October 28th - City Council meeting preview
Hi neighbors -
Monday's City Council meeting starts at 6:00 PM. Public Forum is at 6:20 PM. You can sign up to speak in person at City Hall or join virtually: https://zoom.us/j/94046233355. Or Telephone: +1 305 224 1968 US (Webinar ID: 963 3206 3699) and sign up to speak here: https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/citycouncil/publicforum. View the full agenda and related materials here: https://burlingtonvt.portal.civicclerk.com/event/7131/files/agenda/12275.
In addition to the deliberative agenda, we will hold two work sessions on 1) the city's Legislative priorities for the upcoming session in Montpelier and 2) the operational efficiency study. The operational efficiency study is one piece of a much wider discussion by the Mayor to figure out how to make government more efficient to maximize taxpayer dollars, ease property taxes over time, and ultimately improve services for residents. Some of these efforts are possibly going to materialize in the next 12-18 month range, while other efforts will take 3-5 years or more.
Here's some Deliberative Agenda highlights:
9.2. Public Information Hearing re: November 5th, 2024 Ballot Questions
There are two big items on the ballot: revenue bonds for Burlington Electric Department, focused on net-zero energy and grid reliability projects; and a charter change on police oversight, related to police accountability. This hearing offers an opportunity for public feedback.
9.3. Discussion re: Burlington Fire Department Lateral Recruitment
This item is as it sounds, a discussion about BFD recruitment practices - particularly efforts to recruit firefighters from other towns/cities.
9.4. / 9.5 Neighborhood Public Hearing & Ordinance
These items include…
clarifying how secondary buildings fit into the city's rules, updating the effective date for some rules to November 1, 2024, and making changes specific to the 250 Starr Farm Road parcel. This affects all residential zoning districts and tweaks several sections of CEDO, such as rules on residential building sizes, bonuses for senior housing, driveway setbacks, and sign types.
9.7. Resolution: Adoption of a Policy on Procurement, Property Disposition, and Approval Authority for Public Contracts and Related Financial Transactions
This resolution seeks to replace an outdated purchasing policy to improve efficiency, transparency, and consistency in the City's financial operations.
9.8. Ordinance: Livable Wages Ordinance - technical amendments
Proposed amendments to Burlington's Livable Wage Ordinance seek to streamline its administration and allow compliance monitoring to be handled in-house by existing staff. The amendments align parts of the ordinance with the federal Davis-Bacon Act, which governs wages on federally funded construction projects, to reduce redundancy in monitoring efforts.
9.9. Resolution: Evaluation And Improvement Of Syringe Exchange Programs
This resolution essentially asks the Board of Health to investigate strategies to address negative externalities of needle exchange programs. These programs are vital to reducing the health, economic, and safety impacts of the substance-use crisis on our community and have proven useful and cost effective. That being said, no program is perfect and we're always looking for ways to improve.
9.10. Ordinance: Ordinance Amending B.C.O. Sec. 1-9 & 21-29 Re: defacement of property and ordinance violations targeting individuals on the bases of protected classifications
The ordinance aims to help address graffiti and vandalism, especially harmful or hate-based messages and improve reporting.
9.11. Ordinance: POLICE Composition of Independent Panel
This item is clarifying the makeup of the independent panel outlined in the charter change in front of voters this November. I am advocating for a panel that has the expertise & background necessary to make informed, non-political, and transparent decisions that both respect the rights and dignity of my neighbors and evaluate officers' actions in a reasonable manner. If the charter change is approved by voters and the state legislature, the panel can be created by the Police Commission in instances when the commission disagrees with the Chief on the discipline.
As always please don't hesitate to reach out with questions or ideas!
With Appreciation,
Councilor Neubieser
cneubieser@burlingtonvt.gov
PS> I am really excited to share that my family welcomed our second kid to the world - Winnie was born on Oct. 15th. ! Thank you to everyone for your continued patience, as I will be slow to respond during paternity leave and this time of family transition - if you've reached out an not yet heard a response from me, always feel free to bump the email thread, text, or voicemail.
