Updated at 11:31 p.m.
WINOOSKI — On the first Town Meeting Day where all Onion City residents could cast a ballot regardless of whether they are U.S. citizens, voters elected Aurora Hurd and Thomas Renner to the City Council from a field of seven candidates, and approved a bond of up to $1.3 million for a new fire truck and other fire department improvements.
For Charlotte Blend, who has lived in Winooski for nine years but isn’t a U.S. citizen, Tuesday marked the first election in which she was able to vote. Blend, who has citizenship in the United Kingdom, said casting a ballot in the city felt “really special.”
“These are things that affect everybody,” she said of the articles on the ballot this year. “It doesn’t matter what your citizenship status is.”
With an hour to go until polls closed Tuesday, more than 50 people who are not citizens had registered to vote and had cast a ballot, City Clerk Jenny Willingham said.
In total, more than 600 noncitizens were eligible to vote in a city election for the first time this year.
Of the seven candidates vying for a pair of two-year seats on the Winooski City Council this year, Hurd finished first with 426 votes, and Renner finished second with 402.
There were five other candidates on the ballot: Irene Kerubo Webster got 380 votes; Darrell Desautels, 143; Matt Crawford, 118; Chad Bushway, 115; and David Xavier Wallace, 90.
In a phone call Tuesday night, Hurd, who works as an administrative assistant at the University of Vermont, said they were excited Winooski voters entrusted them with a seat on the council. They said one of their priorities will be taking action based on the results of the city’s equity audit, which should be completed within the next few months.
“I think that's going to give us a lot of good direction on how to make our city more equitable and just, on all different levels,” Hurd said.
Renner, in a call Tuesday night, also expressed his gratitude to city voters. He said he is looking forward to hiring a new city manager and hearing more from residents about how Winooski should use its American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Both candidates also said they see expanding access to affordable housing as a key issue in Winooski going forward.
“I want to go straight to working on the affordable housing issue,” said Renner, who is an operations support specialist at UVM Medical Center, “and trying to bring in some really good projects that will keep Winooski growing.”
The new fire truck, which voters approved 710-188, would replace an existing vehicle that is about 25 years old, Winooski Mayor Kristine Lott said at an information session in January. In addition, the new truck would be able to reach 100 feet in height, while the existing truck can reach only 70 feet.
“It doesn't provide adequate reach to a lot of buildings in the city,” Lott said of the current vehicle. “This is an opportunity to do a replacement with a more versatile piece of equipment that will better serve the community's needs.”
The city plans to order the truck this summer, though due to a backlog of orders, Lott said it likely wouldn't arrive until 2024.
On Tuesday, Winooski voters also approved a roughly $8.7 million fiscal year 2023 budget with about a 2.9% increase in taxes. The vote was 647-258.
And by a margin of 621-294, voters also greenlit the proposed budget for the Winooski School District, which totals about $21.3 million and would result in a nearly 25% increase in spending per student, per officials’ estimates.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated Hurd's pronouns.
