FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 13, 2020
Contacts:   Jordan Redell, Mayor’s Office, 802.881.7020
                    Mike Kanarick, Burlington Electric Department, 802.735.7962
                    Beth Parent, VGS, 802.578.2776
                    Annie Mackin, University of Vermont Medical Center, 802.847.5909

Mayor Miro Weinberger, Burlington Electric Department, UVM Medical Center, and VGS Announce Milestone Step Forward to  Phase 2 of Updated District Energy System Project 

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy Secures Significant Federal Funds for District Energy Projects

Burlington, VT – Mayor Miro Weinberger, Burlington Electric Department (BED), University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC), VGS, and the Burlington District Energy System (BURDES) Committee, a group of interested local citizens, today announced a milestone step forward to Phase 2 of an updated district energy system (DES) project. The DES would bring Burlington the potential for significant energy savings and meaningful climate action. After decades of work toward this system, Phase 2 will mark the first time that BED, VGS, and UVMMC will reach the stage of engaging in detailed engineering analysis and refined economic modeling.

Creating a DES in Burlington would meet the long-held goal of recovering waste heat and additional steam from BED’s McNeil Generating Station, and using those sources to provide thermal energy to UVMMC via steam pipe. This system would reduce fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions in Burlington, and mark a significant step toward Burlington’s goal to become a Net Zero Energy city. DES also has the potential to make McNeil more efficient and to modestly diversify the market for the energy produced at the station. In addition, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy recently has secured millions of dollars of federal funds for district energy projects, including ones like Burlington’s DES project.

“Creating a District Energy System is one of the most significant local strategies available to us to respond to the climate emergency and meet our ambitious climate goals here in Burlington,” stated Mayor Weinberger. “It is exciting that, for the first time in 35 years of exploring such a system, we are advancing to the stage of detailed engineering and economic analysis. While much work remains, today’s news represents a major breakthrough.”

“It’s not enough to wish solutions to climate change into being,” stated Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “It takes determination, creativity, and hard work to deliver on the bold visions that will impact our future. Cities like Burlington are leading the way in these efforts, and I applaud Mayor Weinberger and BED for moving this project from vision toward action. I fought to include funding for the Department of Energy to support community-scale projects because I believe the federal government needs to be an active partner in local initiatives like this one.”

Sen. Leahy has strongly supported district energy over the years and worked successfully to include language in the Fiscal Year 2020 appropriations bills that provides $10 million in competitive grants for community district energy projects such as Burlington’s proposed system. The funds are part of the U.S. Department of Energy budget, and the available grants focus on systems that are renewably-fueled like Burlington’s DES.

“As confirmed by our Net Zero Energy Roadmap, a district energy system remains perhaps the single greatest opportunity to reduce thermal sector greenhouse gas emissions in Burlington,” stated Darren Springer, BED General Manager. “While we have more work ahead to ensure that this project can pencil out economically and is technically feasible, BED is proud to commit today to continue that work with VGS and UVMMC. Today’s announcement that the partners are advancing this important project to Phase 2 represents the most significant progress to date toward making district energy a reality for our City.”

“VGS is creating an ambitious and comprehensive strategy to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with a near-term goal of 30 percent reduction in the next decade,” stated Don Rendall, VGS President and CEO. “Partnering with Burlington Electric Department, the City of Burlington, and the University of Vermont Medical Center to provide renewable heat to large customers will help significantly reduce our carbon footprint. Today’s announcement marks significant progress towards making this project a reality.”

“As part of our commitment to environmental responsibility, the UVM Medical Center seeks out cost effective opportunities to reduce energy consumption while reducing our carbon footprint,” stated Dawn LeBaron, Vice President, Hospital Services, University of Vermont Medical Center. “In the past several years, we have continued to improve our environmental profile by optimizing HVAC systems, implementing LED lighting upgrades, and initiating a limited purchase of renewable natural gas. Our new Miller Building is an example of this commitment. Phase 2 of the DES project presents an exciting opportunity to explore going even further by taking advantage of an existing resource that holds great promise. The UVM Medical Center’s vital next step is to do a thorough analysis to be sure the project will help us meet our sustainability goals while continuing to provide the highest quality care to our patients and families. We will complete this analysis with our partners, work together to determine what is possible, and build on that knowledge to continue working toward climate change solutions into the future.”

Phase 2 process brings Burlington one step closer to DES

Advancing this work to Phase 2 is a significant milestone in the exploration of DES that began in 2016. During Phase 2, which will span approximately five months, the parties will:

• Conduct street-level engineering analysis, examine rights of way, and coordinate with Burlington’s Department of Public Works to explore potential synergies between DES and planned street work;
• Refine the economic analysis, review available incentives and grants, and develop a final DES cost estimate;
• Include in the economic modeling a proposed revenue structure to compensate the McNeil joint owners for the production and sale of thermal energy; 
• Examine multiple regulatory, financing, and ownership structures to determine which model would provide the greatest benefit, as well as appropriate operational and financial risk mitigation; and
• Analyze operational protocols for dispatch and integration of McNeil thermal energy and the existing UVMMC thermal system to ensure the reliability of a DES.

The parties have committed to reporting on their progress at the conclusion of Phase 2 and, at that point, determining whether the DES as currently envisioned ultimately will be economical and technically feasible. If that determination is positive, the parties will work to advance the project into the permitting and approval phase that would precede construction and operation of the DES.

“BURDES is excited to support the Phase 2 effort,” stated Jan Schultz, BURDES co-founder and former Burlington Electric Commissioner. “Systems such as Burlington’s DES can benefit from both state and federal support to help make them financially feasible. After many years of awareness raising and study, this is a concrete step to move the DES forward in Burlington. We are in the throes of a climate crisis, and an initial DES in Burlington will become a significant part of a major effort to mitigate the effects of fossil fuel use for building heating. I applaud the City and eagerly await the results of the Phase 2 study.”

“Sometimes the most innovative ideas must be driven into practice with courage, patience, and fortitude,” stated Karen Paul, Burlington City Councilor (Ward 6) and former Chair of the Burlington Electric Commission. “District energy was envisioned in Burlington a few decades ago; it is a testament to our community and our partners’ resilience in finding a way to bring this sustainable form of energy to the next step. Our commitment to our Net Zero Energy goal must mean a staunch and active responsibility to ‘walk our talk’ and aggressively address our global climate emergency. This latest development shows how critical it is for our community to work cooperatively and collaboratively with many partners so that, together, we can lower our carbon footprint and continue Burlington and BED’s proud tradition of energy efficiency, renewable generation, and sustainably growing our future.”

“For decades, the Burlington Electric Commission has endeavored to reflect the goals of our community in providing safe, reliable, affordable, and environmentally-sound energy,” stated Gabrielle Stebbins, Chair of the Burlington Electric Commission. “Continuing past BED's achievement of 100 percent renewably-sourced electricity towards a Net Zero Energy city across nearly all energy consumption requires creativity, trust, and partnerships. Today's announcement reflects these core tenets of our Queen City community.”

Bold climate goals strengthen the DES collaboration

Fall of 2019 marked a series of steps that led to the beginning of the Phase 2 process. First, in September 2019, Mayor Weinberger and BED released Burlington’s Net Zero Energy Roadmap, which confirmed that a DES is a significant component of reducing and eventually eliminating fossil fuel use in the thermal sector. VGS, a key partner in exploring the possibility of a Burlington DES since the beginning of the current feasibility work that began in 2016, announced in November 2019 a strategy to achieve 20 percent renewable natural gas by 2030, boost investment in weatherization, and support district energy projects in Burlington and Middlebury, all in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, UVMMC is committed to becoming the most environmentally responsible health care organization in the country and has been recognized by Practice Greenhealth with a top 25 Environmental Excellence Award. UVMMC also recently joined Burlington 2030, a local partnership that aims to reduce transportation emissions, energy use, and water consumption by 50 percent by 2030. This collaborative is part of a national network of cities working to fight climate change. The BED, VGS, and UVMMC climate stewardship announcements strengthen the alignment of the parties and the commitment to advance DES in Burlington.

Background: BED and VGS re-engage with Ever-Green Energy

In the second half of 2019, BED and VGS initiated a new Phase 1 economic feasibility analysis with Ever-Green Energy. Previously, Ever-Green conducted a DES study for Burlington in 2014. The new Phase 1 feasibility analysis focused this time on a steam (instead of hot water) system, which would have the potential to make customer connections to the system less costly and complex, thereby reducing the initial capital investment required while still significantly reducing fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce the initial capital cost relative to potential thermal sales, it was determined that the steam system would not attempt to connect other downtown area customers at this time. BED and VGS shared the cost of Ever-Green’s new Phase 1 analysis, with BED’s share coming from Thermal Energy and Process Fuel (TEPF) program funds available to support DES under new legislation passed by the Vermont Legislature in 2018 and 2019, the details of which are explained further below.

The results of the 2019 Phase 1 analysis were positive, and demonstrated that a district energy steam system could reduce thermal fossil fuel use at UVMMC by approximately half, while also significantly reducing the cost to build a system by more than half compared to the former model. This Ever-Green version of DES would be an approximately $16 million capital project, or $24 million less than the approximately $40 million prior DES model. The most cost-effective steam system would focus on providing renewable thermal energy of approximately 125,000 MMBTU annually from BED’s McNeil Generating Station, a 50-megawatt, biomass-powered (woodchip burning) plant owned and operated by three joint owners – BED (50 percent), Green Mountain Power (31 percent), and Vermont Public Power Supply Authority (19 percent) – to UVMMC.

As a result of this Phase 1 analysis, as well as earlier work, it was determined that adding University of Vermont (UVM) buildings or CityPlace Burlington and the downtown corridor at this time would add to the initial capital cost without providing enough additional energy service to be economical. Therefore, now, DES is moving forward with plans to focus on UVMMC. However, as part of a future system expansion, it could be possible to consider adding UVM buildings or otherwise expanding the system to include new customers and sources of thermal energy.

Based both on the progress made in the Ever-Green Phase 1 analysis and on the commitments of BED, VGS, and UVMMC to continue exploring and advancing a DES, the three partners have agreed for the first time to advance the work with Ever-Green to Phase 2. To formalize this step, BED, VGS, and UVMMC signed a letter agreement on February 3, 2020 (attached) outlining the roles and responsibilities of each party during the estimated four- to five-month DES Phase 2 process. BED and VGS have agreed to cost-share the Phase 2 Ever-Green work, which BED would fund through TEPF funds dedicated for this purpose.

HISTORY OF A BURLINGTON DES

Community stakeholders advocate for creating value from McNeil waste heat

The potential positive contributions of a DES in Burlington have been advocated for decades by a group of engaged community stakeholders. As far back as 1994, BED has studied and evaluated the district energy opportunity for Burlington. Feasibility studies were conducted and reports prepared for the City in 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2002 with little progress after the publication of those reports. Founded in 2007, BURDES has worked to move a Burlington district energy project forward through the development of both financial and technical feasibility studies for the downtown, UVMMC, UVM, and other Burlington customers. In 2014, BED, UVMMC, and UVM engaged Ever-Green Energy to complete a district energy feasibility study. The Ever-Green report concluded that, although the project was technically feasible, a number of other factors, including the low price of natural gas, made it infeasible at that time.

Mayor calls for one final effort to achieve a DES

In July 2014, Mayor Weinberger tasked BED with exploring one final effort to either find a way to move forward with the long-sought district energy plan or determine definitively that the effort was not feasible. BED, on behalf of the City of Burlington, worked closely with BURDES, UVMMC, and UVM to rigorously review previous studies and develop a comprehensive financial model to understand the economic issues. At that time the partners added the CityPlace Burlington redevelopment project with its projected new thermal load, as well as VGS with its extensive thermal experience, to the table. BED and its partners then sought an experienced outside partner to work with the City to explore models that would move a DES from conceptualization to design, building, financing, ownership, and operation by serving UVMMC, selected UVM buildings, CityPlace Burlington, and other Burlington customers using heat (in the form of hot water) from the McNeil biomass plant. 

Corix Utilities selected as DES partner

In September 2016, the partners selected Corix Utilities, a privately held, community-focused corporation with international experience in providing utility infrastructure services, management, and products for municipal, institutional, military, and private-sector customers, to evaluate the structure and potential economics of a DES. Phase 1 of that effort involved a high-level economic and operational feasibility analysis for a DES.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the City/BED and Corix detailing next steps, including the terms of the study and due diligence effort was signed. As noted in the Mayor’s September 28, 2016 announcement, the cost was shared evenly among BED and its key partners, including UVMMC, VGS, UVM, and CityPlace Burlington. Corix then worked with the partners and community organizations to evaluate and understand the technical and financial viability of a Burlington-based DES, including the optimal structure for implementation. The work under the MOU was completed by Corix, and a Phase 1 feasibility report was presented to potential DES customers and community stakeholders in July 2017. The report focused on a proposed hot water-based DES that would have extended both to the UVM and UVMMC campuses and the City’s downtown. The Corix study found this version of DES to be a cost-competitive heating option (at a high level) with a business as usual case, assuming customers partially or fully transitioned their existing thermal systems to DES and achieved significant capital and operating cost savings in the transition.

During the second half of 2017 and much of 2018, the BED team worked with its key partners and Corix to develop estimated customer costs to connect to the new system, and examined logistical and technical barriers to creating the system. Simultaneously, Corix developed a letter agreement for customers to consider, with terms and conditions for moving to a Phase 2 of DES scoping that would have involved performing detailed street-level engineering work, refining the system engineering and cost/rate estimates, and exploring and finalizing a regulatory-financing-ownership structure for the DES.

City of Burlington achieves favorable PUC ruling in support of DES

Also, during that same time period, the City of Burlington successfully sought a declaratory ruling from the Vermont Public Utility Commission (PUC)  that the City could rate regulate a DES at the local level, similar to how the City of Montpelier manages its biomass DES. In addition, during the 2018 (Act 102) and 2019 (Act 31) legislative sessions, BED successfully sought changes to the TEPF program that it administers to allow funds to be designated to support a biomass DES and related feasibility work. Prior to these changes, TEPF funds could not be used for projects for customers heating with natural gas.

City relationship with Corix concludes

Despite the progress made during this period of time, the hard work of Corix and the local partners, and the general desire of our potential customers to be part of a DES, those customers did not agree to the terms of the letter agreement to move to Phase 2 for several reasons, including cost. By mid- to late-2018, further progress on this version of DES became unlikely and, by the end of 2018, the MOU with Corix officially ended, and the City relationship with Corix concluded.

Now, all partners are pleased to be taking this milestone step forward to Phase 2 of a district energy system.

For more information, please see:

• BED-VGS-UVMMC DES Phase 2 letter agreement, dated February 3, 2020 [PDF]

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 10, 2020
Contact:  Olivia LaVecchia
                 (802) 734-0617

Statement from Mayor Miro Weinberger on Resignation of Jan Wright

Burlington, VT – In response to the resignation of Jan Wright, Mayor Miro Weinberger released the following statement:

“Good local governance, including good policing, depends upon the hard and skillful work of our City team, including civility and respect for all members of our community. In this instance, a high-ranking leader in our City’s Police Department took multiple actions that damaged City relationships and eroded the public’s and my trust in her judgment beyond repair. Jan Wright completed nearly two decades of exemplary service for Burlington, and she has agreed to my request that her service to the City end at this time, for the benefit of the Department and of the City.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 5, 2020
Contact:  Olivia LaVecchia
                 (802) 734-0617

Mayor Miro Weinberger Responds to Death of Robert “Bobby” Miller

Burlington, VT – In response to the passing of Robert “Bobby” Miller, Mayor Miro Weinberger released the following statement:

"With the passing of Bobby Miller, Burlington has lost one of the pillars of our business, civic, and philanthropic communities. I first got to know Bobby when I served with him on the Airport Commission for many years, and got to see first-hand his service and dedication to Burlington. Bobby was a hard and diligent worker, and when you needed to reach him, you knew you could find him at the Dunkin' Donuts on Williston Road at 5:00 am. Bobby leaves behind him a tremendous impact on Burlington, and his legacy will endure in the form of better healthcare for Vermonters at the University of Vermont Medical Center, improved facilities for kids at the King Street Center, a gathering space for Burlingtonians at the Robert Miller Community and Recreation Center in the New North End, and many other achievements, not least of which are the number of properties that he built and rehabilitated throughout the state and the economic development that he sparked along with them. My thoughts go out to Holly and the Miller family today, and I know that Bobby's incredible personal story, dedication to his community, and ceaseless generosity will continue to inspire many."

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 30, 2020
Contact: Olivia LaVecchia
                (802) 734-0617

Mayor Miro Weinberger Establishes City’s First Open Data Policy, Overhauls Open Data Platform and Performance Dashboard

Burlington, VT – Mayor Miro Weinberger today released an executive order to create Burlington’s first open data policy, and at the same time, released major upgrades to both the City’s open data platform and the “BTVStat” performance dashboard that tracks City operations. The open data platform and BTVStat performance dashboard further improve the public’s ability to access City data in open, machine-readable formats and to understand and evaluate the City’s performance across a variety of different metrics. The executive order, developed in cooperation with the Sunlight Foundation, outlines the principles, standards, and governance framework that will guide Burlington’s open data program.

“From the first days of my administration, we have worked to better collect, organize, and analyze data and use that information to shape the City’s decision-making,” said Mayor Miro Weinberger. “That same data can be a valuable resource for residents, researchers, and local businesses. Today’s actions to improve the public’s access to municipal information will, over time, make City government more accountable and responsive to the needs of our residents, and contribute to innovations by other stakeholders in our community as well.”

Open Data Policy

In the spirit of open government, the Mayor’s executive order considers City data to be open by default. As a result of this order, the City will strive to proactively publish City datasets containing information that relate to City operations or programs, while being consistent with public records law, safeguarding sensitive data such as personnel information, and recognizing that not all data the City currently collects or possesses is in a readily available dataset. This executive order applies to all City departments that create or acquire information, records, or data on behalf of the City.

As a result of the executive order, the City will also add standard language to contracts to guarantee the retention of records and datasets created by third-party contractors employed by the City where appropriate, and the Innovation & Technology (I&T) Department will identify “data stewards” to represent every City department. Data stewards will be responsible for managing their respective department’s inventory of datasets to be published through an online open data portal, in coordination with the I&T Department. Implementation of the open data program will be overseen by the Chief Innovation Officer and supported by the City’s lead data analyst.

“The Mayor’s executive order, the improvements to the open data platform, and the updates to the interactive performance dashboard allow for better insight for residents into the City’s work and create new ways for City departments to share and use data to save time, save money, and foster collaboration on projects that involve teams from across the City,” said Brian Lowe, the City's Chief Innovation Officer. “I am grateful to the Mayor for his support, to the I&T team for their outstanding work, and to community partners like Code for BTV that have helped shape our thinking.”

The open data policy [PDF] was drafted using best practices outlined by the Sunlight Foundation, a national non-partisan organization that uses “civic technologies, open data, policy analysis and journalism to make our government and politics more accountable and transparent to all.” The City’s I&T team shared a draft of the open data policy on GitHub for two weeks this fall and sought feedback from City stakeholders and representatives of the tech community, and also requested comment through Front Porch Forum. The I&T team welcomes thoughts from others about what data would be most useful by emailing btvstat@burlingtonvt.gov.

"The City of Burlington's open data policy demonstrates the government's commitment to transparency and openness, and the decision to involve the community in the policymaking process ensures residents are well-represented in City decision making,” said Greg Jordan-Detamore, Open Cities Product Lead at the Sunlight Foundation. “We're looking forward to following Burlington's continuing efforts to become a data- and people-driven city."

Open Data Platform

The City’s enhanced Open Data Portal allows residents to view, visualize, export, or combine data in a machine-readable format. The City currently has more than 30 datasets organized within eight categories on the platform, and the I&T team plans to publish additional data in the coming months as it becomes available. To build the improved platform, soliciting multiple bids, the City selected OpenDataSoft, a company that has helped more than 250 governments and companies across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia to make data more accessible and usable by the broader public.

“The biggest win here is the new policy and commitment to transparency and inclusion that open data enables,” said Nick Floersch, Code for BTV Co-Captain. “The real value to the citizens is going to be knowing that they can access updated, curated, and managed data. The policy and renewed focus on this building block of democratic government makes it possible for people to know more about what is going on in fine detail, and is what Code for BTV is most excited about.”

“We believe that the power of open data will help drive innovation, increase civic participation, and improve how the City serves our residents,” said Carolyn Felix, the City’s BTVStat Analyst. “The new open data portal, hosted on OpenDataSoft, will provide a more efficient way for people to access City data. Our hope is that by making certain City data open, we will spark opportunities for data analysts, entrepreneurs, and technology developers to leverage City data and services in new innovative ways.”

The City has the ability to place an unlimited number of datasets on the portal, provided they are under 100,000 total rows of data and conform to the requirements outlined in the Mayor’s open data executive order.

BTVStat Performance Dashboard

BTVStat is a performance management approach that Mayor Weinberger implemented in 2016 to track and improve the City’s performance on a range of measures encompassing operations and equity. As part of BTVStat, City Department Heads gather together every month to review the metrics for three or four Departments and discuss how City teams can collectively identify challenges, make operations more transparent, track progress, control costs, and promote accountability, learning, and continuous improvement.

The updated BTVStat performance dashboard consolidates many of those measures from across the City and organizes them into categories for public review and evaluation. The dashboard is organized by six thematic categories and includes more than 20 metrics, such as crime statistics, library circulation, housing metrics, and City workforce demographics.

As with the open data portal, the I&T team would welcome community suggestions on what kind of information and metrics would be the most helpful or interesting to see, subject to limitations on data collection and others noted above. Please contact the team at btvstat@burlingtonvt.gov with your suggestions.

About the Innovation & Technology Department

The Innovation & Technology Department (I&T) was created by Mayor Weinberger and City Council in 2015 and is responsible for data analysis and continuous improvement efforts, the BTVStat performance management system, the City’s IT infrastructure, and several special projects providing new services or generating new revenues for the City. The Department applies new technologies, insights from City data, or new approaches to improve City operations and make City services and programs more transparent and cost effective, easier to access, and more equitable. In 2019, the Department worked on projects to restructure the City’s permitting system, implement a new scholarship program for high-quality child care, strengthen the City’s IT infrastructure, produce the City’s annual Equity Report, and many others.

For more information, please see:

• Executive Order: Open Data Policy [PDF]
• Open data platform
• BTVStat performance dashboard

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 28, 2020
Contact: Olivia LaVecchia
                (802) 734-0617

Statement from Mayor Miro Weinberger in Support of Burlington’s Transgender Community

Burlington, VT – In response to a meeting scheduled and then cancelled at the Fletcher Free Library by a group called Gender Critical Vermont, Mayor Miro Weinberger released the following statement:

“I welcome the news that a meeting that was scheduled for tonight at the Library has been cancelled, at least temporarily. Burlington seeks to be a city in which people of all backgrounds, orientations, and gender identities feel safe and enjoy a sense of belonging. This event as organized clashed with that deeply held community goal. If the event is rescheduled, I urge the organizers to do so in a manner that demonstrates an understanding of the unacceptable persecution too frequently experienced by members of our community who are transgender and non-binary.

“I appreciate the thoughtful way in which Mary Danko, the Director of the Fletcher Free Library, handled the controversy surrounding this event. The City will continue to fulfill the responsibilities that the First Amendment demands of all government entities, while simultaneously opposing hate speech and aggressively enforcing laws that protect the public from hate crimes, in order to send the message that such actions have no place in Burlington.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 21, 2020
Contact: Olivia LaVecchia
                (802) 734-0617

                Robert Goulding
                (802) 540-0846

City of Burlington Broadens Use of State’s VT-Alert Rapid Notification System to Include Local Warnings

Mayor Miro Weinberger encourages Burlingtonians to sign up to receive alerts by phone, text, or email for emerging and urgent issues

Burlington, VT – Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger announced that the City of Burlington will broaden its use of the State VT-Alert system for rapid alert notifications about emerging and urgent local issues. With the City’s expansion of its use of the system, members of the public will be able to sign up for calls, texts, or emails about certain categories of urgent alerts, including boil water advisories, major storm preparations, beach closures, snow bans, and other critical notifications.

“One of the wonders of the modern world is our capacity for immediate communications, but until now the City lacked the ability to urgently and reliably contact all of our residents,” said Mayor Miro Weinberger. “I urge all Burlingtonians to sign up for VT-Alert today in order to receive time-sensitive information from the City.”

By working with the State to use this statewide system, the City is able to provide VT-Alert at no cost to the community. Please go to www.burlingtonvt.gov/BTV-Alerts to learn more, and click on the banner at the top of the page to sign up.

Background

Last summer, Burlington had to issue a precautionary boil water advisory in parts of the South End for the first time in memory, out of an abundance of caution and to comply with a recent change in State regulations. The City worked to alert the public to this advisory, including through a press conference call, up to the minute social media notifications, and an email to water customers with up-to-date email contact information. While the advisory was precautionary and the risks of water-illness extremely low in this event, the fact that some residents did not immediately receive the notification highlighted the need for a more robust City notification method for local issues.

Immediately following the incident, the Water Resources Division’s Customer Care and Finance Manager, Jessica Lavalette, identified VT-Alert as a powerful outreach platform that would meet the Water Division’s needs for emergency notification, and likely serve other City notification needs as well. As a result, the Mayor created a cross-departmental team from the Department of Public Works, Fire Department, Police Department, Parks, Recreation & Waterfront Department, and Innovation & Technology Department, with additional departments joining at times, to examine the tool further and develop a coordinated plan for an improved notification framework. Following conversations with the State, this working group confirmed that VT-Alert was an effective tool for the City’s needs. The group then developed procedures that outline how the City will use VT-Alert and for what types of events.

How VT-Alert Works

VT-Alert is a powerful tool. By using it, the City will be able to contact users who sign up with texts, calls, and emails, for certain types of categories that users select. These notifications will be limited to public safety or public health concerns. VT-Alert allows users to choose whether they prefer text, call, or email, or all of the above, and users can unsubscribe at any time. The system also allows users to set quiet hours to limit any overnight notifications. The City has previously used VT-Alert only in a limited way, and primarily as one of the systems for snow ban notification. For certain types of emergencies, the system also has the capability of alerting residents who did not opt-in to VT-Alert.

For the following categories, any user who signs up for VT-Alert and inputs a Burlington address, or signs up for “City of Burlington Alerts”, will receive an alert:

• Boil water advisory
• Do not drink water order (should such a requirement occur)
• 911 phone system failure
• Emergency Operations Center (EOC) activation
• Evacuation
• Major storm preparation
• Other significant fire or emergency

For the following categories of lesser urgency, users will specifically need to opt-in to the “City of Burlington Alerts” category within the VT-Alert system, and also select the relevant sub-category:

• Snow bans
  • Users who want to sign up for this category should select both “City of Burlington” and “Transportation alerts > Winter parking bans”
  • The City will continue to use both GovDelivery and VT-Alert for snow ban notification through this winter, but will discontinue use of GovDelivery for snow ban notification after April 2020
• Beach closures
  • Users who want to sign up for this category should select both “City of Burlington” and “Health alerts > Beach closures”
• Major road arterial closures related to construction
  • Users who want to sign up for this category should select both “City of Burlington” and “Transportation alerts > Road closures, disruptions, and delays”

In addition, VT-Alert will also allow the City to send some location-specific notifications. The City plans to use these to alert impacted areas of water main breaks during business hours. To sign up for these, users can input a specific address upon sign-up or later, and select “City of Burlington” and “Infrastructure > Water system outage.”

As the City continues to use the VT-Alert system, it may add additional categories and uses. Users should also note that at this time, the City does not plan to use all of the categories that are preset in the VT-Alert system, such as the “planned events” category.

Over the coming weeks, the City will be doing additional outreach to spread the word about VT-Alert and ask Burlingtonians to sign up for notifications. To sign-up, users can go to www.burlingtonvt.gov/BTV-Alerts and click on the banner at the top that reads “Sign up for VT-Alert” to be directed to the VT-Alert portal. Then, users will be guided through a few screens to create an account, input contact information, and identify categories of interest. The entire process takes less than five minutes.

“Public health and safety are the priorities for DPW Water Resources,” said Megan Moir, Division Director of Water Resources at the Department of Public Works. “We have been making a historic upgrade to our water systems, but emergencies will always be a small part of the infrastructure business. We are excited to have such a powerful notification tool in the event of such emergencies, however unlikely.”

“I am pleased that the City is broadening our use of this rapid notification system,” said Steven Locke, Chief of the Burlington Fire Department. “The VT-Alert system will allow the residents of Burlington to have greater situational awareness of public safety and public health issues when they arise.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 17, 2020
Contact: Olivia LaVecchia
               (802) 734-0617

Vermont Supreme Court Unanimously Affirms the Sale of Burlington Telecom

All five Supreme Court justices agree that sale “promotes the public good” and that appellants’ desired outcome “would likely impose additional financial burden on Burlington Telecom customers and City taxpayers”

Burlington, VT – Today, the Vermont Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in its review of an appeal of the Vermont Public Utility Commission (PUC)’s order approving the sale of Burlington Telecom to Champlain Broadband, a subsidiary of Schurz Communications. The Court ruled: “Upending the sales transaction reached by petitioners in this proceeding would likely impose additional financial burdens on Burlington Telecom customers and City taxpayers. Moreover, beyond disruptions to Burlington Telecom’s workforce and customers and a reduction in Burlington Telecom’s value to potential purchasers, unwinding the transaction could potentially have negative financial impact on City taxpayers due to the City’s obligations to Citibank… Simply put, given the PUC’s past orders, the record supports the PUC’s conclusion that the petition promotes the public good.” 

In response, Mayor Miro Weinberger released the following statement:

“I welcome the Supreme Court’s decision as the final word: The decade-long Burlington Telecom crisis is over, and our solution promotes the public good by preserving high-speed internet choice for Burlingtonians and saving BT users and taxpayers many millions of dollars. 

“I am proud to have delivered on my promise to voters to fix BT and restore the City’s financial standing, and I am grateful for the long years of hard work and commitment that made this possible by City Councilors, BT employees, the BT Blue Ribbon Committee and its successor the Burlington Telecom Advisory Board, our outstanding legal team, and our business consultants Dorman and Fawcett.  I am also grateful to Trey Pecor and Schurz Communications for the critical roles they played in making today’s definitive resolution happen. Finally, thank you to the people of Burlington for sticking with BT through great uncertainty and turmoil, and repeatedly supporting this solution at the ballot box through years of debate and scrutiny.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 2020
Contact: Olivia LaVecchia
                (802) 734-0617

Mayor Miro Weinberger Opens New One-Stop Permitting Center

Dramatic overhaul of permitting system and creation of new Permitting and Inspections Department will vastly improve services for residents and represents the most substantial reorganization of City government in more than 20 years

Burlington, VT – Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger officially welcomed the public to the City’s one-stop shop for permitting and home of the new Permitting & Inspections Department. The creation of this permitting center marks the culmination of years of work to reorganize City government in order to respond to one of the public’s most frequent requests: to simplify, improve, and make more user-friendly and accountable the City’s permitting system.

“Residents come to the City’s permitting offices to pursue their dreams and needs for their homes and businesses. In the past, though, it’s often been too hard to achieve those dreams as a result of a system spread across multiple locations and lacking clear accountability,” said Mayor Miro Weinberger. “Today, due to the hard work of dozens of committed City employees, we are celebrating the creation of a new system and the beginning of an era of improved service, accountability, and coordination.”

How the New Permitting & Inspections Department Works

In the past, the process of obtaining and closing out a City permit for Burlingtonians looking to make improvements to their homes and small businesses often involved three different departments. City employees worked hard to advance requests, but the process was cumbersome and often unintuitive, especially for residents who interacted with it only occasionally.

For a typical small project, members of the public would start at the Planning & Zoning Department at City Hall, then travel to the Inspection Services Division at 645 Pine Street, and then get the review of the Code Enforcement Office at Pine Street. In interviews and focus group, members of the public described “dozens of examples describing situations that required permit applicants to shuttle between departments, located in two buildings approximately a mile apart, to obtain signatures, sign documents, pick up permits, make payments, and get questions answered.” For even routine projects, the likelihood of getting through permitting correctly the first time was about 20 percent.

“Ultimately, it will be necessary for the City to create a more centralized permitting function within City government in order to make the significant and long-lasting improvements to the permitting process that the City desires to achieve,” a third-party report found in 2017.

Today’s event marks the completion of three major reforms to this system:

• Creation of a one-stop-shop permit center: The renovated customer service center at 645 Pine Street is now the location for all municipal permitting and land use needs.
• Launch of the unified Department of Permitting and Inspections (DPI): The new Department includes 20 positions that previously were dispersed among Planning and Zoning, the Department of Public Works, and Code Enforcement.
• Single point of accountability: In contrast to the prior system, in which oversight of the process was spread among three department heads, one of whom was appointed by the Planning Commission, the DPI Director now oversees the entire process, and is appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council on an annual basis.

With these reforms in place, now, all of the functions of permitting – zoning, building inspections, and code enforcement – have been combined into the new Permitting & Inspections Department. Importantly, the City employees who do this work were closely involved in the discussions about how to best make these changes, and their job descriptions have remained similar. The big change is that these employees are now all working together directly, located in the same place at 645 Pine Street, and reporting to the same person – Bill Ward, the director of the new department.

Having these functions working together and in one location will also allow the City to more easily identify and correct inefficiencies in the future, and track, for example, how many times fees are collected over the course of the permitting process, or how many permits are getting successfully closed.

In addition to enhanced service, the changes of permit reform will create new efficiencies that will result in ongoing savings for taxpayers estimated at more than $100,000 annually.

Goals for the Permitting & Inspections Department’s First Year

While the one-stop shop for permitting now physically exists, and the new department has been meeting and training with LEAN management consultants over the last year, its reformed processes continue to be created and refined and will take time to fully implement. Over the next year, the department has outlined three key metrics that it will track in order to measure its success. These are:

• Improving the permit application intake success rate by more than 10 percent: Currently, about one-third of initial applications are returned to the customer due to errors or incomplete submissions. Over the next year, the department will work with applicants in order to improve the rate of applications that are approved the first time around.
• Improving the permit closure success rate by 40 percent: A 2019 estimate identified that 50 percent of a customer’s attempts to close permits were unsuccessful because the customer had not completed all of the required steps. The new department will create greater coordination of all parts of the permitting and inspections process, allowing the department to set the goal of greatly increasing this permit closure success rate.
• Improving the overall “first time right” success rate from 22 percent to 68 percent: This success rate is an evaluation of a customer’s ability to go through the permit process from start to finish without missteps, and over the next year, the department will closely track this rate and aim to significantly increase it.

“I feel very fortunate that the new department has a great team of experienced City employees who are enthusiastic and dedicated to improving every area of the permitting process,” said Bill Ward, Director of Permitting & Inspections. “The public can now expect to see the three departmental divisions of Code Enforcement, Zoning, and Trades all working closely as one entity to simplify the customer experience.”

Background

Improving the City’s permitting process is something that Burlingtonians have asked for, and that the City has discussed, for decades. The initiative to create the Permitting & Inspections Department formally began in 2014, when the Council and Administration held a public hearing on “reforming Burlington’s permit system” that resulted in a Council Resolution calling for a “soup to nuts” reform effort.  “An overly burdensome permit system is one of the most significant barriers to building more housing in Burlington,” a Council resolution noted at the time.

The initiative took on the name “permit reform,” and over the next three years, the City issued an RFP for a consultant to work with City staff to review the City’s permitting process and make recommendations, held public forums and conducted a public survey, and delivered recommendations to the City Council. The Council formed a Permit Reform Ad Hoc Committee, made up of three Councilors, to consider the recommendations, and in August 2017, voted to accept a plan for permit reform. In the fall of 2017, the City also convened a citizen Permit Reform Advisory Committee in order to have additional engagement and advisement from members of the public during the implementation of permit reform.

Over the next year, members of the City team, including multiple department heads and Mayor Weinberger, met regularly in order to work through the nuts-and-bolts of the implementation – including changes to the organizational structure, moves of the physical locations of employees, updates to the City’s codes and ordinances, reforms to the steps in the permitting process, and reviews of existing fees. The City’s Chief Innovation Officer, first Beth Anderson and then Brian Lowe, played an important role coordinating this work.

In March 2019, voters approved a ballot question to amend the City Charter in order to remove zoning, code enforcement, and inspection services from their previous departments, and combine them into the new Permitting & Inspections Department. Following a reconfiguration of the City building at 645 Pine Street in order to create the space for the new department, the new one-stop permitting center is now open to the public.

"The new one-stop permitting center is a critical step in the Council and Administration's effort to improve user experience in obtaining a city permit,” said City Councilor Chip Mason, who served on the Council’s Permit Reform Ad Hoc Committee. “Residents will get better service more efficiently under the new and improved permitting process."

“The Permit Reform Advisory Committee thanks all of the staff at 645 Pine Street and all of the buildings, inspections, and zoning staff for their support for this significant change and their patience in the transition,” said Celia Daly, Chair of the Permit Reform Advisory Committee. “We also thank the City Council for its support, and we thank Mayor Weinberger for his willingness to make the decision to get this done and to see it to completion. We look forward to continuing to work to improve the permitting process with Bill Ward and this new Department.”

"The dramatic restructuring of these City Departments will result in better services and significant time savings for residents. It also builds the foundation for continued process improvements within a far better permitting system,” said Chief Innovation Officer Brian Lowe. “The success and new opportunity created by this project would not have happened but for the leadership of the Mayor and the willingness of staff and Department leadership to work together to address a challenging structural problem.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 10, 2020
Contact: Olivia LaVecchia
               (802) 734-0617

Mayor Miro Weinberger Appoints Katherine Schad as Chief Administrative Officer

Burlington, VT – Mayor Miro Weinberger today announced the appointment of Katherine Schad as Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Burlington. Katherine is currently serving as the Vice President of Project Support Services at Tetra Tech in Burlington, and will bring over 20 years of experience in operations, regulatory compliance, and financial and project management with global mission-driven organizations to the position. Mayor Weinberger will ask the City Council to confirm Katherine’s appointment at its meeting on January 21.

“One of the highest priorities of this Administration has been to responsibly manage the City’s finances,” said Mayor Weinberger. “We’ve made great strides in this over the last eight years, and Katherine is exactly the right person to continue this work and take it to the next level.”

“I am excited to be joining the City of Burlington team in the role of CAO,” said Katherine. “I look forward to continuing to build on the Administration’s commitment to strong financial management and delivering critical services to the community.”

Katherine will bring many strengths to the CAO role, including:

• Experience monitoring compliance and financial management systems;
• Record of leading successful collaborations, managing large teams, and working with stakeholders to implement large-scale projects; and
• Commitment to the Burlington community, including serving as the Vice Chair of the board of ANEW Place.

Background

Since 2012, Katherine has worked at Tetra Tech International Development Services, a USAID contractor that implements over $350 million in projects globally. At Tetra Tech she served in several senior leadership roles, most recently as the Vice President of Project Support Services. In these roles, she has managed teams that carry out complex, multimillion-dollar projects around the world, developed and implemented internal audit measures, and improved financial management and compliance.

Katherine spent her early career managing US-funded economic development projects throughout the world, with a focus on helping to create jobs for women; improving critical infrastructure such as roads, water supply master plans, and capital improvement projects; and improving incomes for farmers. In 2009, she relocated to Tirana, Albania where she played a critical role supporting an anti-corruption project that introduced the country’s first electronic tax and procurement systems. She has a MBA from the School of Global Management at Arizona State University and a BA from Gordon College.

Building on the City’s Past Financial Success

Katherine will lead a department with many recent successes, including:

• Strong financial management that has resulted in the restoration of the City’s Aa3 credit rating and clean audits;
• Budgets that have funded historic investments in City assets while limiting taxpayer burdens; and
• New debt and pension policies that guide taxpayer capacities and spending.

For additional information, please see:

• Resume of Katherine Schad
• Photo of Katherine and Mayor Weinberger, below

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 20, 2019
Contact:  Olivia LaVecchia
                 (802) 734-0617

Mayor Miro Weinberger Announces Series of Next Steps for Burlington Police Department

Mayor Will Conduct National Search for the Next Chief of Police; Mayor Appoints Jennifer Morrison as Interim Chief of Police; City Hires Workplace Expert to Conduct Review of Burlington Police Department Social Media Practices; Deputy Chief Wright Placed on Administrative Leave; City Implements Interim Social Media Policy

Burlington, VT – Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger announced a robust series of next steps for the Burlington Police Department, designed to address multiple facets of the Department’s leadership and social media practices and lead the Department forward.

“After a challenging week for the Burlington Police Department and the City of Burlington, today, with action on numerous fronts, we begin the work of moving forward,” said Mayor Weinberger. “We are fortunate to have a department with 154 years of history, decades of outstanding leadership, and the strength and resilience demanded by this moment.”

Next Steps for the Burlington Police Department

The following are the next steps announced today for the Burlington Police Department:

• Mayor Weinberger will conduct a full, national search for the next Chief of Police: The Mayor will consult with the Police Commission and City Council about the plan for this search in early January 2020.
• Mayor Weinberger will appoint Jennifer Morrison to serve as Interim Chief of Police: Effective January 7, pending City Council confirmation on January 6, Jennifer Morrison will serve as Interim Chief of Police for the months that it takes for the City to complete a national search. Chief Morrison will bring years of leadership experience to the role during this critical interim period, having begun her career with the Burlington Police Department in 1990, serving as Deputy Chief until 2013, and serving as Chief of Police for the Colchester Police Department for five years from 2013 to 2018. As the Burlington Free Press reported in 2018, “Morrison has been an important part of regional discussions on how to solve shared problems with mental health issues, drug addiction, and how to better deliver emergency response services.”
• Deputy Chief Jan Wright placed on administrative leave: As the City continues its investigation into Deputy Chief Wright’s social media activity, Deputy Chief Wright is being placed on administrative leave. Upon the conclusion of the investigation, the Mayor will work with the Police Commission to determine any additional discipline.
• The City will hire the workplace expert Anita Tinney to conduct a review of the Burlington Police Department’s social media practices: As principal consultant with the consulting firm Employee and Labor Relations Academy, Anita has an extensive background in conducting workplace investigations and establishing preventative and proactive labor practices. She has worked with many other municipalities, and will travel to Vermont to start this investigation on January 3. The investigation will seek to understand the Department’s existing practices around social media use, develop clear standards for behavior, and determine what training and/or policy changes will be needed to ensure that those standards are implemented.

Next Steps for the City of Burlington

On Wednesday, Mayor Weinberger wrote to all City employees to give direction about social media use. He shared a draft social media policy that is in the final stages of formal adoption, after having been reviewed by all four public employee unions and, since November, by the City Council’s Human Resources Committee. While the policy may change modestly before it is formally adopted by the City Council as is required for all personnel policies, the Mayor determined that it was sufficiently vetted to share with City employees and direct them to follow as an interim policy until a final policy is formally adopted.

Social media policy is an emerging and changing landscape, and will require ongoing review. For example, the interim social media policy does not currently address pseudonymous accounts, and the City will review how to address this in the final policy. The City’s interim policy seeks to balance employees’ rights to express themselves and communicate with each other about work-related issues, while also setting expectations around how to use these tools in the context of work-related matters.

For additional information, please see:

• Interim social media policy of the City of Burlington
• Dec. 13: “Statement Regarding Chief del Pozo’s Twitter Account and Related Actions”
• Dec. 16: “Statement Regarding the Resignation of Chief of Police Brandon del Pozo”
• Dec. 16: “Statement Regarding Deputy Chief Jan Wright”

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