Cuts by the mayor got much of the attention, but reports on several other topics were presented to the Burlington, Vermont City Council during its meeting Monday night.
The Burlington Board of Health was tasked by the City Council in October to conduct a study and report on the syringe exchange program and syringe litter. Board of Health Chair Celia Bird said the “Evaluation of Safe Syringe Programs and the Impact of Syringe Litter in Burlington” imparts four key recommendations to address the issue.
“The first is to enhance efforts to collect syringe litter, so we describe how we can do this better. Recommendation number two is to tackle the root causes of syringe litter. We’re looking at substance use disorders, mental health concerns and housing insecurity to name a few. Recommendation three is building community support for harm reduction programs related to substance use. And our final recommendation is to establish comprehensive data collection to monitor the effectiveness of syringe litter mitigation and prevention services,” Bird reported.
The council voted unanimously to send the report to the Community Development and Neighborhood Revitalization Committee. It will report by September 1st on recommended actions related to the report.
Councilors also heard the annual update on the city’s Net Zero initiative that was first adopted in 2019. Burlington Electric Department General Manager Darren Springer noted the city’s plan focuses on the transportation and thermal sectors, which are the two biggest sources of emissions in Vermont.
“For this year we have greenhouse gas emissions in the ground transportation and the thermal sector down 19 percent in 2024 relative to the 2018 baseline. We’re dealing with a very perilous moment on climate in the country. We’re seeing programs that we utilize really for decades in the efficiency space like Energy Star being eliminated," noted Springer. "And so we’re going to be fighting a headwind potentially from the national level, from the federal level. And we have some tools in the toolbox to counteract that but it’s definitely going to be a significant headwind.”
No action was taken following the presentation.
The city of Burlington and the University of Vermont approved a three-year agreement in 2019 regarding payments to the city that cover the impact of the college on city operations, including police and fire responses. The latest renewal expires on June 30th. Burlington Chief Administrative Officer Katherine Schad explained they are seeking council approval for a one-year extension.
“As UVM is in the middle of their presidential transition, we have agreed with them tentatively to sign a one year amendment using all of the terms and conditions that were previously in place. And would also give us this next year for both this body, our administration as well as UVM to contemplate everything that we want in that agreement,” Schad said.
Councilors unanimously approved delaying action until its May 19th meeting.
