it's it's not as bad as we predicted yeah there could have there's much more now had you known this at six o'clock then that might be yeah that would be pretty bad that was next for our meeting i probably just unfortunately probably not i'll be quick with comments and you guys have got to the written statement can go pretty quickly to your questions great you guys okay too so good evening and good evening to the live audience via channel seventeen news my name is seth leonard mayor of winooski and earlier today issued an announcement that i will be resigning the post of mayor winooski effective january the 28th two thousand and nineteen serving this community in the capacity of mayor for the last four years has been the greatest privilege and honor that i've had in my life when you come into an office like this it it it's never about your vision and what you're there to accomplish it's your job to turn back towards the community understand what it is that they value the things that they want to see done in their community and it's your job to then take that and create a workable work plan right a vision that we can actually execute i am extremely extremely proud of the work we've accomplished in the last four years as a mayor and two years before that as city counselor when i came to the office i talked a lot about the idea that whinooski really needed a plan a solid path to move forward and to our future and some of the key elements around that have been about investment infrastructure making sure we're taking really good care of the thing where we're most visibly responsible for steering which is this the taxpayer's resources right those tax dollars and investing them in a way that people believed in and investing them in a way that they saw a vision coming into fruition into reality and i'm really proud of where we stand here today and we've got a couple big projects right outlaid are right here for folks that i think are wonderful demonstrations of how we've tried to take that vision and turn it into action that's what the last especially year been about is we've spent a lot of time developing a master plan we spent a lot of time talking about whether our community needs or wants a pool we've spent a lot of time talking about where we want our critical investments to be in go and what our community's going to look like into the future and we believe this year we're putting forward a budget that's going to be very representative of that vision and i'm proud for this to be my last action and the last thing that i look forward to running through is in terms of a community conversation so this year's budget is going to have a couple of components that i think you're really gonna you you've probably followed for quite some time starting with myers memorial pool right the pools been nonoperational for about three years now and in the course of that time it's become apparent that it's a really important community asset not just from an activity standpoint but from a community building standpoint for the ability to for our community members to build that safe healthy connected community we also moving forward with our main street reconstruction these are parts of the budget right we're going to service the debt on these two big projects this includes over over twenty million in investment to do a headtotoe redo of main street all new infrastructure new street scape to again provide another opportunity for us to have a vibrant gateway into our city via main street and an area that fulfills that vision that people of whinooski have said over and over again we want to be this walkable vibrant destination community and we're really proud of this project and the impact we know it's going to have in the city's future in addition to that we're we'll be rolling out details very soon in regards to a new parking structure in the downtown and this is our opportunity to shore up the vibrancy down there right we've done a lot to create a business community and district in that area that i think we can all be really proud of whinooski we you know we went under with this the state's largest redevelopment project in its history right and the reconstruction of our downtown and now we're trying to be stewards to get that to the final destination of sustainability and we're well on our way and the addition of this parking garage and we believe is going to be a wonderful asset for that future additionally it's going to come at no cost to the taxpayers from a tax standpoint right we're going to cash flow the revenues from the garage towards the debt of it so there'll be a net neutral impact to the taxpayers they won't see a hike in their taxes as a result of that garage being constructed additionally another big focus in an area that we've tried to work very hard on is coming up with a capital improvement plan that not doesn't focus just on gateway districts but also in our neighborhoods and this year we'll be putting forward a a proposal to also bond for the reconstruction of hickock street which is a residential neighborhood a lot of folks know in the in the heart of one of our most densely populated residential areas so with that we again will be cashflow out of the capital budget so it comes at no impact to the taxpayers from a net new tech standpoint so we're looking with the main street project with the with the we're also gonna be proposing to taxpayers and voters that they allow us to do a one sales tax on rooms meals alcohol in general sales we believe that's an opportunity for us to share the expense of the main street reconstruction project in specifically with the businesses and also with the folks who come into our community and spend dollars every day so it's a very typical tax in our area right we're surrounded burlington south burlington culture essex south burlington other communities in our area also have this tax and we think it's time for whinooski to look at the same to reinvest that in infrastructure so you know again this has never been about me and this work's never been about me it's been about this community and i have a deep love and passion for our community it's our job as a government not to create the community that we want to see it's our job to create what is essentially a canvas for the community to be able to pay it on and i am so immensely proud of the work we've done to do that and there's no better sense and stepping away from a position like this than to have extreme confidence in the leadership that you're leaving behind and i can't say enough about the people the humans that work here in the city hall and execute that vision every day because but for them none of that work gets done and i specifically want to call out our city manager jesse baker who in just two short years has done a tremendous job of leading our staff bringing a lot of these projects that were long in the thought process to fruition and we're on the precipice now we've gotten to the point where we took the community's feedback and vision we've designed these projects we've put the finances together and we're offering for our budget to execute that vision that future and i hope in some way that that maybe makes the job for the next person that steps into this role as mayor of winooski a little easier they've got some big things that they'll be already working through so there won't be a lot of pressure to come up with a lot of big ideas right off the bat and i just want to acknowledge that we have a very deep and talented bench in our city in terms of engaged intelligent people who have leadership qualities and i know we're going to have some wonderful people step up maybe end up with multiple people step up so i'm leaving at an exciting time and we are at an extremely exciting place as a community we don't look like any other community in vermont we are the most diverse most denselypopulated while the rest of vermont is getting older we're getting younger and we have the most diverse demographics in the state and it's beautiful it creates an unbelievable fabric community fabric here that's unlike anywhere else and i'm so so proud to have had the opportunity to for the last six years to serve the people whinooski at an elected capacity and i can't be more grateful to all of our residents because they make all this happen they've given us this opportunity to lead and i hope that they feel like we've we've done well with that vision and moved the community forward and the way the most represents what they want to see and a place that they enjoy living and are proud of cause i sure am and so with that i'll take any questions you guys may have i forgot to turn on my microphone i couldn't do that again because yeah just curiosity it says that you took a the job of the community director of community development mm hmm and were counseling finance usca what what exact average i'm assuming just recently you had to grapple with this decision yeah so i accepted the position last weekend the charter and the transition items we needed to work through too took us a little time we wanted to ensure that we could clearly explain to a counselor should they choose to run for office or for others what progression did it happen from a process standpoint so that's why we've delayed it by a few days to try to make sure that we had answers to all those questions we knew it would come up and that's a full time position obviously i'm sorry the that's a full time yes yeah so i'm currently the housing program director at usca rural development so yeah the mayor stipend in whinooski is about for one thousand four hundred a year so how do you feel your time as whinooski mayor will stay with you in your career moving forward hmm that's a great question well i am a practitioner in my professional career and a lot of cases i look i'm looking from the lens as a funder that's looking at how to help a community be successful it's very beneficial to see that work from the community's eyes and standpoint in winooski we have to engage in a lot of partners to make all this happen right there's no project that we do by ourselves we're very reliant on other funding streams and sources state federal local regional partnerships to make that work so certainly you know that's something that i hope i've brought to this seat from a professional capacity standpoint and you know some knowledge base for the city to its benefit and then from my own it's been a tremendous experience to see that work through those eye that lens you know a great example right now is we're working through affordable housing right we have a housing commission and we're looking at potential updates to zoning that could that we think are going to better reflect the mix of housing we want to see in the community and that's something i do quite frankly in my professional life too so it's it's it's hard for those not to intersect that times which is frankly part of the reason why it makes sense right now to to step down just from a professional standpoint not being able to do both yeah that that leads to my question because you were saying that you're very proud of what you have accomplished in this time you feel that there are a lot of things coming up you feel like this is a good transitional period for you do you wish it could have kind of been better yeah months or things like that so there's no perfect time right i actually think it's a fantastic time because what my role in job coming in to me was to listen to the community to try to craft a vision that included deliverables right projects things that helped achieve that vision and a result in the community that people wanted to see we've done that work right the taxpayers still have to vote right they have to vote yes on these items if they want us to actually execute them so if they agree that this is the correct division that this is the right vision and these are the right steps towards it in the proposed total six increase is something that everybody can get behind then that closes that closes the chapter on these conversations the projects then go forward and look in a policy seat the city doesn't need me to oversee these projects right that's that's the city manager and the administration's job they'll make sure that they get executed it's our job to come up with what we think is a sustainable policy path and finance package that's reasonable to the taxpayers honestly for me do you think that professionally basically this movements you know where are you i guess in this stage in your career and your life where you want to be because this was this was your fourth year right mm hmm so that's kind of my question is to really the root reason of why you're here yeah sure so i have a very honest question i ask myself anytime there was an opportunity from either a civic or professional direction and it's how can i how can i use my talents my abilities to make as much of a difference in as many lives as possible and impact my community in the best way possible and to me right now this has been a fantastic opportunity i'm really proud of the work that we've done for me right now this is an opportunity to work with resources that impact the entire state of vermont in a way that is dramatic and it's to me affordable housing is the foundation of a healthy community right so i i believe very strongly in that work it's been my life's passion something i've done for a decade and in the course of getting this opportunity i can't imagine a better chance that could be available to me right now to make that difference so i measure it and the difference that i can make and it's not to downplay the role here and what we've been able to achieve but that's the decision i arrived at thank you yeah thank you guys hey in seriousness too if i really have appreciated working with all the media in vermont you know you guys do a great job thanks for thanks for all your work keep people informed and engaged anything from you sir not allowed to yeah well thanks again to everybody at channel seventeen too you guys go above and beyond to ensure we have public access to all these meetings and you've been a tremendous partner and the great part right is for the next month and a half i'm going to be talking about this budget so i'm not gone yet so you'll hear lots more from me there and especially thank you guys appreciate it thank you