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Minutes - City Council - 01/12/2015
CITY COUNCIL 12 JANUARY 2015 The South Burlington City Council held a special meeting on Monday, 12 January 2015, at 6:30 p.m., in the Main Conference Room of 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. Whipple, Chief of Police, D. Brent, Fire Chief, T. Chittenden, R. Nowak, J. Kearns, C. Burdick 1. Agenda Review: No changes were made to the Agenda. 2. Comments & Questions from the Public not related to the Agenda: There were no comments offered by members of the public. 3. Approve Minutes from December 15, 2014 Council Meeting Ms. Riehle moved to amend the minutes with language provided by Ms. Emery. Mr. Simson seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Ms. Riehle moved to approve the minutes as amended. Mr. Shaw seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 4. Continued Discussion and Approval of FY 2016 Budget to be presented to the voters on March 3, 2015. Chief Whipple briefed the Council on the schedule for vehicle replacement and how cars move on the list. The list changes based upon the evolving condition of the vehicles. Mr. Shaw expressed concern about Police Department staffing levels. Chief Whipple noted he is two officers short of staffing a “team approach.” Chief Whipple described that he is not working at full complement today and is never at full staffing due to officers joining and/or leaving the force. Mr. Shaw asked Chief Whipple if his priority would be to add an officer or to purchase a new vehicle. Chief Whipple preferred an additional officer. Ms. Nowak asked for more information on the proposed PD computer upgrade. Mr. Hubbard noted $50,000 was in the ’16 budget, $20,000 was coming from drug forfeiture money. The project needs to be added to the CIP under advice from City technology consultants and be looked at for replacement on a 5 year basis. The Council discussed the value of adding approximately 1/3 of a cent to support hiring an additional officer. Chief Whipple noted that one additional officer would increase the PD staffing level to the highest it has ever been. Ms. Nowak asked Chief Brent how much it would cost to add an additional fireman. Chief Brent answered about $80,000. Chief Brent noted that before he would suggest adding an additional fireman the City should really do the work necessary to create a plan to cover all needed public services as the community grows, to create a type of “personnel CIP”. Chief Brent said that he could provide a high level of service for another year with his existing staff until such a plan can be created. Ms. Nowak noted that our existing staffing levels in Public Safety are adequate at this time to ensure the community is well protected. Mr. Dorn noted the work he and others in City government are engaged in to look at shared services with other communities that may lead to a more efficient delivery of services. Ms. Emory asked Chief Whipple if adding another officer would help in retention. Chief Whipple said the added flexibility would help to some extent as it would reduce the number of “order‐ins”. Mr. Simson asked if any modeling had been done to plan for future public safety needs expressing confidence that such models must exist. Mr. Dorn agreed that such planning needed to be done and could occur as planning continues with other communities around shared services. Mr. Shaw moved to adopt the FY 2016 budget as presented and add adequate funding to hire one additional police officer. Ms. Riehle seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The Council endorsed the continued discussion with neighboring communities regarding shared services. 5. Update on status of the City of Burlington appeal of the assessed value of Burlington International Airport. Mr. Dorn briefed the Council on the ongoing efforts to reach a negotiated settlement with the City of Burlington regarding the assessed value of Burlington International Airport properties. 6. Other Business. The Council discussed various future agenda items of interest. Mr. Shaw and Ms. Nowak expressed an interest in receiving an update from the Planning Commission regarding the status of their projects. Mr. Shaw expressed an interest in learning more about a recent letter sent to landowners by the Sustainable Agriculture Subcommittee of the Planning Commission regarding land conservation. Mr. Simson made note of his interest in serving on the Chamberlin/BTV planning project after he leaves the Council. Mr. Simson discussed the need to present information to the voters regarding the establishment of a Housing Trust Fund and provisions in the FY 2016 budget to fund the Trust. Ms. Riehle agreed to author a “Councilor’s Corner” article in the Other Paper discussing the Housing Trust initiative. As there was no further business to come before the City Council, Ms. Emery moved to adjourn. Ms. Riehle seconded and the motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.