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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 10/21/2002CITY COUNCIL 21 OCTOBER 2002 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 21 October 2002, at 7:30 p.m., in the conference room, City Hall, 575 Dorset St. Members present: T. Sheahan, Acting Chair; C. Smith, S. Magowan, D. O'Rourke Also present: D. Gravelin, Assistant City Manager; Rep. S. Audette, Police Chief L. Graham; Lt. T. Shepard, Shepard family, other Police officers; Det. Sgt. Jennifer Morrison; J. B. Hoover, Director of Planning & Zoning; W. Black, A. Johnston 1. Comments & questions from the audience not related to agenda items: No issues were raised. 2. Announcements/City Manager's report: Mr. Magowan: CCTA Meeting Wednesday will include presentation of draft budget and draft of Legislative report. Mr. Sheahan: Regional Planning Commission meeting Monday. Regional Planning has moved into its new offices in South Burlington which will be shared with the MPO. Mr. Gravelin: The BCA will meet on Thursday, 7 p.m., regarding the assessment appeal of Vt. National Golf Course. The appraiser will be there to answer questions. The next Council meeting will include the proposed Water Use Ordinance and the Winter Parking Ban. 3. Presentation of Lieutenant patch to Officer Todd Shepard, South Burlington Police Department by Chief of Police Lee Graham: Chief Graham said Lt. Shepard has been with the agency for 18 years and has the skills and experience needed to help lead the agency into the future. The presentation of Lt. Shepard's patch and stripes was made by Chief Graham and the Shepard family. 4. Request for approval of capital equipment note and related documents for purchase of upgrade of computer system and records management system (RMS) with computer aided dispatch (CAD); $250,000 federal COPS MORE grant and $95,000 local funds: Chief Graham reviewed the history and the need. He noted they have outgrown their current system. Burlington will also be going on line soon so there will be a complete backup system for Burlington. Winooski and UVM will be going with Burlington in December. Chief Graham felt that more agencies will be going onto the system in the next few years. Lt. Shepard said they are trying to stay within their vision, and this equipment serves the purpose for now. Mr. O'Rourke asked if other systems can join S. Burlington. Lt. Shepard said not now. The grant requires that South Burlington have a stand-alone system. Mr. Gravelin said the note is for 5 years with an interest rate for the first year of 2.1%. The first year payback will be in next year's budget. Mr. Smith moved to approve the note, resolution and non-arbitrage certificate as presented. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 5. Update on Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations (CUSI): Det. Sgt. Morrison noted that one in 4 women and 1 in 7 boys will be a victim of sexual assault in their lifetimes. This is one of the most under-reported crimes and can change a community if not handled properly. 70% of victims are children. CUSI's value to South Burlington is that it is cost efficient, provides superior services, and provides a likelihood of successful prosecution of perpetrators. The conviction rate for CUSI has been 95%. CUSI also works with schools and families and holds workshops. Sandy O'Sullivan, who has been with CUSI since 1997, said she has seen raw officers leave as refined investigators. She cited the Webb case as an outstanding example of the work of CUSI. When the victim in that case died, she asked that CUSI members be pall bearers and also left a donation to CUSI. With that money, CUSI has started a "teddy bear making project." Bears will be given to child victims. Ms. Sullivan noted that during that investigation, officers and CUSI staff worked on their off-time in the holiday season, visiting the family, etc. Ms. Sullivan noted that a program has been started in South Burlington schools with local police members working with CUSI personnel. There is also a Child Advocacy Center funded through federal grants. States Attorney Bob Simpson thanked the city for continuing to support CUSI. He noted how difficult these kinds of cases can be and much of a difference CUSI has made. 6. Presentation from William Black re: Midas shop and office building easement: Mr. Sheahan stepped down during this discussion due to a conflict of interest. Mr. Black explained that his Midas franchise was in South Burlington for many years. In the 1980's they did more business than any Midas franchise in the country. Since then, however, there has been a large drop in business. The office building that was built for Midas now has only one person in it. Mr. Black noted that the city wants an easement through the Midas property to connect to the City Center. The proposed 60 ft. easement would encroach on Midas Lot #1 and require removal of 9 parking spaces. An alternate proposal would have the entire easement come out of Lot #2. The city would then give back the 60 ft. easement on the other side of the office building to make up for parking lost with the easement. Ms. Hoover explained that the city owns a 60 ft. right of way at the south end of this property. This would be exchanged for the 60 ft. right of way between the 2 Midas buildings. There would be no impact on the nearby Pomerleau property. Mr. Black said he believes Midas plans to reopen a franchise in the Midas shop. His company would be the landlords of that operation. The proposed rental falls short of amortizing the property. That money would go to the mortgage company because they held Mr. Black's company in default when they terminated the franchise. Mr. Black indicated he has a purchase and sale agreement pending for the office building which will expire on 31 October. The purchasers are willing to work with them on the easement deal. Mr. Black felt time is not on their side. Unless the office building is sold and the proceeds applied to the mortgage, the property will go into foreclosure proceedings. He felt it was in everybody's best interest for the sale to take place. Mr. Black said it is their intention to remove the pole sign on Williston Rd./Midas Drive which is not part of the agreement with Midas. Mr. Black also noted there has been vandalism to the office building since it is vacant. It was noted that to date the City has paid all the engineering and drawing costs related to the easement. Ms. Hoover noted there has been no evaluation as to whether an easement moved 32 ft. would work long term for the city. She said she talked with Midas in Chicago and they didn't give any indication of where they would stand on a shared parking arrangement which would be required if the easement is moved. Ms. Hoover suggested having Gene Forbes do another site plan so the city can evaluate it. This would cost about $500-600. Mr. O'Rourke asked if the proposed plan would create any non-conformity. Ms. Hoover said no. Ms. Hoover noted that Mr. Black needs to subdivide the property before he can sell the office building. If the city moves the right of way between the buildings, it will automatically subdivide the lot. Ms. Hoover also noted the 2 buildings exist on the lot as a result of a variance. The variance also required that the office building be used only for Midas offices. There can be no subdivision without moving the easement because the lot is not big enough. Mr. Black indicated he is willing to pay the $500 for an evaluation. Ms. Hoover said she will talk to Gene Forbes in the morning and will also have David Raphael look at the plan from the point of view of the City Center. Mr. Sheahan rejoined the Council. 7. Review Planning Commission agenda for 22 October 2002: No issues were raised. 8. Minutes of 24 September, 7 October 2002: The minutes of 23 September could not be acted upon as there was not a quorum of those present at that meeting. Mr. O'Rourke moved to approve the minutes of 7 October as written. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed 3-0 with Mr. Magowan abstaining. 9. Sign Disbursement Orders: Disbursement Orders were signed. As there was no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.