April 2024 City Council Recap
We started April with the swearing-in ceremony of Emma Mulvaney-Stanak as Burlington’s first out queer, woman mayor. I and my fellow ward councilors, Councilors Bergman, Kane, Carpenter, Traverse, McKnight, Litwin, and Broderick were also sworn in. We voted for a new council President and elected members to the Board of Finance. After the swearing-in ceremony, we had our first working council meeting as a new body - here’s some highlights.
Committee Assignments:
Most committees are made up of three councilors. The Transportation, Energy, & Utilities Committee (TEUC) is made up of four councilors, & the Board of Finance. The exact size of the committees is largely up to the discretion of the Council President, provided we stay within parameters set forth in the council rules.
The Board of Finance has 5 members, 3 councilors (Kane, Barlow, & Carpenter), Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak, & Council President Traverse. I was appointed as Chair of the Community Development & Neighborhood Revitalization Committee (CDNR). I will also sit on the Public Safety Committee (PSC) & Parks, Arts, & Culture (PACC). Below is the make up of all committees.
PAC
(D) Becca McKnight, Chair
(P) Carter Neubieser
(I) Mark Barlow
Public Safety
(P) Melo Grant, Chair
(I) Mark Barlow
(P) Carter Neubieser
REIB
(P) Melo Grant, Chair
(P) Gene Bergman
(D) Becca McKnight
TEUC
(I) Mark Barlow, Chair
(P) Gene Bergman
(D) Evan Litwin
(P) Marek Broderick
Tax Abatement
(D) Tim Doherty, Chair
(P) Joe Kane
(D) Joan Shannon
Ordinance
(D) Joan Shannon, Chair
(D) Becca McKnight
(P) Gene Bergman
Charter Change
(P) Gene Bergman, Chair
(D) Sarah Carpenter
(D) Tim Doherty
CDNR
(P) Carter Neubieser, Chair
(D) Evan Litwin
(P) Joe Kane
Human Resources
(D) Sarah Carpenter, Chair
(D) Evan Litwin
(P) Marek Broderick
License
(D) Joan Shannon, Chair
(P) Melo Grant
(P) Marek Broderick
The Sale of 200 Church St.
During our first working meeting on April 15, we discussed the proposed sale of the city-owned building at 200 Church Street, which was purchased in 2005 to be used for formerly municipally-owned broadband provider Burlington Telecom’s (BT) Network Operations Center. The Community Justice Center currently occupies part of the building, as does the Human Resources Department - the facility, however, is not adequate for either city department, and both departments have plans to find new space. Additionally, and unfortunately as part of the selling off of BT, we also gave the buyer the opportunity to purchase the building starting in 2034.
I expressed concerns over selling off a public asset and wanted more information showing clearly that this was in fact the best deal for the city. My thinking / questions being that 1. Have we explored all federal grant opportunities - many of which are still being rolled out 2. the building will likely increase in value over time, especially given the significant investment underway & proposed in the downtown core, including at City Place & the ‘Memorial block’. 3. we are collecting lease payments, and I wanted to know how that factored into the financial prudence of selling now vs. later.
The reason for selling now versus waiting is that we have large capital investments to make in the building - it needs a new HVAC system and some roof work. Given that the current Mayor and Council inherited a pretty significant budget deficit and an overall financial mess, it isn’t clear where we’d find the money for improvements. This will be back in front of the council as early as our May 6th Council meeting for a vote.
Burlington’s Net Zero Energy Roadmap
Darren Springer, Burlington Electric Department’s General Manager, provided an annual update on the status of Burlington’s Net Zero Energy Road Map. Despite the progress we have made, we are not on track to meet our goals— Greenhouse gas emissions in the ground transportation & thermal/buildings sector are down 18.2% in 2023 relative to the 2018 baseline (which was a high emissions year compared to 2010-2017). Almost half of that 18% decrease can be attributed to unusually warm winters.
Our natural gas consumption is nearly 1 billion BTU off target, as well as our CO2 emissions — which are off target by roughly 50,000 metric tons in the thermal & ground transportation sectors. We extremely behind on our weatherization goals, & General Manager Springer voiced that workforce is the primary impediment to weatherizing buildings at the rate that we aim for in the Net Zero Energy Road Map. Our BED’s Net Zero Roadmap does not include emissions from McNeil, our airport, and our electricity sector. It only covers our thermal and transportation sectors.
Moving forward I hope to partner with Councilors from all parties to ask that the city provide more regular and truly wholistic reporting on our progress decarbonizing our energy systems. Here’s a video I released with Former Ward 1 City Councilor Hightower speaking about the NZE Roadmap: https://youtu.be/U8bPcGtFOgQ?si=utYt3UwR6r9TYzou
Winooski Bridge / Barrett St. Intersection:
The Department of Public Works secured significant federal funding to both build a new bridge and re-do a chaotic, high trafficked, and often unsafe intersection - Barrett, Mill, Riverside, and Colchester.
The council voted unanimously for funding & maintenance agreements for each project. The design is not finalized nor did these agreements commit us to a particular design for the project. The Vermont Transportation Agency recommended a total replacement of the bridge, which is slated to be completed by Fall 2029 into mid-2030.
