1 TOWN OF ESSEX 2 SELECTBOARD MINUTES

Transcription

1 1 TOWN OF ESSEX 2 SELECTBOARD MINUTES 3 February 5, SELECTBOARD: Max Levy, Chair, Michael Plageman, Irene Wrenner, Andrew Watts, Susan Cook. 6 7 OTHERS PRESENT: Greg Duggan, Deputy Town Manager; Dennis Lutz, Public Works Director; 8 Kate Miklus; Luke Miklus; Lauren Bruneau; Andrew Bruneau; Anne Hood; Ben Hood; Palmer Irish; 9 Colin Flanders, Essex Reporter Mr. Levy called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mr. Levy invited those present to join him in reciting the "Pledge of Allegiance." AGENDA ADDITIONS/CHANGES Mr. Duggan provided the following additions or changes to the Agenda: an updated 2018 Selectboard 20 (SB) Community Outreach Plan, correspondence between Diana Hoppe and Greg Duggan 21 regarding Agenda , a memorandum from Lauren Morrisseau to the SB and Municipal 22 Manager dated Febmary 5, 2018 regarding the Update General Fund FYE 2019 Budget Files, revised 23 numbers for the Town of Essex Proposed Capital Budget and Program FYE , updated Town 24 Meeting 2018 Questions and Answers on the Proposed FYE 2019 Budget and an updated Town 25 Meeting 2018 Questions and Answers on Regional Dispatch Ms. Wrenner asked whether she should speak to the website she created to provide information to 28 voters about the regional dispatch issue during Public To Be Heard or later in the meeting. The Chair 29 advised her to wait until the Consent Agenda APPROVAL AGENDA MICHAEL PLAGEMAN MOVED AND IRENE WRENNER SECONDED A MOTION TO 34 APPROVE THE AMENDED AGENDA. THE MOTION PASSED PUBLIC TO BE HEARD There were no comments from the public PUBLIC HEARING 41 FYE 2019 Capital Budeet and Five Year Plan Mr. Levy opened the Public Hearing on the FYE 2019 Capital Budget and Five Year Plan Mr. Duggan introduced the issue of providing the SB with information for the public hearing on the 46 proposed FYE 2019 Capital Budget and Five Year Plan. He reviewed the revised numbers to the 47 Capital Budget and Program with the members Mr. Lutz discussed the need for each department in the Capital Budget to present a five-year plan for 1

2 50 expenditures to the SB. This was his recommendation as they move forward so that all areas of the 51 Capital Budget are defined in some way, as projected expenditures or unknown expenditures. He 52 confirmed for Mr. Levy that this was a realistic goal for next year's Capital Plan Mr. Lutz confirmed for Mr. Watts that the following language on page 3 under Indian Brook Dam 55 Repairs should be removed: In FYE19, $3,000 is budgeted from the Operating Budget MICHAEL PLAGEMAN MOVED AND IRENE WRENNER SECONDED A MOTION TO 58 CLOSE THE PUBLIC HEARING. THE MOTION PASSED BUSINESS ITEMS Approval of Capital Budget - Gree Dugean Mr. Duggan introduced the issue of whether the SB will approve the FYE 2019 Capital Budget and 65 Five Year Plan IRENE WRENNER MOVED AND SUSAN COOK SECONDED A MOTION TO APPROVE 68 THE FYE 2019 CAPITAL BUDGET AND FIVE YEAR PLAN WITH THE DELETION OF 69 LANGUAGE (AS DISCUSSED PREVIOUSLY DURING THE PUBLIC HEARING) ON PAGE 70 3 UNDER INDIAN BROOK DAM REPAIRS Ms. Wrenner accepted Mr. Watts friendly amendment THE MOTION PASSED Selection of facilitator for^ommunity discussion about firearms ordinance -LGreg Duggan Mr. Duggan introduced the issue of selecting a facilitator for a community discussion about the Town's 79 Firearms Ordinance. To help the SB choose a facilitator, staff has compiled a checklist for the SB 80 members to take notes as they review the responses to the Request For Qualifications, and a scoring 81 matrix to help them rank the responses The recommendation was to enter into Executive Session to discuss this issue. Members ranked their 84 top two choices with blank sticky notes on the Smart Board in open session. Members deliberated on 85 whether to enter into Executive Session. It was decided to enter into Executive Session at the end of the 86 meeting for further discussion Discussion about Town Meeting preparation - Gree Dusean Mr. Duggan introduced the issue of preparing for Town Meeting Members discussed the memorandum dated Febmary 2, 2018 from Greg Duggan to the SB and 93 Municipal Manager regarding Town Meeting Preparation Members asked that the Boy Scouts or Girls Scouts be at Town Meeting to present the Colors of the 96 Flag. The Boy Scouts were in attendance tonight, and agreed to work with Mr. Watts to coordinate the 97 presentation of the Colors of the Flag at Town Meeting. Mr. Duggan confirmed for Ms. Wrenner that an 98 invitation will be sent to all the Town committees in case they would like to have a table at Town

3 99 Meeting. Mr. Levy asked that the new Town Manager, Mr. Evan Teich, be present at the dinner for the 100 Meet and Greet and that there be a short introduction in the cafeteria introducing Mr. Teich to the 101 public. Mr. Watts volunteered to collect the surveys at Town Meeting. Members agreed to have the 102 same Welcome to the Public as was read last year, and Ms. Cook agreed to reading it at the beginning 103 of the Town Meeting With regard to the SB Outreach Schedule, Ms. Wrenner will be holding an additional outreach event 106 on Febmary 9th at EHS for the Girl's Basketball Game Discussion of govemancejmd rebresentation in^p reparation of^ Feb.A3 meeting with Trustees GreeDueean Mr. Duggan introduced the issue of preparing for a Febmary 13th joint meeting with the Essex Junction 112 Trustees by having a SB discussion about local governance and representation Ms. Cook felt that Ramona Sheppard's letter last week in the Consent Agenda clearly articulated the 115 need to carve out the emotional and political component from the issue. There are 10 representatives, 116 the 5 Trustees and the 5 Selectman, that attend the joint meetings. Of the 10 representatives, there are representing the Village and 5 representing the Town outside the Village (TOY). As a result, she 118 thought this was an inequity that needed to be addressed. She presented two solutions - either some 119 representatives for the TOV need to be added or some representatives from the Town inside the Village 120 (TIV) needed to be reduced. Mr. Levy didn't think those were the only solutions from a numbers 121 perspective Ms. Wrenner handed out a visual for the members that showed the different representations with a 124 circle graph. Mr. Levy reminded Ms. Wrenner that the members needed to follow SB policy and hand 125 out any information at the beginning of the meeting. After brief deliberation, members agreed to having 126 the visual passed out. Ms. Wrenner reviewed the visual with the members as showing the difference in 127 representation for TIV residents and TOY residents. She felt that her visual clearly showed how the 128 TOY residents are without equal voice. Over the years, she believed issues have been addressed, such 129 as tax fairness, by increasing Town taxes for TOY residents and decreasing Town taxes for TIV 130 residents accordingly, and consolidation of departments. Now, she felt the inequity of representation 131 should be acknowledged and addressed by the SB. Mr. Levy asked her about a solution. Ms. Wrenner 132 was open to ideas. Mr. Watts, with regard to Ms. Cook's suggestion asked for clarification about where 133 representatives would be added for the TOY Ms. Wrenner suggested adding them to the audience and 134 clarified that she felt this needed to happen at any meeting because there has never been anyone solely 135 representing the TO V. Mr. Watts stated that all the meetings are already open to the entire population Ms. Wrenner suggested creating a group or having a group elected or creating a charter that exists 138 outside the Village with an approximately equal population to the Village. She suggested some might 139 argue that TOY residents deserve to have representation because their taxation is not equivalent with 140 the current representation. She stated that this was a huge problem to solve. Mr. Watts stated that 141 representatives can't be elected by the March 24th meeting. He was confused about what was being 142 suggested as far as a solution getting implemented. Members discussed the March 24th meeting, and 143 Ms. Cook asked how the March 24th meeting with the Trustees would be facilitated? Mr. Levy stated 144 that the meeting will be open, and he suggested that some ground rules for the March 24th meeting 145 should be discussed at the joint meeting on Febmary 13th to make sure the public has opportunities to 146 talk. 147

4 148 Mr. Plageman was opposed to adding representatives for the TOV because there are already 5 people 149 who are duly sworn to represent the TOY residents. Additionally, he felt that a charter made no sense 150 with all the work with consolidation for the last four years. The meetings are open meetings that are 151 duly warned. He was, however, in favor of promoting public attendance and allowing public input at 152 the meetings Ms. Wrenner is open to ideas that give the TOY people the same decision-making power as the TIV 155 residents in the long haul. Right now, no one is 100% accountable to the TOY residents. The other 156 members disagreed because they view residents as being all from the Town. However, Ms. Cook stated 157 that, if you look at the issue in percentages, the TOY residents are represented 100% and the TIV 158 residents are represented 200%. Mr. Levy asked for clarification about whether they were talking about 159 the recent joint meetings that are scheduled in the near future or about long-term governance. Ms. Cook 160 replied that her issue was related to the joint meetings on Febmary 13th and March 24th, and that in 161 order to have a fair and equitable discussion, there needs to be fair and equitable representation in the 162 discussion of what that future governance model looks like. Mr. Plageman stated that it seems to be a 163 solution to a problem that the members don't even know they have yet. He agreed with Mr. Levy that 164 the arguments appear to be guarding against a perceived possibility that the future governance will be 165 inadequate. He disagreed that there was a problem Ms. Wrenner spoke about TOY residents who have voiced the concern about inequitable representation 168 being at the table during joint meetings. If the SB doesn't acknowledge this as a problem during 169 governance discussions, once decisions are made, it will be too late to address the long-term problem of 170 inadequate, inequivalent representation. Mr. Plageman thought the Trustees needed to be part of this 171 discussion and didn't see a rush to solve a problem that he did not think exists Ms. Stultz asked Ms. Wrenner for clarification on the taxation and representation issue to better 174 understand the discussion. Ms. Stultz didn't think you could receive representation without paying for 175 it, and Ms. Wrenner thought that the District of Columbia might be an example of not having 176 representation in Congress, but still having to pay taxes. She offered Puerto Rico as a second example. 177 Ms. Wrenner would further research this issue and get back to Ms. Stultz For clarification, Mr. Levy stated that there are two clear issues tonight that have been discussed. One 180 is the long-term solution for governance, which will take time and public input. The other is how to 181 proceed with the next joint meetings with the Trustees. He asked which issue Ms. Cook and Ms. 182 Wrenner were addressing tonight. Ms. Cook thought it was the latter issue and how the SB can ensure 183 that the voice of the TO V residents is represented in the same capacity as the voice of the TIV residents 184 when discussing governance models at the joint meetings. She noted that, at the last joint meeting, a 185 reference was made that the Boards would make a recommendation and then engage the public. She 186 felt that the public should be part of the initial conversation and that the discussion should be equitable 187 from the start. Mr. Levy asked if Ms. Cook had a solution for the discussion. Ms. Cook envisioned a 188 large round table where anyone could give input. Mr. Levy suggested that engaging the public be a 189 topic for the next joint meeting on Febmary 13th and agreed with the importance of public input for 190 this big decision that will be made over time and not just by the SB. Ms. Cook wanted to talk about it 191 before the 13th. Mr. Watts pointed out that the meeting on March 24th is an information meeting to 192 discuss the options so that the members are informed about the legal options, etc. He stated that the 193 meeting is open to all Town residents Ms. Wrenner and Mr. Plageman further deliberated on what Ms. Wrenner was suggesting. Ms. Wrenner 196 understood from the last joint meeting that the SB didn't understand that there is a lack of equivalent

5 197 representation between the two Boards. Mr. Plageman did not disagree that adding representatives to 198 the SB as a governance option could be discussed in the long-term, but he disagreed that this was an 199 option for the next joint meetings. Ms. Cook wanted to make sure that there was equal representation at 200 the March 24th meeting, in case the discussion goes further than just gathering information. She 201 suggested there be ground rules for the meeting to set those parameters or to have parameters around 202 including anyone who wants to give input and be on equal footing. Mr. Levy said that public members 203 will never be on equal footing unless they are elected officials. However, he felt strongly that the 204 Boards need to reach out to all areas of the community to bring in many voices, not just people who 205 attend the meetings. This is a big decision and it is the job of the SB to ensure that everyone in the 206 Town gets represented. He also did not think that the SB would have a hard time convincing the 207 Trustees to have that vision moving forward Mr. Watts did not understand how he has failed to represent the TOY residents. He and Ms. Wrenner 210 further discussed this issue and tax equity. Mr. Watts wanted to provide numbers that shows a 211 misperception of what has actually transpired, with regard to taxes, over the past four years. Mr. 212 Plageman raised a point of order with providing that information tonight, and members agreed to 213 having Mr. Watts submit his information for a future discussion Mr. Plageman wanted to know how he has not represented both factions of the population in the Town. 216 He has never heard that he was slanted in one way or the other, and he has always worked for what is 217 best for Essex. Ms. Wrenner did not think it was a personal issue, but a structural issue. She stated that 218 the structure fails the TOY residents because they don't have 100% representation from a board 219 equivalent to the Tmstees, which she has heard from residents is a problem. She wanted to know how 220 to solve this problem. Mr. Plageman thought he and Ms. Wrenner would have to agree to disagree on 221 that issue. Mr. Plageman clarified for Ms. Wrenner that he felt that this discussion is a solution looking 222 for a problem, that her suggestions are too early and that the Trustees need to be part of the discussion. 223 He stated that if the Tmstees and the SB all agree that they are serving the greater community, the 224 Essex community, then they all have to be part of the conversation. He stated that to discuss 225 governance options at this point is a waste of time CONSENT AGENDA IRENE WRENNER MOVED AND MICHAEL PLAGEMAN SECONDED A MOTION TO 230 APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA WITH SELECTBOARD MEMBER COMMENTS CONSENT ITEMS 233 a. Check Warrants: Febmary 2, b. Memo to Selectboard from Greg Duggan and Travis Sabataso re: Welcoming new municipal 235 manager 236 Mr. Duggan clarified for Ms. Cook that this list of welcome ideas is just some examples to get the 237 discussion started on February 13th. More can be added at that meeting. Mr. Watts asked for 238 clean documents of Policy documents for his binder. Mr. Levy suggested that those documents be 239 added to the website as well, and Mr. Duggan would work on that. 240 c. Q&A sheets for Town Meeting preparation 241 Mr. Duggan clarified for Mr. Watts that this Q & A was included for Town Meeting because 242 residents might be seeing this issue in other towns and wondering why it wasn't on the Essex 243 ballot. Members and staff deliberated as to whether this information should be handed out at 244 Town Meeting and why it may or may not be helpful. The SB agreed with handing out the Budget 245 and Conservation Information sheets that are ballot items at Outreach Events and then, in

6 246 addition to the first two handouts, also handing out the Dispatch Q&A at Town Meeting Ms. Wrenner referred the members to her website chitcountydispatch.org regarding her research 249 on Regional Dispatch. She attended 10 of the regional dispatch meetings, and as a result, has 250 learned a lot about this issue. She reviewed the information about local and national 911 dispatch 251 with the members. Mr. Plageman raised a point of order for why this was being discussed by Ms. 252 Wrenner tonight since it would not be presented to the voters and since the members have 253 received the website information. Ms. Wrenner clarified that she was updating the members on 254 what she has learned and wanted to invite the public to visit her website. Mr. Levy asked if this 255 information had been vetted, and Ms. Wrenner pointed out the sources listed on her website. Ms. 256 Wrenner agreed with Mr. Levy that the work and opinions on the website are from Irene 257 Wrenner, a concern citizen, and did not represent anyone from the SB. 258 d. Memo to Selectboard and Patrick Scheidel from Greg Duggan re: Responses to Questions and 259 Comments asked by Kathy Barwin in January 15, to Irene Wrenner 260 e. Memo to Selectboard and Patrick Scheidel from Dennis Lutz re: Status of Winter Operations through 261 January 28, f. Memo to Selectboard from Patrick Scheidel re: Meeting Schedules and Events THE MOTION PASSED Ms. Stultz apologized to Ms. Wrenner for putting her on the spot earlier in the meeting, but thanked her 267 for the clarification, and Ms. Stultz apologized to Mr. Levy for when she spoke out of turn EXECUTIVE SESSION ANDREW WATTS MOVED AND IRENE WRENNER SECONDED A MOTION THAT THE 272 SELECTBOARD MAKE THE SPECIFIC FINDING THAT PREMATURE GENERAL PUBLIC 273 KNOWLEDGE OF THE TOWN'S POSITION CONCERNING THE PROPOSED CONTRACT 274 DISCUSSION WOULD PLACE THE TOWN AT A SUBSTANTIAL DISADVANTAGE. THE 275 MOTION PASSED ANDREW WATTS MOVED AND IRENE WRENNER SECONDED A MOTION THAT THE 278 SELECTBOARD ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS CONTRACTS 279 PURSUANT TO 1 V.S.A. 313(A)(1)(A), TO INCLUDE THE DEPUTY TOWN MANAGER. 280 THE MOTION PASSED IRENE WRENNER MOVED AND SUSAN COOK SECONDED A MOTION TO EXIT 283 EXECUTIVE SESSION AT 9:08 P.M. THE MOTION PASSED MICHAEL PLAGEMAN MOVED AND SUSAN COOK SECONDED A MOTION TO INVITE 286 MARC WENNBERG, LYNN DUNTON AND SUSANNA SCHWEIZER, AND JENNIFER 287 KNAUER TO INTERVIEW ON FEBRUARY 26, 2018 FOR FACILITATION OF THE 288 COMMUNITY DISCUSSION ABOUT THE USE OF FIREARMS IN ESSEX. THE MOTION 289 PASSED IRENE WRENNER MOVED AND SUSAN COOK SECONDED A MOTION TO ADJOURN AT 292 9:08 P.M. THE MOTION PASSED

7 SELECTBOARD February 5, Respectfully submitted, Saramichelle Stultz 299 Recording Secretary 300., 301 Approved this IbW day of_/f^t_, (See minutes of this date for corrections, if any). 305 f^w^' ^ 307 Susan E, Cook, Clerk, Selectboard 308 ^lclin^ H Sepc^k^ 309 (THESE MINUTES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE NEXT SELECTBOARD MEETING)