Greetings Neighbors,

First, we ONE councilors and the other members of the Progressive Council Caucus want to thank voters again for your vote of confidence in electing us. We believe our mandate from you and those who we share this community with is to do our best to provide for the common good regardless of income, housing status, sexual orientation, gender identity, race or ethnicity, immigration status, or political alignment. We are ready to move forward across party lines and put people before politics.

We will be posting monthly council debriefs as well as meeting previews. Here is April's:

Our first meeting started with the swearing-in ceremony of Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, Burlington's first out queer, woman mayor, and ward councilors, newly elected & re-elected ones. After this, we elected the council president, Ben Traverse, and council's members to the Board of Finance.

Council committees are appointed by the president after consultation with councilors. Most have three councilors. The Transportation, Energy, & Utilities Committee (TEUC) has four and the Board of Finance has 3 councilors (Kane, Barlow, & Carpenter) plus Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak, & newly elected Council President Traverse..

-Joe Kane is also a member of the Community Development & Neighborhood Revitalization (CDNR) Committee and Tax Abatement.
-Melo Grant is Chair of the Public Safety Committee and the Racial Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging (REIB) Committee & a member of the License Committee.
-Carter Neubieser is Chair of the CDNR and a member of the Public Safety Committee & Parks, Arts, & Culture committees.
-Gene Bergman is Chair of the Charter Change Committee, & a member of the TEUC, Ordinance, & REIB committees.
-Marek Broderick is a member of the TEUC, License, & Human Resources committees.

For a full listing of council committees, go to https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/CityCouncil/Standing-Committees

Our first substantive working meeting was on April 15. To see the agenda and posted materials go to this link in CivicClerk, https://burlingtonvt.portal.civicclerk.com/event/7000/overview.

There were three major issues we'd like to summarize.

First, we discussed the proposed sale of the city-owned building at 200 Church Street. This was purchased in 2005 for the formerly municipally-owned broadband provider Burlington Telecom's (BT's) Network Operations Center. The Community Justice Center and Human Resources Department also occupy offices there. The cost of fixing the HVAC, roof, and other building systems due to deferred maintenance is the major driver of the proposed sale, which was only brought to the Council by Miro's administration late last month despite the serious issues with the building. Our caucus voiced concerns over selling public property and expressed a desire to explore federal grants for climate-related municipal building upgrades instead of selling a building that will likely see a significant increase in value over time, especially given the significant investments underway in the downtown core at City Place & the 'Memorial block'. A decision is pending.

Please see part 2.

We hope this is helpful in understanding our work. Feel free to contact us to discuss the council's work in more detail. It is an honor to represent you. Thank you.

Gene, Melo, Joe, Carter, and Marek

Event Info

Oct 1, 2024, 8 to 9:30 AM

Oct 3, 2024, 4 to 6:30 PM

Oct 5, 2024, 10 to 11 AM