Have you ever found yourself looking for Burlington information but unsure how to find it? Whether you're seeking information about the next Celebrate Burlington event or trying to navigate the permit process, it can be hard to know where to start if you’re not familiar with how the town works.

Communications Officer Laura Zakrewski is here to change all that. Her role, the first of its kind, came out of a multi-year effort to enhance how the town communicates with its stakeholders – both within the municipal offices and with the rest of the community. And, after just a few months on the job, her work is already shaping how information flows in Burlington.

Looking ahead to the spring, Zakrewski says she’s made great headway and has several major priorities in mind for 2026.

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Breaking Down Silos

The first order of business for Zakrewski and town administration is to break down what they call communication “silos.” Each department hums independently, said Town Administrator John Danizio, but the agencies aren’t always aware of each other’s work. “We had a big gap there,” said Danizio, and Zakrewski is working to fill that gap with information sharing via department head meetings and an internal newsletter.

A big part of working for the town, Zakrewski said, is answering questions from residents – and often it takes time to find the right person to answer them. She hopes to create resources internally to “remove some of that back and forth” and provide residents clear, accessible, quick answers.

She’s also begun organizing opportunities for employees to engage with each other in new ways. The first such event, a morning coffee the day after Town Meeting, was a hit, and Zakrewski plans to offer these touchpoints regularly. Assistant Town Administrator Patrick Lawlor said Zakrewski’s work has the administration reconsidering “how we think about the organization … from an engagement perspective all the way around.”

“People want their questions answered—and they want the information to be easy to find.”
- Laura Zakrewski, Communications Officer

Finding Residents Where They Are

In addition to keeping employees on the same page, a large part of Zakrewski’s role is to ensure residents and other stakeholders know what’s going on in town – an effort that in years past has been inconsistent and department-dependent. Among Zakrewski’s first charges was to create and begin posting information to unified Town of Burlington, MA Facebook and Instagram accounts – a simple but meaningful task to ensure timely town information can always be found in one place. 

She also developed a new monthly newsletter, the Burlington Brief, which is delivered directly to the email inboxes of subscribed residents and contains event highlights, important reminders, and plain-language explanations of what the boards and departments working behind the scenes in Burlington actually do.

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Just the Beginning

The town’s website is also undergoing updates, with a broader overhaul possible later this year. Zakrewski’s goal is to make the website more intuitive and usable, transforming it into a more interactive tool.

And these online updates are just the first round of changes Zakrewski has in mind. She also hopes to reach residents via direct mail and at in-person events throughout the year, including at events on the Town Common such as the Fourth of July Picnic and the Celebrate Burlington event. 

Feels Like Home

After working remotely for a marketing firm from a tiny home office that doubled as her bedroom, Zakrewski is happy to come to work every day in a collegial workplace where collaboration comes more easily. “What I really love about this job is how connected everyone is with each other,” she said, and she’s eager to build upon this connectedness to enhance the Burlington experience for both residents and employees.

“We spend a good portion of our time thinking about our employees,” said Lawlor, noting that as a major employer, the town has obligations beyond public service delivery, including caring for employees who provide essential services. Employee well-being and satisfaction directly impact service quality, and strengthening those bonds makes for a win-win.

Zakrewski’s role as Communications Officer is just one dimension of Burlington’s effort to bring the town together – but it’s a critical one. In a town where so much work happens behind the scenes, how that work is shared, explained, and understood will shape how Burlington moves forward together.

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