The additional money was an agenda item at Monday’s council meeting at Winooski City Hall.

The City Council initially approved spending $7,500 on the lawsuit when the city decided to enter the case in April 2015. The council said at the time that if additional money were needed, a motion would come back before the council for public discussion and a vote.

The city joined the Stop the F-35 Coalition and six Chittenden County residents as plaintiffs in the lawsuit against U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James. Four of the individual plaintiffs are residents of Winooski.

​Plaintiffs who filed the case in federal  court say the Air Force failed to provide enough information in the report released in April 2014. At issue is whether the Air Force underestimated the level of noise and the potential impact on health, property values and safety for those in the flight locations.

The plaintiffs, including the city, all have filed motions in U.S. District Court in Vermont for a judgement in the plaintiffs’ favor without a jury trial. U.S. government lawyers have opposed the motion and instead are asking the judge to rule in the defense’s favor. A hearing  is scheduled for July 5.

Winooski Mayor Seth Leonard said during the Monday meeting that the city had used all of the $7,500 and was considering the additional money to cover legal fees. He said the city had consulted with its independent lawyer, who thought $5,000 would be an appropriate amount to continue with the case.

“There’s a minimum we could spend to be a responsible participant,” Leonard said before the council meeting, adding that the money would cover the city’s ability to respond to additional filings in the case, prepare for the July 5 hearing and attend the proceeding in U.S. District Court in Rutland.

“I think we need to move in a direction that allows us to complete the process we started,” Councilor Brian Corrigan said. Corrigan was the only councilor to make a comment on the agenda item at Monday’s meeting.

The first resolution asked for:

The second resolution included a request by the Winooski City Council that the Burlington Air Guard Station be removed from consideration for F-35 basing.

This story was first posted online on March 28, 2016. Contact Elizabeth Murray at 651-4835 or emurray@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/LizMurraySMC.