Dear Neighbors,

This coming Monday, the City Council will convene its second of two scheduled meeting for the month of January.

You are welcome to attend the Council meeting in person at Contois Auditorium OR Remotely via ZOOM at the following link: https://zoom.us/j/91234899734
You can also join us via Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLljLFn4BZd2PwCge7lNoKug676jIf_iUA
You can sign up for public forum via this link: https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/citycouncil/publicforum or in person by completing a sign-up form inside Contois.

We will begin our meeting at 5:30pm with the second of two public hearings on Charter changes that will appear on the March ballot. This is an opportunity for members of the public to bring forward suggestions to ballot language on Council initiated ballot items. As well, you are welcome to voice your perspective on any of the ballot items.

Following the public hearing, at 6pm, we will have an update on the crisis response CAHOOTS-inspired program. This is an exciting program that originated in Eugene, Oregon. CAHOOTS or "Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Street" will provide crisis intervention 24/7. CAHOOTS is dispatched through the police-fire-ambulance communications dispatch and will provide immediate stabilization in cases of urgent medical need or psychological crisis, assessment, information, referral, advocacy and, in some cases, transportation to the next step in treatment. This program has been in the planning stages for over a year and it is exciting to see this coming to fruition in the near future. This is one more initiative as we respond to our many public safety needs in our community.

We have four key items on our deliberative agenda, as follows:

• We will have an update on redistricting maps as per the Council's action following the first public hearing on Charter changes on January 17. We asked the independent mapping specialist to work to join the Maple/King neighborhood and make adjustments to other streets in a map for our consideration. As well, we asked for another map presented at the public hearing to be reviewed and analyzed for our review. The Maple/King neighborhood are not in one ward presently and neither of the maps we considered in December had this neighborhood in one ward. There are compelling reasons to have this neighborhood in one ward and the motion made on January 17 aims to address this in a map that would go to the voters in March.

• Last spring, the Council had a retreat. One of the priorities out of the retreat was to review our Council rules and make appropriate changes to reflect community and council needs. We will be reviewing these changes and possibly either voting to adopt them or delay a vote to our next meeting to allow for further review.

• Following any changes to Charter changes such as redistricting, we will vote on the language that will be on the March ballot. This is known as "concise summary" or "short form" language as we can't include the entire changes. Some of them a several pages long. The long language will be avaiable by mail and at polling places but the ballot will include the shortened version for practicality of the size of the ballot and for printing purposes.

• We will have a public hearing followed by a vote on a substantial change request on the City's application for the Downtown Tax Increment Financing District.

I encourage you to review these agenda items at: http://www.boarddocs.com/vt/burlingtonvt/Board.nsf/Public

As always, I welcome your questions, concerns, and comments, so please be in touch. Your voice matters and I am grateful for your input.

I hope you have a snowy and wonderful weekend.

My best,
Karen

May 14, 2024, 7:30 AM

May 16, 2024, 7 to 8:30 PM

May 18, 2024, 10 AM to 2:30 PM