BARRE — In the wake of a months-long debate over whether to raise the Black Lives Matter flag in City Hall Park, voters approved a charter change on Tuesday’s town meeting ballot that would prohibit non-official flags from flying on city property in the future.
Two candidates for City Council who were dogged by controversy, after one made transphobic comments and another denied the existence of systemic racism, came up short as three progressive candidates claimed victory.
The flag item won by a wide margin: 984 residents voted to approve and 492 to reject the charter change, according to unofficial results provided Tuesday by City Clerk Carol Dawes. The measure proposes that only the Barre City, Vermont, U.S. and POW/MIA flags fly on city property.
The result is a blow to the possibility that the BLM flag will fly in City Hall Park again after it was first hoisted last December. City Councilor Ericka Riel, who led the initial effort to raise the BLM flag last spring, said she found the change to the city’s charter unnecessary.
“I’m upset about that,” Riel said of the result, “just because I think we didn’t need a charter change. We just needed a policy around how flags could be displayed.”
Councilor Michael Boutin proposed the flag article as a way to get the city past the flag debate. The prohibition on special flags flying on city property is the best way to move the city forward, he told VTDigger last week.
Boutin did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday evening.
Some who threw support behind the initial push to raise the BLM flag acknowledged that the city may be ready to move on from the debate, as reflected in the wide victory margin for the charter change.
“I think a lot of us are ready to put this conversation behind us and move forward on some good policy,” said Teddy Waszazak, a progressive Ward 2 Councilor who won re-election on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s turnout, aided by the Vermont Legislature’s expansion of mail-in voting amid the pandemic, appeared to set a record in Barre City. More than 1,400 people cast ballots, compared to around 900 in a typical year.
The question of whether to raise the flag on city property began amid the nationwide push for racial justice last spring, yielding an unusual compromise. Barre raised the BLM flag in City Hall Park for the month of December, and hoisted the “thin blue line” flag — a pro-police banner commonly used as a counter to racial justice advocacy — the following month.
The debate over which flag to fly has prompted contentious discussions about systemic racism in this central Vermont city. It has led some residents of color to speak out about the animosity they have faced in the mostly white area. Some white residents have insisted that systemic racism doesn’t exist there at all.
In the weeks ahead of Tuesday’s vote, discussions over the flags became intertwined with controversies surrounding the two City Council candidates.
Brian Judd, a political newcomer running for a council seat in Barre’s Ward 2, lost to Waszazak, the only incumbent councilor on the ballot, 209 to 247.
Judd has drawn criticism from racial justice advocates for denying the existence of systemic racism. He has mostly directed that denial toward Marichel Vaught, an Asian-American member of Barre’s diversity and equity committee, who has spoken up about prejudice she has faced in the city.
“I don’t see it,” Judd said, writing on his Facebook page in November. “I’m out in this city every day and every night. I don’t see white people fighting with minorities. I don’t see white people calling minorities offensive names.”
Judd declined to comment when reached by VTDigger Tuesday evening.
A longtime California resident who was born in Barre and moved back in 2019, Judd made clear through social media posts that he was a staunch opponent of raising the BLM flag in front of City Hall.
In contrast, Waszazak, a self-described progressive who worked for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign, positioned himself as an ally to people of color and racial justice advocates ahead of Tuesday’s race. His victory, and the fact that two progressives won races in the other two wards, makes this year’s Council “a very different council from the last one,” he said Tuesday.
“We have a reputation as a conservative town here in Barre,” Waszazak said. “Now we have a progressive majority on the City Council.”
In Ward 1, Council candidate Tim Boltin had also run a campaign dogged by controversy for comments he made in a January school board meeting that some residents decried as transphobic.
Boltin lost his race to Emel Cambel, 330 to 247. Neither Cambel nor Boltin could be reached for comment Tuesday evening. In Ward 3, progressive Samn Stockwell beat longtime resident Sherry Prindall, 224-144.
That sets the council up to be the first with three women. “This is what Barre really needs,” Riel said. “I don’t know that three women have ever been on council before. I’m really excited for that, and for the new ideas that can be brought along with that.”
With five progressives set to preside on the City Council, Vaught said councilors and residents alike need to make a commitment to hearing others’ perspectives going forward.
“I think we need to continue to listen to people’s experiences, background and to stop saying ‘I know what it should be like here.’ We need to stop with the nativism talk, because we’re living in different times,” said Vaught. “We need to work together with what we have now.”
