Among the items on the Burlington, Vermont City Council’s agenda last night was confirmation of the mayor’s department head appointments. Of the 19 department heads, one garnered debate – whether to approve reappointment of the police chief.
Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, a Progressive, offered a slate of nominees to head departments across the city. Most served in the previous administration and the annual appointments include the city’s Chief Administrative Officer, Burlington Electric General Manager, Fire and Police Chiefs.
“I worked diligently over the last two months, which is a short timeline, to get to know these individuals, to understand their past service to the city, their goals, their professionalism to help us lead this city forward. And I’ve really appreciated how much work they’ve all put in to major challenges such as closing the $13.1 million budget gap. And I’ve also been really impressed with folk’s creativity, their willingness to do a transition with a new administration, their commitment to the city.”
The intention was to vote on all of the mayoral appointees as a slate. Central District Progressive Melo Grant, a frequent critic of Police Chief Jon Murad, moved to divide the appointment for separate consideration.
“Because our city is in such a time of crisis I do not support this appointment. We have seen disqualifying behavior. Retention continues to be a serious issue. We are no better off this time this year than we were last year. We are not policed in an equitable way. That continues to be a very serious problem to me.”
Several councilors pushed back on Grant’s claim that Murad is the cause of lack of retention and other department problems. South District Democrat Joan Shannon pointed out that Chief Murad stayed with the department despite a council mandate several years ago that led to officer reductions.
“He accurately predicted what would happen. The Chief has the support of his officers which is absolutely essential. He is the glue that is holding this department together. And I understand that you may have some legitimate concerns. You may think that things should be done differently. But if we’re going to think about why is it hard to recruit officers in Burlington and why do they sometimes go to other departments in the area, I think you should rewind the tape on these meetings.”
North District Independent Mark Barlow reinforced Shannon’s points.
“We don’t have to look any further than this body if we want to know why we have a recruitment and a retention problem at Burlington Police Department. It’s these kinds of conversations I think that chill any perspective new employee of BPD from wanting to come to work for us. We need to support the department as a body and we need to reappoint Chief Murad because he supports them.”
Ward 8 Progressive Marek Broderick said his constituents do not trust the public safety system in the city and feels a change is needed.
“Whatever the reason that fundamental mistrust in our institutions will remain and in my opinion the only way to start rebuilding that trust as we plan to rebuild our public safety infrastructure is a change in leadership.”
Councilors approved the reappointment of Murad on an 8 to 3 vote. They then approved the remaining slate of department head appointments on a unanimous vote.
