Town Meeting Approves State Companion to Local Remote Access Bylaw

Burlington's Town Meeting is over, but not without considerable debate. What seemed at a glance like it might be a quick night ended up lasting just over two hours, as the town's legislative body deliberated on the four remaining articles from this May's Warrant.

The financial articles behind them and the final article on the Warrant withdrawn, Town Meeting Members tackled three general bylaw articles and a single zoning bylaw article, starting with Article 31 to add the possibility of two non-voting associate commissioners to the Conservation Commission. Conservation Administrator, Eileen Coleman, explained that the Commission has had non-voting members at various times and this bylaw would just make that official. This motion passed with little discussion.

Next up was Article 32, which was all about offering remote access to Town Meeting, an authorization that passed Town Meeting in September of 2024 and became a part of the town's bylaws. Since the state does not allow remote access to Town Meetings, though, in order to allow this hybrid Town Meeting format, the town has to both pass its own bylaw and ask for permission from the state via a home rule petition. The bylaw portion is already in effect, and the article before Town Meeting was to send the home rule petition to the state. A home rule was voted down back in September because it reached farther than the bylaw, and farther than many Town Meeting Members thought it was wise to go, by including all committees, boards, and commissions in the requirement to allow remote access.

This home rule petition was much more narrow, but there was still debate on how specific or broad the language should be. The General Bylaw Review Committee, who proposed the Article to begin with, proposed an amendment that would, among other things, remove the 15-member maximum for remote attendees. That amendment, along with two others, was voted down, but an amendment to clean up the language did pass, as did the home rule petition itself after more than an hour of debate.

The petition will now go to the state legislature with comments from the Attorney General. There is one such home rule on the books already for the town of Plymouth, said the town's attorney, Lisa Mead, and more legislation in the works from the town of Lexington.

Article 33, which sought to establish a new ad hoc committee to investigate the use of electronic voting methods for Town Meeting, also passed. If this seems like déjà vu, that's because an ad hoc electronic voting committee was already established back in September. But, said the General Bylaw Review Committee, that ad hoc committee didn't have enough time to thoroughly investigate all the different options – and one of their recommendations was to create a longer-standing joint committee. This committee would be made up of volunteers and at no cost to the town.

The final article on the Warrant, Article 34, was to amend the town's floodplain bylaw. The amendment was mostly housekeeping involving updating some addresses and the date of release of the floodplain maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This one passed narrowly, with a 64-26 vote.

Town Meeting is now adjourned until September, when a new warrant with fewer financial (and fewer overall) articles will be brought forth for the town's lawmaking body to vote on.

This year’s Annual Town Meeting will begin on Monday, May 12, at 7:00 PM and will continue on Wednesday and Monday evenings until the entire Warrant has been reviewed. Click here for our full Warrant Summary. Stay tuned to the Buzz for summaries of the articles in the Town Meeting Warrant and how Town Meeting votes on each.