By Kolby LaMarche

The Burlington City Council meeting Monday night stretched past midnight as dozens of residents filled City Hall for a packed council meeting focused on the Democrats’ Burlington Forward resolution. A light protest, organized by progressives, stood outside the chambers beforehand. 

Roughly 100 people spoke during the public forum, which stretched on for nearly three hours of the five hour meeting. A simple count of those who stated a clear position found 19 in favor and 48 against during the comment period. 

Opponents dominated the night, with many labeling the resolution “Burlington Backward”, expressing their concern that the proposal would “lead to a police state here in our city,” one resident wrote. 

Many speakers used strong, out-of-order, language, including occasional profanity and targeted remarks, as residents argued the policies would pull the city away from its core values of compassion, inclusion, and a public-health approach to homelessness and substance use. 

Supporters, far fewer in number, said the city has grown less safe and that current efforts have not done enough to protect parks, sidewalks, families, and downtown businesses. 

Council President, and Democrat, Ben Traverse – in later remarks – alluded to the absence of supporters, saying “honestly, I think many in our community are fearful to come forward and speak the truth…when those of us who are trying to do so here are called genocidal fascist and the like,” Traverse said. “I’m not afraid of name calling,” he continued. 

Rather than vote on the full package, the council voted 7-5 along party lines early into Tuesday morning to refer the resolution to four different committees for further review. The committees and Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak are expected to return findings and input in September.

Progressive City Councilor Gene Bergman, a no vote, rejected the approach.

“This framework is not the way to move forward on these things,” Bergman said. He described the proposal as an “iron fist veiled in a velvet glove,” arguing it is heavy on enforcement while wrapping that focus in the softer language of accountability and compassion. 

The mayor addressed both the resolution and the process that produced it.

“Councilors did not engage with me,” Mulvaney-Stanak said. “You also did not engage with department heads, our police or fire department leaders or community partners before drafting this resolution.”

She continued: “I don’t frankly care what you think of me, but I care deeply about how you are reflecting and speaking about our hard working city employees.”

Mulvaney-Stanak has maintained that her administration already has multiple efforts underway on many of the same issues, including cross-departmental work on outdoor sites, situation tables, and partnerships with the Chittenden County Accountability Court. She has said the resolution in its current form does little to set a collaborative tone and contains ideas that risk moving Burlington away from inclusive values supported by public health data. Additionally, Mulvaney-Stanak has sought to pin much of the responsibility on the state. 

Democrat Councilor Becca Brown-McKnight pushed back against the idea that external pressures leave the city with no room to act.

“All of the factors outside of our control, the president, the gov, the money, they are all real but we still have to grab the wheel here and start steering our city forward,” McKnight said. “We can’t just point fingers.”

Democrats, including Traverse and McKnight, have framed the resolution as an effort to restore a basic expectation that residents feel safe—children playing in parks free of discarded needles, families using the waterfront without fear of violence, workers able to move through downtown comfortably, and visitors seeing the best of the city. 

They say the plan is not about criminalizing homelessness but about balancing compassion with accountability for people who cause real harm.

Progressive Councilor Melo Grant directed criticism Monday at Vermont Governor Phil Scott. 

Grant labeled the governor as “sexist and misogynistic” for failing to consult the mayor before directing state troopers to patrol downtown Burlington from now through mid-August, from 12 p.m. to 10 a.m. 

The deployment came after the governor’s office spoke with community and business leaders about public safety concerns. Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak had noted publicly that she learned of the plan secondhand rather than through direct communication. In comment given to BDN last week, it was found that the plan was coordinated “chief to chief” as Commissioner Jen Morrison of the Vermont Department of Public Safety spoke directly to interim Chief Shawn Burke, and not “executive to executive” as the mayor had hoped. 

The meeting Monday night laid bare ongoing political tensions between the Progressive mayor and Progressive councilors on one side and the Democratic majority on the council on the other. 

Democrats argue that existing approaches have not restored order or public confidence quickly enough. Progressives and the majority of speakers who opposed the resolution countered that heavier enforcement risks repeating past mistakes and undercuts Burlington’s “progressive identity”.

Outside City Hall before the meeting, a small protest remained modest in size but clear in a message of opposition. According to one public speaker, who was against the motion, an unnamed Democratic councilor allegedly felt unsafe due to the size and sound of the crowd so close to City Hall. Participants voiced opposition to what they described as a shift toward more punitive policies. 

Inside the chambers, the long public forum tested the room. Speakers offered personal accounts of downtown conditions, detailed policy critiques, and moments of raw frustration. Councilors listened for hours before turning to their own debate and the eventual referral vote.

The referral to committees keeps the substance of Burlington Forward alive while delaying any immediate policy changes, Democrat leaders say. Legal questions, raised by the city attorney, as well as operational details, impacts on city departments, and further community input are expected to shape the next phase. 

Whether the final version stays close to the original draft or undergoes significant changes will depend on the committee work and on whether the mayor and council can find common ground in the coming weeks.

The resolution is a roughly 21-page document first unveiled by Democratic councilors late last month. 

It calls for greater scrutiny and faster removal of unauthorized encampments on city property, expanded shelter capacity, possible sanctioned camping sites, a more visible public safety presence downtown, stronger accountability for open drug use and related illegal activity, faster hiring and deployment of additional police officers, and new public-space response teams that could issue citations while connecting people to services.