Dear Neighbors,
This Monday, the City Council will convene its second of two regular meetings for the month of November.
The Council will begin its evening at 6pm with a work session on the City's medical self-insurance program in Room 12, downstairs in City Hall.
After the work session ends at 7pm, we will move upstairs to Contois and convene our Council meeting at 7:15. First on our agenda is a resolution sponsored by the full Council honoring the Burlington Youth Football Program. We will then hear two City Commission annual reports: one from the Library and the other from the Burlington Employees Retirement Board.
We will have a presentation from Chapin Spencer, Director of the Department of Public Works, on the Downtown Parking Improvement Initiative. This will be followed by a resolution launching that initiative.
I was able to attend the Parking Summit earlier this week. We have several challenges with our downtown parking including improving the way we manage our surface and garage parking, working to make our parking accessible via current technology and ensuring that our parking is clean, safe and inviting.
We will then be voting to adopt a proposal to address our $500,000 fund adjustment. This was discussed at the last Board of Finance meeting. A few weeks ago, I contacted the Chief Administrative Officer to inquire about the $500,000 adjustment that the Council had been informed of in June when we were approving the budget. There was a concern that there might be a gap in our budget and this would be addressed in the fall. The resolution we will be voting on will address this gap with several budget adjustments on both the revenue and expenditure side to equal $492,000. Some of the adjustments are based on projections and some are specific adjustments that are in the budget and can be cut without impact. One example is the Administration's estimate that we will need less reliance on short-term borrowing which means lower interest costs than originally projected. Another adjustment is the result of paying cash for police cruisers instead of financing them over 3 years using impact fees which will save the City $30,000.
We will then vote on three resolutions allowing for three ballot items on the Town Meeting Day 2014 ballot on the Charter changes we voted on in October relating to gun safety, firearm storage, police seizure of firearms during a domestic abuse incidents and a ban on firearms in any establishment with a liquor license.
We will be hearing an ordinance on the confinement of animals in vehicles.
We will then have council committee reports, comments from councilors and the Mayor. Please keep in mind that you are welcome to come to a council meeting and speak to the Council on any subject you wish during our Public Forum which begins at 7:30pm.
At the end of our meeting, we will have an executive session on potential litigation regarding a public records request and a second executive session on pending litigation on the Champlain Parkway.
Clickable agenda items can be found on the City's website: http://burlingtonvt.gov/CityCouncil/Agendas-and-Minutes---DMS-Documents/City-Council/2013/20[...]da/ Please keep in mind that at all Council meetings are televised live on Channel 317 on Burlington Telecom.
As always, I welcome your questions and concerns. Please email or give me a call over the weekend or on Monday.
All my best,
Karen
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