Town Meeting has More Open Seats Than Candidates

There are still some open seats for Town Meeting and the deadlines to pull and return papers are fast approaching.

Town Clerk Amy Warfield said there are currently more Town Meeting seats than candidates in four of the town's seven precincts:

• Precinct 2 currently has three three-year seats and one two-year seat without a candidate.
• Precinct 5 has three seats, a three-year, a two-year, and a one-year, without candidates.
• Precinct 6 has two three-years seats without a candidate.
• The new Precinct 7, which was formed this year in response to a population increase reflected in the 2010 U.S. Census, has four seats without a candidate.

Because Precinct 7 is new, some current Town Meeting members who were moved into this precinct will be running as incumbents. However, everyone will be vying for the seats of varying term lengths.

"The way Precinct 7 will work is that the top six vote-getters will get 3-year positions, the next six will get the two-year positions and the lower vote-getters will be sat in the one-year positions," Warfield explained.

Anyone interested in running for a Town Meeting position, or any other competing position, must pull papers by Thursday, Feb. 23 and have them returned with the proper signatures by Monday, Feb. 27, in order to get on the ballot. Papers can be pulled at the Town Clerk's office in Town Hall. The Town election is April 14 at the Burlington High School Gym.

Warfield added that if someone misses the deadline, they can do a write-in or sticker campaign. If Town Meeting convenes and there are still open seats, she said, it is then possible for members of a precinct to elect and appoint a member in session. Though legal, Warfield said this last process kind of undercuts the voters.

"The real problem is that we have this wonderful system now with the town election to get people involved," she said. "This makes it more fair for voters to get on ballot to be seated by the traditional channels."

Filling the seats is important to ensure fair representation, Warfield said, explaining that she has been trying to get residents interested in running to ensure that the town is fully represented at Town Meeting.

"The problem with having open seats is your section of town is underrepresented," she said. "If something is going on, you don’t have the same representation of other precincts. Town Meeting is the legislative branch of town government. Members are responsible for the operation of the town, the budget, bylaw changes, zoning changes and the capital budget. Any money spent or new laws adopted by the town is approved by Town Meeting. It is important that all sections of towns have equal representation on these issues."

The other issue with having open seats is the quorum requirement. Under Burlington's laws, in order for Town Meeting to take convene and take action, fifty percent of the members must be in attendance. This number, however, is based on the total number of open seats, not the number of current members. With Precinct 7, there are now 126 open seats, requiring that 63 members be in attendance in order for Town Meeting to convene. If there are open seats, this quorum requirement will be harder to hit.

"As we saw in the January Town Meeting," Warfield said, "on the second day we had to wait for members to arrive because we were below quorum."

Finally, Warfield acknowledged that one of the reasons some residents who are interested in getting involved may hesitate is an experience or knowledge gap. The issues voted on by Town Meeting, especially bylaw or zoning changes, can sometimes be complicated and this might cause some fear among potential candidates. Warfield said there are many ways for members to educate themselves and get caught up on the warrant items.

"It is a good question for people to ask; it shows they want to be educated about it," she said. "They could download copies of zoning bylaws or they could review past public meetings to see what they will have to vote on. There are many different board meetings and public information meetings to find out about specific articles."

Finally, with the creation of the new precinct, the map of the different sections of town has changed. See the map (not final draft) on the right to see which precinct you are now in or visit http://burlington.org/clerk/index.html and "Verify that You're at Voter". This will tell you if your are registered and which precinct is yours.