BCAT News

When Burlington voters cast their ballots in the April, 2025 local election, one item up for their consideration will be whether or not to transition the Town Clerk position from an elected to an appointed role. That’s after Town Meeting Monday night voted to put the item to the voters, the first step in making the change. 

The town began considering the issue last year, when longtime clerk Amy Warfield announced she would be retiring in the coming years. With no obvious successor in her office and no qualified person that Warfield was aware of in town, she suggested the town look into making the change. Burlington transitioned its treasurer position from elected to appointed in 2019. 

Town Meeting first considered the issue in May’s Town Meeting, and the body recommended the town establish a committee to consider the pros and cons of the move. Over the intervening months, that subcommittee met four times, fine tuning the pros and cons and meeting with experts, including the Arlington Town Clerk, who shepherded her town through the same change. 

If voters support the change in April, the Select Board will need to vote to ask the state for a home rule petition. Then, the HR director could post a job, and a screening committee could look at applications as for any other department head role. 

“We’ve been very fortunate to have Ms Warfield here, she’ll be difficult to replace,” said Ways and Means committee member John Iler.  “The idea of having a wider application pool, that they don’t need to be from Burlington is a real win.” Still, Iler said he worried that an appointed position would be more susceptible to political manipulation by the people who hired them. 

Other reasons to support the change include the ability to remove the clerk for lack of performance and better opportunity for evaluation and accountability; downsides also include the clerk needing to learn Burlington’s history and culture. 

If voters support the measure, Town Meeting would need to vote on bylaw changes to formalize the new policies and procedures for the role.