Hello Neighbors,
Here is a recap of Monday’s City Council meeting. As always, you can watch the recorded video and view the meeting content and minutes in our agenda center: https://www.winooskivt.gov/agendacenter.
We had our first official meeting as the Cannabis Control Commission and approved an operating license for Winooski Organics, who have already been operating as a CBD vendor in the old Waf’s Deli on E. Allen St. Upon receiving their State operators license, they will begin selling retail cannabis as well. Zoning and Public Safety staff have inspected the premises to ensure local regulations and safety are being met.
Chittenden Solid Waste District staff presented on a special bond vote that will fund upgrades to the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) that lets us all recycle without having to sort at home. There won’t be fee impact and the upgrades will expand capacity to provide waste management in our county for another 30 years. While the State is mailing out ballots for the General Election to all registered voters, the bond is a separate ballot you’ll want to request from the Clerk’s office or vote in person at the Senior Center on Nov. 8.
I shared after our last meeting that we’d been unsuccessful in receiving bids to complete pavement markings (paint/striping for crosswalks, bike lanes, parking etc.) but we’ve finally secured contractor! Council approved use of reserve funds to have this contractor do striping along Main St., Mallets Bay Ave. and in the Downtown area using a more durable epoxy paint that should last 2-3 seasons, so we won’t have to worry about re-doing the work again next spring.
Staff provided updates on operations in our Safe Healthy Connected People vision area: We are making progress in a plan for tenants at the O’Brien Community Center in partnership with Champlain Housing Trust. In our partnership with the Winooski School District, we provided 9 weeks of free summer camp to 96 Winooski youth this summer and 81 other programs to about 700 individual youth. We also saw an increase in use of the pool by residents, non-residents, and over 950 youth passed swim tests this summer!
We also had a lengthy discussion about the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) COVID-19 relief funds the City has received, the new revenue we'll see after paying off the remainder of Tax Increment Finance (TIF) debt in 2024, and how these revenues could impact our goals for the Fiscal Year 2024 budget, which we’ll discuss at our next meeting Oct. 17. We're going to set our budget goals for staff during that meeting, and as we do every year, then will hold individual budget meetings for each department throughout December and January. I encourage you to share your thoughts on how your tax dollars should be spent during these meetings. Residents have differing priorities, so the more folks we hear from, the better we’re able to make smart decisions about where to invest or where to scale back.
Finally, Halloween in Winooski is coming up fast. We’ll need a lot of volunteers to help with the annual festival of pumpkins. Please contact info@downtownwinooski.org if you’re interested in helping out this year and watch this short overview to learn more: https://youtu.be/fZ2VDV1ER9A.
Mayor Kristine Lott: klott@winooskivt.gov / 802 766 1988