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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 07/01/2014 (2)SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL 1 JULY 2014 The South Burlington City Council held a special meeting on Tuesday, 1 July 2014, at 5:30 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street. Members Present: P. Mackenzie, Chair; P. Nowak, C. Shaw, M. Emery Also Present: K. Dorn, Interim City Manager; RRusten, Deputy City Manager; M. Lyons, Assessor's Office 1. Agenda Review: Additions, deletions or changes in order of agenda items: No changes were made to the Agenda. 2. Comments & Questions from the public not related to the agenda: No issues were raised. 3. Consent Agenda: A. Sign Disbursements B. Establish the membership of the Interim Zoning -Form Based Code Committee at 13 members Mr. Shaw moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Ms. Nowak seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 4. Ratify the May 19, 2014 City Council vote to assess a penalty of 2% for both residential and non-residential property owners who do not file a Homestead Declaration in a timely manner: Mr. Dorn noted that the Council passed this prior to the date of the new effective legislation. The City Attorney felt that the Council should ratify this with the new legislation in place. Ms. Emery asked why the 2%. Ms. Nowak said the Council felt that it was appropriate to have a penalty but that 8% was too high a number. Having a penalty will send the message to people to follow the regulations and to file on time. Ms. Nowak moved to ratify the 19 May 2014 City Council vote to assess a penalty of 2% to property owners who do not file a Homestead Declaration in a timely manner. Mr. Shaw seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 5. Approve Tax Rate and Tax Payment D'ue Dates: Mr. Hubbard advised that the good news is that the Grand List came in slightly higher than the estimate, so the tax rate will be a bit lower. It was previously .4285 and will now be .4278. This means taxpayers will pay a little less. Ms. Nowak moved to set the tax rate at 0.4278 and to set the due dates for tax payments at 18 August 2014,17 November 2014, and 16 March 2015. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 6. Discuss Underwood Property Cover Crop Management Plan; Authorize City Manager to Sign Contracts: Ms. Mackenzie reviewed the history. She said the recommendation is to put together a task force to plan for the property and to have them report on or before 1 January 2015. The Task Force would engage a consultant at a cost not to exceed $10,000. In the meantime, money from the FY14 budget and/or contingency fund would be used to insure the maintenance of the property. Ms. Nowak said that to manage the property goes without saying, but there must also be a decision as to the best use of the property for the city. She felt the Task Force should survey what the city needs (e.g., a recreation park, ball field, tennis court, etc.). She didn't want to see this valuable land "only growing rutabagas on it." Ms. Emery noted that Sophie Quest and a group are looking at diverse use in conjunction with Common Roots, Recreation Dept. etc. Ms. Nowak said she would like to see someone from the city defining what the city really needs. She said the other issue is the cost to maintain parks. She noted the city now has more parks than in the past. Mr. Shaw said he was concerned with taking money from the contingency fund. Mr. Hubbard advised there is $9500 in the Open Space Fund which could be used. Ms. Mackenzie said that would mean taking $11,000 from the contingency fund to do both the study and provide a ground crop this year. Mr. Dorn said one question is whether to spend $10,000 this year on a ground crop or to wait until next year when there is a management plan. Mr. Hubbard noted the contingency fund from FY14 is already committed. This would have to come from FY15 where there is $75,000 budgeted for the contingency fund. Another option is to overspend the fund from FY14 which would require reducing the surplus. Mr. Dorn reminded members that the city is going into a very lean year and carrying over surplus funds would be an advantage. Ms. Mackenzie suggested leaving the land fallow and using the money for a consultant. Members felt this was a workable suggestion. Ms. Emery then moved to designate the balance of the Open Space account to hire a consultant to head a Task Force comprised of one member each from the Bicycle/Recreation Path Committee, Open Space Committee, Recreation Committee, Energy Committee, Sustainable Agriculture Committee and 4 membersofthecommunity todeliverareporton orbefore1January2015. Mr.Shawseconded. . Motion passed unanimously. 7. Other Business: A. Upcoming Meetings: Mr. Dorn advised that there will be a Special Steering Committee meeting on Monday, 7 July, at 5:30 p.m. prior to the City Council meeting. Both meetings will be at City Hall. The City Council agenda will include 18 interviews for committee positions. B. Ethics/Conflict of Interest Policy: Mr. Dorn gave members a draft of the proposed Ethics/Conflict of Interest Policy. C. Laurel Heights Road Work: Members briefly discussed upcoming work at Laurel Heights. Mr. Dorn said it is anticipated that the contractor will be on site by the third week in July. Where there is clear consensus among residents, the road will be the same as it is now. The 3-way stop that was discussed at the meeting with the neighbors has been deemed to be unwarranted by the engineering consultant. As there was no further business to come before the City Council, Ms. Nowak moved to adjourn. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 6:28 p.m. , Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.