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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 01/04/1982CITY COUNCIL JANUARY 4, 1982 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, January 4, 1982 at 7:30 pm in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street. Members Present Paul Farrar, Chairman; Hugh Marvin, William Burgess Members Absent Michael Flaherty, Martin Paulsen Others Present William Szymanski, City Manager; Albert Audette, Street Department; Richard Underwood, City Assessor; Gloria Yandow, Bookkeeper; Pat Bergmeier, The Other Paper; Ernest Pomerleau, Randall Niquette, Martin Schwartz, Roy Felter, Fire Chief James Goddette, Assistant City Manager David Minnich Agenda additions The following items were added: Discussion of salting on Brewer Parkway, and under Old Business, the audit proposal and a discussion on highways. Minutes of December 21, 1981 The December 21, 1981 minutes were approved on a motion by Mr. Burgess, a second by Mr. Marvin and a unanimous vote. Disbursement orders Disbursement orders were signed. Public hearing on request of Antonio B. Pomerleau for approval to occupy existing structure as a bakery and coffee shop at the former Fashion Lane at 41 Hinesburg Road Mr. Ernest Pomerleau explained that Fashion Lane had moved to the Champlain Mill and that the Bagel Bakery had agreed to move into the space vacated by that action. They see no problems with traffic and Mr. Pomerleau pointed out that City Hall staff have said they see no problems with parking. The area is 3,000 sq. ft. Mr. Farrar noted that the staff had recommended approval of the use and he added that the use was consistent with the present and proposed zoning. Mr. Marvin moved to approve the occupancy of the existing structure as a bakery and coffeeshop as described. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion and all voted for it. Continue review of amendments to the city Dog Ordinance Mr. Szymanski said the objection the police have to the amended ordinance is that once a complaint is received, the dog has to be seized and the investigation done after that. The City Attorney has not yet commented on this, and Mr. Farrar suggested that the ordinance be sent to him for his comments and opinion. Mr. Szymanski also felt that what a domestic animal is should be clearly defined, so it is clear that chickens, for example, do not count. Consider amendments to the city employee personnel rules and regulations Mr. Szymanski noted that the rules and regulations had been adopted in July, but that there had been some errors regarding firemen. Mr. Goddette went over the changes which had been made to the rules to make them fair for all city employees. There was a change in Section 6.3 5) and vacation time for firemen with regard to holidays was clarified, in Section 6.4, 5 b) and c). On page 16 of the Rules, Mr. Goddette said that had been changed from a figure of 110 to 100. This refers to the number of sick days an employee must have accumulated before he can turn it in for vacation time. There was also a clarification on how much time off firemen get for a death in the family. Mr. Burgess moved to incorporate the changes in the 4 pages of the Personnel Rules and Regulations received today. Mr. Marvin seconded the motion and all voted for it. Review Planning Agenda Mr. Marvin noted that in the minutes of December 22, on page 2 there was a discussion of the pedestrian trail on the Milot land on the beach. Mr. Marvin wondered if pedestrians were going to be able to get to the water here. Mr. Szymanski said he would check into it. Mr. Marvin also noted that the Council had said it would prefer to obtain some land here instead of money. This seems to have changed now. Mr. Farrar said Council options on this point included appealing the Commission's decision, or going to a meeting to present the Council's point of view. Mr. Marvin asked Mr. Szymanski to find out where the trail would be with regard to the high or low water mark. Old business Report on final disposition of the Nowland property purchase - Mr. Szymanski noted that all but one of the property owners on Yandow Drive had purchased property behind them. There was one 40' x 100' piece left over that no one wanted, and Mr. Szymanski said it was urgent to get this settled, so the city bought the piece. Mr. Farrar explained the history of this land and said he felt this was a valuable piece of parkland and that the added cost was worth it. He noted that he had previously made the city an offer regarding the land in the area but the City Attorney had felt it was not appropriate. He noted that the offer still stood. Audit proposal - Mr. Marvin noted that he did not see anything in the proposal which would require an auditor to comment, in the second year, on how any suggestions made in the first year had been carried out and how they were working. Mr. Minnich felt that was a usual part of an audit report. Highways - Mr. Marvin asked whether the information he had requested on the possible widening of Kennedy Drive was available yet. It was felt that the city had the numbers, it just had to look them up. Consider going into Executive Session to discuss the anticipated Fire Department Labor Contract Mr. Farrar asked whether there was any need for this item at this time. He noted that any action which might be taken would be separate from the action the men took in requesting to form a union. Review City Attorney's comments regarding reappraisal In addition to the Attorney's comments, Mr. Szymanski had passed out copies of comments from the State on this item. Mr. Burgess noted that neither the Attorney nor the State seemed overjoyed with the suggestion for a phased reappraisal. He noted that the Council had wanted to balance the need for an updating of property values with the cost. He said he would like to consider this a little longer and noted that he was not convinced that a phased reappraisal was wrong. Mr. Farrar felt that Mr. Underwood did a great job of keeping the dispersion of property values down and he complimented him on that. He noted, however, that vacant land was appreciating at a different rate than property in general and he stated that commercial and residential land were appreciating at different rates, so a reappraisal would have to be done soon. Mr. Underwood said that he felt that with one person to help him, he could, over a 2 year period, reappraise every property in the city for a cost of $25,000. After that point, Mr. Farrar said, the city could start its 10% per year system. Mr. Marvin asked the cost for an outside appraiser with a contract and was told it would be between $125-150,000. It was decided to discuss this item more at the next meeting. Salting on Brewer Parkway Mr. Marvin noted that snow removal had been poor on Brewer Parkway from the double section of road to the top of the hill. Mr. Audette explained how this had occurred. There had been a build-up that the plow could not push away and when it had become warmer, the snow had become loose. The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.