The Burlington, Vermont City Council will have a plurality of Democrats when its next session begins in April. The current council president is Democrat Karen Paul. She has represented Ward 6 since 2008 and became council president last year. Paul tells WAMC North Country Bureau Chief that controversial ballot questions such as police oversight drew voters to the polls on Town Meeting Day last week, and while the items failed, the council will still work on those issues.
The ballot items were the focus of the debates with the candidates. And, you know, I think the issues of public safety were certainly very important and the candidates that I think were successful, you know, spoke to those and their message resonated with voters.
Karen Paul, you are a Democrat and the Democrats when they get sworn in will have a plurality. How do you expect that will affect the dynamics within the council?
Well, you know, I'd like to think that we are a group of 12 people who all care, and I know, who all care about the city of Burlington. We worked well together last year when there were four of us, and then there were, you know, then there were five of us, in terms of Democrats on the city council. The difference, you know, that will happen this year, of course, is that there's more of us, and the sheer number to some degree will change committee makeup and a lot of work does get done in committees. And, you know, I think there will be a little bit of a shift in priorities and the ability to pass some things. Although I am always looking for ways that we can agree much, much more often than we disagree and we managed to do that last year. That was really my mission when I became council president is that we were going to lower the rancor, lower the combativeness, lower just the tone at council meetings. And I can't do that alone. I needed everyone. I needed our Progressive colleagues to join me in doing that and we managed to do that. And I'm grateful for that. I think the public is grateful for that. And we will continue to do that in the next year.
You mentioned that the change in the composition of the council with the Democrats having the plurality could mean a shift in priorities. What do you expect the focus of the council will be moving Forward regarding those priorities?
Well, you know of course it's always hard Pat to predict in advance what will come before us. But, I mean, like, for example one thing that I had said I would do when I was at the February 28th Police Commission meeting is that whether the ballot item passed or it didn't pass, that the first order of business for me would be reaching out to the chairs of the charter change and ordinance committee to start the process of holding joint meetings, getting stakeholder and community groups involved, and seeking public input on police oversight. Because even if ballot item seven had passed, there was going to be a fairly significant lag time between a charter change passing with the voters and a charter change coming back to us from Montpelier. I mean, it could have taken two years for that to happen and in the meantime police oversight doesn't go away. We need to address it even if we can only address it by ordinance which would have been the case. So we are moving forward with that. I have been in touch with both chairs and we are ready to get started. There'll be a little bit of an odd situation because of course committees will change, but I am going to work in earnest to make sure that there's very little, you know it’s not in the change in committees, but that there is very little lag in between the end of March and the beginning of April, so that we can continue in earnest moving forward on this because we passed a resolution that said that we would we would be coming back with a report in June, and no time like the present to get started. I think ballot item seven, the results of that while it was overwhelmingly defeated, I don't think that that is a referendum on us not needing further police oversight. I think that was a vote on the ballot item itself and not on the overall need for greater police oversight. But it is hard to predict in advance I think public safety, infrastructure, and as well housing. We need to move forward on figuring out how to make the challenge with the University (of Vermont) and the Trinity campus move forward. And that will also be I think, honestly, a major priority as well going into April.
Karen, how will the new council having a plurality of Democrats now change that dynamic between the council and the mayor's office?
Well, I don't know that it will. I mean when I became council president last year, I assured the progressives that they would know the information that I knew. I do meet with the mayor, usually on the Tuesday before a Monday council meeting. We go over the agenda. We talk about mostly agenda items and if there's items that are coming in the next meeting or two, we sort of try to get a head start on that. I try very hard to leave those meetings and alert, particularly the Progressives as well as Independents of what we discussed, so that they effectively know what I know. I mean, I'm not perfect. I've made mistakes. You know, there are times where I haven't been as quick to do that. But I have tried very hard particularly with important issues. And I don't see that changing. The numbers are different, yes. But I value the input of all 12 of us and I want them to have the same information that I have. So I don't see that changing.
Karen Paul, there are still meetings with the current composition of city councilors. Do you know if there's any items that need to or if any departing councilors may want to resolve before it changes?
Not that I'm aware of. There will be a couple of things I think that probably will come before the council at the last meeting. You know, it's sort of funny, I was actually remembering a number of meetings that have happened the very last week in March, and it seems like there's always something or a few somethings that come at the very last meeting, and maybe there will be. I'm not aware of them at least not yet. And the other thing also, that's sort of an odd dynamic is we meet on the third of April, but then there's always a little bit of a lag. And it takes us another meeting to sort of get up and running. And, you know, I'm sort of determined by trying to work on things now that we don't lose that time. I think the community wants us to move forward with the issues that are incredibly important and not, you know, not lose time.
Well, Karen, from the sounds of it, you are planning to be city council president again.
I'm certainly hopeful. But I'm hopeful that we will move forward unanimously. And we did that last year despite the fact that there were four Democrats on the city council and we moved forward with a unanimous vote. I was grateful for that. I worked hard to find that common ground and I will continue to do that. No matter what the numbers are, I am committed to a collaborative body. And we'll be working with the Progressives and Independents to see that that happens this year as well.
The new council will be sworn in during the Burlington City Council’s organization day on April 3rd and will choose the city council president for the term.
