Updated 6:01 p.m.
Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak will reappoint Jon Murad as police chief for a yearlong term, according to a memo sent to city councilors on Thursday.
Murad is one of more than a dozen department heads that the newly-elected mayor will keep in their positions for a one-year reappointment. The police chief’s reappointment, first reported by Seven Days, puts an end to speculation that the Progressive mayor would move forward without the controversial police chief.
Mulvaney-Stanak was not immediately available for questions on Murad’s reappointment, but in an emailed statement said, “Continuity of leadership is important, and I will establish clear goals and expectations with all department heads over the course of the next year related to our priorities as a city.”
“I will be working closely with Chief Murad to improve the police department’s relationships with vital community partners to move in a more collaborative direction,” she added. “Our city faces serious challenges and opportunities over the next year, and it will require deep collaboration, creativity and problem-solving across departments.”
Murad, in a statement, said he was “tremendously privileged to continue serving my neighbors here in Burlington and to keep working with the men and women of the (Burlington Police Department).”
“And I’m very grateful to the mayor for the opportunity to be part of the reflective, collaborative administration she has put together to take the city forward,” he added.
Murad has been a controversial figure in Burlington over the past several years, particularly among the city’s Progressive wing. Murad was first named acting chief in June 2020, and was confirmed as the city’s permanent chief by the council and former Mayor Miro Weinberger in June 2023, though not without some resistance from progressives on the council.
His confirmation was approved by an 8-4 vote by the city council at the time, with two current councilors — Gene Bergman and Melo Grant — voting no. Former Ward 1 councilor Zoraya Hightower also voted no, as well as Joe Magee, the former Ward 3 councilor who now works as Mulvaney-Stanak’s spokesperson.
It was Murad’s second attempt to win the council’s nomination. In February 2022, Murad’s promotion to the role was blocked by the council in a 6-6 vote.
Murad will have to be confirmed by the council during its upcoming meeting on June 3.
City Councilor Melo Grant, P-Central, in an interview with VTDigger, said she would be voting no on Murad’s appointment, adding that while she was “disappointed” in the mayor’s decision, she was “not surprised,” given how early the mayor is in her tenure.
“To come in after only 60 days, it would be a big thing to fire him,” Grant said, adding that she had not expected that to happen. ”I would have preferred he be made acting again.”
“(But) what I have said over and over again in many open meetings, and in many interviews, still stands — there are known issues, these issues need to be addressed, there needs to be a plan put in place and there needs to be someway to track the goals of that plan and set him up for success.”
She added that because the appointment is being submitted within the slate of appointees, Grant said voting no on the slate is her “only option to protest publicly.”
“I’ll just make it clear that I support the other directors,” she said.
During her swearing in ceremony in April, Mulvaney-Stank said that she and Murad were “still learning about each other.”
“He has a lot of learning to do about me. I have a lot of learning to figure out about how he chooses to lead,” she said at the time.
Mulvaney-Stanak, in her first two months on the job, has been wrangling with a projected $13 million budget gap for fiscal year 2025, and has said she will keep some positions in the city vacant to generate cost-savings — including the head of the city’s Racial Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Office.
The former director of that office, Kim Carson, resigned in early May. The city’s human resources director, Kerin Durfee, has since served as the office’s interim director. Mulvaney-Stanak in her memo said she will name a new interim director of the office sometime in fiscal year 2025 “as we re-envision the goals and structure of the office.”
The mayor’s budget sets aside money for hiring 10 more police officers — a number Mulvaney-Stanak has said was provided by the department “that reflects their best estimate on the number of officers they can actually hire” in the upcoming year.
This story was updated to reflect new comments provided by Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, as well as comments from City Councilor Melo Grant, P-Central.
