Parks, Arts, and Culture Committee — Burlington, VT
Date: 2024-07-11
Time: 13:00

City Council - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee




 Thursday, July 11, 2024, 1:00 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room

MEETING TO BE HELD IN PERSON AT 645 PINE ST FRONT CONFERENCE ROOM AND VIA ZOOM
When: Jul 11, 2024 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: PACC Meeting

Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://zoom.us/j/93454772266
Or One tap mobile :
  +13092053325,,93454772266# US
  +13126266799,,93454772266# US (Chicago)
Or Telephone:
  Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
  +1 309 205 3325 US
Webinar ID: 934 5477 2266
  International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/a1gZUpT1g




1. Call to Order
 Subject 1.1. Call to Order
 Meeting July 11, 2024 - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee Meeting - Thursday, July 11, 2024,
 1:00 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room
 Category 1. Call to Order
 Department


 Type

2. Approve Agenda & Minutes
 Subject 2.1. Motion to amend/adopt agenda
 Meeting July 11, 2024 - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee Meeting - Thursday, July 11, 2024,
 1:00 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room


 Category 2. Approve Agenda & Minutes
  Department


  Type

  Recommended Action

  2.2. Motion to adopt previous meeting's minutes

3. Public Forum
  Subject 3.1. PUBLIC FORUM - Verbal Comments
  Meeting July 11, 2024 - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee Meeting - Thursday, July 11, 2024,
 1:00 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room
  Category 3. Public Forum
  Department


  Type

4. Agenda
  Subject 4.1. Kieslich Park Update
  Meeting July 11, 2024 - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee Meeting - Thursday, July 11, 2024,
 1:00 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room


  Category 4. Agenda

  Department Parks, Recreation, & Waterfront


  Type

  Recommended Action

  Subject 4.2. Encampment Policies
  Meeting July 11, 2024 - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee Meeting - Thursday, July 11, 2024,
 1:00 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room


  Category 4. Agenda

  Department Parks, Recreation, & Waterfront


  Type

  Recommended Action

  Subject 4.3. Executive session on 0 North Ave
  Meeting July 11, 2024 - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee Meeting - Thursday, July 11, 2024,
 1:00 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room


  Category 4. Agenda

  Department Parks, Recreation, & Waterfront


  Type

  Recommended Action
5. Adjournment
  Subject 5.1. Motion to adjourn
  Meeting July 11, 2024 - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee Meeting - Thursday, July 11, 2024,
 1:00 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room


  Category 5. Adjournment

  Department Council and Board


  Type

  Recommended Action

6. Informational and Non-Discrimination Statements

 The City of Burlington will not tolerate unlawful harassment or discrimination on the basis of political or religious
 affiliation, race, color, national origin, place of birth, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity,
 marital status, veteran status, disability, HIV positive status, crime victim status or genetic information. The City
 is also committed to providing proper access to services, facilities and employment opportunities. The programs
 and services of the City of Burlington are accessible to people with disabilities. Individuals who require special
 arrangements, auxiliary aid, service for effective communication, or a modification of policies or procedures to
 participate in a program, service, or activity of the City of Burlington, should contact the office of the Title II
 Burlington ADA Coordinator at 802-865-7000 as soon as possible but no later than 48 hours before the scheduled
 event.

CITY OF BURLINGTON Councilor Becca Brown-McKnight, Chair, Ward 6
PARKS, ARTS & CULTURE COMMITTEE Councilor Mark Barlow, North District
 Councilor Carter Neubieser, Ward 1

 Staff: Holli Bushnell, Office Assistant
 Lakeview Cemetery
 hbushnell@burlingtonvt.gov
Minutes
Parks, Arts & Culture Committee Meeting
Thursday, July 11, 2024, 1:00pm
MEETING CONDUCTED IN PERSON AT 645 PINE ST, FRONT CONFERENCE ROOM, AND VIA ZOOM

Attendance:
Committee Members: Chair Becca Brown-McKnight, Councilor Mark Barlow, Councilor Carter Neubieser

City Staff: Cindi Wight – BPRW, Holli Bushnell – BPRW

Others Present – Councilor Evan Litwin

Meeting called to order at 1:01 pm by Chair Becca Brown-McKnight

Approval of Agenda
Mark Barlow moved to adopt the agenda with the following modifications – move 4.2 Encampment
policies to 4.1 so both executive sessions can be back to back, Brown-McKnight seconded, all were in
favor

Approval of Draft Minutes from 5/23/2024
Barlow moved to approve the minutes, Brown-McKnight seconded, all were in favor

Public Forum
Public forum was opened at 1:05pm. As no one present wished to speak public forum was closed at
1:05pm.

Encampment Policies –
Brown-McKnight began by sharing the list of questions she provided to BPRW director Cindi Wight
ahead of the meeting. Wight then proceeded to repeat each question before providing her answers.

On average, the city team is usually aware of an encampment’s existence before notification comes
through see-click-fix. Staff in the field will alert Ranger Neil Preston when someone sees a tent. It’s still
helpful for see-click-fix reports to come in for tracking purposes. All items that come into see-click-fix
move into vueworks (the city’s asset management system). The change from previous years is that
BPRW doesn’t have a seasonal ranger program this year (the program is being rebuilt), so there are
fewer eyes out in the field.

Barlow asked what the correct category is in see-click-fix to report illegal camping issue as there is no
encampment option. Wight agreed that figuring out where to report is not very obvious and stated that
the correct replace to report is under “parks department issue.” Brown-McKnight added that a lot of
people stop at the step when they don’t see a clear option to pick and suggested updating the language
to make it easier. She suggested “illegal tent” or “encampment” as parks department issue doesn’t
CITY OF BURLINGTON Councilor Becca Brown-McKnight, Chair, Ward 6
PARKS, ARTS & CULTURE COMMITTEE Councilor Mark Barlow, North District
 Councilor Carter Neubieser, Ward 1

 Staff: Holli Bushnell, Office Assistant
 Lakeview Cemetery
 hbushnell@burlingtonvt.gov
really make it clear. Wight stated that she would look into it with “illegal camping” as the clearest
option to use.

The next question was what happen to encampment reports on the weekend? Wight explained that
those reports hold until Monday as the city does not have rangers on weekends. People can always call
BPD dispatch and ask for a CSL to go check it out. Should CSLs visit the encampment over the weekend a
report will be provided so Preston can see what’s been done on Monday. For removal, an attempt
needs to be made to reach someone, CSLs visiting would check that box and move the process along.
Noticing doesn’t happen on the weekends as BPD doesn’t do that. If there was a safety concern BPRW
would ask BPD to join the team to notice.

Continuing on, the next question was how long does it take to notice from start to finish and how long
to supervise a removal. Wight explained that if Preston has everything with him he will notice on his
first visit to the site. It doesn’t always happen that way for various reasons, but Preston tries to notice
as quickly as possible. The timeframe depends on the location of the encampment, the campers need
for services, when the CSLs can visit, and the number of items that need to be removed. For example –
tents were recently noticed at Blodgett Park for removal. The removal was scheduled for Monday and
staff will need BPD support, a truck, and extra physical support to remove items. Sites can be noticed
with as short a time as 30 minutes to remove items.

Brown-McKnight asked Wight to confirm a rough timeframe, and Wight shared that it can take between
30 minutes to a week. Sometimes weather changes things, sometimes there are other reasons why it
would take more time. Wight lauded Preston for continually refining the notice and removal process.
Barlow asked if, with the city now trying to provide basic services at specific locations in city, can staff
tell campers that they can’t stay and have to go somewhere else. Wight explained that that is what staff
has been doing. By following this process we’re able to say no camping in parks and really enforce it.
While staff continually works hard at it, it’s going to get harder because we’re moving people around 5
or 6 times which leaves them frustrated. Barlow lauded the work BPRW is doing with their current
policy but continued to seek clarity. When it’s a different unpermitted activity, staff is able to tell
people they can’t continue doing that activity. In the case of encampments there are sanitary issues,
trash removal issues, and safety issues; does staff still have to follow these policies? Wight explained
that the policy we use was approved by the ACLU. If we wanted to do things differently, we would have
to go back and renegotiate with them.

The next question was how long does clean up take after a site is noticed and removed. Wight
explained that, again, it depends on location and time of year. Bringing in heavy machinery is a
challenge, and large sites take more time but usually clean up can be completed within 24 to 48 hours.
Sometimes when we don’t have the capacity to do the clean-up in a timely manner, we leave it until it
clean-up becomes more tenable. There are a number of community members who have reached out
wanting to volunteer, but it’s a complicated work to have volunteers do safely. The city could hire
contract support for clean up if we didn’t have the capacity for staff to do the work, but this would
require a RFP. For example, it would have been great to have contractors for last year’s Battery Park
CITY OF BURLINGTON Councilor Becca Brown-McKnight, Chair, Ward 6
PARKS, ARTS & CULTURE COMMITTEE Councilor Mark Barlow, North District
 Councilor Carter Neubieser, Ward 1

 Staff: Holli Bushnell, Office Assistant
 Lakeview Cemetery
 hbushnell@burlingtonvt.gov
clean up after that long encampment was removed. Brown-McKnight suggested a city-wide volunteer
corps, admitting that it would be a big program but a good idea. Wight suggested a non-profit could
take that on.

The next question asked how many tent sites noticed per week, the total tents noticed this year to date,
and encampment tracking compared to last year. Wight shared that we see around 3 to 5 tents a week,
and that it feels like we’re seeing less than last year (Preston feels like it’s about the same but Wight
isn’t hearing about it as much). Wight speculated that perhaps It feels like less because Preston is doing
a great job. We’re tracking every step, notice, removal, time, and equipment used in vueworks. We’re
using vueworks to get better data and ranger reports come out every week.

Which parks are visited and with what frequency? Preston visits daily or two times daily – Pomeroy Park
is a particular hot spot right now. Brown-McKnight asked if there is support visiting Pomeroy all
weekend long. Wight suggested residents call dispatch and they can send a CSO or CSL over.

The next question was if the Urban Reserve has been noticed. Wight explained that no one has been
noticed in the Urban Reserve and due to its liminal status BPRW will not be noticing individuals in that
area. Any questions in regards to reserve should go to the mayor’s office.

Is there a phone number to call besides see-click-fix? Yes, residents can call the main BPRW line or BPD
dispatch.

Can the city provide transparent updates on see-click-fix requests? Wight is now the one who sees
these. She can provided small updates in see-click-fix and share her email address so that more contact
can be made. Brown-McKnight asked if there are other circumstances where notes are added. It would
be great to have that with encampments as well. She suggested an action item to look into see-click-fix
communication and set policies around whether communication can be done and if it has been done.

Is BPD in enforcing tent removal? If humans don’t move when staff comes in for removal, BPD provides
supports. They don’t do tent removal so much as human removal.

Finally, the question of what barriers exist to removing tents faster was asked. Wight shared that limit
staffing is a hindrance as staff handles discovery, contact, noticing, CSL visit, packing, and storage, and
also complex medical and social service needs. Staff has to be cautious so we don’t trigger a crisis.
Resources that would be helpful include an additional truck. Staff can get access to a truck, but it would
be great to have a dedicated one. The issuance of a contractual support RFP will bring additional
support. We will get a better sense of how that works this year (needs, costs, etc…). Further training
and implementing procedures from other cities would be helpful. Large removals have been dangerous
operations and we need to work on collaboration when working on those large sites.

Barlow stated that the specific finding that premature general public knowledge of the terms of a
potential agreement with SDI Ireland regarding the Kieslich Park restoration would clearly place the City
at a substantial disadvantage; and, Based upon that finding, move to enter executive session pursuant to
1 VSA 313(a)(1)(A) to discuss proposed terms of such agreement.
CITY OF BURLINGTON Councilor Becca Brown-McKnight, Chair, Ward 6
PARKS, ARTS & CULTURE COMMITTEE Councilor Mark Barlow, North District
 Councilor Carter Neubieser, Ward 1

 Staff: Holli Bushnell, Office Assistant
 Lakeview Cemetery
 hbushnell@burlingtonvt.gov
Barlow also stated that the specific finding that premature general public knowledge of the terms of a
potential agreement with Larkin regarding the 0 North Ave property would clearly place the City at a
substantial disadvantage; and, Based upon that finding, move to enter executive session pursuant to 1
VSA 313(a)(1)(A) to discuss proposed terms of such agreement.

Brown-McKnight seconded, all were in favor.

Executive session Kieslich Park Update –

The committee voted support the Keislich park agreement and send to the city council

Executive session on 0 North Ave –

The committee Voted to support continuation of the 0 north avenue agreement.

Adjournment –

The meeting was adjourned at 2pm. The next meeting will be held on August 22, 2024 at noon at 645
Pine St in the front conference room.