This story by Liberty Darr was first published in The Citizen on Nov. 20, 2025.
“No hunting” signs posted around Charlotte’s 50-acre Burn’s Meadow have stirred contention between an elected official and volunteer, resulting in the co-chair of the trails committee leaving his post after saying he was “harassed” by a selectboard member earlier this month.
Jack Pilla, co-chair of the trails committee, submitted a written resignation to the selectboard earlier this month and filed a formal complaint this week, saying selectboard member Lewis Mudge “verbally attacked” him after Pilla placed “No Hunting” signs along the perimeter of Burn’s Meadow.
Mudge, in a phone call, denied Pilla’s characterization of the conversation as “harassment,” and said his concern was rooted in the lack of proper procedure taken and the possibility that the new signs would open the town to a legal battle with an upset hunter.
Pilla said he received a phone call in September from someone wondering about hunting on other recreation paths located in the town. He said there’s always been discussion about whether hunting is allowed on town-owned lands that are near the extensive trail network. He often sees people out squirrel hunting, noting that seeing someone sitting up in a tree stand with a .22 while walking the recreation path can be off-putting for some trail users.
“That’s been a question I’ve had for many years and in the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge, there is no hunting there,” he said. “I was on the [Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge] committee years ago, and I actually posted 290 acres of that entire park and not once did I have any negativity from the selectboard. I had some feedback from some of the locals who like to hunt there, but it is what it is.”
Pilla said former town administrator Nate Bareham — who resigned in October — gave him permission to move forward with the state’s procedure of posting the land.
The registration for Burn’s Meadow, located just off Greenbush Road, was submitted, with the town administrator’s signature, to the town clerk’s office on Oct. 13, citing the property’s proximity to the public trail system. “There are regular posted signs that the state wants you to use and that’s exactly what we used,” Pilla said. “And you have to date them, and then there’s a whole procedure of [posting] every 400 feet and it has to be on the perimeter. So, I did that.”
He said roughly 20 signs had been posted, although most, as of Monday, had been taken down, with a few still spotted along the perimeter. While the signs remained unbothered for a few weeks that followed, in November, he was contacted by Mudge. “Within a two-hour period, before I could even talk to him on the phone, he had called and texted and voice mailed me eight times,” Pilla said. “I call that harassment.”
He said after he finally called Mudge back, the conversation — which he said wasn’t really a two-way dialogue — lasted roughly three and a half minutes before he finally had to hang up. “He was just livid and was all over me,” Pilla said. “I couldn’t deal with any more of his yelling at me.”
For Mudge, the issue isn’t just whether there should or should not be hunting on town land. It was ultimately a concern over ensuring proper procedures and public input are being taken and the real possibility of opening the town to extensive legal liability. He learned about the signs from a hunter in town, who said he was prepared to consult a lawyer due to the issue.
And although Pilla went to the town administrator, Mudge says the green light should never have been given in the first place, seeing as a town administrator works under the direction and supervision of the selectboard.
“The signs say that we’re going to prosecute anyone who’s violating these laws,” Mudge said. “With all due respect to Jack, and I’m not saying that facetiously, he can’t post signs saying that the town is going to prosecute people without running that by the selectboard. The town administrator at the time, frankly, made a mistake that should have been raised with the selectboard and it wasn’t.”
Charlotte is not the only Chittenden County town in which committees are discussing how to balance the wide array of users on town-owned forests and land. The approach is, however, different.
The Citizen reported last week that the neighboring town of Hinesburg’s forest committee opted this year to close a large swath of the recreation trails in the Town Forest and the LaPlatte Headwaters Town Forest to all recreation except hunting from Oct. 25 to Dec. 14 in order to encourage the sport as a management tool to prevent over-browsing by deer.
Charlotte selectboard chair and liaison to the trails committee, Lee Krohn, did not comment on the situation or how the selectboard could chart a path forward. But in an email to Pilla following his resignation, both Krohn and Mudge expressed their dismay that Pilla had resigned from the town committee.
“Not happy you are resigning, Jack. You’ve done an admirable job on the trails committee,” Mudge wrote in an email to Pilla. “Sorry things got heated on the call, Jack. It is just that procedures were not followed correctly. I hope you will reconsider your resignation.”
Pilla, in his formal complaint, cited the town’s harassment policy as a violation and, in a separate email, requested that Mudge be removed from his selectboard seat. While his resignation remains as is for now, he did admit that he’s not sure how long he will be able to stay away from the trail work that he’s spent over two years dedicating his time to.
It remains unclear what the status of the posted signs are or how the selectboard will take the issue up. The selectboard and former town administrator have been drafting a new handbook for committees and commissions in town that they’re hoping will more clearly establish general rules of procedure for volunteers, public officers and boards.
But in this case, it may be too little, too late.
“I just don’t need this shit, selectboard members all over me when I am following procedure doing work on the trails,” Pilla wrote. “I’m a volunteer spending way too much time and energy to make a better place for people in this town and I don’t need to be yelled at by Lewis for following procedure.”
