Business

Burlington city councilors had a packed agenda Monday.After the recent deadly shooting more than two weeks ago on Church Street, as well as a series of violent crimes and gunfire incidents involving young teens, public safety has become the focus. Several of the agenda items addressed the concern.One of them included a resolution promising that Burlington leaders would seek ways to reduce gun violence in the Queen City.It unanimously passed by the council. The resolution details that city leaders will work closely with the Vermont General Assembly on gun reform measures.City leaders also encourage the assembly to increase the penalties for crimes involving firearms. It also requests that legislators enact their charter change request on banning guns in establishments with a liquor license or adopt a similar initiative statewide.Many community members, such as Nancy Harkins, spoke out at a public forum in favor of this idea. The overwhelming majority of Americans recognize the dangers and do not want people to bring guns into bars and restaurants that serve alcohol,” said Harkins.The resolution also states that city leaders will work on better educating the community on safe storage laws and resources.Another agenda item was a resolution presented from city Democrats about improving recruitment for emergency first responders and examining the “CAP” on the number of sworn police officers.It brought a lot of debate, as every councilor spoke on the matter.Some of the Progressive councilors argued that raising the 87 officer CAP is irrelevant since they haven’t been able to hire even 70 officers right now.Democrats argue raising the cap would help with recruiting efforts. Ultimately it passed 9 to 3.Two other agenda items were postponed to their September 23rd meeting because of time.One focused on approving a resolution that would allow them to look into implementing a downtown a public safety hub. This would be a physical kiosk on or near the Church Street Marketplace.This kiosk would be accessible to people in emergencies, and it already exists in other cities.It would be a collaborative effort across many city departments to support it. People in our community should be and feel safe. Thats a core job our government,” said Abbey Duke, a Burlington resident.Burlington’s director of business and workforce development would need to deliver a report to the city’s public safety committee by February 2025 about potential locations and costs. The other postponed item city leaders were set to discuss was a talk around fixing up the Burlington Police Department building.BPD said after three decades of use, the building is outdated compared to other police stations across the state.It also said the building is hurting its recruiting efforts as it works to rebuild its department. Some community members, like Bram Kranichfeld, said they need the proper resources to serve the city properly. Its a message that the city of Burlington supports the police department,” said Kranichfeld. “That we care about the folks that serve there, that we value their efforts, and we want to see them succeed.It’s not determined if the existing space would be renovated or if BPD would get a new building in a different location.