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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 01/05/1981CITY COUNCIL JANUARY 5, 1981 CORRECTION The date of this meeting had been changed from the 19th to the 12th, and Mr. Paulsen said he would like to amend his motion in these minutes regarding the continuation of the hearing to read January 12 instead of January 19, 1981. The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, January 5, 1981 at 7:30 p.m. in the Conference Room, City Hall, 1175 Williston Road Members Present Paul Farrar, Chairman; Martin Paulsen, John Towne Members Absent Michael Flaherty, William Burgess Others Present William Szymanski, City Manager; Harry Behney, Steven Bushey, Luther Hackett, Jan Rozendeal, Albert Audette, Margaret Picard, Bill Mulcahy, D. Phillips Wells, Richard Carter, R. McGee, Thomas Fraga, Wayne Parizo, Peter Lavalee, Brian Searles, Douglas Bouvier, Lansing Reinholz, Howard Seaver, David Spitz Agenda addition The following item was added: Meet as Liquor Control Board to discuss a liquor license. Minutes of December 15, 1980 Mr. Paulsen moved to approve the December 15, 1980 minutes and Mr. Towne seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. Disbursement Orders Disbursement orders were signed. Meet with representatives of Chamber of Commerce to discuss Inventory Tax Mr. Seaver said he was a lawyer from Burlington. He was here tonight to ask the Council to put a question on the May ballot regarding repeal of the inventory tax. The question, he said, was the local option question. He said the tax could be repealed at one time, or it could be phased out. He also said the present method of valuing machinery and equipment was to use the fair market value. The new method would be to use the depreciated value that businesses report on their federal tax returns. Mr. Seaver said the tax was discriminatory in that it had no relation to the profitability of a business or to its ability to pay tax. He added that a high inventory might indicate a bad season rather than a good one, and thus, a reduced ability to pay tax, and he noted that the tax caused businessmen to make inefficient business decisions, such as moving goods to different locations to avoid the tax. He noted that the tax was also hard to police. Mr. Seaver said the local option question was the only way for a municipality acting on its own to eliminate the tax. Mr. Seaver felt the repeal of the tax would not adversely affect the residential property owner for 3 reasons. The first is that it can be phased out over some period of time and the second is that the way machinery and equipment are valued can be changed to depreciated value. Mr. Seaver noted that growth in the city for the past 4-5 years has been about 6% per year and he felt that elimination of this tax would boost that growth, so residential taxpayers would not be hurt. Mr. Farrar personally felt that this would be in the best interests of the community to look at elimination of the tax over time. He mentioned doing it in the form of a Charter change and eliminating it over a 10 year period. He also mentioned encouraging businesses already here to expand their inventory as fast as possible, but putting a cap on it so they would not be penalized. Mr. Seaver said a number of things were planned as a campaign to get a favorable vote. Mr. Hackett felt that the tax had an impact on business decisions regarding possible expansions. He, Mr. Bushey and Mr. Rozendaal all encouraged the Council to consider a faster phase-out than 10 years. Mrs. Picard expressed concern over the elimination of the tax, but Mr. Seaver said that in other communities where it had been repealed, the homeowner had not had to make up the loss. The Council members agreed to put an item regarding repeal of the tax on the May ballot, but the specific language will be decided at another time. Interview D. Phillips Wells for Natural Resources Committee Mr. Wells said he did not know a lot about what this committee did, but he felt that natural resources were very important. He had time to serve on the board, he said. Review proposed amendments to Zoning Regulations for C1/C2 zones Mr. Spitz, City Planner, said that the ordinance as it was written now was fairly harsh regarding existing small lots and that two changes had been proposed. The first is that the minimum required lot size in the C1 zone has been increased to 80,000 square feet, which is what it is for the C2 zone and the second is to raise the traffic level for C1 to 40 trips per peak hour and for C2 to 90 trips per peak hour. After having done some traffic counts in the city, it was found that there are very few uses which are less than that. Mr. Spitz said he could give that information to the Council. Another change is to allow a use to change if it generates no more traffic than the use already existing on the lot. Mr. Paulsen moved to receive the proposed amendments and to schedule a public hearing on the revised C1/C2 provisions to be held on February 2, 1981. Mr. Towne seconded the motion and it carried 3-0. Sign Agreement for extension of time for Landfill Certification Mr. Szymanski said the city had signed an agreement before and had given the State all the information requested, but more information has been requested. He said there was to have been a meeting last week but the State people had not been there, so they will meet this Thursday. Mr. Szymanski noted that some of the things being requested would be very expensive and there was no money in this year's budget for them. Mr. Farrar asked if the city had done everything it said it would do in the first agreement and Mr. Szymanski replied that they had but that there had been no positive solution to the leachate problem. Unless a way is found to control that the landfill will not be certified. Mr. Audette said it was not positive that the leachate was coming from the landfill. Mr. Farrar did not want to sign the agreement until the city was sure it could comply with the agreement. Mr. Paulsen moved to table action on the Agreement and Mr. Towne seconded. All voted aye. Review Tax Waiver Penalties List Mr. Szymanski gave the Council the list and Mr. Paulsen moved to receive the list. Mr. Towne second the motion and all voted for it. Discuss removal of non-conforming signs Mr. Szymanski said the owner of a large freestanding sign had indicated that he would not object to its removal if the city would do the work. He said that the city would have to rent equipment to remove this particular sign. Mr. Farrar felt this anonymous sign should be used as an example in the setting of a general policy decision on the issue. Mr. Audette said its removal might cost $200-1500 and he felt other signs in the city would cost about the same to remove. Mr. Szymanski assumed that if the city did remove such signs, it would want a deed for the sign, noting that it probably would not come down in one piece. It was noted that the business could probably request to keep whatever came down. What to do about concrete bases on large signs was discussed and Mr. Audette suggested leaving the base at ground level. He said he did not want to be involved in removing building wall signs because of possible liability but Mr. Farrar noted that the city could obtain a release from liability before it removed a wall sign. Mr. Szymanski was asked to investigate the liability issue and Mr. Audette to investigate technical problems and Mr. Szymanski was asked to have some language on the policy for the next meeting. Sign Construction Contract for new municipal building Mr. Szymanski said a few things were not in order and it was suggested that a motion be made to physically sign the contract when these things are straightened out. Mr. Paulsen moved to sign the contract for the new municipal building provided that we have an attorney's letter indicating that it is ready to sign. Mr. Towne seconded the motion and all were in favor. Police Union Grievance Hearing on suspension of patrolman Mr. Reinholz passed out a review of the grievance (808). He said there were two issues to the grievance: 1) did the city violate the Master Contract, and 2) did they follow the discipline format? Was there just cause for discipline in this case? Mr. Reinholz said that if just cause is established, discipline has to be meted out according to the contract or not at all. He said they hoped to convince the Council that there was not just cause for discipline and that, even if there were, the procedures in the contract were violated. The sections mentioned by Mr. Reinholz were Article 20 sections 1 and 3 and he read these. Mr. Reinholz felt that Patrolman Bouvier had not neglected his duty when he was 1 hour and 50 minutes late to work. He had tried to get someone to cover for him and he had explained that he was going to be late when no one would cover but that he would be back as soon as possible. He felt that Patrolman Bouvier had kept his responsibility to inform his supervisor that he would be late because it was an emergency and no one was willing to cover. Regarding the discipline, Mr. Reinholz felt the administration had also violated the City Charter on the subject of suspension. Mr. Bouvier said he had recently sold his condominium and bought a house. The people who bought the condominium wanted to move in right away. He had planned to move on Wednesday and Thursday, which were his days off, but problems cropped up and he lost a lot of time. They were still moving things over on Friday and when he realized that he would not be finished, he stopped at the police station and told Brian Searles that he would not be finished and if he did not come in on time, he would work later in the evening. He stopped back at the station around 7:00 but it was not busy, so he took the rest of the evening off and they worked until 11 p.m. On Saturday, they tried to finish moving but at 2 p.m. he realized that it would be hard to be ready for work at 3 p.m., so he went to the station and tried to get someone to cover for him. He waited at the station for about 1/2 hour to talk to an officer who might be willing to stay, but neither that officer nor anyone else was willing to work, so he told Corporal Mitchell that he would be late. He was told to discuss it with the next shift commander, who was not yet at the station. He went home and got ready for work and reported at 4:50 p.m. When he arrived Lt. McGee was in command and he tried to explain what had happened, but he was told he was going to be written up and he became upset, swore, and slammed the door. He said he did not swear at Lt. McGee. From then until he finished the shift he was not called in and given any direction, he said. He also worked Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, but no one talked to him about the incident. When he finished his shift on Tuesday he was given a letter of suspension for dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming an officer. The suspension was for 5 days without pay including 2 days off. Between the time of the incident and the time he received the letter, no supervisor asked him any questions or tried to get his side of the story. Mr. Bouvier said that to his knowledge this was not the way disciplinary action was usually taken by the department. After the grievance was filed at the step 2 level, neither the City Manager nor the Chief of Police contacted Mr. Bouvier in regard to the incident, he said. The grievance was filed on December 10 and the City Manager has 5 days to respond. His response was on December 22. Mr. Reinholz said the Charter stated that the Police Chief could not suspend without the approval of the City Manager, so it appears that the Charter was violated. Mr. Farrar asked whether the problem had started because they had not finished moving until his shift was due to start. Mr. Bouvier said the vehicles were loaded and he had to sift through and find his uniform, shower, shave, get dressed and he wanted to put the kids' beds together so they could sleep that night. He said that getting the car unloaded and getting uniformed and ready took the bulk of the time between when he left the station and when he reported for work. Mr. Farrar asked whether the reason he did not get to work on time was that he did not have his uniform and was not ready and was told that was basically true. He had to help unload the car and truck, both of which were full. There were breakable items packed and things which could not be left out overnight. The garage was not accessible at that time. Chief Carter said Patrolman Bouvier was suspended both for being late and for his actions upon talking with Lt. McGee. He noted that he had been suspended in 1976 for similar actions. Mr. Reinholz entered into the record the evaluations of Patrolman Bouvier for 1978 and 1979. In 1979 he scored 8 out of 10 for dependability and 7 out of 9 for attendance. Mr. Reinholz argued that under Article 20 section 3, Mr. Bouvier should have received counsel, then an oral warning, then written warning, and if that did not correct the problem, then he could be suspended. He argued that these were actions to be followed sucessively unless the infraction was severe, and he did not think this instance fell under that terminology (see last sentence of Article 20 section 3). Mr. Farrar wanted to continue the hearing until the Council had a chance to receive counsel on some terminology. Mr. Reinholz said that if the Council wanted to reconvene on this item at the next regularly scheduled meeting, it was all right with the union. Mr. Paulsen moved to continue the hearing until January 19, 1981 at 8:00 p.m. The motion was seconded by Mr. Towne and all voted for it. Appointment to Natural Resources Committee Mr. Paulsen moved to appoint D. Phillips Wells to the Natural Resources Committee to fill the unexpired three year term, ending in June 1981. Mr. Towne seconded the motion and all voted for it. Meet as Liquor Control Board Mr. Paulsen moved to adjourn as the City Council and meet as the Liquor Control Board. Mr. Towne seconded and all voted aye. Mr. Szymanski said the old Black Angus restaurant was being taken over by the Benes Corporation. The taxes have not been paid yet but this went through bankruptcy and the court is to pay the taxes. Mr. Paulsen moved that the Board be empowered to sign the liquor license when the City Manager has completed favorably the usual investigation. Mr. Towne seconded the motion and it carried 3-0. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.