Burlington Charter Panel Unanimously Renames Ways and Means as Finance Committee

BURLINGTON -- June 23, 2026, Burlington's Charter Review Committee voted unanimously to rename the town's Ways and Means Committee as the Finance Committee, a change that will simplify language throughout the home rule charter being drafted for eventual town meeting approval. The June 23 vote came during a session in which the committee also received high-level results from a town-wide charter survey that drew 1,149 responses, 11 percent of households, far exceeding the 3 to 5 percent projected by consulting firm Collins Center. Chair Sharon Normandin said the result that most surprised her was that roughly 80 percent of respondents supported adding a recall provision to the charter, reversing her earlier read that the topic could be set aside. "I called her back and I said, you better put recall back on," Normandin said, referring to staff attorney Pat. The committee also debated charter language on conflict-of-interest disclosures for town meeting members, vacancy-filling procedures for elected offices, including a working threshold of 200 voter signatures to trigger a special Select Board election, and the structure of the budget process article, with members pushing for a firmer submission deadline for the school committee's budget after this year's version arrived the Friday before a Monday town meeting session.