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South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977
the JULY 13, 2023
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VOLUME 47, NO. 28
South Burlington council change debate continues
Play it forward
COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
There likely won’t be a mayor in South Burlington anytime soon. But that’s just about the only certainty so far as the wide-ranging conversation over how South Burlington governs itself, and how residents want to be represented, continues through its process. Members of the city’s charter committee, tasked by the city council in late 2021 to investigate whether a ward system or more councilors would provide better geographical representation to the state’s second-largest city, will begin deliberating what recommendations they want to make to the council during their July meeting, which was held on Wednesday night after press deadline. It marks the end of the committee’s public outreach campaign: The body held two public forums in May and circulated a survey that 177 people responded to. “The survey results I think are fairly clear,” Peter Taylor, the chair of the committee, said. “(There
were) 177 responses. People tell me that’s very good — from my perspective it’s disappointing when you have over 16,000 residents.” Survey respondents overwhelmingly approved of keeping the city manager system intact. South Burlington is currently governed by a city manager and council chair form of government, with five councilors elected at-large to represent the city’s population and the city manager appointed by the council. But beyond that, responses were split. Fifty-four percent preferred that the council keep five members, compared to 46 percent who preferred more than five. Roughly 38 percent of respondents wanted to keep council members elected at-large, while 33 percent and 30 percent of respondents, respectively, wanted council members elected from the city’s five wards, or with members elected from a combination of wards and at-large. See DEBATE on page 12
Local school districts join Monsanto lawsuit One of four lawsuits against company in Vermont COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
COURTESY PHOTO
Emily Borrazzo, Gatorade Vermont Softball Player of the Year two years running, after she notched 500 strikeouts as a player for the South Burlington softball team. See our story on page 13.
The South Burlington and Champlain Valley school districts have both signed on to a lawsuit against Monsanto that argues the company is directly responsible for PCB contamination now present in many schools across
the state. The two Chittenden County districts are among more than 90 in Vermont that have signed on to the litigation against the agrochemical manufacturer “to recover past, present, and future costs, See LAWSUIT on page 16