ensure that we're hiring actual auditors and not lawyers to put Tyisha Green's life on the line, there is no responsibility while y'all get to go home and put your head down at night while we sit and die over and over in our bodies. So I will step away. Our community will come forward. But Miro, your witch hunt on this queen ends today. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Katarina Campbell to be followed by Romeo Herman. Katarina? Hello, can folks hear me? Yes. I think the mic is crank. I'm going to speak loudly. Good evening. My name is Katarina Campbell from Burlington. I'm here speaking on behalf of myself. I'm here in solidarity with Tyisha Green, Casey LRB, Black FEMS, non-binary and trans folks and women throughout Vermont who have or are currently experiencing racial and gender-based discrimination, harassment, displacement and terrorism. I have lived in Vermont since 2007, Burlington since 2011. And when I think of civil service and public service, no one embodies that more than Tyisha Green, Freen Paris Meyer, Kaya Morris, the list goes on. Zariah Hightower. We demand and end the practices and abuse that former director Green, Casey LRB and others have experienced. We demand a full public articulation of harm from Mara Miro Weinberger and the city of Burlington to Tyisha Green, Casey LRB and their families for the continued defamation of character and unwarranted actions taken throughout city processes like the audit itself. We demand ongoing independent evaluation and oversight of the hiring and retention policies and solutions employed by the city of Burlington to combat anti-BIPOC and gender-based discriminatory practices. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Romeo Herman to be followed by Rachel Siegel. Julie Masuga, you wish to speak together? Yes, okay. Thank you for having me, Madam President. I am gonna be speaking to a different topic. I know today is a very passionate day so I will stick to the point. My name is Romeo, I am a resident here and I'm here to talk about the pressing issue that is a retail theft that is ongoing in our city. That is also a chronic issue. This perpetual situation is not only causing devastation to businesses but also a jeopardizing the safety and well-being of residents in the city. It is high time that we take a resolute and proactive actions and stands to tackle this issue, head on and seek meaningful solutions to protect the city, its businesses and residents. As we gather here today, let us acknowledge that retail theft is not merely a nuisance, it is a symptom of larger underlying issues such as mental health, challenges, substance abuse that inflict in our community. We cannot afford to ignore the human toll of these problems nor can we turn a blind eye to the damages that they inflict on businesses in our city and overall quality of life for everyone. The impact of this ongoing and an abated chronic retail issue, theft on businesses rather cannot be overstated. Small and large enterprises like suffer significant financial losses leading to potential layoffs, higher prices and even business closures. We cannot accept that continuing to keep happening in our city, especially for somebody myself who works at the marketplace. I do see that business closing every single day. That being said, when businesses including retail are forced to pass the losses onto customers, it creates a vicious cycle that further exacerbates the economic challenges faced by our city. The vibrancy of our shopping, districts and commercial centers are at risk. This directly affects the vitality of our city. Furthermore, we cannot overlook the connection between... Hi. Thank you, ma'am. Please complete that sentence. Thank you, Madam President. Furthermore, we cannot overlook the connection between ongoing and an abated chronic retail theft and mental health as well as substance abuse, and I hope that we can come together and find a resolution that we can work together. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Romeo. Our next speaker, so Rachel, Julie, you just want, you each want to read the same, you want to read the same letter and you each want your two minutes. Okay, so one of you will start and the other will, you will hand the letter to the other, yes? Okay, welcome. Just make sure you have the microphone on. Is it on now? It is. Thank you, hello, everyone. This letter was written by Selena Colburn and myself and Julie has offered to read it since Selena can't be here tonight. We are writing as past city counselors, white anti-racist accomplices and open-hearted humans. We see a clear and problematic double standard in the city's treatment of former REIB director, Taisha Green. While we served on city council and in subsequent years, we've observed multiple examples of questionable behaviors by city of Burlington department heads, mostly white men and by the administration itself. Rarely, if ever, have we seen the degree of scrutiny and investigation that Taisha Green is experiencing. The contrast is stark and unwarranted. A few examples. Former CEDO director, Peter Owens, left his position with the city of Burlington in May 2016. Owens was already scheduled to step down from his role as CEDO director, a position that is instrumental in setting the vision for Burlington's affordable housing policy, but resigned early in response to a scandal he was involved with in San Francisco. Owens was the landlord of 100-year-old Iris Canada, an African-American woman he was working to evict from her home over 50 years. The eviction was halted by a San Francisco judge, scrutinized by the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the equivalent of Burlington City Council, and widely covered by the media. On February 10th, 2017, without notice, and while she was in the hospital, Owens removed all of Canada's belongings and denied her and her family access to them. This included medical supplies, family photos, ID cards, her deceased husband's artworks, and more. No formal critique or inquiry into Owens' actions, values, or past work was supported by the city of Burlington's administration. In April 2023, the community of Burlington learned that our then-acting chief of police was the subject of a formal complaint after using a menacing tone and threatening to cuff a medical provider at the University of Vermont Medical Center. This happened as part of a dispute about police presence during the provision of medical care to a victim of gun violence. The existence of the complaint was withheld from the city council for months, and from the public, as it considered a ballot initiative regarding police oversight, even as it was referred to the Vermont Criminal Justice Council for further investigation. And might I ask, was that investigation ever completed? I don't believe the public knows, and yet, he was appointed to a permanent position with, as far as we know, an investigation open about him threatening to punch a doctor. Why is he not being scrutinized? In January of this year, the Vermont State Auditor completed an audit of Burlington's lakefront tax increment financing TIF district. The audit showed, quote, years of sloppy recordkeeping and financial mismanagement, while noting that Burlington had made millions of dollars of mistakes. Much of this was attributed to poor recordkeeping, key staff turnover and slow adoption of strategies recommended by the city's own auditors. The city's errors were so numerous in so many different types, it is clear a new process is required to reduce the risk of significant errors in the future. The result was well over a million dollars of debt to the state's education and TIF funds. According to the Burlington Free Press, the city's response letter noted that, quote, the city's budget is flexible enough to handle unexpected expenses like this because of its unassigned fund balance, which must always contain five to 15% of the city's annual operational expenses. And that even with the withdrawal of money to resolve audit findings, the city's fund remains above 10% of its expenses. To our knowledge, there has been no broad public accounting for how the city intends to rectify the issues raised or avoid similar debt outcomes in the forthcoming state audit of the downtown TIF district. The accusations against Ms. Green appear to be emblematic of a city-wide culture, not of any personal shortcomings. In fact, in the review recommendations, it states clearly that the city needs to clarify and become more consistent. We need to wrap up. We have so much work to do as a city. We cannot understand the administration's decision to spend precious time and resources on an investigation that seems so out of alignment with previous responses and creates further division in our community. We stand in solidarity with the black women of Burlington who are speaking out. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Max Tracy to be followed by Aspen Overy. Good evening, Max. Good evening. Wish I was under better circumstances. I think that tonight I just want us to not lose sight of who Taisha Green is and what she's done for our community. Taisha Green is a leader of unquestioned integrity who always, in my conversations with her, would come back to say something along the lines of always tell the truth. The truth will set you free. So when a report comes out that alleges that Taisha is saying has misinformation in it, I believe Taisha. Because in everything that I'd worked, in all of my work with Taisha Green in the two years that she was here, she, in my mind, was someone of unquestioned integrity and we can't lose sight of that. We also cannot lose sight of everything that Taisha did for our community. She started the racial equity inclusion and belonging department from scratch in the middle of COVID and also started one of the biggest and most successful events our city has ever seen in Juneteenth. So let's not lose sight of that. That's incredible work and something that needs to be highlighted more. Well, and quite frankly has not been spoken to in the context of this report. No one's been saying or recognizing Taisha and it really is deeply, deeply wrong. I think the other thing I wanna say is also that as my former colleagues on the council just pointed out, this behavior is different. Or the treatment that Taisha is experiencing is entirely different than other white department ads have faced and that is racism. That is racist, plain and simple.  And finally, the last thing I wanna say is you need to think through the implications of when you do something like this because when you write a report like this, when you put a report out there, you open the door for racists to walk through and to threaten and to harm black people in our community. That is what you've done. You have caused harm to black people in our community and that harm is only just beginning. Our next speaker is Aspen Overy to be followed by Josh Meyer. I'm here to just echo the sentiments and read a letter written for allies to say. So hi, my name is Aspen from Burlington and I'm here in solidarity with Taisha Green, KC, LRB and Blackfems, non-binary and women throughout Vermont who have or are currently experiencing racial and gender-based discrimination, harassment and displacement and terrorism. Everyone here demands an end to the practices and abuse the former director Green, KC, LRB and others have experienced. Demand a full public articulation of harm from Mayor Murrow Weinberger and the city of Burlington to Taisha Green, KC, LRB and their families for the continued definition of character and unwarranted actions taken through city processes like the audit itself and demanded ongoing independent evaluation and oversight of the hiring and retention policies and solutions employed by the city of Burlington to combat anti-biboc and gender-based discriminatory practices. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Josh Meyer to be followed by Joanne Margaret Brown. Good evening, my name is Josh Meyer of Burlington. I am here in solidarity with Taisha Green, KC, LRB and Blackfems, non-binary and women throughout Vermont who have or are currently experiencing racial and gender-based discrimination, harassment, displacement and terrorism. I am in a multiracial family and we have been living in the city for over 10 years. We have experienced the impacts. Why don't we, Josh, we'll hold the clock for a minute. We just start again in 10 minutes. Take your time. We have experienced the impacts of systemic and blatant racism which have taken an immeasurable toll on our family. We have found racial slurs written on our family car and have left our jobs due to experiences with racism at the institutions we served. What whiteness has provided me with shelter as Black women, foray in the girls remain under constant attack. We continue to lose magical Black and Brown individuals in this community, like Taisha. Whether they are new to Burlington or have grown up in this area, hope for change is replaced by heartache when there is a realization that this community is not truly seen and embraced them fully. Burlington folk are highly skilled at promoting diversity and talking about equity, but what are we actually doing to make people of color feel at home with opportunities and an environment that make talented people want to stay in this city? A highly deceptive brand of racism is ubiquitous, permeating city offices, local businesses and schools. Each time a BIPOC community member leaves, it takes a toll on people of color in this community. Our family questions whether this place will love us back. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Joanne Margaret Brown to be followed by Madison. I'm sorry, I can't hear you. Okay, my apologies. I wasn't really sure you didn't have an address, a full address here, but you're here, so please go ahead and we'll continue on. Thank you for it, thank you for noting that. Okay, I'm here. If you could just use the microphone that's right in front of you, thank you. Okay, I'm here in an effort to openly disparage the recent performance of recently elected Senator Welch, Peter F. Welch. Recently on the house side, Ms. Becca Ballent abdicated her responsibility to the budget committee. She was renamed to the prestigious House Judiciary Committee and at least one subcommittee. And I come here to indicate that Ms. Ballent is not practicing an attorney. She, most of her time spent here in the state was as a middle school educator. She is not well prepared to step into jobs that are ordinarily held almost exclusively by attorneys. Additionally, her life partner is Elizabeth Volts. Elizabeth Volts is in fact an attorney. She, Volts was educated at Harvard University in Boston. She, Volts worked for Downs-Rackland Martin in this area and Volts is, I believe, a sister to the gentleman that headed up the education department in this state some time ago. Ms. Ballent is Harvard educated also, but in education. And we feel that, I personally feel, that Ballent has abdicated her first responsibility to the budget committee in an effort to take on the more prestigious responsibilities of the House Judiciary Committee. Thank you so much. Our next speaker is Madison to be followed by Jenna Emerson. In his 2021 State of the City address, Mayor Weinberger asked all Burlington residents to imagine a future where we have a limited racial disparities and where everyone in the Burlington community feels true belonging. From the mayor's address, committing that the city will place racial justice and racial equity at the center of work going forward, the mayor said, I know that words are not enough. And so as I speak tonight, I also will detail how I intend to follow up these words with actions in the months and years ahead, including and especially by elevating and supporting the work of many partners, organizations and BIPOC leaders. Pursuing three major initiatives to promote a greater sense of belonging in Burlington, the mayor committed to sponsoring the city's first annual Juneteenth celebration as a result of the REIB department's initiative and leadership, developing an actionable plan to eliminate the disparity in home ownership among black Burlingtonians and continue to grapple with public safety transformation. I repeat Mayor Weinberger's words as a call of action or a call to action for the city council. To one, make clear the findings of the REIB audit which show no wrongdoing on the part of former director, Taisha Green. Two, make clear that director Green oversaw a resoundingly successful and unimpeachable Juneteenth 2021 wherein she was visionary, fundraiser and executive manager of the event in total. Three, that findings of mismanagement as regards the 2022 Juneteenth celebration must make clear that director Green resigned at the top of March 2022 and BCA staff and outside organizations were responsible in entirety for the June 17th execution and management of that event. Four, note a pattern of bias as regards to Mayor's execution of oversight when implications of mismanagement have been directed towards other department heads. As Mayor Weinberger's former campaign treasurer and reelection advisor, I'd like to highlight a well-documented and self-professed case of bias by the mayor. In his own words, I'm not asking director Taisha Green to manage this assessment, the study of the Burlington Police Department. I belied the deep respect and appreciation that I have for her. If you can wrap up. This decision was wrong and reveals my own bias. Thank you. Our next speaker is Jenna Emerson to be followed by Levi Silverstein. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Jenna Emerson of Burlington War II and I am here in solidarity with Taisha Green and KCLRB. I have lived in Burlington for six years and in that time I have seen too many phenomenal, brilliant black femmes, women and trans folks leave or get pushed out of this community because of the relenting burden of the combination of misogyny and racism, which is misogynoir, a term coined by black feminist Moya Bailey.  It is a shame that Taisha's character and integrity are put into question through an attempt to solely these amazing events and people. And I am here in solidarity with others in this room demanding justice. Thank you. Thank you. So our next speaker is Levi Silverstein to be followed by Leah Malone. Good evening. I hope I got your name right this time. You did, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great. That's Silverstein, but it's okay, it doesn't matter. Yeah, good evening members of the Burlington City Council. My name is Levi Silverstein. I'm an outpatient pharmacy technician at UVMMC. Some of you may remember me.  Still broken, don't have the money to fix it, but that's not why I'm here. It's come to my union's attention that UVMMC has been in touch with some of you council members or all of you in an attempt to influence the outcome of tonight's resolution in support of the UVMMC support staff united. My sincere hope is that all of you told them to stuff it. If you didn't or are still on the fence about supporting the working poor in our city, it'll allow me to remind you why we're fighting. UVMMC is the largest employer in the state. However, over 50% of the employees in my 2,300 person bargaining unit make less than $20 per hour. According to the 2022 Vermont Basic Needs Budget and Livable Wage Report published by the Vermont Legislative Joint Fiscal Office, the minimum livable wage for a single person living in an urban area such as Burlington and Vermont is $20.03. For a single parent with one child living in an urban area, that wage increases to $35.50. Even in the household with two working adults and two children, the base livable wage for just one parent is $25.97. Allow me to repeat myself, over 50% of the employees in my 2,300 person bargaining unit make less than $20 an hour. So according to this report, as well as the testimonials of countless UVMMC employees, it is clear we are underpaid and the hospital is fine with keeping it that way. As indicated by the minimum wage of their most recent proposal being less than $18. We, however, are not, and that's why we formed a union, or an onion, if you say it wrong. It's also worth noting that the most recent, it's also worth noting the inherent racism of their most recent wage proposal, which keeps the two most diverse departments with the most new Americans starting under that $20 line. UVMMC has made some attempts to sway your votes against us. I implore you, do not allow them to do so. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is, our next speaker is Leah Malone to be followed by Robert Bristow-Johnson. Is it on? It is on. This is scary. As a white, masculine, presenting person. So good evening. My name is Leah Malone. I was born in Southern Vermont and I grew up between Bennington County and Burlington, Vermont. I am here in solidarity with Tayisha Green, Casey LRB, and Blackfems, non-binary, and women throughout Vermont, who are currently experiencing racial and gender-based discrimination, harassment, displacement, and terrorism. I yield the rest of my time. Thank you. Our next speaker is Robert Bristow-Johnson to be followed by Bethany Whittaker. Completely different. So I don't envy you guys at all. 500 page agenda packet. So on page 440 on that, you're gonna see some photographs. And I wanna tell you the story behind the photographs. So this has happened at least twice since I lived here. 12 years ago it was called Irene and then it was last month. And some of you might remember going to the dam at Winooski and seeing this apocalyptic thing. And all of that water has to end up in my neck of the woods in Ward 7. And I'm up by the bike bridge. And all of this water is coming south from the Colchester boat launch. And something has to exert a force on it to divert it to go west. And that something is in an entirety dirt and tree limb. And it's eroding very rapidly at an alarming rate. And so then what's happening is right since that happened just regular flow of the river has eroded a structure next to the bike bridge that is threatening the footings of the bike bridge at least at will within a decade. So I don't want any level of government to be absolved of worrying about this city, state, FEMA. But this is gonna be expensive and it's only going to get more expensive with delay. And you have to do it unless the alternative is that maybe for the next generation we don't have a bike bridge for our kids. Thank you. Our next speaker is Bethany Whitaker to be followed by Jacob Berkowitz. Good evening. Hi, good evening. I'm here to talk about something different, so. And I'm here to talk about the Burlington Electric Commission. I'm a member of the Burlington Electric Commission. I think you all know it's a five member advisory board that meets monthly. There's also opportunities to participate virtually. I know there's been a lot of questions about Burlington Electric recently and the McNeil plant. And also district energy and I just wanna make sure that everybody knows that the Burlington Electric Commission we meet it's a great form for people to bring questions to offer input and advice. I know there's been a lot of meetings at the two but I would invite folks that are interested in discussing district energy and the McNeil plant to come to the commission as well. And I just want you all to know that the commission meet, you know, we're talking about this issue. And just also to remind folks that BED's primary mission is to provide reliable affordable electricity to the repairs in the city of Burlington. Net zero energy is also a critical part of BED's mission and goals. And the McNeil plant and the district energy plant are fundamental parts of BED's strategy to provide reliable affordable energy and advance the net zero energy goals. There are negative impacts associated with all energy production. BED is working towards transitioning away from the most harmful and the most carbon intensive forms of energy as it moves towards cleaner and more renewable sources. The McNeil plant is part of this solution. It allows us to increase energy production when we need to and it also can back away from it as needed and the district energy proposal would increase the efficiency of energy production overall. So I just wanted to let you know that we are taking that issue under consideration. I know there's been a lot of advocates that have come and voiced opposition to McNeil and to the district energy and I would invite them to come to the commission and talk to them about it with us there and just to let you all know that we are debating and discussing those issues. Thank you, thanks Bethany. Our next speaker is Jacob Berkowitz to be followed by Lee Morgan. Good evening. Hello, my name is Jacob and I work in the staffing office at UVMMC. Essentially my job is to staff the hospital namely the inpatient nursing units from a pool of resource staff. In my three years at UVMMC, I faced a number of challenges. The most significant of which is the complete lack of support staff. Today, for instance, the inpatient nursing units were down around 42% of their floor L&As. In other words, it was a very unsafe day at UVMMC. Days and nights like these are increasingly common and I publicly shared my office's data with both the administration and recently on Councillor Bergman's monthly broadcast. One of the chief reasons for this increasing deficit is UVMMC's continued refusal to pay a living wage and they continue to reject our union's common sense proposals that would help retain experienced staff and, God forbid, attract new workers instead of hiring the often less qualified and less experienced travelers that cost many times more to take care of our patients and the community. And frankly, we're done hearing there isn't enough resources to prioritize the most vulnerable staff that comprise our union, 99% of which qualify for the hospital's own financial assistance program that they offer to patients. Particularly, when the administration plans an over $2 billion budget, including the construction of a $130 million outpatient surgery center that they clearly cannot staff, as well as over $46 billion allotted for travelers. Furthermore, we're tired of hearing that there's no money from an organization while tens of millions of dollars in the red through a pandemic that saw layoffs, short staffing and great suffering in the community decided it was appropriate to often give five and even six figure bonuses to executives on top of their bloated salaries with money subsidized by the American taxpayer. These are the adults that we are fighting and that is why we need your support for this resolution. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Lee Morgan to be followed by Eli Jahan-Jahar. Anyone whose name is, someone whose name is Eli. I believe it's Jahan-Ral. Hopefully that sounds familiar to someone. Lee, good evening. Do you not have the mic on? Is it? Can I start over? Of course. Thanks. You can start over. All right. Typically I'm loud enough without a mic, but. All right, so my name is Lee Morgan. I'm a resident of Ward 7. My pronouns are they, them. I'm here to talk to you tonight about the REIB audit and report. I think it's really important to note that Director Green was not an employee for a lot of the timeline of this audit and Ms. Ellerby was an employee, not a director and I feel shouldn't be held the same way and responsibility as director. The report was really confusing to me and for me, definitely generated a lot more questions than answers. I found the conclusion portion to be completely contradictory with the recommendations. For example, in the conclusion section, it alleges misconduct and carelessness. While then in the recommendation section makes it very clear that no law or city policy was violated. I don't understand how those two can coexist. So referenced was hotel stays and in state and out of state contractors being registered with the state. There's no policy about these things. So I don't understand how there's carelessness and mismanagement about that. In fact, one of the issues highlighted the most in the media, the hiring of a former college roommate of Director Greens, which does not violate the current policy of conflict of interest which is limited to familial and personal financial interests. Even with the suggested new policy suggested in recommendations, that still would not prevent hiring a former college roommate. It would simply put that information in front of the Board of Finance. So for me, if there's any carelessness and mismanagement, I feel that that falls to the management of the city. This report is incomplete, contradictory and misleading. And I hope there are some steps taken tonight to start to correct this. Thank you. Thank you. So our next speaker is Eli. Johanna Rell. Does that sound? Yes. To be followed by Jake Schumann. Take your time. Is this thing on? Is the speaker on? The speaker is on. Just get close to the microphone if you can. I am Eli Yohannovich, 83 years old. I have a degree in mathematics, two years in medical school, sixth in my class. Made good money all my life. I bought a 1958 Chevrolet and pallet convertible and for $3,600. And now I can't even afford to live. I live on the street. I've been on the street for six years, I mean for six months. And I'm tired. I need a place to present a world peace speech. I was anointed by God in 1977 as a prophet. And I need a place to speak. And that's why I'm here to attempt to get this. The last two verses of Malachi and the Old Testament said, I will send you Elijah the prophet and he will turn the fathers of their children, the hearts of children to their fathers, thus aspite the land of the cursed. And Revelation 11, 3 says I will grant my two witnesses' power to speak. These two powers are me as to speak and God and Mother Earth, which is the ground to support me. Judgment day will begin at the day that I began speaking. This was again anointed. 99.9% of the world population will fall dead. This is biblical because they failed to do two things. You must love all people, even those who do dastardly things because our culture produced all of these. No one was reproduced. The other thing is have respect for all races and people. Black, you don't respect them. I need a platform to present this speech with. Thank you so much. Is that it? Yes, thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Jake Schumann to be followed by Grace File. Good evening, Jake. Hello. Is this on? You have that on? Microphone's on? I believe it's on. Great. Okay, my name is Jake Schumann. I am here. I don't know that I have much to offer that hasn't already been said. I would just like to lend my voice in support of my community members who are here tonight. I support BIPOC women, I support unions. I think both of those things are good and we need to support our people in our community. I would like to yield the remainder of my time. I know this is not how it works here but if somebody would like to go over and is part of those communities, I'd love to offer them my minute and a half. Finally, Murrow's gotta go. It's time. The writing's on the wall. Jake. So our next speaker is Grace File to be followed by Fareed. Good evening. Hello. I'm here today in solidarity with Tahisha and with Fareed and with all of the black women and non-binary folks and femmes in our state who are repeatedly facing terrorism and racism every single day.  And the fact that you're not doing everything that you can and your power to center the safety and the joy and the sense of belonging of black folks and brown folks in our community is a huge disservice and shows that you're not qualified to run our city. There is a world in which people of color can feel like they belong here and can feel safe and that's a world that a lot of us are fighting for and advocating for. That can happen if we all work together to end white supremacy, the white supremacy that lives in ourselves and in our family members and in our community. And because you are not doing that, members of this council, some of you, that shows that you're not qualified to represent us. If you're not committed to the safety and wellbeing and belonging of everyone in our community, you're not qualified to be here. As you look at this beautiful banner up here, I hope everyone gets a chance to look at it. It's really lovely, this quilt that says Juneteenth 2021 on it. I hope you think about how this all could have gone differently. How black and brown folks who work in our city government who work with you all could feel supported and taken care of and how this beautiful, wonderful event could have been celebrated and lauded and could have set the tone for the rest of this existence as a city. We could continue to have these beautiful celebrations, but because of what you have done unnecessarily, it's wrong, it's ridiculous, and you should resign. Thank you. Fareed, good evening. And our next speaker following Fareed is Todd LaCroix to be followed by Brian Sheena, good evening. I almost got investigated by Chairman or by Director Green when the People's Kitchen applied for a grant. There was some misunderstanding, and one of our colleagues, Lydia Diamond, called, asking about the status. They said Green was right there wanting to make sure there was nothing going on that wasn't legal. She was honestly, although it scared me at the time, it showed me that she is a woman of very high integrity. And as we were contracted to also feed people for the Juneteenth, the city departments made it really hard for us to access the resources that we needed. And a call to Taisha Green made sure that was all taken care of. I do think investigation is a good thing. I think there should be an Office of Investigation for residents to put complaints about city departments that aren't really doing their job, such as the Office of Code Enforcement. There's too many tenants who've been made homeless. As you were aware, one of our colleagues was recently made homeless because a landlord neglected to update their fire detection system. So this happens way too many times. There should also be, since UVM received a pilot at the payment in Lee of Taxes, they should be under the city's livable wage ordinance. And any violation of that should be investigated. So please consider, as the conversation around police discipline is falling, consider an independent Office of Investigation like the New York City's Enforcement Service, where we residents can talk to somebody who is hold accountable by us to investigate all the wrongdoings that's being done by the city. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Todd LaCroix to be followed by Brian Sheena. There's so much hypocrisy going around in America. I can't even stand it. There's hypocrisy every which way we look. I see so much selective outrage every which way from people like you and people like you. I see people being hypocrites.  Now you're experiencing something similar. Black people and everybody in America do the same thing. They do. I'm married to a black woman and my divorce was a nightmare in this America because I had to deal with black supremacy and white supremacy. You see how vehement it gets when you even want to talk about the problems, right? And ah, ah, but nobody wants to call out the facts that all of the people almost in the last few years that have threatened me were. Yeah.  Two minutes. I can't even get through my statement because I'm getting assaulted for calling people out for the same hypocrisies. President Paul, can I call the recess? This is a violation. Yeah. You see, the police officer's stopping her from assaulting me because the police are also assaulting me. And I don't see any black people caring about my assaults. Right. I've been told that for years. I started Occupy Wall Street. And I got assaulted during a five minute recess. Black lives matter in the last few years.   The division, the hypocrisy. We're gonna continue, we're gonna continue with the meeting. We're gonna continue with the meeting. We're gonna continue with the meeting. The next person who is speaking is Brian Sheena. I just want people to know that he's gone. He's a couple blocks away. Just, we don't get to check out of these feelings when we leave this room, call people, whatever it may be. You get to go home. Yes, this might affect where you might move career-wise. Or this might affect who you might want.  Farine, Farine, Farine, Farine, Farine. Looking at white supremacy leadership. Farine, if it's not for me, if it's not for Jackson. We're gonna, we're, but our next, it is now 717, we're gonna have a, just a moment. Let me just finish, we're gonna call a five-minute recess. I need to take care of a couple of things. Brian, if you wanna just sit there or not, that's fine. We need a, Representative Sheena, I'll be back in five minutes. We're gonna have a five-minute recess. I will, I will, I would like to speak when we, when we resume. I would like to speak when we resume. I won't have reactions, it's anti-resume. 727, if everyone could please take their seat. If everyone could please take their seat. There's plenty of seats for anyone else who wishes to sit down. And we'll continue with the meeting. Thank you for your patience. Our next speaker is State Representative Brian Sheena. Brian, welcome. Thank you for waiting. Thank you. I'm not just a State Representative, I'm also a social worker, and I've never seen as much suffering as I've seen in the world right now. And tonight's evidence of that. I've studied all religions of the world. I believe they all have something to offer us. And in Buddhism, one of the four noble truths is that existence is suffering. And something I talk about with my clients is, why do we make it harder for ourselves and others? And I ask you, why have we built a government that harms the very people that we're supposed to serve? We've created a carceral state that uses violence of the state against the people to enforce social control. And after many years of trying to end systemic racism, we made great strides, but now we're seeing the backlash as white men can't handle when black women are better than them. And this audit, I feel, is being used as an instrument of state violence. And I ask, if we're gonna talk about mismanagement, whatever happened to the mismanagement of the TIF district after years of critique of previous administrations, whatever happened to that, we should be talking about that. And this pattern of state violence fits into a pattern I've seen as people were evicted from Sears Lane to make way for a luxury neighborhood when hundreds of people are sleeping in the woods now. And we've seen the abuse of young black men in their trauma intensified so that they can be used as scapegoats. We've seen attempts to cover up investigation of police homicide. We've seen healthcare workers intimidated by the police. And then the hospital administration being complicit with the harm of the carceral state. And so I just wanna say violence begets violence. That's something that's in the Bible, it's something Martin Luther King said. And it also has been said that only love can conquer hate. And so I just wanna say to everyone in the face of so much hate, don't let anyone take away our love for each other. So I'll just end on that note. I'm here in solidarity with the black women, the strong black femmes, and also with the union at UVM, thank you. Thank you. So we have no other speakers who are in con choice who are Burlington residents. We have a number, I'm sorry, what is your name? Okay, you just didn't have an address. So I didn't know. Please come, of course. Congrats on the president, you know.  But if you still decide to interrupt me, just address my brain, not me, thank you. Okay, first up, hi, Naomi, watching at home, love you. And for the first 15 seconds, I just wanna say you got the right day with the wrong nigga. In 1915, during the reconstruction era, there was a film called Birth of a Nation and the plot just, I'll just summarize it. It includes a white knight on a horse, Miro, saving the white woman into stress, Burlington. And it frames black people, specifically, black masculine people, Taisha, as either incompetent, a super predator, or monster.  All right. And Champlain College, when I was 19 years old, during my second year at Champlain College, I was involved in a Title IX investigation. That resulted from two kisses on the cheek, I didn't get no pussy, but I got called a rapist. So that is one of the tropes, right? I am a super predator. And now in 2023, it has resurfaced, right? So I was the victim of institutional racism.     And I got one more thing. And Revolution is not a one-time event.   Revolution is not a one-time event. Word to Audre Lorde. Shit, maybe show up tomorrow.  You about to lose your job, get this dance. You about to lose your, I'm sorry, I got one more up there, I got it, okay, bye. So of those people who have requested to speak in con choice, I've looked, I believe all of you have addresses that are outside Burlington. If there aren't, if there are any of you that have submitted a form and you are Burlington residents, please just raise your hand. And then we, or we will go to those who are joining us online.  We will get to all non-Burlington residents after we go to Burlington residents who are joining us online. So we'll have a timer set up for, we'll have a timer set up, yes, great. So the first person who is joining us online who is a Burlington resident is Ryan Bergman. And Ryan, I have found you and enabled your microphone. I'm not sure if you wish to speak now or if you wanted to speak when the agenda item comes up for the Church Street Marketplace. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Did you want to speak now or did you want to wait until later in the agenda? Yeah, whatever you guys think is best. You'd prefer to wait? I'm happy to speak now, I'm happy to wait. It really doesn't matter to me whatever you guys think would be best for the team at this point in time. Well, what we normally do when we get to the agenda item for any commission appointments is we give any of the candidates who are present the opportunity to speak and you can do so at that time or if you're pressed for time, you could certainly speak now. Okay, I might as well just speak now in the, in the- Okay, go ahead. In the absence of time, so just I wanted to express my interest in the vacant seat on the Church Street Marketplace, Marketplace Commission as they could bring a unique fund of professional and personal qualifications to this role. Professionally, I'm a seasoned financial expert with a strong background in risk management, budgeting, and strategic planning. I work for two Fortune 500 companies in San Francisco and currently at Silver Lake Block Management in Wilson, Vermont. On a personal level, I'm a Burlington native and resident of the Old North End, living two blocks away from Church Street with my wife and three-year-old son. I'm not just an observer, but a stakeholder in the vitality of the Marketplace researching its shops and dining at its restaurants with my family regularly. This intimate connection provides me with unique insights and perspectives. If I'm appointed, my primary goal would be to promote the long-term financial stability, safety, and growth of the Marketplace, serve its unique identity and foster a thriving, diverse business community. I am passionate about improving visitor amenities, public safety, and promoting sustainable practices. I believe my professional experience and personal connection to Burlington and commitment to the community make me a strong candidate for this role and I will be honored to serve my community in this capacity. Thank you so much. Thanks, Ryan. Our next speaker is Carla Seche Salazar and Carla, I do not see you online. I don't know if you're calling in or participating under another name. If you are and want to use the raise hand function, I will come back to you. The next person from Burlington who wishes to speak is Sarah Schiortino and Sarah. I believe this may be you. Sarah, is that you? I've enabled a microphone with Sarah S. Yes, this is me. Great, thanks. Please go ahead. Hey, my name is Sarah Schiortino. I live in Ward 5 and I'm calling in to speak out in solidarity with Hayesha Green and other Black Thames in Burlington. I also wanted to echo the voices of the UBMMC union members today. As we all are well aware, I would hope, Hayesha has done so much work to strengthen community in Burlington and cultivate spaces that our city has in large part otherwise seriously failed to. Since Hayesha has been pushed out of the city as a result of latent failures to support or even display basic respect for her work, the on-the-clock conduct of multiple city officials has been brought into question. The city has not done their due diligence by conducting investigations in regards to these instances and one of them even got a pretty significant promotion and despite egregious and unethical behavior, including an almost unbelievable threat made to a surgeon on the job responding to crisis, John Murad moved up the ranks through a flawed process and was supported by eight of the counselors before us in doing so. I hope that you will, in this case, support Black Thames who have done so much for the community that you've been elected to serve. And I really love Burlington and I love living here. But, and I really hate to say, it really makes me sad to say this, but I feel ashamed in a lot of ways for living here in light of this situation. And I hope that we can do a better job not forcing folks out of the city who go against the racist status quo. And I hope that clarity can come to those willing to allow this audit process to perpetuate systemic racism and make Burlington a less welcoming place. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Robert O. Moore. And Robert, I don't see you online. Again, if you are under another name and want to use the raise hand function, I will try to find you in that way. Our next person joining us, a Burlington resident joining us online to speak is Pike Porter. And Pike, I have found you and enabled your microphone. You should be able to speak now. Yes, hi, thanks for taking my call. Sorry, couldn't be there in person. Earlier today, I sent the city council several documents which you may, you should already have had, but I wanted to bring them to the top of your attention given that you're now in discussions with V-Tang again over something that we don't know yet, what that is about. I also sent an email indicating that the Air Force is one of the richest entities in the world with a budget in 2023 of over $2 billion. And you're leasing 280 acres of prime real estate for a dollar. Given all the attention that the mayor has paid to the REIB office and the Juneteenth contracts, I would hope that the city council also scrutinizes their agreements with V-Tang and considers really the harm that the continued operations of the F-35s are doing to thousands of people in the region and the cost to the regional economy, the local economy in the region. Thank you. Thank you very much, Pike. Our next speaker joining us online is Ishmael Ahmed and I believe I did see, let's see you earlier, oh, yes, great. You've raised your hand. You should be able to speak now if you just unmute yourself on your end. So I think you can hear me now. Yes, we can. So my name is Ishmael Ahmed. I grew up in Underhill. I came out of Immemue in 1990 and I lived in Burlington for almost 30 years now. My mother and my six children live here with five of them in the school district from high school to elementary school. I come to stand in solidarity not only with Taisha but with also the medical center workers. What I want to speak to you specifically is how spending priorities are decided and what's considered acceptable expenditures.  And we also need to remember the history of eugenics within Vermont. There was a reason that Abnaki people look the way they do. So when we make our decisions of spending money and resources to support our community, which is essentially your job, you need to make sure that we are including what we wish to see in our future. For example, let's say there was a desire to celebrate Latino music. Choosing a DJ, for example, I would say would make sense to consider one that comes out of the tradition and out of that place that might cost 30 to 50% more than someone who doesn't, but still can spin salsa, you know, merengue, whatever. So I would ask the city council to really take a look at the bylaws around how spending decisions are made as they have a very wide and far-reaching impact, right? Because part of this audit was about how the money was spent, the idea that possibly there's vendors that cost more than others that were chosen. There's reasons for that, and I think they're valid. Anyways, thank you all very much. I hope I was able to make myself clear and have a good night. Great, thank you so much. Our next speaker joining us online is Julia Curry and Julia I see you and have enabled your microphone. You should be able to speak if you unmute yourself on your end. Thank you. I am glad to see so many of my fellow Burlingtonians coming out this evening and speaking this evening. I have to echo Sarah's comment that I really feel ashamed of our city at this moment and that isn't something I often feel. You know, we're all flawed. We all make mistakes, but the decision to commission this REIB report investigation was just kind of astonishing to me and astonishing lapse of judgment and ironically, a real failure of integrity. So I wanna raise up that leadership and integrity involves self-awareness, it involves self-reflection, it involves humility and the willingness to learn. Whereas what I see in the commissioning of this report is a kind of defensive or vindictive desire to basically attack someone who is no longer in a position to defend herself. A complete waste of scarce resources we certainly cannot afford to be using in this personalistic way. It's a kind of projection of ego that really doesn't belong in strong leadership with integrity. It really makes me sad. It makes me sad for everyone in the city, in particular, for all the Black FEMS and non-binary people who experience attacks and targets daily and now have to experience that the highest levels of our city are complicit in that. And I hope that everyone who had a role in making this decision will actually search their hearts for how they came to do that and learn how to not do it again. Thank you very much. We have a couple of people that are joining us online that are not Burlington residents. We will come back to them. Now we'll return to con toys for those joining us in person who are non-Burlington residents. The first is Kathleen Kemp to be followed by Kaya Morris. Good evening, Karen. Good evening. I'm Kathleen Kemp from Winooski. I spent many years living in Burlington. And I am clearly and obviously here in support of Taisha Green, Casey LRB and everyone else in my greater circle. What I wanna do is tell a short story. The terrorism on Black bodies in this state was made clear to me 50 years ago when I had to endure slave day at Burlington High School. I protested. I said, guidance counselor, all the people that I had relationships with, why are we doing this? Oh, we're just having fun. Get over it. Three years in a row didn't change. Kept happening. The auction was one day and then all the fun happened the next day. So I watched my fellow students in chains on leashes being fools in the hallways that I had to walk by while I was there for an education. Okay, so the terrorizing has happened for years. And that was my welcome to Vermont now go home moment. Fascinating that the camera's right there. So you can't look at the mayor. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Kaya Morris and I'm a resident of Essex Junction. In solidarity with, I'm here today in solidarity with Taisha Green, Casey Ellerby, Black Femmes, non-binary and trans women throughout Vermont who have or are currently experiencing racial and gender-based discrimination, harassment, displacement and terrorism. I'm here because Taisha and Casey's stories are of my own and of so many people who live, work and play in Vermont. I am here because the abuse of political power or the lack of political courage by leaders in addressing the racism and deeply entrenched practices of white supremacy and structural racism that have made far too many Black Femmes, non-binary folks, gender non-conforming and trans individuals have to leave this state. Countless of us must choose the safety of their families, job security and community over fighting back, speaking out and challenging the harmful practices which negatively impact us all. And in the 15 years that I've lived here in Vermont, nearly every job that I've had has had similar threads. Hire the Black woman, demand more work in what she's compensated for, downplay or usurp her accomplishments, defame her character and push her out. The harm continues with the economic devastation that comes from this displacement, from the abuse that causes mental and physical distress to her and her family, the loss of another voice and their irreplaceable contributions to this state. Burlington Juneteenth, 2021 and 2022 were some of the most triumphant days that I've had since calling Vermont my home. It is foul to cast dispersions on the events and the transformative work that was helmed by former director Green. Now, Vermont has long struggled to live up to its values and in this moment, Mayor Weinberger and his administration are proving how dangerous, unchecked, misogynoir and bias can be to the lives and livelihoods of Black women and Femmes in Vermont. I appreciate one more moment as some folks did yield their time. I just wanna make sure that the final demand that was the most important is that we want a full public articulation of harm from Mayor, Mayor Weinberger and the city of Burlington to Taisha Green, to Casey Ellerby, to their families for the continued defamation of character and unwarranted actions taken through the city processes like this audit. Not an apology, a reckoning and accounting for the multiple forms of harm enacted by the city on behalf of the residents. Yes, each and every one of you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Lydia Diamond to be followed by Leah Briggs. Yes, I did. Can you hear me now? Yep. My name is Lydia Diamond. And I used to live in Burlington. Now I'm in South Burlington. I had a glorious time this year running for South Burlington City Council. Why did you run, Lydia? They asked. And I said, because no person of color has ever stepped up to do it. So here I am. Guess what? I'm running again. I want y'all to know I came out today in support of these beautiful black women behind me because y'all got us all.  I'm from the gutters of Brooklyn, New York. And I came to Vermont in 94. My mama brought me here. She wanted me to live. See my shirt? I brought my ancestors with me for my route at the Burlington Free Press. But he was a big, beautiful blonde woman named Jennifer Johnson. And she loved to ride Lydia. I was discriminated against. So when, even though I don't know Taistia personally, I do know she a black woman. So I know exactly what she went through. Did you cut me off? Oh, I know exactly what she went through. And it's been going on for far too long. I came to let y'all know that the domestic violence against women of color has to stop. It has to stop. Enough is enough. We don't wanna fight. We want to be respected as human beings. First things. Thank you. Thank you. We deserve to breathe. We deserve to support our families. We deserve everything that you get. I'm entitled to it too. Thank you so much.   Oh, okay. Thank you. I'll be back. Okay. You have not seen the last of me. So before we get to the next speaker, just wanted to alert the council that we have gone over our time for public forum. And so we just simply need to take a vote on whether or not to extend public forum. Councilor McGee, I assume that you are joined. You are, you're able to hear us. Yes. Okay. Great. Thank you. Just so everyone is aware there are about 11 people that are left to speak. So a motion, Councilor Hightower. Move, text on the public forum. Thank you. Second to that motion. Seconded by Councilor Berkman. All those in favor of extending the public forum until our last speaker has been heard, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor McGee. Any opposed, please say no. No. That, that motion, that. Ooh, true to form. Hey, hey, let us, let us, let us conduct our business. That motion passes by a vote of 10 to one. So we will continue with our public forum. Our next speaker is Leah Briggs to be followed by Gina Rest. Point of, point of information. I think it might have been nine to one. No. Well, there are 12, nine to one. You're right. My apologies, I can't count. Nine to one. Good evening. Hello. My name is Leah Briggs. I've been with the University of Vermont Medical Center for 22 years and consider my fellow coworkers, my family. I've had the privilege to work with an incredible team of phlebotomists, also known as vampires, bloodsuckers, or oh no, you're here again. I am here today to plead for your support in better working conditions for all of our essential support workers at UVM Medical Center. My experience lies with phlebotomy and I would like to share a little about them. Our team of phlebotomists work under extremely stressful situations with minimal staffing and staggering responsibilities. More than 80% of diagnosis and treatment is based on laboratory tests. Last quarter, from April 1st to June 30th, my team of 45 phlebotomists collected over 50,000 patients. That's on average around 580 per day. With an error rate of under 1%. All this with critically low staffing, we provide a handle hold through trauma, a shoulder for patients' tears, a calming voice and moments of fear and a passion for all of it. This is why it breaks my heart that UVM phlebotomists or UVM MC phlebotomists are paid only $16.63 an hour. This is how UVM MC values your healthcare. 80% of what your provider does is based on the performance of someone that is getting paid less than my 17-year-old daughter gets paid at McDonald's. On your website, the city of Burlington, the low income limit is $63,600 per year. A UVM MC phlebotomist grosses $35,000 a year. How is it okay that that's acceptable? How is it okay for the largest employer in the state and the only level one trauma center in the region to undervalue their staff to the point of extreme poverty? UVM MC is creating and maintaining a class of working poor in the state of Vermont. This is not okay. I understand I have one more sentence. We need your help and your support in changing the way UVM MC values their most precious resource, which is all of our support staff. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. So our next speaker is Gina Russ to be followed by Alex Hilliard. Hi everyone, my name is Gina Russ. I work at UVM as well as you can see all of our red shirts and I do support you guys on the other side. I kind of wanna just follow up with what Leah said that we need to be paid for the work that we do. We can't afford to live here and we're taking care of both sides of the community. We can't do that if we don't get paid. People are leaving. Good people are leaving this hospital as a result of us not getting paid or being able to fully have the ability to have downtime. In other words, be able to decompress. We need to be able to do that. And if we can't do that, it's not gonna help our community on either side. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Alex Hilliard to be followed by Tara Gregg. Hi, Alex. Hi, my name is Alex Hilliard. I am a black and trans individual from Pultney, a town 60 miles to the south in Rutland County. I wanted to use this opportunity as a teaching moment for my two children with me today to teach them what it means to show up for black women. We have come to protest the unjust, unsubstantiated investigation of former DIB director, Taisha Greene. At the hands of employees, the media and states and local government offices, scores of black women and non-binary individuals have experienced abusive practices and disproportionate harm. The abusive practices include gaslighting, turning a blind eye to hate crimes occurring in the greater community and ignoring the daily racial microaggressions these women face. Those women and non-binary folks unsurprisingly flee their elected public offices, senior management roles, and executive officer positions when the backbreaking burden becomes too much to bear. Enough is enough. It's time for Vermont to show up for black women, not one more black woman, not Taisha Greene or Kathleen Kemp or Kaia Morris or Farine Paris Meyer or Zariah Hightower or any of the black women or black non-binary folks you know because most people in this room know someone who identifies that way and has been adversely impacted by racism. It's time to do the right thing and that begins with apologies to Taisha Greene and Casey Ellerby. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Tara Gregg to be followed by Eric Weinman.   I'm wearing this tape on my mouth because if you haven't seen the movie yet, this is what it looks like, okay? It's called Misogyny in the Digital Age. It's an international film about racism in Vermont and one of the victims is sitting right there. I suggest you all watch it. If I die or get killed by any of your crazy small town yoggles, I'll know where it came from but I still yield my time and let them finish. So our next speaker is Eric Weinman to be followed by Mojideen Batah. My name is Eric Weinman. I've been employed here at UVMMC in the phlebotomy department since December of 2022. I absolutely love my position as a phlebotomist. I suffer from hemophilia A, a rare chronic bleeding illness. I have to administer intravenous medicine three times a week so I am able to connect with patients that struggle with blood draws because I know how difficult it can be from my own experience. Having the opportunity to assure an anxious patient that they are in good hands is truly a rewarding and gratifying experience. I do believe it takes a special person to work in healthcare and the team I am blessed to be a part of goes above and beyond to ensure that we deliver the finest patient care possible. My coworkers that helped guide and mentor me are incredible phlebotomists that continue to share their knowledge and experience with other new hires so that we can continue to serve our patients and community that require blood work. Our patients depend on us to safely draw and handle their samples so that they can receive the results they so desperately need. I'm a parent to a brave, intelligent and hardworking 17-year-old son. I have an amazing fiancee who supports me in every aspect of my life. She supported me when I made the decision to leave my comfortable, well-paying career for a $16.36 hourly wage with questionable benefits. With my current wage, I am eligible for government assistance. With my current wage, I would not be able to afford my apartment without the aid of my fiancee salary. With my current wage, I would not be able to support myself or my son in the state of Vermont. I would never tell my son, Lucas, but he has paid a higher wage than his 40-year-old father. My current wage is $16.36. My son, Lucas, is making 18 hours at McDonald's. This is unacceptable for the largest healthcare provider in the state of Vermont.  Our next speaker is Mouyadine Batah. My apologies if I mispronounced your name. I'll fix it. How do you pronounce it? My name is Mouyadine Batah. I'm a citizen of America. I've been living in Vermont for 23 years. What's happened in Burlington, what happened here now, reminds me of what happened two years ago when we were suppressed about the BDS. And this is exactly what's happened, being suppressed here. I feel like minorities are being all the time oppressed and suppressed in this country and there's no difference between here and Israel. I feel like I didn't even leave Israel. I feel like I still live under racism in this country because of the minority. I'm here to, it doesn't look to me like anything changed here. You haven't changed at all. And that's why you have to keep coming here and talk to you and demand that you change all of your policies against minorities. And two years ago when we were kind of voting for BDS against the Israeli brutal occupation, we were accused of being anti-Semitic, which is bullshit. There's nothing anti-Semitic against Israeli brutal occupation. And the mayor, he wrote also against it.  That's not right. Same thing is happening against blacks and minorities in here and nothing is changing, it looks like. This is unacceptable at all. And I think you should ship up and really think into your heart and think about other people and other people oppressed and suppressed. That's all I can say. I'm pretty just, I'm so pissed at the policies of BDS here. Thank you. For our last speaker that is joining us in con choice is Tabitha Moore. Hi. Hi. Can we start just with a deep breath? I don't know if anyone else needs that. I know I do. So as you said, my name is Tabitha Moore. I'm a sixth generation Vermonter, founding president of the Rutland area branch to the NAACP and former state director of the Rott branches of the NAACP, current chair of the criminal justice committee for the Rutland area branch. Even though I live up here, they let me do a little step on the side. Not a lot of people of color want to be meddling in law enforcement these days. And well, before I get, I wasn't planning on coming down or talking. I'm currently battling Lyme disease that I'm in the last part of my dissertation. But when I saw what was happening, I knew that I had to come and more fully support. The women of color. And I just want you to know that the presidents Gillam and Schultz of the Vermont branches of the NAACP can't be here tonight. They want everyone to know that they will be following up and they will be in support of Taisha and be watching this process with great interest because this is not a new story. Since 1909, the NAACP has been dealing with this and there's a reason we keep coming back. There's a reason we keep showing up at the table it's because we keep screwing it up. But before I get there, counselors of color on this board right now, wow, I see you. I see you and I see what you're going through and I know what you're gonna have to do tonight and I am so sorry, but I'm glad you're there. So it doesn't surprise me that we're still here and we're still having this conversation and what a beautiful, horrible moment that we have people fighting for fair wages and we have people fighting for fair processes in general because it's our systems that continue to squeeze us till we have nothing left that keep us from prosperity, that keep us from living, that keep us from harm like what Taisha is getting even since that terrible headline ran and what was it? Which one was it? Was it the terrible one? It was Digger. Immediately, Taisha is getting death threats. Be aware of what you do and this doesn't have to be hard but it does require humility. Thank you. So we have four people left in the queue that are joining us online so we'll go and put the timer up for those, for those remaining people who have asked to speak during public forum. The first person is Sandy Bermanzone and Sandy, I have found you and enabled your microphone you should be able to speak. If you just unmute yourself on your side. Sandy, so I can come back to you, Sandy. The next person is Heather Bowman and Heather. I've enabled your microphone, you should be able to speak as well. Good evening. My name is Heather Bowman. I work at UBMMC as a phlebotomist and I'm a proud member of our community's newest union, the support staff United. I came to my work at the medical center as a way to connect with and contribute to our community as we emerge from this overwhelming medical crisis that is the COVID pandemic, acknowledging the needs of others, struck me as an obligation and finding a way to offer support seems like everyone's responsibility. So we at UBMMC and the support staff do this work despite the fact that we are being paid significantly below a livable wage and despite the fact that we're short staffed to the point where we're unable to perform our roles in patient care in a timely safe matter and where we regularly experience violence at work. Because the base wages at UBMMC support staff are so low, many of us in our union qualify for income based state and federal assistance and many of us are on Medicaid and most of us qualify for insurance through the state exchange. Very few of us can afford the health insurance that UBMMC offers us as a air quote benefit. The regressive system that they have in place where the least of us are expected to pay the same as those who are paid the most put us in the untenable position of working diligently all day long to provide healthcare to our community but yet we are unable to provide our families with the spoils of our labor. Not only are we unable to afford healthcare, we are actually regularly required by our employer to go into unsafe situations where there is confirmed potential for violence. We are told that it is our responsibility to offer care to all of these patients regardless of the threat they represent. And we do this. I just wish that UBMMC felt the same obligation to care for their employees as we feel towards our patients and our community. I urge you to vote in support of the resolution and I hope that we can find ways to make our community safer and healthier for all. Thank you. The next person is Myra. I believe it's Flynn. And Myra, I can't find you online if you wanna use the raise hand function. I'm happy to enable your microphone. The last person joining us online is Peter Duvall. And Peter, I didn't see you before. There, Peter. I have enabled your microphone. You should be able to speak now. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Good evening. From Onder Hill, I'm Peter Duvall and I appreciate Burlington's hybrid public comment procedure. It's the best I've seen in the state. Of course, I'm here to talk about the McNeil generating station and the proposed steam transmission line between McNeil and the hospital. There's a genuine lack of transparency about this project. And I was gonna speak more formally about it, but I think I'll just go right to my request, which is I hope city counselors would take an interest in this project and the details and the lack of documentation of the project and join me in requesting full access to the studies and reports and financial data about the steam transmission line, the project, the project management and the entities involved in the project. I think this is something that also should interest all employees of UVMMC as the hospital's getting dragged along into this project, I think, without full information. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for joining us. So I'll go back to Sandy Berman's zone. Still have enabled your microphone. You just need to unmute on your end. Hello. Oh, great, great. Hi. Hi. My name is Sandy Berman's on. I live in the town of Shelburne, Vermont and I'm here in support of Black women and friends and non-binary people in the state of Vermont. I would like to yield my time and I'd like to give that time to someone else who has something to say so that people have more than two minutes to express the kind of things that need to be talked about this evening. Thank you. Thanks very much. So we do have two people that I had called on earlier who I haven't been able to find online. The first is Carla Che Salazar. The other is Robert O. Moore. And if you wanna just use the raise hand function, I'm happy to enable your microphone. And the last person who just signed up for public forum is Susie Comerford. And Susie, I can't find you online. If you wanna use the raise hand function, I'm happy to enable your microphone as well. So again, this is just for Carla Che Salazar, Robert O. Moore and Susie Comerford. It does not appear that they are online. So at eight 20, we will close the public forum. There are no others that have asked to speak in person. Okay. We will close the public forum with our thanks for all of you who joined us to speak during public forum. And we will go to the rest of our meeting. The next item on our agenda is item number four, which is climate emergency reports. Is there any counselor or the administration who wishes to offer a climate emergency report? Seeing none, we will close out that item and move on to item number five, which is our consent agenda. Is there a motion to move our consent agenda and take the actions as indicated? So moved. Thank you, Councillor Traver, seconded by... Second. Seconded by Councillor Shannon. Any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion to move the consent agenda, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Any opposed, please say no. Consent agenda passes unanimously. That will bring us to our deliberative agenda. There are seven items on our deliberative agenda and where appropriate there are time limits on each item that we've agreed to by approving our agenda. We'll do our best to keep to those time limits. The first item on our agenda is 6.1, which is a communication mayor or a Weinberger regarding the appointment of a deputy city attorney. And for this item I will go to Mayor Weinberger. Thank you, President Powell. I am pleased to be bringing before the council tonight a appointment for the position of deputy city attorney. This is a position that was created just several years ago and that is an important position to add to the way in which the meeting is structured. Sorry, I'm just pulling up some notes here on this. So I'm pleased to be bringing before you Jared Pellerin, who I think is well known to everyone at the council and he's well known for his good work for years now in some of our most important issues that have been going through the city attorney's office. He is also someone who came to us already with substantial experience, relevant experience having graduated from Albany Law School and served work as a law clerk in the New York State Assembly as well as in city government in Albany. He has been a huge part of the transition period that we've been in at the city attorney's office. I'm very grateful for his service through the extended transition that we've had. And I think this is going to really strengthen the office if the council agrees and confirms him as the deputy city attorney upon that confirmation we would immediately post the position of his current position which will allow us to expand much needed capacity in the city attorney's office. Thank you, President Paul. Thank you, Mayor Weinberger. We have. And often it's been customary for me to hand it over to Jared and I was going to do that now. Thank you, Mayor and I will keep this brief but I appreciate the faith you have in me to carry out. This post is deputy city attorney and I look forward to taking this role if I'm confirmed tonight. I think the city attorney's office does great work. We're all committed to supporting you all in moving Burlington forward and I think that there is a lot to be done. So I look forward to hitting the ground running tomorrow along with our team and making sure that we see to it that Burlington continues to be a bright spot in Vermont and in the nation. So thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you also, I guess I'm not supposed to say deputy city attorney yet, but you know. For this we will go to a motion from Councillor Doherty. Yes, thank you, President Paul. I move to confirm the appointment of Mr. Pellerin as deputy city attorney for Burlington. Thank you, Councillor Doherty. Is there a second to that motion? Seconded by Councillor Berkman. Are there any Councillors wishing to speak on this motion before we go to a vote? Seeing none, we will go to that vote. My apologies. Councillor Grant. Thank you. I do support this appointment. I want to thank you for our meeting this morning. I felt it was really important. And one of the things we talked about because I do want to make it, it's been an ongoing issue. My previous experience on a commission seeking help from the city attorney's office with difficulty with a department head and not getting that help. And then the city's attorney's office saying that they're there for people who are on commissions and committees. So I appreciate you listening to me. I actually felt you were listening to me. I appreciated your responses which were more than I've gotten in the past. And I hope that you do put a process in place that will protect people. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Grant. Are there any other Councillors wishing to speak to the motion before we go to a vote? Seeing none, all those in favor of the appointment of Jared Pellerin as the deputy city attorney, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say no. That motion passes unanimously. Congratulations, deputy city attorney Pellerin. Thank you all. We will move on to our next item which is 6.2, a tobacco licor, a tobacco license application for Fireman's Smoke Shop, LLC. And for that I'll go to Councillor Shannon. Thank you, one second, because I'm in the part that has the links but not the motion. Sorry for that. It's all right. Move to approve the 2023-2024 tobacco license application for Fireman's Smoke Shop. Thank you, Councillor Shannon, seconded by Councillor Grant. Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, we'll go to a vote. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say no. That motion passes unanimously which brings us to item 6.3 which is the appointment to the Church Street Marketplace Commission for a term expiring 6.30, 2026. And for this item I'll open the floor to nominations for this commission appointment. Are there any nominations for this commission appointment? Councillor Berkman? Yes, I nominate Romeo von Herman. Thank you. We don't need a second to that. However, are there any other appointments to the position of Church Street Marketplace Commission for a term expiring 6.30, 2026? Seeing none, we will close nominations or actually I'm supposed to say going once, going twice, we will now close nominations for that position. And there is one candidate. All those in favor of the appointment of Romeo von Herman for the position of the Church Street Marketplace Commission, please say aye. Aye. That is unanimous. I believe there are, how many of us actually voting right now? There are 10, nine without Ben. And with, yes, you're correct, nine. That motion passes, congratulations. So we do have a number, we have a number of other commission appointments on the agenda for the City Council with Mayor presiding. So we will recess the council meeting at eight. Point of information, could we finish this agenda and then go to the other appointments given the interest in the items at the bottom of our agenda with the general public? I'll note that item 6.4 has been postponed to our next meeting on September 11th, which brings us to item 6.5. I have been asked to be able to take a five minute recess. We will take it at this time and reconvene at 635, sorry, 835. I mean, this is, this is the one I was asking about. I think she's solid. If you were able to, I don't think this would be great if someone's correct. Right, I agree, I agree. Okay, so go ahead, go ahead and you note. Yes, yes. Well, you're gonna have to say that. You both need to say that. Okay, that's fine. We'll reconvene the city council meeting and the next item on our agenda is item 6.5, which is a resolution support for fair contract for UVMMC support staff union, united union and for a motion on this item, I will go to Councillor Bergman. Thank you. I'd like to waive the reading of the updated version. Unfortunately, all of my tabs in this delay got wiped out so I can't actually cite it directly, but it was the very last updated version of the resolution and ask for the floor back after a, for some brief comments after a second. Thank you, Councillor Bergman. Seconded by Councillor King. Councillor Bergman, you have the floor. Thank you. Excuse me, President Powell. Oh, yes. Just briefly, I have to note my recusal from this matter and pursuant to our practice, we'll step away from the table for this discussion. Thank you, Councillor Travers, Councillor Doherty. President Powell, I also note my recusal and we'll also step away. Okay, thank you, Councillor Doherty. We'll wait for just two seconds. I intend to be brief, but first, I just wanna thank the union folks who came out, who gave incredibly moving testimony, not just tonight, but last time, and who graced me with the opportunity to interview you on CCTV. I really appreciate that and the honor that it is that for me, you have to have reached out to me. I also wanna thank my fellow city councillors who co-sponsored this resolution. It shows that we can work together for the people's wellbeing, and I truly appreciate that work. I'm not gonna read the resolution, given the lateness and everything, but it does, I think, speak very clearly about why we as a council need to take the action that is called for in the resolution. But this is really personal for me because it recalls the time that I tried to bargain a first contract with the Gannett Company that owns the Burlington Free Press when I worked as a production worker there, making about six bucks an hour. And I remember being at the table and being told after we had presented our positions, what does what we, meaning Gannett make, or what the low wages that you are getting paid have to do with what we, Gannett, are paying you. We pay you what we have to. We pay you what the market dictates. And I'm here to say that this resolution stands up against that logic, against that neoliberalism, against inequality. And I believe that if we pass this resolution unanimously, unanimously, it stands for a basic proposition. And that is that a community united for dignity and justice will never be defeated. And that together we can overcome all the obstacles and build a community of fairness and equity for all. And I hope that this council joins me in voting yes on this resolution. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you so much for those comments, Councillor Bergman, the floor is open if there are other councillors who wish to offer questions or comments on the resolution. Councillor Shannon. Thank you, President Powell. I wanna thank all of the union members who have come here at least twice now and kind of informed us of what was going on, which I would not have otherwise been aware of after you came at the last meeting and Councillor Bergman announced at the council meeting that he was planning to put forward a resolution. I asked to be part of that because I really found what you shared with us profoundly concerning as somebody who uses hospital resources more than I would like to, has some track marks on my arms from some very good phlebotomists. It's stunning that the wages that we are asking you to work for after decades of service in some cases are what our local high school graduates are getting for working in a warehouse or McDonald's. It's a real failure to recognize the skills and your tenure in these jobs. So thank you, Councillor Bergman, for bringing this forward. Thank you for being willing to work with everybody at the table. I think there was a lot of contributions to how this went forward and including the union. I think that we don't want to inflame the situation. We really need, we are management in our union negotiations and we need to remember that, but it is my hope that the management at the UVM Medical Center will come forward and recognize the same issues that everybody at this table is currently recognizing. Thank you. Thanks very much, Councillor Shannon. Go to Councillor Hightower and then Councillor McGee, I do see you. We'll go to you next. Also just want to thank all of the union members who came and presented both at the last council meeting and at this council meeting. Just want to recognize that it takes a lot of courage and a lot of time and a lot of effort and a lot of emotion that's in addition to your jobs and that you're doing this not just for yourself, but for everyone else last time when folks spoke, they spoke a lot to you. Sometimes there were some of the more well off members so it also requires a lot of empathy to make sure everyone's doing well. So just really appreciate the heart, energy and time you're putting into this to try to make the Medical Center a better place for everyone. So thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Councillor Hightower. We'll go to Councillor McGee. Thank you, President Paul. I also want to echo my thanks to the union members who showed up. I think we know that the hospital has chronically undervalued workers at every level and just to see massive organizing efforts that have happened at the hospital over the last several months from residents, nurses who have been organized for some time and other support staff. I think it's long past time that the hospital pay workers what there were because everyone deserves a living wage. Everyone deserves safe working conditions and stability that's offered by good benefits. So I'm just glad to support this tonight in solidarity with the support staff. Thank you. Thanks very much. Thank you very much, Councillor McGee. Are there any other Councillor Grant? Thank you. I agree with what my fellow councillors just said and I just wanted to throw out a couple of other educational points. What we have seen with the UVM Medical Center is a real denial of what it takes to survive in this city right now. I was recently made aware when I met with some constituents in the union about the housing at Market Street, how it's not really available to everyone based on the rules that they've put forth. Oh, this is gonna be available all full time people in the following order. Well, that order excludes a lot of you. It is basically set up for travelers and residents based on the fact that you can only have one year lease and then maybe a second year lease and you have to have all this criteria. So it's not what the Medical Center put forth for it to be, oh, we're helping with housing. It's completely false. So I stand with you. I stand with you strong. The administration at the hospital, everyone knows is very top heavy. Their inability to, you know, a lot of them don't live in Burlington North. They live in Burlington. They don't live where we live, right? You know, I'm in the historic North End and they don't understand what affordable housing is not low-cost housing, right? And even if someone lives somewhere that's affordable, the way things are going right now with rent eviction, right? We're seeing people being told not 100 or 50. We're seeing people being told, oh, you're going up $500, $600. So it's this lack of empathy, this lack of empathy, the lack of understanding that the chronic turnover that exists is not healthy for anyone. And no one should have to be in a position where they're working 15-hour days and they have the expectation that over time is what's going to make their bills, but working not 15-hour days, 15-hour days because your management can't do your job and other things. So I could go on for a while, but I won't. I will leave it there. I just want to say I fully support you. Be strong. I know a lot of you continue to work with the hospital because you love each other and you've got each other's backs and the relationships that you're form are very, very important to you, but that can only go so far. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Grant. Are there any other Councilors who wish to speak to this resolution? Seeing none, we will go to a vote. All those in favor of the motion to waive the reading and adopt the resolution, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say no. That motion passes unanimously. And just for, thank you. Thank you. And just for the record, that was eight in favor, two that are absent and then two that are recused. That will move us on to the next item on our agenda, which is 6.6, a communication, Heather Ross, she he for a long beam regarding a financial review of expenditures by racial equity inclusion and belonging department in fiscal years 2021 and 2022. For the benefit of the public that is watching, this is something that Councilors are well aware of, but for everyone else's benefit last week, a request was made of the full City Council that any questions that might require additional research or information from Attorney Ross would be sent to the City Attorney's Office prior to the report being posted online on Thursday. Before we open up the floor to comments or additional questions from the Council, it's my understanding that CAO Shad, you have the questions that have been asked and if you could speak to, not sure what format you wanted, if you wanna just ask that, tell us what the questions were and then give us the answers to those questions and then we'll move on from there. Absolutely, thank you, President Paul. We did ask for questions in advance as much as possible and so I will just quickly go through the questions that were asked. I have sent answers back to each individual Councilor who asked them, but for the benefit of everyone, we wanna report out on them here. The first question was on page three of the report in a footnote. I noticed Milo Grant appears as a Juneteenth musician. As a person paid by the department, would this create a conflict of interest in reviewing the report? If so, has Milo been informed of this conflict of interest? Our answer was under the conflict of interest provision of our city charter, the city's conflict of interest policy provides that no city officer shall participate in any fashion or cast a vote on any matter in which either a direct or indirect conflict of interest is present, nor shall a city officer participate or vote in any question in which participation or vote would reasonably create in the mind of an objective person the appearance of a direct or indirect conflict of interest. It goes on and I won't read all of it, but the city attorney's office has discussed the charter provision with counselor grant and under the charter it is up to the counselor to disclose any conflict of interest should they feel there is such a conflict or for the council to make that determination by a two thirds vote. The second question says the first sentence of paragraph three on page two says the report may contain confidential information. Is this report public or confidential? The answer is that language is simply boilerplate language and included to help protect the law firm that created it. The administration has reviewed to ensure everything in the report can be released publicly. Question three, on page two there are businesses listed in the footnote as not registered to do business in Vermont. However, many of these businesses are familiar to us. Examples, Hannaford, Hotel Vermont, et cetera. And my response was it appears this counselor could have misread the footnote on the page because it says these vendors are not included and were not subject to the secretary of state search because they are well known entities. The next question is also just a clarification. It says on page three in the footnote, Andrew Champagne is listed as a musician. To my knowledge he is not a musician. Our answer was this was an error as Andrew was hired alongside musicians and entertainment as part of a slate. Andrew was hired to register voters. Next question. On page eight, the report references an invitation only black tie event at Hula on June 17th, 2022 to honor members of the black community. Do we know the cost of the event? Who was invited? What were they asked to pay and what was the criteria for the invitation? The response was this was not specifically reviewed in the assignment. It was out of scope. The next question was Noble Jules was paid $50,000 for cultureology. What is that and do we have more details? I provided to the counselor who asked the request that was made by the REIB to the Board of Finance in September, 2021 for this work. That memo described a cultural transformation and included a culture gap analysis, community assessment and creating a strategy and action plan. Next question. Keisha Ram was paid $1,000 to speak at what for how long and was there a precedent for paying a local politician to speak? I've responded. She spoke at Juneteenth FY22 event and it is not clear how long she spoke and if there was precedent as that was outside the scope. There were two questions that relied on a copy and paste and the copy and paste did not come through so I'm going to skip those. The next question was how much did the report cost? The report cost $41,000. The firm interviewed 10 current and former city employees and examined 77,000 emails and other documents. Please note that Baker Tilly, which led the internal review in Minneapolis was paid $175,000 for its work. They interviewed 13 current and former city employees and examined 285,000 emails. The next question. I'm sorry, could you repeat those amounts again please? Sure. We paid $41,000 and our report, our investigation interviewed 10 current former and current and former city employees and examined 77,000 emails and in Minneapolis they were paid $175,000, interviewed 13 current and former city employees and examined 285,000 emails. I'm sorry, could you repeat those amounts again please? I think you heard it. Awesome. So the total is $216,000. I just want to be very clear about this. No, we paid $41,000. We paid $41,000. And then Minneapolis paid $175,000. The city of Minneapolis paid as a way of comparison. Did the contracting follow procurement procedures? And if yes, what was that process? Yes, it did. We developed a scope of work and looked for a lawyer to take on the work. We made calls and talked to three different lawyers, three different law firms. Most firms did not have the expertise or availability to take on the work. And the only one that responded positively was Heather Ross at Sheehy, Furlong and Beam. Heather has previous experience conducting these kinds of investigations, was willing to offer a governmental discount on her firm's pricing and was not conflicted out of the work. What steps are being taken to address the recommendations by the administration? We are following up on each recommendation in the report and we'll report back on them to the Board of Finance and City Council. The Clerk Treasurer's Office will take responsibilities for these efforts. They include developing and implementing a process to make the Board of Finance aware of the Juneteenth Budget and any other large events for any other department well in advance of the event, developing and holding annual reminder trainings regarding purchasing requirements, strengthening our conflict of interest policy so that employees are required to disclose any actual or apparent conflict of interest, not limiting it to immediate financial interests. We will establish a robust fraud, waste and abuse policy to ensure all employees are encouraged to report mismanagement or more serious conduct promptly so follow-up action can be taken. We will establish a policy that sets forth when or to what extent out of town or out of state vendors are allowed to have lodging and travel expenses paid for by the city. We will formalize requirements that all contractors must be registered to do business in Vermont and we will document the requirement that contracts can only be executed by a person with the sufficient level of authority. The next question was, where is the budget amendment that increased the June 2022 budget from 100,000 to 180,000? I attached two different budget amendments in my response back. The first amendment took $90,000 from the FY21 fund balance for the REIB department, added it to the 2022 Juneteenth Budget and a second amendment took 10,000 from that 90,000 and took it for computers. We have a question about, we have some more questions. Is this how we want to continue? There's about four or five more questions along the slide. My apologies, I'm sorry. What did you say? There's just about four or five more questions like this. Is this helpful? Do you want me to continue? If there are four, and they are able to be answered publicly, then yes. Excellent. I'm just feeling like I'm droning on here, but, okay. Our 2023 budget reflects in the 2022 amended budget, $720,000 for use of fund balance. What is this? This is money that was carried over from the original $1 million obligated in FY21 towards the fund for racial justice. And as it is spent, it shows up in budget amendments. Our 2023 budget shows 68,000 in donations for special events, but the report says we raised $103,000. Why is there a discrepancy? Did some of the money come in 2023? Yes, some of the money came in after the FY23 budget closed. If you look at the FY24 REIB proposed budget, you will see the $103,000 in donation special events under actuals. The mayor's 2023 budget includes 1.2 million of CARES Act revenue for REIB. Has that been received? Is it guaranteed? This was ARPA money that was set aside for FY23 for REIB salaries. It is only funded as it's incurred. Due to limited staffing for REIB in FY23, we funded the entire salary amount. This is only about $740,000 and not the full $1.2 million anticipated. There are a number of people listed as BCA. Why is that? I'm sorry, President Paul, just point of information. I think at this point, this question rise the line of attorney client privilege and the counselor who asked the question would have to waive, choose to waive that in terms of the formation of the advice that was given. This specific question. So why don't we go to the next question then? Is there accounting for Juneteenth specifically? Can you show me accounting that adds up to 412,000 for the event? Yes, we can set up a time to meet and we can show this to you. Is exhibit 1A of the report intended to be a summary of all REIB spending for FY22? Yes. Who are the recipients of the $25,000 of gift cards from City Market and the $60,000 gift cards from Hanifords? This was out of scope for the report, but we can find out. There was another question about Mobile Jewels. I've already answered that. And then the last question. If we were overcharged for goods received or paid for services we did not receive from vendors, do we have any recourse? This would be contract specific. The city attorney's office would need to review the terms of the contract document to determine if there was a breach of contract and evaluate the strength of any possible claim the city may have towards recovering funds already paid. Thank you, CAO Shad. I will go to Councillor Hightower. I will not be making the motion on board docs instead. I would not accept the memorandum financial review of expenditures by REIB in fiscal years 21 and 22, but instead refer both of the materials posted under this as supporting documents to the HR committee to consider a full public articulation of harm from Mayor Merrill Weinberger and the city of Burlington to Tayisha Green, KCLRB, and their families for the continued defamation of character and warranted actions taken through city processes like the audit itself and an apology of the same. I also ask the HR committee to establish a process for independent evaluation and oversight of the hiring and retention policies and solutions employed by the city of Burlington to combat anti-Babak and gender-based discriminatory practices. And I would like the floor back after a second. Second. Thank you, seconded by Councillor Bergman. Before we go any further and before you have the floor back, that is a long motion and something that we're going to need to have so that we can all see that. Do you have, I take it you were reading that. Is that something that you can send to the clerk? And I also do want to add that we do have Councillor Carpenter also joining us. So we have Councillor Carpenter and Councillor McKee who are joining us via Zoom. I've sent it to the clerk with copy to the city council. I will start talking while you all review that. Also during the layers of the day and I apologize for the lateness that just didn't get done until this afternoon. There's also in the agenda packet a memorandum in response to the Heather Ubras, she before long and BMPC memorandum regarding financial review of expenditures by the REIB committee. I'd like to read some of those and then go to my own comments. And I think some of this was stated in public forum but I think it's important to have a full summary. The first is that Juneteenth, 2021 was the city's first Juneteenth and the only Juneteenth that was managed and executed by former director, Taisha Green. There was no mismanagement found of the 2021 Juneteenth event in this review or in any other accusations, anything. There was never any issue with anything Juneteenth, 2021. As a matter of fact, it was under budget and one of the city's largest events of the year was well attended, well celebrated, had more private funds going into it than city funds. It was by all measures a great success. There is no reason why director Green should have been the focus of a 2022 Juneteenth event review. When she gave notice in February, 2022, the event was on track. As with June, 2021, vendors had not been hired and the theme had not been selected. No financial commitments had been made. If there was any financial mismanagement of the 2022 event, it happened after the departure of director Green. The review was focused on whether or not abuse, waste or fraud occurred. The review did not find any such mismanagement for 2021 or 2022. The problem with the memorandum is it creates the appearance of mismanagement by former director Green throughout, especially surrounding Juneteenth, 2022. The report continually seems to accuse the former director without providing support or analysis for these accusations or even concluding mismanagement on director Green's part, casting doubt on the fairness of its focus with regard to Mrs. Green. Yet the media and certain members of the council took it upon themselves to still associate director Green directly with mismanagement of the 2022 event. And again, the memo itself did some speculation of this in ways that I'll cover later. Given both the findings of this review in the conclusion section of the whole rest of it and the reason TIF review, the issues raised around the management of Juneteenth, 2022 appear to be emblematic of a city-wide culture and the lack of clarity and enforcement around city policies. Specifically going back to the TIF review, we note that their concerns was that much of the, the audit showed years of sloppy record keeping and financial mismanagement while noting that Burlington has made millions of dollars of mistakes. Much of this was attributed to poor record keeping, key staff turnover, and slow adoption of strategies recommended by the city's own auditors. We know REIB also had tremendous staff turnover right around the time of Tayisha's departure because several of her staff also left when she resigned. This review was based on an accusation of something happening somewhere else, an accusation that was never substantiated and this review found no mismanagement attributable to former director Green. Meanwhile, we have documented instances of other department heads in Burlington violating practices and mismanaging city resources, yet former director Green is the only department head to be publicly reviewed in this way. We invite the administration to strongly consider a potential bias in their response. If people would like to review the memorandum itself, it provides all of the evidence, much of it from the audit, the financial review itself. Some of the other folks, some of the other issues that the city has had is retroactive approval of a five-year, $400,000 contract signed by another director, which they did not have authority to design, which was someone who had much more experience and was with the city much longer than Tayisha Green. We've had a complaint that went to the city of a director using city resources for personal use without documenting if it was for work or for personal use, and the mayor recommended that that person be removed and we still didn't do an audit, a public audit of this way on that person. In January of this year, we had a incident with the Burlington Police Department where we know that there was a contract signed with a private HOA after refusing calls for service and citing staff shortages, and there was no action done other than just asking if anything else was amiss within the department. And in 2016, Peter Owens left his position from the city of Burlington, which was the CEDO director directly related to housing and being a good faith liaison between landlords and tenants after and then resigned early in response to an illegal and inhumane eviction in San Francisco. Again, another event that happened outside of the city of Burlington, but related and nothing was done. We're not saying that the reaction for other directors should have been more punitive or stronger, but it does feel notable that the accusations against former director Green and the response to them seemed disproportionate. It feels very similar to the mayor's removal of former director Green as manager of the CNA contract, which he later apologized for noting the decision was wrong and revealed my own bias. I'm gonna keep going. I know I'm taking up a lot of time, but I'm usually a very short-winded counselor, so today I think is the day to take up the space. For two years, I worked very hard with the mayor to try to convince him to make the right decisions, and I don't think I was ever successful. When I joined the city council, I consider him an acquaintance, if not a friend. He was the only brought to mayoral candidate I had ever voted for. I've been hours of work my first two years of council to try to make the mayor see the issues and move towards racial justice. On every single decision, even on decisions where he said he would find a way to follow my advice, he ultimately rejected it. The CNA report is an excellent example of this. I asked the mayor to not remove Taisha from the CNA report, and that his viewpoint that the BU director was more qualified and less biased than Taisha was problematic. It fell on deaf ears. For those of you who follow this, you know that was one of the few things that made it to the public eye, and maybe the only one that the mayor apologized for. And that's why it's important to believe black women, because it shouldn't have to take an outcry for someone to do what is right. I can't trust what you say because I can see what you do. James Baldwin. I do not know what is in the mayor's heart of hearts, and honestly, to me, that's not what defines racism. What defines racism is if and how actions systemically negatively impact BIPOC people. And on every decision I've watched the mayor make, he's chosen the one that negatively impacts BIPOC people, and this is another example. As a black woman, I know what it's like to have to be above reproach. Our mayor does not know what that's like. He can keep the knowledge of department heads trolling activists online with fake social media accounts a secret and still win elections. He can fund his friends non-profits. He can publicly be racist and still be elected. Councilor Hightower. I am really sorry, Karen, but I'm gonna have to finish this. It is all relevant, I promise. Some of us don't have that advantage. We have to be above reproach because whatever is said about us, true or not, it sticks. And it closes the few doors that are open for us. This report was incredibly muddy and unclear, but if you go through all of it, the vague accusations and attacks against Teyesha Green and Jersey Ellerby, you will find no wrongdoing. No fraud, no mismanagement, no disruptive city policies. That doesn't stop the media from running headlines showing Teyesha's face next to the headline claiming mismanagement. That doesn't stop some people at this table from getting in front of a camera and saying otherwise. Teyesha Green did nothing during our time here that deserves any logo scrutiny. The reason this is in front of us today is because her relationship with the mayor, much like mine, eroded when her comments went from advice to just pointing out the inherent and systemic racism in the mayor's decisions. Another problematic thing that we've seen in other things that I'm worried happened in this report is the mayor getting involved in the actual content of the report. See, that this was the CNA report, which he had to do publicly, giving that to Teyesha was managing it. I had a really hard time reading this report as a objective document. For example, on page nine, it says, there were multiple times when Mrs. Green was made aware of the city's purchasing policy, which specifically references sole source contracts. The chief administrative officer provided Ms. Green with a copy of the city's purchasing policy early in her employment. That seems like a stretch. When we asked where Ms. Ellerby stayed during the June 10th, 22, and whether in her opinion, it would have been appropriate for the city to pay for Ms. Ellerby's hotel, given that she was a city employee. Ms. Green stated that she did not know where's Ms. Ellerby stayed. She then stated she believed that Ms. Ellerby stayed it with Dr. Jackie. Teyesha Green was not an employee of the city of Burlington in June 10th, 2022. Her opinion on where people should have stayed or not stayed is quite frankly irrelevant. And I feel like this report is doing a weird trying to gotcha moments throughout this whole thing. Another thing, write the paragraph below. When asked about the contract for which the Vermont Professional Color Network, and more specifically the Vermont Health Equity Initiative was the subrecipient of a Substantial American Rescue Plan Act fund, Ms. Green stated that she was not familiar with that contract. When read an email in which she was copied, describing the services of the contract, including that it was for ongoing vaccination support through community partners, Ms. Green stated sounded like a good idea that she did not have any involvement with it. Being copied on an email as a director of a department does not mean you know the content of every email that you've gotten. Furthermore, the report then goes on to say that she had no decision-making authority and who the contract was awarded to anyway. So why is she being questioned on this? Why is that even in the report? I am almost done. I'm really sorry, but again, I feel like this is one of the few times that I've actually taken up space to talk on something, and I think this is important. Because another decision that the mayor made, and let me be clear, this was not a mistake, this is a tactic he commonly uses. He made sure to only release the memo to the council as a confidential document so that we can't talk about it. He made sure that the two subjects of the review didn't have it so they couldn't talk about it. He sent it to the media along so that he could control the narrative and this way he silenced the voice of Taisha, the voice of Jersey, my voice to ensure there would be a narrative that Taisha was somehow the cause of any mistakes made in 2022. But the mistakes made in 2022 are systemic and they are always for the same reason and were highlig