The Essex Junction City Council on May 28 authorized the city manager to apply for the ICMA Economic Mobility and Opportunity Special Assistance Program with interested municipal partners.

City Manager Regina said the FY26 budget includes $25,000 toward an "equity policy advisor" concept to be shared with the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) and partner municipalities and that only Essex Junction and Winooski had set aside that amount so far. Regina said officials had discussed combining that concept with the ICMA program because the ICMA opportunity is more outward-facing and community-oriented while the originally envisioned advisor role was more internally focused.

Regina said initial interest in the ICMA program comes from Winooski, South Burlington and Shelburne because those communities have specific economic-development funding and that the program could help fund staff time for coordination. Councilor Marcus Serna said the opportunity was "really kind of exciting" and noted that a grant-funded FTE could help accelerate work on housing, economic development and other council priorities.

Action and vote: Councilor [unnamed in transcript] moved to authorize the city manager to apply for the ICMA program with municipal partners; the motion was seconded and passed by voice vote with no nays recorded.

Next steps: Regina said staff will continue the application process with regional partners and that council members who assisted with the application package will be thanked in the record. She noted the ICMA deadline was extended by one week, enabling staff to complete the submission.