BURLINGTON BOARD OF CIVIL AUTHORITY

REMOTE MEETING WITH CALL-IN

BURLINGTON, VERMONT

MINUTES OF MEETING

February 7, 2022

 

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:     Karen Paul

Max Tracy

Chip Mason

Joan Shannon

Ali Dieng

Jack Hanson

Perri Freeman

Jane Stromberg

Sarah E Carpenter

Zoraya Hightower

Mark Barlow

Joe Magee

Miro Weinberger

 

 

OTHERS PRESENT:                       Dan Richardson

                                       Katherine Schad

 

____________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

1. CALL TO ORDER and AGENDA

 

Mayor Weinberger called the meeting to order at 8:21 PM.

 

1.01 Motion to amend/adopt agenda

 

MOTION by Councilor Hightower, SECOND by Councilor Mason, to adopt the agenda.

 

VOTING: unanimous; motion carries.

 

2. CONSENT AGENDA 

2.01 motion to adopt the consent agenda and take the actions as indicated

2.02 Communication: Robert Bristow-Johnson, re: 2022 Vermont House Redistricting within Burlington - waive the reading, accept the communication and place it on file.

 

MOTION by Councilor Hightower, SECOND by Councilor Hanson, to adopt the consent agenda and take the actions as indicated for items 2.01-2.02.

 

VOTING: unanimous; motion carries.

 

3. DELIBERATIVE AGENDA

3.01 Presentation regarding State Reapportionment Maps. City Attorney will walk BCA through the Proposed 12-member Chittenden 6 House district subdivisions and the proposed map boundaries in anticipation of the February 15th deadline to report to the House Government Operations Committee.

City Attorney Richardson said that the current issue is about the state reapportionment for the House. He said that the legislature has asked each Board of Civil Authority to weigh in on the proposed maps. He said that normally, Boards of Civil Authority would have until April to give feedback, but under the House bill that governs this process, the City is required to give feedback by February 15^th (due to State ballot requirements for the August primary). He displayed the proposed map, which show the new proposed districts that pertain to Burlington. He said that the legislature had previously proposed single-member districts, but has changed that and proposed a mix of two-member and one-member districts. He noted that the City would have 12 members in its districts. He said that the BCA must determine whether it is comfortable with these proposals, and whether it is comfortable with the district boundaries as proposed.

 

Mayor Weinberger noted that they will convene a subsequent meeting of the Board of Civil Authority to discuss further.

 

3.02 Deliberation on Proposed Subdivisions for the Chittenden-6 House District and proposed boundaries.

 

Councilor Mason asked why some districts have two representatives and some districts have one representative, and asked what is happening throughout the State. City Attorney Richardson said that the State has largely abandoned converting all districts to single-member districts, but noted that if a district was previously single-member, then it would remain so.

 

Councilor Carpenter expressed concern that the City is being pushed toward the February 15 deadline and recommended proceeding cautiously and carefully. She said that the Board could postpone making a decision tonight and have further discussion prior to issuing a recommendation to the House Government Operations Committee. Councilor Hightower, Councilor Freeman, and Councilor Magee agreed.

 

Councilor Hanson said he preferred the previous one-member districts rather than a mixture of one-and-two member districts, saying that they are more representative.

 

City Council President Tracy expressed support for single-member districts. Councilor Stromberg agreed.

 

MOTION by Councilor Hanson, SECOND by City Council President Tracy, that the BCA reject the proposed subdivision of Chittenden-6 as represented by the LAB Alternate Metro Map dated January 20, 2022, and instructs the City Clerk to deliver feedback to the House Committee on Government Operations consistent with the BCA’s preference for ten single-member districts or five two-member districts.

 

MOTION TO AMEND by Councilor Barlow, SECOND by Councilor Shannon, to amend the motion to state that the BCA would reject the proposed LAB alternative and would support even-numbered representative districts for the City of Burlington.

 

AMENDMENT WITHDRAWN.

 

VOTING ON ORIGINAL MOTION: unanimous; motion carries.

 

 

 

4.0 ADJOURNMENT

4.01 Motion to Adjourn

 

The meeting was adjourned without objection at 9:19 PM.