A petition seeking a vote on refugee resettlement in Rutland has met the number of signatures required for the question to appear on the Vermont city's ballot.
City Clerk Henry Heck says his office stopped verifying names after reaching the necessary 5 percent of registered voters. An estimated total of about 1,260 signatures were submitted.
Despite meeting the benchmark for the vote, Mayor Christopher Louras said he's "not inclined at this time to put it on the ballot."
The mayor announced in April that the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program selected Rutland as its new resettlement area. Officials say 100 refugees from Syria and Iraq would begin arriving in October.
A separate petition against the resettlement was unanimously rejected by the Select Board in neighboring Rutland Town earlier this month.
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