Burlington voters will now officially have the opportunity to vote on two contentious charter change proposals come Town Meeting Day.
The Burlington City Council approved both charter change proposals at its Monday night meeting. One would establish a police oversight board with investigatory and disciplinary power; the second would protect tenants from eviction without justification.
Both charter change proposals have drawn extensive debate and concern from community members and council members alike over the past few months. If they’re approved by voters on Town Meeting Day, March 2, they then have to gain approval from the Legislature, and then from the governor.
The council dedicated last week’s meeting entirely to public comment about the charter changes because it had received so much interest from community members. Almost all of the more than 100 people who called in spoke in support of the charter change that would establish an Independent Community Control Board in lieu of the current citizen oversight Police Commission, which currently serves as an advisory board.
Under the charter change, the new board would have the power to investigate complaints against police and dole out discipline. The seven-member board would also have the power to review or overrule any disciplinary decisions the chief of police or the department makes.
It would also have the power to hold hearings, issue subpoenas, access records or other evidence to aid an investigation, and hire an investigator to direct the body’s work.
The charter change passed the council 5-7, with Councilors Karen Paul, D-Ward 6, Chip Mason, D-Ward 5, Joan Shannon, D-South District, Franklin Paulino, D-North District, and Sarah Carpenter, D-Ward 4, voting against.
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger submitted a counterproposal to this charter change before last week’s meeting. In Weinberger’s proposal, the charter change wouldn’t create an alternative to the current Police Commission structure. Rather, it would give the commission power to review complaints against officers brought to the chief of police, but not to unilaterally override the chief’s final decision about a complaint. The commission would instead be able to appeal a chief’s decision to Vermont Superior Court.
At Monday night’s meeting, Weinberger spoke against the charter change proposal. While he said he wants to “root systemic racism out of law enforcement,” he said this charter change proposal would exacerbate tensions between the council and the police department, and disillusion officers from joining the force.
The city was informed last week that the department will likely have to forgo staffing the midnight shift, as more and more officers leave the force and the department is unable to hire replacements.
“Our ability to secure a top-tier chief to lead the department through the transformations that are necessary will be dramatically, negatively impacted by the current language which would grant the new board many causes under which they could remove the chief,” Weinberger said.
“The current proposal will continue to put decisions about officer discipline fully in the hands of a board with no requirements for professional qualifications or mandate that they will hew to predictable standards,” he added. “Who among us would be willing to pursue a career under such uncertainty?”
Shannon expressed concerns that the council didn’t spend enough time investigating different models of police oversight boards before this proposal was created.
She also raised concerns that the city doesn’t know what kind of a budget this expanded board would require and that no analysis has been done on what kind of complaints the board, made up of people with no required training, would respond to.
“We don’t have any evidence that this is right-sized to Burlington,” Shannon said. “We haven’t consulted people who have a lot of experience in criminal investigations.”
Throughout her statement, Shannon was inundated with phone calls from an apparent protester, causing her comments to be interrupted as her ringer was unable to be disconnected from her computer, despite her phone being on silent.
“The interruptions to my speaking are members of the public who were trying to silence me on this issue. And that’s why you hear my phone ringing right now,” Shannon explained. “And that is not respectful of public engagement or reaching consensus or having different voices on the table.”
City Council President Max Tracy said that what the callers were doing was “inappropriate” and requested that they stop interrupting the council’s meeting.
The passage of charter change also follows critiques provided by the current Police Commission, laid out in a document provided to councilors. The body expressed concern that the current Police Commission’s structure, and the progress the body has made, would be lost if this new board were to be formed. It also noted that the investigatory model being proposed is largely only used by big cities with many complaints to investigate.
Councilor Zoraya Hightower, P-Ward 1, said the model before the councilors “probably” isn’t perfect and that she expects it will be amended in the future. But she said it provides accountability the community wants and needs now.
“I think it’s the time to do something,” Hightower said. “And I understand that makes a lot of folks uncomfortable. But I think in general, when you make the move toward addressing an injustice in society, whether that’s racial justice, gender justice, it makes folks uncomfortable.”
Councilor Perri Freeman, P-Central District, was the lead architect of the charter change proposal. Freeman, who uses they/them pronouns, pushed back on the assertion that a city of Burlington’s size doesn’t need an investigatory police oversight body. They said this structure aims to shift the city’s culture around police oversight.
“There are a lot of models that don’t necessarily have this level of authority,” Freeman said. “And that is what has made them, unfortunately, ineffective.”
Eviction protection
The “just cause” charter change would ensure that tenants could only be evicted from their rentals if the lease agreement is broken, rent is not paid, state rental laws are broken or if a “written, reasonable, good faith” lease renewal is not accepted. Currently under Vermont state law, tenants can be evicted without reason.
The charter change exempts sublets, owner-occupied duplexes and triplexes, units that need substantial renovations or units that are being taken off the rental market. The proposal passed 10-2, with Shannon and Mason voting against.
Before the charter change proposal was passed by the council, Mason attempted but failed to amend it to allow the termination of a lease when the rental agreement period ends. He had raised concerns that landlords who rent to students on a cyclical basis determined by the school year aren’t guaranteed the exit of a tenant under this charter change, which could cause problems because they often secure leases months in advance.
“Most of our rentals are on the academic students cycle,” Mason said “And the consequences of not being able to get out at the end of that are fairly expensive.”
Shannon expressed concerns that this charter change proposal would allow tenants who cause problems, but haven’t been proven guilty of a crime, to stay in their rentals.
“If I have a tenant who is harassing another tenant, or doing things that are hard to prove or legal, such as displaying Confederate or Nazi symbols, hate speech, lewd comments in ways that are offensive or threatening to other tenants, will I be able to get them out?” Shannon said. “I think the answer is no.”
Councilor Brian Pine, P-Ward 3, pushed back on their concerns. He said this charter change attempts to level the playing field between renters and landlords.
“We are taking away some rights and guess what, there are times when the rights of those who have very little power need to be bolstered,” Pine said. “We’re bolstering the rights of those who don’t have a well in the market because they don’t own property.”
Other charter changes
The City Council also unanimously approved a charter change proposal that would increase the size of the Airport Commission from five members to seven. It would allow the city of Winooski to appoint one legal voter from the city to the body, which oversees the Burlington International Airport.
It also passed a charter change proposal 10-2 that would allow the city to regulate thermal energy systems in commercial and residential buildings in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the city, with Councilors Ali Dieng, I-Ward 7, and Franklin Paulino, D-North, voting against. This would allow the city to assess buildings’ carbon impact or request payments for that carbon.
An amendment added to the proposal clarifies that the charter change would not enable the city to charge residents for their carbon usage. That policy would need to be authorized by a citywide vote. The charter change would allow the city to enact this policy, if voter approved.
Further meetings about the charter change proposal will be held in January where the public can continue to provide their input before the questions are finalized for the March ballot.
At the end of the meeting, City Council President Max Tracy condemned acts of vandalism that had occurred at two Democratic councilors homes over the weekend. According to reporting by WCAX, a red tombstone with the words “Here lies progress” were spray painted at the councilors’ homes.
“That is completely unacceptable,” Tracy said. “It’s not the way that I want folks to engage with city councilors. I want councilors to have their privacy respected.”
