Burlington Select Board Backs Six Town Meeting Warrant Articles in 5-0 Vote

BURLINGTON — January 12, 2026 — Burlington Select Board backs six January Town Meeting warrant articles and hires a new firefighter paramedic. The board voted 5-0 Monday to support articles covering the water stabilization fund, a $100,000 Ways and Means Reserve Fund replenishment, roughly $42,000 in ride-share surcharge revenue for the senior center's Lyft program, a roughly $20,000 Government Review Committee community survey, a $250,000 reallocation of state funds to the Overlook Park project, and a 1960s sewer easement release. Two articles — disposition of a small town-owned parcel on Polk Street and a bylaw cooling-off period expansion — passed 4-1. The board also voted 5-0 to appoint Greg Richardson, a Sudbury firefighter-paramedic, to the Burlington Fire Department effective January 13 and reauthorized a $50,000 sensory trailer purchase request for Town Meeting, with the Disability Access Commission pledging half the cost from handicap parking fine proceeds. Member Sarah Cawley used her board time to condemn federal ICE enforcement tactics, citing recent delivery of more than 20 unmarked vehicles to Burlington's ICE processing facility and calling for accountability: "Brutality is not enforcement."