Dear Neighbors,

The City Council meets this week on Tuesday, November 12th, at 6:00 pm.
NOTE the unusual day of the week due to the Veteran's Day holiday on Monday.
Public Forum begins at 6:05 pm.

As always, you are welcome to attend in person or virtually on zoom:

Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://zoom.us/j/91408253963
Or Telephone: +1 305 224 1968 US
Webinar ID: 914 0825 396

If you'd like to speak during the Public Forum in person, sign up at the meeting.
If you'd like to speak during Public Forum on zoom, sign up using this link at least 1 hour in advance: https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/citycouncil/publicforum

Here are some key items on our agenda.

→ BURLINGTON WATER RESOURCES CAPITAL PLANNING PROPOSED MARCH 2025 BOND REQUESTS WORK SESSION
The water infrastructure for drinking, wastewater, and stormwater will need very significant repairs in the coming years. This work session is our first opportunity to learn from the city's water resources plan, what is needed and to provide feedback. The projected price of the repairs is many millions of dollars. We will need to focus questions on what we might do to reduce this cost and probably spread it out over the longer time horizon.

→ ORDINANCE: VACANT BUILDINGS PENALTY FEES
This ordinance change would significantly increase the fees for vacant buildings in disrepair or causing blight on our neighborhoods. Negligent property owners should be held accountable for the harm these buildings cause our community. This change will have no impact on most building owners, just the handful that refuse to keep their property in good condition and make timely decisions about reuse of the property. This is a first reading for this change - the vote will take place at our next meeting.

→ GRAFFITI ORDINANCE: ENHANCEMENT FOR GRAFFITI AND DEFACEMENT TARGETING PROTECTED CLASSIFICATIONS
This is an update to our graffiti ordinance. The Ordinance Committee unanimously approved this but recognized that without an approach and commitment to enforcing graffiti violations, this change will not be helpful. There has been a request for a plan from the administration that has not yet received at the time of this writing. As a result, it is likely there will be postponement of this ordinance change.

The following four items relate to the March 2025 town meeting day ballot:

→ CHARTER CHANGE RE: RENTAL NOTIFICATIONS AND NOTIFICATION PERIODS
This proposal asks that the City of Burlington be able to set lease the timeline needed to notice parties of lease termination, renewals, and changes of rent without approval from the legislature. We are not changing the notification period with this update; we are asking that these changes be able to be set by city ordinance if we choose to update these regulations.

→ CHARTER CHANGE REGARDING REDISTRICTING BY CITY COUNCIL
This Charter Change would move redistricting decision making to the City of Burlington and eliminate the requirement for legislature approval of redistricting. This was something we discussed during our recent redistricting and will allow us, when need to, to get plans to the voters with more flexibility and be implemented in a timelier manner.

→ CHARTER CHANGE RE: CITY COUNCIL AUTHORITY TO PLEDGE CREDIT OF THE CITY
This proposed Charter Change would increase the City's general annual bonding capacity for smaller capital items from $2 to $10 million. This has not been updated in many years.

→ CHARTER CHANGE RE: PUBLIC SAFETY TAX RATE
The administration had proposed that we change our charter to allow specific public safety tax monies to be used for a broader array of community safety expenses in addition to those of the Police and Fire Department. There has not yet been a full discussion with many stakeholders, so this has been removed from the agenda.

→RESOLUTION: DECLARATION OF NOVEMBER AS FAMILY CAREGIVER MONTH FOR
BURLINGTON
This is from our Aging Council who has been hard at work putting together an comprehensive policy plan for our aging residents.

This is not all! Please visit
https://burlingtonvt.portal.civicclerk.com/event/7202/files/agenda/12385
for the full agenda.

My Best,
Sarah Carpenter, Ward 4 City Councilor

Event Info

Nov 23, 2024, 9 AM to 1 PM

Nov 23, 2024, 2 to 6 PM

Nov 24, 2024, 10 AM to 2 PM