Daily Buzz | Should Burlington's Town Government Be Restructured?

Also, Stress and Coping Strategies parent breakfast this morning

Dec 14, 2022

Long waits at the stop light at the Center means plenty of time for snowy gazebo photos. Photo by author.

Hello, Burlington!

I mentioned yesterday I was going to go more in-depth in the structure and history of Burlington’s government, and it made sense to go back to my roots and create a story for the Local Government section. I’m going to keep the rest of the Buzz short, because I really think it’s an interesting and essential read. So, please! Click below and read. And then come back and see what’s going on in town today.

Burlington Buzz

Burlington Town Government Structure: Not Set in Stone

Previously we talked about why Burlington is a town rather than a city, and what exactly the Town Meeting form of government is and does. Town Meeting is unique to new England, and Representative Town Meeting (where people are elected to represent their precincts, rather than any resident being able t…

6 months ago · Nicci Kadilak

Meetings and Events

9:00 AM - "Stress & Coping Strategies" Parents' Breakfast in the BHS Counseling Conference room
6:00 PM - Recreation Commission will talk about using some reserve funds for the Gym floor, as well as the appointment of a program coordinator.
6:30 PM - Zoning Bylaw Review Committee will discuss the warrant article proposed by the Select Board to install an electronic sign at the corner of the Town Common, as well as discussing the definition and regulations of accessory use. (Join online)

Sports and Events

Score Update

Our Varsity Boys’ Basketball team won to Winchester 54-41 in their first regular season game, while the girls lost 56-43.

Today’s Schedule

Our Varsity Hockey teams are in Winchester today, with girls playing at 5 and boys at 7. Wrestling is on the docket, as well, with the Malden Catholic coming to face ours at 7.

That’s all for today. If you haven’t yet, please scroll back up and click the link to read about the structure of Burlington’s government and the potential for opportunities to grow. These government profiles are how the Buzz got started, and one of our main missions is to keep people informed and involved. We’re going to start talking about elections (not politics) soon, and the more we all know about the way our government works, the better!

Nicci

4 Comments

RM Cerv

Dec 14, 2022Liked by Nicci Kadilak

The link to the pros and cons of Mass. Municipal government types didn’t open.

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1 reply by Nicci Kadilak

Bruce Frederick

Nicci, I hate to be a spelling/typo cop, but there's a pretty bad error in the info attributed to Mike Runyan:

"According to Select Board Member Mike Runyan, they found a lot of duplicity in what different committees and positions were responsible for."

I think (I HOPE) you meant "duplication of effort". Although I'm always happy to be skeptical of anything related to government, I doubt that they found that Burlington committees and positions were suffering from widespread deceitfulness and dishonesty.

Otherwise, thanks for reposting the article. There's some good info in there.

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