BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – The Burlington City Council has a jam-packed meeting ahead of them on Monday evening. However, they are meeting at the downtown Burlington High School due to a broken elevator at City Hall.
Monday night, city councilors will consider whether they should place a police oversight initiative on the November ballot. This is the first time oversight would be on the ballot.
Back in March 2023, Burlington voters handily denied a measure that would create an independent police oversight board, stripping the police chief of his authority for officer discipline.
This November, voters could weigh in on a much different compromise between Democrats and Progressives to secure greater oversight.
Right now when a Burlington cop breaks the rules, the chief decides the consequences. Under the new charter change proposal, major incidents that could result in suspension or firing would be reviewed by the city police commission, and if they disagree with the chief’s decision, the case would then go to an independent panel.
“The only way an issue would go to this new independent panel is if a supermajority of our police commission decided that it needed to and our process sets up a plan where this independent panel could be made up of professionals that really do have the ability and experience to weigh in on policing matters,” said Ben Traverse, D-Burlington City Council president.
After the oversight measure failed in 2023, councilors got to work on this compromise which acknowledges the public’s desire for greater oversight of the police in the most serious circumstances.
“This independent panel should be used only in sort of break-glass-in-case-of-emergency-type situations, right, where there’s clearly a big divide between where the police chief is on an issue and where the public is on an issue. And we need an independent panel to sort it out. I don’t expect it’s a process that’s going to be used all that often,” Traverse said.
Traverse underscores this is significantly different than 2023 and is not unprecedented for police departments across the country. He likens it to a professional panel that would look at misconduct in the legal or medical professions.
We reached out to the Burlington Police Officers’ Association who say they do not agree with this measure, saying in part, “The independent panel lacks adequate definition, and its implementation risks exacerbating attrition among our current officers while complicating efforts to recruit new personnel.”
Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad opposed the different oversight matter back in 2023. We reached out to him on this charter change but did not hear back before this story was published.
We are hearing there will be some concerns among councilors but this likely has the votes to pass.
An amendment will be proposed that will allow the ordinance committee to work on the exact makeup of the independent panel, so we still do not know exactly who would be on that panel.
There’s also a plan for addressing homelessness on the meeting agenda for Monday night.
Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak has laid out her plan for addressing encampments and where they will be providing some services, like trash collection, in the city. Right now, there are two: one near the dog park on the waterfront and the other in the urban reserve.
The city will also hold a public engagement session about services to an encampment in the Old North End.
This meeting will also have a lot of time set aside for the school district. The council is meeting with the Burlington School Board to talk about the new high school, the upcoming budget and the impact on taxpayers in the city.
And they will be having a broad discussion on student safety in the downtown schools and how that’s being addressed.