Burlington 2026 Town Meeting Candidates: Precinct 5

No response was received.

Tell voters a little about your background.
I've lived in Burlington since 1990. I have been a Town Meeting Member since 2012. My son and daughter attended and graduated from Burlington public schools.

Why do you want to serve on Town Meeting, or why are you seeking re-election?
I'm seeking re-election because I want to continue to represent my constituents in Precinct 5 and learn about the issues that are being brought forth for discussion for our town.

What do you see as your charge as a Town Meeting Member in your precinct?
As a Town Meeting Member I need to stay informed of all the issues that affect our town. I must listen to the concerns of my precinct and vote accordingly at the Town Meetings.

What do you see as the three biggest issues facing Burlington right now and how should Town Meeting address them?
The biggest issues are tax increases, the high school debate, and the general increase in building in our town. Town Meeting should listen to all sides of these issues and vote to weigh the benefits and risks.

The high school debt exclusion vote failed last fall. What do you think happens next and what role should Town Meeting play?
Burlington residents want to improve the high school but the price tag was so high that the taxes would increase beyond what many could afford. The committee needs to re-work the plan so that residents will accept the costs. Town Meeting can help the discussion to inform the residents of the pros and cons of the different options for the high school.

Burlington has significant capital needs — including a new high school — at a time when many residents are feeling the pressure of rising costs. How will you weigh those competing realities when voting on major expenditures?
I will listen to all options and vote in the way that I and my constituents will be satisfied with the results.

How will you solicit input from your constituents?
I will invite my constituents to email or call me with their opinions.

Tell voters a little about your background.
For the last two years, I have been on the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee and I have been in tune with local politics for many years. As for the non-political, I am a software engineer that focuses on robotics for work. I am a Burlington homeowner who enjoys playing ultimate frisbee and cycling. I live with my wonderful wife and adorable daughter in precinct 5, and I've always been motivated to make the world a better place.

Why do you want to serve on Town Meeting, or why are you seeking re-election?
I want to see Burlington become the best it can be and I want to help it get there.

What do you see as your charge as a Town Meeting Member in your precinct?
In representing my precinct, I need to make sure I keep my lines of communication open to my constituents to hear their thoughts on upcoming articles and issues that Town Meeting is involved with. (Speaking of which, feel free to email me at arutfield@gmail.com for any questions about Town Meeting activities or my re-election!) I also need to make sure that the articles we vote on will benefit the precinct, though of course I'd prefer if they benefit the town as a whole.

What do you see as the three biggest issues facing Burlington right now and how should Town Meeting address them?
The biggest issue is the decline in commercial value. Burlington has heavily relied on commercial business to bring in a lot of its needed tax revenue. While vacancy rates increase and possible tax revenue goes down, the cost of the town's needs will not. Town Meeting can address this by using zoning to encourage a large diversity of businesses to come into town. We can also take advantage of the MBTA Communities Act and allow housing in a responsible manner, as more people in town means more demand for these businesses, increasing their value.

Second biggest issue will be our education. There is frustration in town that our school district is not always ranked as highly as we would like for the amount of money we put into it. There may be some reasons for this beyond our control, but Town Meeting is responsible for funding items such as improvements to facilities and trying new curriculums. These could be the key to bumping us in the rankings.

Third, though somewhat related to the second, is the new high school. The possibility that the HVAC's age is a time bomb on the verge of going off is not great. We need a solution that drastically improves the facilities, while also being built on a time frame and budget that works for the town. The sooner we can get that together, the less of risk of the situation getting out of control. Town Meeting will need to give the design a thumbs-up, whether or not a debt exclusion or override is also needed.

The high school debt exclusion vote failed last fall. What do you think happens next and what role should Town Meeting play?
Unfortunately, the failure means that the project committee is going to have to take several steps back, if not start from scratch. Town Meeting representatives should pay close attention to what solutions are getting proposed next. They'll have to vote for it during a future meeting, and getting their feedback into the process early could avoid another failure.

Burlington has significant capital needs — including a new high school — at a time when many residents are feeling the pressure of rising costs. How will you weigh those competing realities when voting on major expenditures?
We need to get whatever help from the state and federal government that we can. Passing a zoning plan that complies with the MBTA Communities Act will help us get grants that other towns are ineligible for. Committees who are planning these projects should apply for whatever grants and aid they believe themselves to be eligible for before they bring the articles to the floor. Apart from encouraging that, I would want to see that finance-related committees can account for the major expenditures in their plans.

One thing that seems to be a drawback is that if a major plan is voted down at town meeting, the whole process often needs to go back several steps. To mitigate this, I'll ensure I keep tabs on the projects earlier in the process so I can provide any concerns. I'll also weigh what I hear from constituents. Do they feel that the expense is worth it? Or would it be better to delay?

How will you solicit input from your constituents?
You can email at arutfield@gmail.com, I do my best to respond to EVERY email! Feel free to go to my Facebook page "Alex Rutfield for Town Meeting" as well. I look forward to hearing from you!

No response was received.

Tell voters a little about your background.
My wife and I both grew up in Massachusetts, went to college in the Boston area and moved to Burlington in 2009 as first time homebuyers. Our son is in the school system, and active in the arts and athletics. I'm a board member with the Burlington Players, a local community theater group. My wife works (mostly) from home and I work in Engineering at a firm in Billerica.

Why do you want to serve on Town Meeting, or why are you seeking re-election?
I'm running for Town Meeting to help bridge the gap between the many town Boards, Departments, Committees, and the voters. Town Meeting needs people who will take the time to understand complex issues and work together to resolve them.

What do you see as your charge as a Town Meeting Member in your precinct?
As a first time member, I think my role is mostly to listen and learn for this first cycle. I pledge to attend all meetings, stay informed on activities of key Boards & Committees and to truly dig-in on the details of warrant articles and plans.

I will listen to Precinct 5 constituents about what impacts their daily life, take those varying perspectives and work with the facts at hand to find common ground and practical solutions that can help improve the community.

What do you see as the three biggest issues facing Burlington right now and how should Town Meeting address them?
I believe the Town is in the middle of a hard lesson about the importance of capital expenditure planning. Town Meeting must ensure that comprehensive planning is taking place, and is thoroughly reviewed and communicated to voters.

Town Meeting needs to apply both good oversight and meaningful collaboration with the school system to ensure that we are trending upwards both in academic outputs, and in value per budget dollar.

Town Meeting should continue to work with the Economic Development office and Planning Board to identify key projects and innovative approaches when current zoning impacts commercial property's ability to remain healthy and relevant. Our reliance on the commercial tax base necessitates a good working relationship, but we cannot make one-sided decisions that don't also serve the best interests of our residents.

The high school debt exclusion vote failed last fall. What do you think happens next and what role should Town Meeting play?
The Building Committee faced an extremely difficult challenge, but no project should get as far as a Town-wide vote and come up that far short at the ballot box. The committee may need new leadership, added perspectives and different consultants to avoid being bogged down repeating previous decisions. Using Town Meeting as a formal bi-annual status report and check-in would ensure the Committee's plan, reasoning and communication strategy are cohesive. If presented with a well communicated, tiered approach that explains the decision path, I believe that we can find a path that the community supports.

Town Meeting also has to take a leadership role in assuring that preventative maintenance, mechanical system overhauls and mid-life refurbishments of all town buildings are adequately planned and funded.

Burlington has significant capital needs — including a new high school — at a time when many residents are feeling the pressure of rising costs. How will you weigh those competing realities when voting on major expenditures?
By pushing for good value, approachable-scale, and thoroughly vetted projects, Town Meeting can do its part to layer in projects to avoid sticker shock and large tax jumps. No one wants to raise taxes and it's never the "right time" to do so, but the Town will have to find a way to address these capital projects, just like the Town Meeting predecessors did 50 years ago. If and when a debt-exclusion is truly required, it will have to be of a realistic scale, lean on all possible State funding, and be better communicated than the Town's last attempt.

How will you solicit input from your constituents?
I will be available by phone or email and the usual "bump into folks around town" at school activities, Town-wide events and athletics. But I'll also use town forums like the Buzz's Civic Expo to try to reach people who wouldn't necessarily start the conversation on their own. There seems to be an acknowledgement that candidate forums once per election cycle may not be enough. If we can find enough willing Town Meeting Members, perhaps we can establish an outreach event before the May meeting.

No response was received.

Tell voters a little about your background.
I grew up in Washington, DC. I've had somewhat of an unusual career: I spent 9 years earning a PhD in physics, then was a stay-at-home mom for 10 years, and now have worked as a software engineer for the past 12 years. I moved to Burlington in 2009 with my husband and 4 kids. Our kids went through Pine Glen, Marshall Simonds, and BHS. We are now empty nesters!

Why do you want to serve on Town Meeting, or why are you seeking re-election?
My first term on Town Meeting was 2023–2026. During that time I had the privilege of helping shape Burlington's future on issues that impact us all, whether that's funding sewer upgrades or deciding whether we want pot shops in town. I really care about Burlington, and I want to continue to help chart a great course forward for our town.

What do you see as your charge as a Town Meeting Member in your precinct?
I see my charge as a TMM5 to be paying attention to issues affecting Burlington (and MA more generally), listening to others' opinions, deciding how to vote based on all that input, showing up at meetings, and arguing persuasively to win others over to that point of view. I attended every single evening of every Town Meeting my first term.

What do you see as the three biggest issues facing Burlington right now and how should Town Meeting address them?

1. The biggest issue in my opinion is what to do about BHS, addressed in the subsequent question.
2. Changing office-use patterns, resulting in underutilized space in danger of going dark.
3. Housing affordability, in which seniors and first-time homebuyers are priced out of Burlington.

I see a fascinating role for Town Meeting in addressing both challenges. Creative rethinking of land use policy to increase housing without shrinking the commercial tax base, such as we saw in the MIX District and Middle Housing, are examples.

The high school debt exclusion vote failed last fall. What do you think happens next and what role should Town Meeting play?
BHS 2.0 will not be an easy problem to fix. MSBA funding for replacing a solid building with zero overcrowding is unlikely to ever materialize; plausible other build sites in town have not been identified; wetland tightly constrains the existing site; building costs continue to rise. A role for Town Meeting could be to solicit the help of trusted leaders within the "No" movement to brainstorm solutions. Perhaps if every other option has been seen to be exhausted, community backing for a difficult price tag could be increased. Or perhaps some hitherto unseen option could be surfaced.

Burlington has significant capital needs — including a new high school — at a time when many residents are feeling the pressure of rising costs. How will you weigh those competing realities when voting on major expenditures?
The great majority of expenditures that come before Town Meeting (police equipment, PFAS filter replacements, school HVAC upgrades) don't have much room for cost cutting. Pushing back against the "nice-to-have" expenditures is the only thing I can do.

How will you solicit input from your constituents?
I walk the streets of Precinct 5 year-round to get exercise. I enjoy talking to people and hearing what's important to them.