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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 01/05/2015 CITY COUNCIL 5 JANUARY 2015 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 5 January 2015, at 6:30 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street. Members Present: P. Nowak, Chair; H. Riehle, C. Shaw, M. Emery, J. Simson Also Present: K. Dorn, City Manager; T. Hubbard, Deputy City Manager; T. Gauthier, B.Costello, D. Edson, M. Companion, L. LaRock. L. Leavens, G. Maille, W. Rooney, C. Sargent, G. Severence 1. Agenda Review: No changes were made to the Agenda. 2. Comments & Questions from the Public not related to Agenda Items: No issues were raised. 3. Announcements and City Manager’s Report: Mr. Dorn: Reminded members of the Saturday, 9 a.m. budget meeting. Department Heads will make presentations. The Master Visioning Task Force continues to move forward. Their next meeting is Thursday, 5 p.m. at which time Mr. Dorn will present information on behalf of the city. They are narrowing down options with regard to school buildings and future enrollment. There will be a community forum in early February. The City Council will be interviewing applicants for the Chamberlin/Airport Neighborhood Task Force. The city is in the final stages of hiring a consultant for that group. The City Attorney is reviewing and analyzing the city’s ordinances to insure they are up to date and in compliance with State and Federal law. The city has received guidelines for the Georgetown Energy Prize. Mr. Dorn read from the guidelines regarding the $5,000,000 prize and its questionability if Georgetown can’t raise the money. Mr. Dorn said it is worth doing with or without the monetary prize. Council members reported on meeting and events they had attended. 4. Consent Agenda: A. Sign Disbursements B. Approve Minutes for 15 December 2014 City Council Meeting Ms. Emery asked that the Minutes be removed from the Consent Agenda. Ms. Emery moved to approve the Consent Agenda minus the minutes. Mr. Shaw seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 5. Hear Comments from the public regarding traffic ordinance/winter parking ban: Ms. Nowak noted that the city’s ordinance prohibits on‐street parking between Midnight and 8 a.m. from 1 December to 1 April. Ms. Gauthier and Mr. Costello read the language from a flier they had received regarding the on-street parking ban. They felt the language suggested this was “weather dependent.” Therefore, parking on the street on a night when no snow was in evidence or in the forecast. They did acknowledge that other forms of notification (website) were not ambiguous, but they got only one notice which was ambiguous. They also felt the combined cost to them is $250. Members agreed the language seemed a big ambiguous and this was an “expensive lesson.” Ms. Riehle suggested the Council encourage Chief Whipple to get the language on the Police Department clarified so the parking ban doesn’t appear to be weather dependent. Ms. Gauthier suggested that since there was no weather incident they might have just been ticketed instead of towed. She asked if they could request a refund between what they were charged and what the ordinance says the fee is. Mr. Dorn said they could send him a letter and he will research the 2002 resolution capping the towing fee. Mr. Maille said the main issue when the parking ban was put in place was navigating trucks/plows around parked cars. The spirit was not to make money for the city or the towing company. He questioned what authority there is when the notice contains a “stated condition.” 6. Interviews for Appointments to South Burlington Boards, Committees and Commissions: The Council interviewed the following candidates for appointment to the Chamberlin Neighborhood/Airport Committee. Ms. Nowak explained that the Council will be appointing committee members from three residential areas: the backside of the Airport (area 1), the Valley Ridge Road area (area 2), and Airport Road to Airport Parkway (area 3). There will be further interviews at the next Council meeting as well. Questions asked of the candidates included time commitment, previous committees served on in the city, personal interest in the Chamberlin/Airport area, etc. Marc Companion (area 2) Diane Edson (area 3) Lisa LaRock (area 2) Linus Leavens (area 2) George Maille (area 3) Walden Rooney (area 1) Carmen Sargent (area 3) Gregory Severence (area 1) 7. Update of FY 16 Draft Budget and Approval of Department Presentation Schedule: Mr. Hubbard noted that there had been a question of where the money for the affordable housing piece would be incorporated in the desire for now more than a 3 cent increase. Mr. Hubbard said they have identified $50,000 in cuts; anything more would have a significant impact on accounts the city wants to restore and that is not recommended. Ms. Nowak said while she would like to see $100,000 for the affordable housing piece, she would accept $50,000 this year rather than take money from the contingency or the sick leave accounts. Mr. Simson agreed and felt the committee could accomplish what they are looking to do with $50,000 for a year. Ms. Nowak asked the City Manager to ask the City Attorney where the city stands with regard to the resolution the Council passed (for $100,000 funding) and how that can be amended. She suggested the possibility of carrying the obligation for $100,000 over a 2-year period. Mr. Dorn said that to the extent that a project is planned for City Center, the city will in all probability come forth with additional resources regarding TIF calculated revenues. This would not mean the $50,000 is the last money the city can provide for the affordable housing project. Members agreed to direct the Deputy City Manager to put in $50,000 for the affordable housing trust. Mr. Hubbard said the budget book will be put together by Wednesday and delivered to Councilors. He also noted that a special Council meeting will be warned for 12 January and can be cancelled if not needed for further budget work. Members were OK with the budget meeting format. 8. Liquor Control Board: Mr. Shaw moved the Council reconvene as Liquor Control Board. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Members considered a Liquor License request from Cheese Traders & Wine Sellers under their new corporation name. Mr. Shaw moved to approve the Liquor License request as presented. Ms. Riehle seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Shaw moved to reconvene as City Council. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 9. Other Business: A. Items Held from Consent Agenda: Ms. Emery asked that the following language be added to clarify her request under Other Business: She suggested some kind of tracking on the website of noise issues (time, duration, location and source: takeoff, landing or ground noise) which would provide a more complete or thorough record of all comments. Municipal planning could specifically focus on ground noise (e.g., night time engine run-ups,) and could give the city “a leg to stand on in the future.” This amendment will be voted on at the next Council meeting. As there was no further business to come before the Council, Mr. Simson moved to adjourn. Ms. Riehle seconded. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 p.m. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works. South Burlington Water Dept. Accounts Payable Check Register Date: 01/06/15 Date Check No. Paid To Memo Amount Paid 1/6/2015 2686 Champlain Water District 88,023.98 Date Voucher Number Reference Voucher Total Amount Paid 12/31/2014 VI-13558 SBWD-288 285.59 285.59 12/31/2014 VI-13559 DECEMBER 87,738.39 87,738.39 1/6/2015 2687 E.J. Prescott, Inc. 818.59 Date Voucher Number Reference Voucher Total Amount Paid 12/18/2014 VI-13549 4896074 45.39 45.39 12/22/2014 VI-13550 4896071 56.66 56.66 12/12/2014 VI-13552 4893679 716.54 716.54 1/6/2015 2688 Ferguson Waterworks #590 669.28 Date Voucher Number Reference Voucher Total Amount Paid 12/18/2014 VI-13553 0373427 669.28 669.28 1/6/2015 2689 Office Essentials 300.58 Date Voucher Number Reference Voucher Total Amount Paid 12/21/2014 VI-13551 30932 298.40 298.40 12/14/2014 VI-13557 30901 2.18 2.18 1/6/2015 2690 SoVerNet, Inc. 41.16 Date Voucher Number Reference Voucher Total Amount Paid 12/15/2014 VI-13556 3451098 41.16 41.16 1/6/2015 2691 Joyce E. Stutler 315.81 Date Voucher Number Reference Voucher Total Amount Paid 12/18/2014 VI-13555 355194 315.81 315.81 1/6/2015 2692 Ti-Sales Inc. 765.00 Date Voucher Number Reference Voucher Total Amount Paid 12/18/2014 VI-13554 INV0045419 765.00 765.00 Printed: December 30, 2014 Page 1 of 2 South Burlington Water Dept. Accounts Payable Check Register Date: 01/06/15 Date Check No. Paid To Memo Amount Paid Total Amount Paid: 90,934.40 SOUTH BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ Printed: December 30, 2014 Page 2 of 2 CITY COUNCIL 15 DECEMBER 2014 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 15 December 2014, at 6:30 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street. Members Present: P. Nowak, Chair; H. Riehle, C. Shaw, M. Emery, J Simson Also Present: K. Dorn, City Manager; T. Hubbard, Deputy City Manager; D. Young, Superintendent of Schools; M. Lalonde, D. Fleming, School Board; J. Ladd, S. Lyons, T. Braun, E. Shea, R. Smith, D. Cummings, D. Crawford 1. Executive Session: Mr. Shaw moved that the Council meet in executive session to discuss legal and real estate issues where premature disclosure would put the City of South Burlington at a competitive disadvantage and to discuss appointments to City Boards, Committees and Commissions, and to include the City Manager and Deputy City Manager. Mr. Simson seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Regular Session: 1. Agenda Review: No changes were made to the Agenda. Ms. Nowak cited the need to correct the Resolution regarding the housing trust to indicate in Section 3 a change from an amount of $200,000 to an “amount between $100,000 and $200,000.” Mr. Simson moved to change the amount in Section 3 of the Resolution regarding the creation of a Housing Trust from $200,000 to “an amount between $100,00 and $200,000. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 2. Comments & Questions from the Public not related to the Agenda: No issues were raised. 3. Announcements and City Manager’s Report: Mr. Dorn: Noted the new wireless microphone system, new furniture, projector and screen, and public seating in the conference room and thanked Mr. Hubbard for having brought this about. There will be a Legislative Breakfast, Wednesday at 9:15 a.m. CITY COUNCIL 15 DECEMBER 2014 PAGE 2 The City/School Task Force is moving forward and is proceeding through a “mountain of information.” There will be a public information meeting regarding engineering for Market Street, Wednesday, 7 p.m. There will be reduced staffing through the holidays. Recognized Public Works for its work during the recent storm. They and other public safety personnel will be at full staff through the holidays. Council members reported on meeting and events they had attended. 4. Consent Agenda: A. Sign Disbursements B. Approve Minutes for December 1st Council Meeting C. Accept Cider Mill streets as public roads Ms. Emery moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Ms. Riehle seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 5. Presentation on property taxes and education reform from the School District: Mr. Lalonde and Mr. Fleming noted the School Board had put together a “white paper” regarding school funding. It cites the need to maintain and improve an already quality education system in South Burlington and to deal with funding to accomplish that. The document contains proposals related to costs and expenses. About 80% of costs are related to personnel, and the aim is to contain those costs. The white paper states the belief that in negotiations, the School District is “working uphill at the bargaining table.” The School Board feel they need different factors for fact-finders to look at. They also feel arbitration rules are “skewed” against the School District. They oppose a solution that requires binding arbitration. They also feel teachers shouldn’t automatically get step increases. With respect to health care, it is felt that if there is a movement to singlje-payer or something like that, teachers need to be part of that. CITY COUNCIL 15 DECEMBER 2014 PAGE 3 The School Board supports continuing to figure out the consolidation issue. Disincentives should be eliminated (e.g., small school grants), and there should be incentives for consolidation. The white paper cites the problem of “unfunded mandates” (e.g., pre-K and dual enrollment). With regard to revenues, there are pressures on the education fund not related to schools (e.g., education in prisons; adult education). The white paper suggests these should not come out of the education fund; they are needed, but with a different funding mechanism. Mr. Cummings said they will present this to Legislators at the Wednesday breakfast meeting and will stress that the School Board was unanimous about these things. Ms. Emery stressed a concern with starting “competitiveness” among teachers. 6. Presentation of FY14 Audit: Mr. Smith said they are in the final stages of the FY14 audit. He stressed that the city has come a long way in 3-1/2 years. Mr. Smith noted that for the FY15 budget, $350,000 of the unfunded balance was used for tax relief leaving only $165,000 of unfunded balance. This is a concern, but Mr. Smith felt the city is in a good position to address this. Mr. Smith cited an issue with regard to the Rescue Department and said that what they take in is what they should spend. He also expressed a concern with the continuing unfunded sick time amounting to about $1,000,000. 7. Presentation of Actuarial Report for FY14: Ms. Braun noted a reduction in the 2014 contribution from $569,200 to $531,400. She also noted that the asset return was in excess of the assumed 7.5%. There has been no change to the employee turnover assumption. The assumed retirement for Public Safety employees has changed from age 50 to age 53. This gives the city more time to pay for this liability. Ms. Braun cited several reasons for the good showing, including: the 16% asset return, the change in the Public Safety retirement age, and the higher plan compensation. CITY COUNCIL 15 DECEMBER 2014 PAGE 4 Ms. Braun noted that a change in the funding method will mitigate volatility in the year- to-year contribution. This is consistent with the method under GASBE. Ms. Braun then showed a history of the plan over the last 10 years and noted some “big negatives and some big positives.” She said it is good that Public Safety is back at full staffing. Overall, Ms. Braun felt the plan is very healthy at this point. The present value of the plan is $24,080,000 and plan assets are $28,852,000, which results in a funded ratio of 120% compared to the prior year ratio of 106%. 8. Make Appointments to South Burlington Boards, Committees and Commissions: Mr. Dorn noted there has been only one applicant for the Winooski Valley Park District Board. Ms. Riehle moved to appoint David Crawford to the Winooski Valley Park District Board. Mr. Shaw seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 9. Energy Committee Update: Mr. Cummings noted the city’s Energy Committee received an award as the best Energy Committee in the State. The city has also been accepted as a semi-finalist for the Georgetown prize. Waterbury and Montpelier also made the cut. Ms. Nowak asked the time-line going forward. Mr. Cummings said that on 1 January 2015 the “formal competition” begins. The city will be measuring energy use as projects are implemented. Georgetown will then recognize the top10 reductions (normalized for weather). In January 2017, they will announce the top 10. Those 10 will be asked to write a report on how they accomplished their energy savings. Mr. Cummings said they are planning a “kick-off” event in January and hope to have as many residents as possible attending. If Council members attend, it may have to be warned as a Council meeting. The Committee is looking for someone to serve as Volunteer Coordinator, about 5-6 hours a week effort. CITY COUNCIL 15 DECEMBER 2014 PAGE 5 Mr. Cummings said the Committee would also like to involve the public in the discussion of what to do with the $5,000,000 prize “when” the city wins it. 10. Receive and possible approve Errors and Omissions Report: Mr. Shaw moved to approve the Errors and Omissions Report as presented. Ms. Riehle seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 11. November Financial Report: Mr. Hubbard reported that expenses are at 45.62% of the budget and revenues at 60%. Planning & Zoning revenues are high and highway revenues are way up due to reimbursement for 2 road widening projects. Overtime costs continue to be watched. Mr. Hubbard noted that if these costs are higher than anticipated, costs for Workers Compensation Insurance go up, and the pension Plan is impacted. 12. Overview of FY16 Draft Budget: Mr. Hubbard said the proposed budget is based on a maximum 3 cent increase. It does not yet take into account the estimate of a Housing Trust ($100,000-$200,000 as agreed upon by the Council). He suggested this be a discussion on the 5 January agenda. An increase of $100,000 would raise the tax increase to 3.3 cents; $200,000 would raise the increase to 3.65 cents. There are no new positions in the proposed general fund budget. There is a full contribution to the Winooski Valley Park District. Some money will go back to the contingency fund and the sick bank. The budget includes a Phase I of an upgrade to the Police Department computer system (about $50,000). Some of the money for this upgrade will come from drug seizure money. There is an increase in line with the cost of living for employees. The health insurance increase is 3.46% with a 26% increase in Workers Compensation. There is a $12,000 increase for CCTA. CITY COUNCIL 15 DECEMBER 2014 PAGE 6 The budget includes funding for the new public safety tower on Dorset Street. This will be shared with CWD and will now be a stand-alone tower, not shared with the water tower. With regard to revenues, there are anticipated increases in fire inspections and planning/zoning permits. The budget does not provide for: all requests for capital expenses (vehicles), the stabilization fund, funding for facility assessment, new positions requested by some departments, fully funding of contingency and sick bank (although this budget gets closer to this goal). Council members felt the Housing Trust Funds was a key piece to deal with. Ms. Nowak asked staff to bring something that will keep the tax increase under 7%. 13. Notice of New England Clean Power Link: Mr. Dorn explained this is the project to bring power underwater from Canada into the U.S. South Burlington can have intervenor status. Members agreed they did not feel intervenor status was necessary. 14. Other Business: A. Items Held from Consent Agenda: There were no such items. B. Ms. Emery noted a meeting she and Ms. Nowak attended with Gene Richards of the Airport regarding complaints of airport noise. She felt Mr. Richards’ response to her concern with lack of mitigation was below what she would have liked. She suggested some kind of tracking on the website of noise issues (e.g., time, duration, etc.). This would be specifically for ground noise (e.g, night time engine run-ups).and could give the city “a leg to stand on in the future.” Ms. Nowak noted that 96% of calls regarding noise related to the Air Guard. She said that of the list of 260 calls/emails, 38-42 were South Burlington calls. She felt there is already a good mechanism in place to track these calls. CITY COUNCIL 15 DECEMBER 2014 PAGE 7 Mr. Simson said that the Chamberlin neighborhood project will have Airport noise on its agenda. If that committee things the information the city has is not adequate, they can let the Council know. Ms. Riehle suggested keeping this as a “place holder” on the back of the agenda sheet. . C. Mr. Dorn noted that an additional warrant had come in when there wasn’t time to put it on the agenda. Mr. Hubbard said a late fee would be significant. Ms. Riehle then moved to authorize payment of $16,969.85 to Green Mountain Power to cover electric power at the Airport Parkway plant. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. As there was no further business to come before the Council, Mr. Shaw moved to adjourn. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 10:05 p.m. ___________________________________ Clerk Schedule for FY16 Budget Presentations  Saturday, January 10  City Hall Conference Room    9:00‐9:10 am                      Budget Overview‐ Tom  9:10‐9:30 am                      Council, Manager & Administrative Budgets, Finance, Debt Service &       CIP, Organization Requests & Assessments‐ Tom  9:30‐10:00 am                    Enterprise Funds‐ Sewer, Water, Stormwater‐ Justin  10:00‐12:15              Department Presentations       (about 15 minutes each including special funds and revenues)  10:00‐10:15       Public Works‐ Justin  10:15‐10:30    City Clerk‐ Donna   10:30‐11:00    Fire & Ambulance‐ Doug  11:00‐11:15    Planning & Zoning‐ Paul  11:15‐11:30    Recreation & Parks‐ Betsy  11:30‐12:00    Police‐ Trevor  12:00‐12:15              Community Library‐ Jennifer  12:15‐12:20              Budget Review & Summary‐ Tom  12:20‐                                 Open for discussion and comments from the public‐ Council  Possible Adoption of FY16 Budget or continuation of discussion set               for Monday Jan. 12 Special mtg.