Burlington Town Meeting approves hybrid meeting Home Rule Petition after lengthy amendment debate

BURLINGTON -- May 19, 2025, Burlington Town Meeting approved a Home Rule Petition for hybrid meetings and launched a two-year electronic voting study at its May 19 session. After nearly an hour of procedural maneuvering and three failed amendment attempts, Town Meeting passed Article 32, the hybrid meeting Home Rule Petition, using language proposed by John Eiler of Precinct 6 that mirrors the town's September 2024 bylaw, which caps remote attendance at 15 members and specifies a "video conferencing platform." Rules Committee Chair Adam Sinesi voted against the General Bylaw Review Committee's original amendment, saying that removing the 15-member cap represented a change in "the rules of the game" without adequate prior consultation. Town Meeting also voted to create a new 24-month ad hoc Electronic Voting System Implementation Committee over a 0-6-1 Rules Committee recommendation against it, with member Michelle Untoon arguing the vote was simply authorization for volunteers to research costs and feasibility. A floodplain zoning bylaw update required to keep Burlington in the National Flood Insurance Program passed 64-17, clearing the required two-thirds threshold with a July 8 FEMA deadline approaching.