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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 02/12/2001CITY COUNCIL 12 FEBRUARY 2001 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 12 February 2001, at 7:30 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset St. Members present: J. Condos, Chair; T. Sheahan, C. Smith, S. Magowan, D. O'Rourke Also present: C. Hafter, City Manager; P. Bestenbostel, Asst. City Manager; B. Chattman, Supt. of Schools; M. O'Neil, Fire Chief; Rep. A. Pugh, J. Britt, B. Wessel, J. Berry, P. Stabler, S. Audette 1. Comments & questions from the audience not related to agenda items: No issues were raised. 2. Announcements & City Manager's report: Mr. Sheahan: Met with City Manager, planning people, and UVM officials to get caught up on UVM planning. There is some housing in the UVM plan but they have not yet decided where it would go. City people expressed concern about any plan that would have traffic coming out onto Spear St. Mr. Condos said that Linda Seavy of UVM had told him they had already sited housing. Mr. Hafter said they have a general area but no specific location. Mr. Sheahan said UVM indicated that all of their options have an issue associated with them. Mr. Sheahan will attend the Executive Committee meeting of the Regional Planning Commission tomorrow. They will be looking at the timetable for adoption of the Regional Plan. Mr. Sheahan expressed concerns about the pace the RPC is moving at. Council members agreed. Mr. Condos indicated that he had sent a letter to the RPC indicating that the city would like a clean copy when all changes are complete and that copies should also go to the task force groups. Mr. Condos: Got notice of a meeting on 21 February, 7 p.m., Room 11 of the State House for voters to give ideas for modifying and improving Act 60. A very successful meeting was held with Post Office officials today along with representatives of Sen. Jeffords and Sen. Leahy's offices, David Raphael, and Bill Posey regarding siting of a new post office in South Burlington. The Post Office initially refused to split the retail and sorting functions but quickly changed and indicated they will look for a site for the carriers. They have 6 years to go on the White St. lease, so they will keep the retail there. Mr. Magowan added that the Post Office is no longer looking to build its own building but is looking for a developer to do the work. Mr. Hafter said they want to be in South Burlington, and the timing looks good for that. Mr. Condos also noted an MPO meeting next Wednesday, 7 P.M. at South Burlington City Hall. Mr. Hafter: The Correction Center Liaison Committee will meet on 28 February, 4 p.m. A meeting was held today with representatives of the Vermont Community Botanical Gardens. They will talk with the Council on 19 March. The new Public Works facility is now occupied. Mr. Hafter thanked everyone who worked on the project and indicated that the city is very pleased with how it came out. 3. Public hearing on amendment to Motor Vehicle and Traffic Regulations to prohibit parking on portions of Fayette Rd; second reading of same: Mr. Condos read the proposed amendment. Mr. Sheahan asked the Fire Chief if this would solve the problem of getting emergency vehicles in that area. Chief O'Neil said as long as the ordinance is enforced it would. Mr. Condos noted that Chief O'Neil has indicted there have been instances of specific delays because of the parking problem. Mr. Sheahan suggested a notice in The Other Paper warning people of the parking restrictions. Mr. Magowan also suggested a sign in the movie theatre. Mr. Sheahan moved to close the public hearing and approve the amendment as presented. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 4. Discussion with city representatives on regional boards: a. CCTV: Ms. Britt said CCTV has been very busy during the past year. The operation was moved from 1400 sq. ft. to 4200 sq. ft. and feels more like a station now and looks very professional. The City is entitled to 5 meetings covered per month. One was donated to the MPO. CCTV also does some specials such as Thursday night's public forum, and they will do the budget hearings. The contract with Adelphia is being renegotiated. They went to the Public Service Board and worked through some issues. The contract is close to being signed. The major issues in the renegotiation were an assurance that there will be enough money to keep up with technological changes. Adelphia will also be providing live sites for meetings within the next year or 2. There will be an internet access and City Hall will have a link. CCTV has a website with pages on Channel 17. People can access Governor's press conferences, etc. Mr. Hafter asked to be put on the list to receive minutes of CCTV Board meetings. b. CCTA: Ms. Berry said CCTA is getting new buses. 17 have been delivered since 1998, and 6 more will be coming this summer. This will complete the replacement of all 20-year old buses. Mr. Hafter noted that the city's contribution to CCTA is up about $16,000 due to the new buses. Fare boxes are being upgraded and a component is being added that will allow for a magnetic stripe capability. Two services in South Burlington are operating with grants. One is a peak hour service that meets shift changes at Technology Park and Lane Press. Service to Williston starts at UMall and goes to Williston and then to the Amtrak station. It has done well for a new service with 1500 riders in January. The service is hourly. Mr. Sheahan asked how much of the city's contribution supports SSTA. Ms. Berry said $39,470 which is up $4,000 from last year. Ridership is up 11% in the same period. Mr. Sheahan observed that with the number of senior housing units in the city, that number will continue to go up. Mr. Hafter expressed concern that the other communities are subsidizing the Williston service for almost a year. Mr. Wessel noted that CCTA has advertised for a new director. There are 12 candidates to date and they are hoping for more. Applications close on 3 March, and they hope to hire someone by June. c. CSWD: Mr. Stabler reported that expenses are up 3.5% for 2002. Revenues should go up about 3.3%. There is no assessment to the communities. A drop-off site in Burlington is still an issue. A study was recently done on those using the South Burlington center. More than half are from South Burlington. About 30% are from Burlington. This poses a traffic concern, and staff is trying to site a Burlington location. There are plans for an interim center at the old Public Works facility. This would last about 4 years. A private parcel has also been identified on Flynn Avenue. There are 3 businesses on the site with some good space behind them. Mr. Condos noted that Burlington cannot be forced to do anything. Mr. Stabler said there would be a vote on whether to purchase the site for $500,000. He needs to know how the city wants him to vote. A right-of-way would have to be negotiated as well. Mr. Sheahan was concerned with putting the city on the hook for that money. Mr. Stabler noted if they don't buy the property, it is probable there wouldn't be any facility in Burlington. Burlington has made it clear they won't buy the parcel as they feel their obligation is filled by having curbside service. Mr. Sheahan was also concerned with the Solid Waste District being in the real estate business. Mr. Condos suggested Mr. Stabler vote yes with 3 conditions: 1) the purchase doesn't go through until there are permits for the facility; 2) no money is paid to the City of Burlington for the facility or improvements; 3) CSWD opens negotiations with all host towns regarding some payments. Mr. Sheahan said he wasn't excited about doing this as they would be assuming a lot of things that might lead to a break-even point somewhere down the road. Mr. O'Rourke agreed. Members agreed to Mr. Condos' suggestion with the proviso that if the conditions are not met, he should vote against purchase. Mr. Stabler also reported the CSWD Board voted against using the Bio Solids Facility for another bio-solids use. 5. Discussion of proposal on amendment to Act 60: Supt. Chattman noted that at the first legislative breakfast they were asked to make suggestions for amendments to Act 60. This proposal is a response to that request. Supt. Chattman said everyone feels that all Vermont kids deserve equal opportunity. The issues arrive with how this is being implemented. Some towns have been able to avoid the impacts of Act 60, and others, like South Burlington, have contributed a lot to support it. Supt. Chattman said his proposal would like costs to what the school quality standards actually cost. The first suggestion would be to eliminate the sharing pool in FY2001. Supt. Chattman felt that 6 cents on the state property tax could accomplish this. Each town would pay its fair share. Then, in FY2003, the state would do the calculation to cost out the school quality standards. They would then come up with a taxing formula that is sustainable. Separate from that, all communities could spend above the block grant as they see fit. This might force a school district to look at consolidation. Supt. Chattman noted that although Act 60 was designed to bring that about, it has had the opposite result with more districts now than when Act 60 was passed. In FY2004, the state would look at the state grand list as an index factor and a community would be allowed to increase its block grant budget by the same percentage as the increase in the state grand list. Every three years, the State Dept. of Education would provide the legislature with an audit of the school quality standards. Another cost containment piece would allow a district to go to the voters for money beyond the state figure, but they could do this only once. Supt. Chattman said this plan would avoid the peaks and valleys that are so disruptive to education. Rep. Pugh noted that there are some plans in New Hampshire that could hurt Vermont. If a state income tax is passed in New Hampshire, it could cost Vermont $18,000,000 because of the tax agreement between the states. Rep. Pugh also noted the Chair of her committee is speaking of raising the state property tax to eliminate the sharing pool. Mr. Hafter asked how to present Supt. Chattman's ideas to the Committee. Rep. Pugh suggested the meeting of 21 February. She also asked Supt. Chattman to come to the Committee at a time other than the public hearing. Rep. Audette suggested that income sensitivity be coordinated with any tax bill. He also expressed concern with the school budget taking out money for building maintenance. He said the buildings will need repair and upgrades. Supt. Chattman acknowledged they have not been doing any of the preventive maintenance they should be doing. 6. Presentation of 2001-2 FY budget and review schedule: Mr. Hafter gave members copies of the proposed FY2001-2 budget. The proposed tax rate is 56.8 which represents a 1.4 cent increase over 2000-1. 7. Review Planning Commission agenda for 13 February 2001: No issues were raised. 8. Sign Disbursement Orders: Disbursement Orders were signed. Executive Session: Mr. Smith moved the Council adjourn and reconvene in Executive Session to discuss personnel issues and to resume regular session only for the purpose of adjournment. Mr. Magowan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Regular Session: The City Council returned to regular session. Mr. Smith moved adjournment. Mr. Magowan seconded. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10 p.m. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.