Thursday, September 9, 2021
A former Burlington International Airport worker sued aviation director Gene Richards and the city in March for workplace discrimination, three months before the city began investigating his alleged mistreatment of employees.
The city and Richards were served on April 16 with the discrimination lawsuit that detailed some of the airport director’s alleged abusive behavior.
Sheehan did say that the city participated in two ancillary investigations into workplace discrimination that found no wrongdoing.
The city began investigating Richards' conduct in response to complaints filed by the airport workers' union. A subsequent investigative report says that Richards regularly used profanity and “physically intimidating behavior” toward employees, allegations that led Weinberger to ask Richards to resign.
Richards, who was hired in 2012, has refused to step down and is scheduled for a termination hearing before the City Council on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Days after the city's report was made public in late August, Weinberger told Seven Days that he never personally witnessed such behavior. “The first I became aware of this was in the course of this investigation,” he said.
Tags: Gene Richards , Miro Weinberger , Sheila Edwards , Burlington , lawsuit , litigation , Burlington International Airport , Web Only , Image
In a letter shared with media outlets Thursday, ACLU Vermont general counsel Jay Diaz said that Mayor Miro Weinberger and acting police chief Jon Murad have wrongly blamed recent gunfire incidents on the city council’s decision last year to cut the police department’s staffing. These "scare tactics," Diaz wrote, have misled the public into thinking that Burlington has become a more dangerous place.
“This campaign of misinformation is evidently designed to instill fear, direct more funding to BPD, and undermine the progress the city has made up to this point,” Diaz wrote in the six-page letter, which he addressed to Weinberger. “It is not, however, supported by the facts — including BPD’s own data.”
Tags: Miro Weinberger , John Murad , Jay Diaz , Vermont ACLU , crime , violent crime , Web Only , Image
Monday, September 6, 2021
In a letter to city attorneys on Monday, Rich Cassidy argued that Mayor Miro Weinberger is “hiding exculpatory material” because Richards has not received important documents ahead of the hearing. He also called the meeting’s format, which allots each side 15 minutes to make their case, a “farce.” City councilors can ask follow-up questions, but neither the mayor nor Richards can cross-examine witnesses, according to a letter sent to Richards late last week.
“In more than forty years of law practice, I have never been personally involved in any proceeding that more resembles a show trial than the process that your letter purports to establish,” Cassidy wrote. “In the circumstances, it would be extraordinarily unfair to proceed.”
Tags: Gene Richards , termination hearing , Justin St. James , Rich Cassidy , AFSCME Local 1343 , Burlington City Council , Burlington , Web Only , Image
Monday, August 30, 2021
That incident, which was included in a recent police use-of-force summary report, prompted someone to complain to the Burlington Police Commission. The city council's Public Safety Committee is scheduled to discuss the fire department's new protocol at its meeting on Thursday.
According to records obtained by Seven Days, the Burlington Fire Department has administered ketamine — an anesthetic used to "restrain" patients and manage pain — to 86 patients since 2016. But the department only recorded the subject's race four times in those five years, data show. All of those patients were white and between 35 and 74 years old.
Tags: Burlington police , Burlington fire department , ketamine , EMS , use of force , police commission , Web Only , Image
Friday, August 27, 2021
Burlington Aviation Director Gene Richards said he will not resign, even though Mayor Miro Weinberger asked him on Friday to step down from running the Burlington International Airport.
Richards has been on leave since June 30 over allegations that were previously undisclosed. On Friday evening, Weinberger released a seven-page investigative report that concluded Richards violated city policy by regularly “yelling, screaming, name-calling, and using profanity” at employees.
The mayor says he no longer has confidence in Richards and has suspended him without pay. By city charter, the mayor can’t unilaterally fire Richards, so he plans to call a special “termination hearing” at the next city council meeting on September 9.
“The mistreatment of City employees documented in this investigation is unacceptable and Mr. Richards can no longer serve the City in a leadership role, despite his many past accomplishments,” Weinberger wrote.
Tags: Gene Richards , Burlington , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Burlington International Airport , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, August 24, 2021
Richards, however, says he has no intention of stepping down before an ongoing human resources investigation into his conduct concludes.
A petition signed by 34 members of AFSCME Local 1343 states that they have "lost all trust, faith, and confidence" in Richards, who has been on paid leave since June 30 over unspecified allegations. Richards runs the airport, and his official title is director of aviation.
Tags: Burlington International Airport , Gene Richards , AFSCME Local 1343 , Web Only , Image
Friday, August 20, 2021
Mayor Miro Weinberger said Friday that he will host a town hall meeting with local businesses next week to discuss whether his office should pursue a citywide mask mandate similar to the one that was in effect for most of the last year.
Tags: Mayor Miro Weinberger , COVID-19 , mask mandate , delta variant , Burlington , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Real estate advisers White + Burke presented 16 potential sites for a new Burlington High School to the school board Tuesday night, including the infamous downtown CityPlace pit, the South End farmers market location and what's known as the downtown Gateway Block.
The district is preparing to embark on a massive building project after the discovery of chemicals known as PCBs led officials to close the high school’s Institute Road campus last September. Students learned remotely until the school district signed a 3.5-year lease for the former Macy’s department store building on Cherry Street, for $1.2 million annually. Students started attending classes there in March.
White + Burke project manager Joe Weith described the first phase of the site evaluation as "a very broad search" whose results the board will whittle down in coming weeks.
“It’s a pretty long list that we considered,” Weith said. “We wanted to make sure that we cast a broad net and really took a good look at any sites out there that were large enough that we thought could potentially work.”
Tags: Burlington School District , Burlington School Board , Institute Road , Downtown Burlington High School , Superintendent Tom Flanagan , PCBs , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
Ward 3 residents in Burlington have new representation in Joe Magee, the Progressive candidate who took Tuesday night's special election with 47.1 percent of the vote.
Magee won 475 votes to independent Owen Milne's 397, or 39.4 percent. Republican Christopher-Aaron Felker finished a distant third with 136 votes, or 13.5 percent. Just over 22 percent of the 4,546 registered Ward 3 voters cast ballots, according to unofficial city results.
"I'm feeling really good," Magee said shortly after his win. "I know we ran a strong campaign. I think the results are a testament to the fact that we were out there from day one, talking about issues facing working families."
Magee's victory maintains the Progs' six-person numerical plurality on the 12-person council. He replaces former Progressive councilor Brian Pine, who left in late May to join Democratic Mayor Miro Weinberger's administration. Progressives have controlled Ward 3 — which comprises a section of the city's Old North End, downtown and waterfront — for decades.
Tags: Joe Magee , Owen Milne , Christopher-Aaron Felker , Burlington City Council , Ward 3 , special election , Burlington , Web Only , Image
Monday, August 16, 2021
The listing went on: “This property has so much potential and is in an outstanding location! The opportunities are endless!”
The structure’s brick façade is lined with pointed arch windows and small circular openings known as oculi. A larger oculus, inscribed with a Star of David, is set above the large, white arched doorway. The building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978, and is also on the Vermont State Register of Historic Places.
The congregation of Ahavath Gerim owns the 3,374-square-foot building. Board member Shimmy Cohen said the group has been diminishing, lacks a spiritual leader and has stopped meeting for services. Its board decided to put the building on the market because it needs money to maintain its cemetery in South Burlington.
Tags: Rabbi Jan Salzman , Ahavath Gerim , historic , Ohavi Zedek , OId North End , Web Only , Image