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South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977
the JANUARY 12, 2023
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VOLUME 47, NO. 2
School spending to jump 7 percent
Wraparound
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY AL FREY
South Burlington’s Andrew Chandler tries for the wrap-around goal as Essex’s Andrew Forcier reaches with his stick during the Wolves’ 7-2 to the Essex Hornets on Jan. 7 in Essex. More sports on page 10.
South Burlington taxpayers will be asked to approve a $62.5 million school budget this month as the school board and members of the public Jan. 4 looked over a proposed final budget outlining expected increases and changes. “We are excited to present to the board and community a budget that does the difficult task of meeting student’s needs off the back of a pandemic which has increased social, emotional and academic needs,” South Burlington superintendent Violet Nichols said. “First and foremost, we wanted to See BUDGET on page 16
South Burlington adopts homeless encampment policy COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
The South Burlington City Council adopted an encampment policy that grants some protection to people experiencing homelessness in the city. The new policy, adopted unanimously at a recent council meeting, governs all city-owned land and sets certain parameters around how the city would proceed in removing people encamped on public property in the city. “The intent of this is not to criminalize encampments or houselessness or homelessness, it’s really to find alternative placements
for people and use the resources that we have to find shelters for people,” city attorney Colin McNeil said. The policy states that the city will take “a general non-involvement approach” to any campsites, “viewing those campsites through the lens of not criminalizing people creating shelter due to lack of housing.” In the case that the city considers a campsite as presenting an immediate hazard or as obstructing public rights-of-way, the policy sets up certain mandates for removing those sites — for example, that the city store all personal property collected from an encampment for at least 30 days and that the city provides ample notice before removing
the camp. Additionally, prior to removing a campsite, the policy mandates that the city find an alternative shelter locations for the individuals and that the city coordinates with community outreach partners to help provide shelter. The city had been crafting the policy for at least a year — mimicking municipal language used by cities like Portland, Maine, and Tacoma, Wash., as a template for the South Burlington’s own policy. “By talking to those communities, the policies that they’ve adopted seem to be working well in the similar structure that we’ve adopted,” McNeil said.
The policy was expedited and introduced during a meeting in November after the city found a campsite behind the Community Lutheran Church on Williston Road. “This is something that had been on your priorities and strategies for about 18 months and came to the top of your agenda because of an emerging issue,” city manager Jessie Baker told the council during its Dec. 19 meeting. “We were trying to be very nimble to an immediate community need — a policy is the quickest way to get there and protect the liability of the city and primarily respect our residents.” See ENCAMPMENT POLICY on page 12