The Burlington City Council began the process of redistricting with the formation of a Redistricting Committee, which was composed of 4 City Councilors and the Mayor. This committee met from August 27, 2012 through January 8, 2013, at which date it recommended that the City Council expand the committee's membership to include citizen members. The Council expanded the committee to 14 members, two from each existing ward, plus one alternate per ward.
The reconstituted Redistricting Committee met from April 8, 2013 through June 4, 2013, at which date it deadlocked attempting to choose one plan out of three finalists to recommend to the City Council. The committee then voted to send all three finalists to the Council for their consideration. The three final plans were:
The Council deliberated extensively, focusing on 8 Ward 4 District hybrid configurations, where the 8 wards were paired into 4 districts. Each ward and each district would elect a single City Councilor each, resulting in an 12 member Council. The 8-Ward 4-District plan chosen to put before the voters presented relatively little change in current ward boundaries, except for the addition of Ward 8.
This plan was approved by the voters on March 4, 2014, with 62% in favor, passing in all 7 wards. The State legislature made a few technical changes but the fundamentals of the plan were unaltered. Governor Schumlin signed the City's Charter changes into law on May 14, 2014, and the new ward plan went into effect on Town Meeting Day, March 3, 2015. The full transition to this plan will be complete in 2018.
Note: This summary does not include technical changes to the Charter. The full text of Charter changes is in the City of Burlington Municipal Charter The changes below will go into effect for the election of March 3, 2015.
The City will be divided into eight (8) Wards, each with approximately equal population, named 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. See Ward and District Map for their definition. Currently there are 7 wards.
The eight Wards will be paired into four (4) Districts. Each District is the combination of two Wards. The East District will be the combination of Wards 1 and 8, the Central District will be Wards 2 and 3, the South District will be Wards 5 and 6, and the North District will be composed of Wards 4 and 7.
The City Council will have twelve (12) members. Currently there are 14 City Councilors, two each elected from the seven wards in alternating years.
Each of the 8 wards will elect one (1) City Councilor, and each of the 4 districts will elect one City Councilor.
When the Transition is complete in 2018, all councilors will have two (2) years terms, the same as currently in place.
When the Transition is complete in 2018, all ward-based councilors and district-based councilors will be elected in alternating years.
The City Charter changes were approved by the voters on March 4, 2014, and the first election held under the revised Charter will be in March 3, 2015.
To set up the election of ward-based and district-based councilors on alternating years, there will be the following transition:
The Mayor will continue to serve a three (3) year term.
The composition, election, and transition of the School Board commissioners will match that of the City Council.
Elections will continue to be conducted in the City’s wards, with one (1) clerk and three (3) inspectors of election for each ward.
Ward clerks will continue to serve two (2) year terms, and inspectors will continue to serve three (3) year terms.
Ward officers for the existing seven (7) wards will serve as ward officers for the March 2015 election.
Ward officers for Ward 8 will be appointed by the Board of Civil Authority for March 2015 election only. (The Board of Civil Authority is composed of the City Council and the Mayor.)
The Board of Registration of Voters will increase from nine (9) to ten (10) members. Members are appointed by the City Council with Mayor presiding.
