Burlington, Vermont’s mayor held a briefing this morning/Wednesday focused on health and safety issues affecting the community.
The city’s Progressive mayor is planning to hold monthly briefings to keep residents aware of how the city is approaching critical issues. Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak began by thanking regional law enforcement agencies for their swift response and resolution of a suspected kidnapping last Thursday.
“Incidents like this ae rare, thankfully, but anytime it happens it can be unsettling for our community and their collective swift response is an example of the strong collaborative work across multiple agencies within our law enforcement,” the mayor said.
The mayor thanked voters for approving bonds and charter changes on Town Meeting Day earlier in the month including one that would prohibit firearms in establishments that serve alcohol. It now goes to the legislature and governor for final approval. She then offered an update on physical improvements at the Burlington Police Department headquarters.
“You can see if you drive by we’ve been doing exterior canopy work on the front of the building. This will likely be finished within about three weeks. Inside the building new flooring is coming in April and other interior improvements will also follow.” Mulvaney-Stanak continued, “Construction on the security fence is beginning in the coming week or two. We’re accelerating that because it is such an important element of keeping our staff safe.”
Two topics dominated the remainder of the briefing.
Governor Phil Scott vetoed the midyear Budget Adjustment Act and legislative leaders have now offered a compromise. Senate Pro-Tem Phil Baruth and House Leader Jill Krowinski, both Democrats, outlined further cuts but ask in exchange that the governor keep people in a hotel-motel program and not end it on April 1st.
Burlington Special Assistant to End Homelessness Sarah Russell says Burlington cannot afford to house those who would be kicked out if funding for the hotel-motel program is cut or eliminated.
“The reason that this is so important especially as it impacts us locally is that we can anticipate around 83 households exited from that program on April 1st if the BAA is not signed. Of those 83 households about 12 of them are families with children,” noted Russell. “Last September we saw this same kind of mass exits from the motels. In response to those exits the city made available campsites at the North Beach campground for families with children, which is absolutely not ideal. We cannot have children, elderly folks, people with disabilities and households fleeing domestic violence or pregnant people living outside in April in Vermont.”
The second focus of the briefing was on the status of the city’s efforts to open the state’s first Overdose Prevention Center. Special Assistant on Overdose Prevention Center Implementation Theresa Vezina began working on the process in December and has selected Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform as the partner provider.
“The next part of this project is going to be the development of the proposal. As part of Act 178 we are required to submit a proposal to Burlington City Council to vote for approval and then pass on to the Vermont Department of Health,” explained Vezina. “At that point we will be able to engage in a formal grant agreement with the state of Vermont, for the Health Department, to access the opioid settlement dollars that were allocated for Fiscal Year ’25. This is a really important milestone for us.”
Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak plans to report on progress towards a new combined Public Health and Safety Building at the next Burlington City Council meeting Monday. She also noted that interim Police Chief Shawn Burke begins work on Monday.
