ARTICLE I. IN GENERAL
2-1 Seal described, adopted.
The seal, of which an impression is hereto annexed, bearing a representation of the original city hall, encircled by the words "City of Burlington, Vt.," "Organized Feb. 21, 1865," is hereby adopted as the seal of the City of Burlington.
(Rev. Ords. 1962, § 131)
2-2 Restrictions on electioneering in areas proximate to polling places.
The following restrictions shall apply to electioneering:
(1) The board of civil authority shall designate for each polling place in the city a primary entrance to the polling place and a primary access route connecting the primary entrance to the public street;
(2) A "campaign-free zone" shall be established at each polling place, which shall include both:
a. The area within a corridor extending fifteen (15) feet to each side of the designated primary access route and ending where the primary access routes reaches the city sidewalk; and
b. The area within a thirty-foot radius of the front of the polling place drawn from the centerpoint of the designated primary entrance door(s).
(3) Within the designated "campaign-free zone" at each polling place:
a. No campaign literature, stickers, buttons, name stamps, information on write-in candidates or other political materials shall be placed, handed out or allowed to remain;
b. No candidate, election official or other person shall distribute election materials, solicit voters or otherwise campaign; and
c. No person shall conduct so-called "exit polling," petition signature gathering, or any other kind of surveying of voters.
(4) A copy of this section shall be posted at each polling place in the city during the hours that the polls are open and the "campaign-free zone" at each polling place shall, to the extent practicable, be roped off or otherwise clearly designated by election officials.
(Rev. Ords. 1962, § 221; Ord. of 10-12-82; Ord. of 1-9-89; Ord. of 2-27-95)
Charter reference—Elections generally, § 3 et seq.; warnings, § 6.
2-3 Contracts and debts to be authorized by council.
No contract shall be made whereby the city shall be beholden or bound for the payment of any sum of money, nor shall any debt be created against the city by any person acting or pretending to act for the city, in any capacity whatever, unless the same shall have been previously authorized by the city council.
(Rev. Ords. 1962, § 241)
Charter reference—Appropriations, §§ 65—67; expenditures, §§ 68—70; contracts between city and officers, § 133.
2-4 Duties of officers of the city generally.
All officers of the city shall enforce obedience to such laws of the state, ordinances of the city, and orders of the mayor and city council, as may be the duty of such officers respectively to enforce, and shall notice all complaints, and institute such proceedings as may be necessary.
(Rev. Ords. 1962, § 201)
Charter reference—Duties of officers generally, § 116 et seq.
Cross reference—City engineer, § 2-35 et seq.; poundkeeper, § 5-10; board of harbor commissioners, § 7-22 et seq.; harbor master, § 7-43 et seq.; building inspector, § 8-3; director of emergency management, § 11-4; chief engineer of fire department, § 13-31.
2-5 Expenditures for ordinary administration of departments authorized.
Nothing in this Code shall be construed to prevent the expenditure by any city officer of moneys in the ordinary administration of his department, which have been previously appropriated to such use by the city council.
(Rev. Ords. 1962, § 243)
Charter reference—Expenditures generally, §§ 68—70.
2-6 Aldermen and city officers absent from board meeting may be ordered to attend; authority to apprehend.
(a) Aldermen. In the event that there shall not be present at any duly called regular or special meeting of the board of aldermen a sufficient number of the members of said board to constitute a quorum thereof for the transaction of business, the members present may, by a majority, vote to compel the attendance of absent members. If the members present so vote the city clerk shall forthwith issue a written order over his signature directed to the chief of police or to any designated member of the police force, directing the chief of police or designated officer to apprehend such absent members as he may be able to find, and to bring them forthwith to the place of meeting. Such written order shall be sufficient warrant for the apprehension of such members, and shall run throughout the territorial limits of the state.
(b) Other city officers. In the event that any other city officer shall neglect or fail to attend a duly called regular or special meeting of the board of aldermen or city council after having been requested by vote of such body to do so, the board of aldermen or city council may, by majority vote, vote to compel the attendance of such city officer. If said body so votes, the city clerk shall forthwith issue a written order over his signature directed to the chief of police or any designated member of the police force, directing the chief of police or designated officer to apprehend such city officer and to bring him forthwith to the place of meeting. Such written order shall be sufficient warrant for the apprehension of such city officer, and shall run throughout the territorial limits of the state.
(Rev. Ords. 1962, §§ 171, 172)
Charter reference—Meetings of city council and board of aldermen, §§ 37—41.
2-7 Penalty imposed on aldermen and city officers for failure to attend meetings.
In the event any member of the board of aldermen shall, upon being notified of the issuance of an order by the city clerk under the provisions of section 2-6, fail to comply with such order, he shall forfeit to the city the sum of ten dollars ($10.00) for each unexcused failure, to be deducted from any sums then due or thereafter becoming due him on account of salary. Should any other city officer, upon being notified of the issuance of an order by the city clerk, fail to comply with such order then, such failure shall constitute negligence under the provisions of section 129 of the City Charter and be grounds for suspension or removal from office in the manner provided in said section, unless excused.
(Rev. Ords. 1962, § 173)
2-8 General guidelines for public meetings.
The council encourages that public meetings not be scheduled before 8:30 a.m. and encourages that public meetings be scheduled after 5:00 p.m. whenever possible. All public meetings shall be held in conformance with the notice requirements of the Vermont open meeting law (1 V.S.A. § 311 et seq.).
(Res. of 6-26-95)
2-9 Implementation of ranked choice voting in elections for the mayor, city council, school commissioners, and ward election officers.
(a) Purpose and authority. The purpose of this section is to implement ranked choice voting for the election of the mayor, city councilors, school commissioners, and ward election officers. This section is adopted pursuant to the Charter of the City of Burlington, Section 5, Acts of 1949, No. 298, Vermont General Assembly, as amended.
(b) Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) "Active candidate" means any candidate who has not been defeated or elected.
(2) "Highest-ranked active candidate" means the active candidate assigned to a higher ranking than any other active candidate.
(3) "Inactive ballots" are ballots that do not count for any candidate for any of the reasons given in subsection (d)(1) of this section.
(4) "Overvote" means an instance in which a voter has ranked more than one (1) candidate at the same ranking.
(5) "Ranking" means the number available to be assigned by a voter to a candidate to express the voter’s choice for that candidate. The number "1" is the highest ranking, followed by "2" and then "3" and so on.
(6) "Round" means an instance of the sequence of voting tabulation described in subsection (c) of this section.
(7) "Skipped ranking" means a voter has left a ranking unassigned but ranks a candidate at a subsequent ranking.
(8) "Undervote" means a ballot that does not contain any candidates at any ranking in a particular contest.
(c) Instant runoff retabulation. In the election of the mayor, city councilors, school commissioners, and ward election officers, if no candidate receives a majority of first preference, an instant runoff retabulation shall be conducted in rounds. In each round, each voter’s ballot shall count as a single vote for whichever active candidate the voter has ranked highest. The candidate with the fewest votes after each round shall be eliminated until only two (2) candidates remain, with the candidate then receiving the greatest number of votes being elected. If there are two (2) or more candidates tied with the lowest vote totals, the tied candidates will be eliminated in a round so long as the vote total sum for all the tied candidates is less than the vote total for the next active candidate with the fewest votes and the number of active candidates is at least one (1) more than the remaining number of positions to elect.
(d) Ballots.
(1) In any round of tabulation in a contest conducted by ranked choice voting, an inactive ballot does not count for any candidate. A ballot is inactive if it does not contain any active candidates and is not an undervote.
(2) An undervote does not count as an active or inactive ballot in any round of tabulation.
(3) Write-in votes shall not be excluded for the initial tabulation.
(4) If a voter skips a ranking or rankings, any valid subsequent rankings will be moved forward.
(5) An overvote shall be treated as a skipped ranking.
(e) Ties. If two (2) or more candidates are tied with the fewest votes, and tabulation cannot continue until the candidate with the fewest votes is defeated, then the candidate to be defeated shall be determined by the forward-looking method whereby the system will attempt to break ties using vote totals in previous rounds going forward from first round to the round preceding the current round. If the forward-looking method fails to resolve the tie, the tie shall be resolved by lot.
(f) Rulemaking authority. The city clerk shall have the authority to promulgate whatever rules consistent with this section are necessary to implement this section.
(Ord. of 6-6-22(1); Ord. of 10-24-22(1); Ord. of 1-29-24)