Montpelier police union ratifies new three-year contract

MONTPELIER — It took longer than many thought it would, but the new three-year police union contract has been ratified by union members.

The contract, which runs from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2014, includes a cost of living raise of zero, 1 percent and 2 percent for each year of the contract.

The wage steps went from 14 to 10 with the top and bottom wages remaining unchanged.

"We found that our starting pay rates and our top pay rates were competitive but we fell behind in the middle years," City Manager William Fraser said in a memo to the Mayor and the City Council. 

The City Council is expected to ratify the contract the Nov. 9 meeting.

Download Memo From City Manager to the City Council and the Mayor

City Manager's weekly report

MONTPELIER — Every Friday the city manager's office publishes a weekly report highlighting the issues the city manager and department heads think are relevant.

Here's the report in its entirety and attachments are below.

CITY OF MONTPELIER CAPITAL CITY OF VERMONT

City Manager’s Weekly Report – 10/28/11 UPCOMING MEETINGS ...

 Planning Commission Meeting: Monday, October 31st, at 7:00 P.M. in the City Council Chambers.

 ADA Committee Meeting: Tuesday, November 1st, at 10:00 A.M. in the City Manager’s Conference Room.

 Montpelier Business Association Meeting: Wednesday, November 2nd, at 8:30 A.M. in the Memorial Room.

 Montpelier Alive’s Organization Committee Meeting: Thursday, November 3rd, at noon in the City Manager’s Conference Room.

 Tree Board Meeting: Thursday, November 3rd, at 5:30 P.M. in the City Manager’s Conference Room.

 Regional Public Safety Meeting: Thursday, November 3rd, at 7:00 P.M. at the Central Vermont Chamber of Commerce Offices, 33 Stewart Road, Berlin.

ATTACHMENTS ...

Comments and Questions from Community Dinner 10-26-11 Police Contract Ratification Recommendations 2011-2014 Resolution for Municipal Planning Grant: Planning staff needs Council Members to stop by the Police Department to sign this resolution by Monday as they will be making the application on that day.

STATUS REPORTS ...

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS REPORT AND ATTACHMENTS ARE ONLY BEING SENT ELECTRONICALLY UNLESS OTHERWISE REQUESTED.

Assessor’s Office:

 Provided data re: average residential property values; average residential tax bills 2005 – 2010 to the Mayor.

 Continued reviewing Draft Capital Needs Assessment (CNA) Reports from Right-Trak Design.

CITY MANAGER’S WEEKLY REPORT October 28, 2011 Page 2

 Met with Attorney Robert Fletcher and Bill Krajeski of New England Municipal Consultants, Ltd. in preparation for depositions in the National Life assessment appeal case.

 Continued preparation for upcoming State Appraiser hearings; six to go.  Prepared Assessor’s Office budget for FY 2012-13.

 Continued work on real estate property transfers. 58 Barre Street Project:

 New slab floors in the mechanical and prep rooms have been poured. Prep for the new slab floor in the Senior Center bathrooms underway. Framing of apartments on the second floor nearing completion. Electrical, plumbing and ductwork rough-in work is nearing completion on third floor. Some drywall installation done on the third floor. Sprinkler system and alarm system installation underway in upper floors. Supports for rooftop photovoltaic and solar water heating installed. Brick facing on elevator shaft nearing completion.

 Regrading of parking lot area underway; some of the existing base material may not meet spec. Base coat of new pavement to be installed this fall; finish paving to be done in the spring.

 Received pricing on minor lighting changes; design work necessary for pricing of office layout changes requested by Senior Center Director is underway.

 The weekly job meeting was held on Thursday, October 27th, at 11:00 AM at the Rec Center Building.

 Continued to review and process Change Orders.

 Started HUD-required Davis-Bacon employee interviews. Planning Department Report:

Zoning Revision: At the meeting on Monday, we discussed the Historic Design District. Members of the DRC and the Historic Commission were there, and we made a lot of progress.

We have prepared a web page with all the work that has been done to date for the Commission and the public. You can see this on the city web site: http://www.montpelier- vt.org/page/462.html.

CITY MANAGER’S WEEKLY REPORT October 28, 2011 Page 3

District Energy: The protest that was raised by a company about the state’s bidding process was successful. The state will have to bid the boiler system again.

Development and Permitting: We issued 3 zoning permits, and prepared 1 project for the DRB meeting on November 7. We also issued took a lot of questions about the RFP that is out for additional automated services, due November 4, 2011. We hope to have both the Building Inspector and the new permitting system in place by January 1, 2012.

Community Development: We began review of the applications for the new Community Development Specialist. There are several well-qualified applicants. I’ve asked Bev, Ruth, Eileen Pelitier, Polly Nichol, and Sam Anderson to participate in the interviews. HPG grant work, also work on VCDP Home Share grant. Ken is looking at the Aubuchon building and working with the real estate group to see what other options might exist. He also worked on the Barriers to Housing report. He’s been networking with people in the area who work on economic development.

Website: Ongoing web updates and postings. GIS: Worked on an update of the current draft zoning map. Corrected some of the

neighborhood boundaries, and prepared a draft for the Planning Commission.

E911: Ongoing E911 esite requests/updates, confirmation of address requests from phone and cable companies.

VISTAs: Preparations for Neighborhoods Day, completing the ORCA video about neighborhoods for advance publicity. Attended a VISTA training on Thursday and Friday.

Finance Department:

The Finance Office has been extremely busy with FY13 budget work, answering (seemingly endless) FEMA questions on our reimbursement request for the May Flood damages and planning for reorganization of the Finance/Treasurer/ Human Resource Offices.

The Employee Health Committee will meet on Monday, October 31st, to consider a recommendation for the 2012 employee health insurance program.

City Hall’s telephone system is up and running. Fred and Nick have been very busy working out issues as they come up in each department.

CITY MANAGER’S WEEKLY REPORT October 28, 2011 Page 4

Carr Lot:

The Federal permits have, finally, been approved. The City has been cleared to begin preliminary design and to begin appraisal work (the first step in property acquisition). A meeting with state and federal officials has been set for November 14th to establish the project schedule from here on out. This approval is very good news and opens the door for this effort to move forward.

Police Union:

The Police Union voted to ratify the proposed contract; it will be on your November 9th agenda for formal approval.

Health Insurance:

Our employee group has been working very hard in considering options for next year. They are down to two choices, one of which would involve a change in insurance carrier. They are meeting next week with the goal of forming a specific recommendation to me.

Scott Trial:

Depositions involving present and former city officials were postponed this week. They have not been officially rescheduled but it is looking like mid-January. All involved met with the city’s attorney this week to review the process and requirements.

Berlin Water:

Our Berlin-Montpelier group met this week to renew conversations about water services in the region. The meeting was productive and centered around the possibility of creating a regional water district and related transition steps including Montpelier selling water to Berlin as their Town system is created.

Berlin Pond:

The Supreme Court heard arguments in the appeal of the trespass case on Berlin Pond. The legal issues revolve around the extent of the city’s independent authority to regulate use of the pond. We have no indication of when a decision will be issued.

CITY MANAGER’S WEEKLY REPORT October 28, 2011 Page 5

Upcoming Council Meetings:

Nov. 3: Regional Public Safety Meeting (Chamber Offices)

Nov. 9: Update from Teens (Basement Teen Center) Housing Barriers Committee Report Department Reports – P & D, DPW, Police, Fire Taser Committee Report
Regional Services Follow-up Events Policy

Nov. 16: Taser Discussion and Decision

Dec. 7: Budget Presentation

Dec. 14: Budget meeting

Dec. 21: Budget meeting

Jan. 4: Budget meeting

Jan. 11: Budget - 1st Public Hearing Annual Meeting Warning – 1st Public Hearing

Jan. 26: Budget – 2nd Public Hearing Annual Meeting Warning – 2nd Public Hearing Receive and Act on Petitions

William J. Fraser City Manager

Have a great weekend ...

Download Resolutioni_for_municipal_planning_grant_10-28-11

Download Police_contract_ratification_recommendation_2011-2014

Download Kellogg-hubbard_library_letter_10-28-11

Download CITY MANAGER'S WEEKLY REPORT 10-28-11

Greenwood Avenue crime spree

MONTPELIER — Looking through the police logs for the weekend, I noticed that there was a bit of a crime spree this weekend on Greenwood Avenue.

Three callers reported that their vehicles were broken into Saturday night or early Sunday morning and items were stolen.

Another caller reported that a Schwinn three-wheel jogging stroller had been stolen as well. It's not clear from the police log if the stroller was taken from a vehicle, home or garage.

A couple of weeks ago, there was a similar crime spree in Montpelier that resulted in as many as 10 vehicles were broken into.

Anyone with information about these incidents should contact the Montpelier Police Department at 802-223-3445.

Sell fake Vermont Maple syrup and it could be a felony

It's not every day Montpelier news hits the Huffington Post, but here's a story about a new bill sponsored by our two Senators, which if it becomes law, could make selling phony maple syrup a felony, which all Vermonters know it should be.

Read this story in The Huffington Post

No nukes, craft fair and talk of regional public safety agency

MONTPELIER — Offerings this week in the Capital City range from the serious to the political, from the creative to the whimsical: There’s an anti-nuclear power documentary filmmaker in town from Japan, a craft fair, a storytelling competition and more talk of a regional police and fire department for Montpelier, Berlin, Barre and Barre Town.

Read this story online in The Times Argus

Anti-nuclear power documentary filmmaker coming to The Savoy

MONTPELIER — Filmmaker and anti-nuclear advocate Hitomi Kamanaka is on the schedule at The Savoy for a screening of her film "Ashes to Honey: Toward a Sustainable Future" which will be followed by a question and answer session with Kamanaka.

Her latest film was released last year, but following the tsunami in Japan and the subsequent catastrophe at the Fukushima's Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, there's been a renewed effort to see Kamanaka's film and to speak with her about nuclear power.

According to her bio, Kamanaka was first exposed to the effects of radiation in 1998 when she went to Iraq and saw children dying of luekemia caused by the depleted uranium weapons used in the first Gulf War in 1990.

This experience led Kamanaka to look at the effects of nuclear energy on human body. She studied the downwinders of the Hanover nuclear facility in Washington State and the victims of Hiroshima.

The Savoy owner Terry Youk said Kamanaka is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and "sort of the Ken Burns of Japan."

She's also a leader in the anti-nuclear energy grassroots movement in Japan.

The doors at The Savoy will open at 5 p.m., with the movie to start at six and the question and answer session with Kamanaka to follow the film. Tickets are the usual price of $8. Reservations are available by calling 802-229-0598.

 

 

City will pick up leaves until Nov. 4

From now until Nov. 4, the city's public works department will be picking up bagged leaves left curbside. Bags should contain leaves only, therefore, no brush, garden debris or flower stalks will be accepted.

Leaves raked into the street must be bagged for pickup and all bags must be securely tied.

Here's the schedule:

Mondays: Barre Street to East State Street areas.
Tuesdays: East State Street to Main Street areas.
Wednesdays: Towne Hill, North Street, Elm Street, Cliff Street, Court Street, Meadow areas.
Thursdays: Terrace Street and Lower State Street area.
Fridays: Berlin Hill, River Street, Colonial Drive, and National Life Drive areas.

Questions call 802-223-9510 between 7:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

At pasta dinner, residents outline what ails Montpelier

MONTPELIER — Roads, empty storefronts and taxes were among the top issues for residents who showed up Wednesday evening at the high school for a pasta dinner and a chance to tell city officials what was on their minds.

After the free dinner, and after City Manager William Fraser finished his 15-minute presentation and Mayor Mary Hooper ran through her speech, about 160 residents took the opportunity to express what they think is wrong with Montpelier.

Montpelier doesn’t have a traditional Vermont town meeting; instead, votes are simply cast by ballot in March. So Wednesday’s meeting was an attempt by the City Council and the mayor to reach out to voters before the budget season begins to hear what they think should be done.

Read the rest of this story online in The Times Argus

Montpelier's Town Hall meeting and pasta dinner

MONTPELIER — Residents packed into the high school cafeteria to noodle around with next year’s budget and eat free spaghetti Wednesday evening.

City officials, the mayor, the City Council and business owners dished up pasta, bread and salad to about 100 residents who accepted an open invitation to dinner and a discussion of their priorities for the city.

Read the rest of this story online in The Times Argus.

The Autumn Onion 5k is Sunday

MONTPELIER — On Sunday, some Montpelierites will undoubtedly get dressed up in costumes and run a five-kilometer race through downtown in the annual Onion River Sports Autumn Onion 5K.

Costumes are encouraged but not required. There is, however, a costume contest, so let that freak flag fly.

Registration opens at 8:45 a.m. in the Onion River Sports parking lot and costs $15.

Prizes will be awarded for best costume as well as overall men’s and women’s finishers, kids’ prizes and a raffle for all runners and walkers.

All proceeds will go to the Girls Move Mountains nonprofit organization and strollers are welcome. 

Read the rest of Talk of the Town online in The Times Argus