The Most Thorough Review of Burlington's Government is Nearly Complete

The work of the Burlington Government Review Committee (BGRC) is nearly complete, and on Monday the Select Board received the committee's report and recommendations.

Addressing Previously-Identified Areas for Further Study

Commissioned by the Select Board in early 2025, the BGRC grew out of a 2018 Select Board committee for government review. After about six months of work, that committee developed a set of recommendations, which the town has worked through one by one, and the BGRC's thorough audit and documentation of Burlington's government and municipal processes check the last few items off the list.

The 2018 committee recommended the town look into changing some elected roles to appointed positions. In 2019, the Treasurer/Collector role was converted from elected to appointed via a town-wide election, and in 2025 voters narrowly chose to maintain the Town Clerk role as elected (52.1% to 47.9%).

The Select Board also collaborated with the University of Massachusetts Boston's Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management (the Collins Center) on a communications audit, addressing a major feedback area from the committee's work. In 2025, the town created a Communications Officer position and hired Laura Zakrewski into the role. Zakrewski has worked since then to streamline the town's internal and external communication and update the town website to make it more transparent and user friendly.

The rest of the 2018 committee's recommendations centered on the need for an in-depth analysis, in collaboration with an independent agency, of the town's government and municipal operations.

A Thorough Look at Burlington's Government Structure

The Select Board's instructions to the BGRC when the committee began its work were:

• Produce a draft town charter.
• Benchmark Burlington's government structure and practices against comparable communities.
• Consider changes to the Town Administrator position.
• Consider new charter provisions, such as recall elections and periodic reviews of the town's government structure.
• Determine what belongs in the charter versus what belongs in bylaws.
• Produce a report with recommendations to the Select Board and Town Meeting.
• Carry out this work through an open, inclusive, and thorough process.

The BGRC kicked off its work in collaboration with the Collins Center in June 2025 and took the subsequent 15 months to dive deeply into the mosaic of special acts and bylaws that make up the town's government. Confidential interviews were conducted to gather information from current and former town employees, elected officials, and other town stakeholders; a third-party survey was conducted by the Collins Center in multiple languages, inviting every Burlington household to provide feedback and receiving 1,151 responses; and current town officials spoke at meetings to give the committee a sense of the way things actually work today. Throughout the work, the BGRC considered current practice in six different Massachusetts communities with similar size and government makeup.

The committee then worked, with Collins Center guidance, to create a charter documenting the town's municipal structure and governance practices.

"Simply put, the charter will serve as Burlington's constitution," said BGRC Chair Betsey Hughes at the Select Board's September 14 meeting. It consolidates the many different special acts, amendments to special acts, bylaws, and unwritten tradition that form the current framework of how town government works into one document that's easy to find, easy to comprehend, and aligned with modern governing practices.

The charter represents the framework within which the town operates, while the details of day-to-day operations and implementation will be outlined in bylaws.

Recommended Changes to Town Administrator Role, Recall Provision

The BGRC recommended only a few substantive changes, many of which had to do with the Town Administrator role. Some highlights include requiring a formal employment contract and establishing a five-year capital plan (both of which are already current practice but the proposed charter codifies), establishing a process for appointment of an acting Town Administrator in the case of the Town Administrator's absence, and granting the authority to appoint and remove town officials.

The proposed charter outlines a process for recall of an elected official, a provision that had 80% support among survey respondents and which five out of six comparator communities have in place. It also provides a mechanism for removing members of appointed committees for failure to attend meetings.

The term of the Town Moderator, currently one year, would change to three years under the proposed charter, and the Ways & Means Committee would be renamed to the Finance Committee, a term the BGRC believes more accurately describes the committee's work.

Next Steps and the Charter Adoption Process

Like the 2018 committee, the BGRC found that some topics warranted further study but didn't fall within this committee's scope. Those are outlined in the BGRC's report and include reviewing committees of Town Meeting to ensure they are up-to-date and functioning according to their charge in the bylaw, establishing a recruitment plan for Town Meeting committees, and forming a committee to look at establishing term limits, which garnered majority support in many cases in the town-wide survey.

Select Board members, who stepped out of the process after the committee was formed, were appreciative of the BGRC's work. "There should be a standing practice of reviewing our processes, our functions, our operations," said member Nick Priest. He praised the group's "fantastic job" of reviewing that information and codifying what's working while recommending adjustments where necessary rather than trying to change things for the sake of doing so.

The presentation of the BGRC's work to the Select Board was the first step in a public awareness process about the committee's work and resulting proposed charter. Next up will be a series of information sessions for Town Meeting members ahead of January Town Meeting, where the 126-member legislative body will be asked to adopt the charter. If approved, the charter will go to a town-wide ratification vote.

For more information about the BGRC and the process it followed, visit the BGRC website.

Editor's Notes: Nicci Kadilak, Burlington Buzz's founder and editor-in-chief, is a member of the BGRC and participated in the creation and compilation of the final report.