Today marks Organization Day, the auspiciously-named event of swearing in new city councilors, and for the first time in twelve years, a new mayor. 

Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, the first queer person and first woman to ever become Mayor of Burlington, is a lifelong member of the Progressive Party. She served on the Burlington City Council from 2009 – 2012, and will resign from her seat as a State Representative for Chittenden-17. She was elected on Town Meeting Day with over 51% of the vote—practically a landslide in a race where she was deemed an underdog by most local talking heads. 

After EMS is sworn in, she’ll give a State of the City address. Expect to hear about public safety, the most-discussed issue in the mayoral race; the affordability crisis; and the housing shortage. Democratic mayoral candidate Joan Shannon (D-South District) did her best to keep a laser focus on public safety, but council candidates and EMS all worked to broaden the conversation. If we’re lucky, the State of the City will also include mentions of climate action, safe streets, a strong MOU with the University of Vermont, and progressive tax reform. While left-leaning community groups surely have more of an ally in Emma than her predecessor, it will take work to keep a high caliber of progressive change on the table, given the scale of challenges the new administration faces. 

Next up on the agenda is the swearing in of five new City Councilors: Carter Neubeiser (P-Ward 1); Joe Kane (P-Ward 3); Becca Brown McKnight (D-Ward 6); Evan Litwin (D-Ward 7); and Marek Broderick (P-Ward 8). They’ll be sworn in alongside re-elected councilors Gene Bergman (P-Ward 2); Sarah Carpenter (D-Ward 4); and Ben Traverse (D-Ward 5). The four district councilors will be up for re-election next March. The new council of 12 will have six Democrats, five Progressives, and one conservative independent who caucuses with the Democrats. This means that any initiative from the Progressive mayor’s office will need support from at least two non-Progressives to succeed.

Following swearing-ins is the election of City Council President, who moderates Council meetings (picture outgoing president Karen Paul saying “thank you, thank you so much” during public forum) and makes appointments to the eleven standing committees of the council. These committees are where much of the governing work of Council gets done, and are vital to the functioning of the city. As a result, both the Council President and committee appointments hold a lot of weight. 

Finally, the councilors will vote to elect members of the Board of Finance. This critical body works with the mayor on crafting the budget, among other tasks essential to the economic wellness of our city. Watch carefully for who is voted in, as well as the level of consensus for each pick among the two parties. Our guide to the meeting can be found here.

Given the Democratic majority on the council, it’s highly unlikely the president will be a Progressive. More likely is someone like Ben Traverse (D-Ward 5), a compromising Democrat who could curry some favor across party lines. There is also chatter that Joan Shannon (D-South) may take the presidency a second time in a Democratic bloc vote.

With all this change ahead, the Burlington Eye will be keeping watch on political happenings in our fine city through data-driven, community journalism. The Eye seeks to provide readers with the tools we need and deserve to understand and intervene in the systems that shape our city. Sign up for updates via email, follow us on Twitter and Instagram—or drop us a line at theburlingtoneye@gmail.com if you’d like to be involved.

Article written by the Burlington Eye Collective Editorial Board