How the Burlington Select Board voted, from the Select Board’s official minutes. 5 Select Board members elected townwide for three-year terms. Sarah Cawley joined the board after the April 6, 2024 town election, succeeding Michael Runyan; Joseph Morandi was re-elected. On April 8, 2024 the board unanimously chose Joseph Morandi as Chair and Michael Espejo as Vice-Chair (5-0-0). Covers 21 meetings, April 8 to March 24, 2025.
A monthly email on what it voted on, starting in November.
What does the Select Board do? It is the town’s executive board. It prepares the Town Meeting warrant (the list of articles voters decide), appoints members of many town boards, hires the town’s top staff, signs warrants to pay town bills, and grants licenses and permits.
Town Meeting, not the Select Board, votes the town budget and town bylaws.
Under the state Open Meeting Law, boards post notice at least 48 hours ahead, not counting weekends and legal holidays.
What Town Meeting decided
In Burlington, Town Meeting — not the Select Board — votes the town budget, bylaws and zoning. Here is what it did with each article, in the Town Clerk’s own words. Town Meeting members are elected by precinct; counts are from the town’s electronic voting.
Annual Town Meeting (May) · May 12, 2025 35 votes: 25 passed, 2 passed as amended, 1 failed, 6 withdrawn, 1 no action
Art. 10Home rule petition: require Town Meeting and public meetings to be open to remote attendanceIndefinitely postponed“ACTION: POSTPONED INDEFINITELY”
Art. 14Authorize the Select Board to sell 119 South Bedford Street for affordable housingPassed“ACTION: Passed by Called 2/3s”
Art. 15Ask the Zoning Board of Appeals to reject the Winn View Heights II proposal and tell the state of Town Meeting oppositionPassed“ACTION: Passed by Called Majority”
Art. 16Home rule petition: change how Town Meeting member vacancies are filled (Ch. 686 of 1970, Sec. 9)Passed“ACTION: Passed by Called Majority”
Not here yet: Burlington's September 29, 2025, January 26, 2026, May 11, 2026 and September 28, 2026 Town Meetings are not here because the Town Clerk has not posted their minutes; only warrants are posted.
Titles are short descriptions of each article from the official record; the quoted words are the Town Clerk’s. A vote at Town Meeting is not the final word on everything: some articles also need a ballot vote (such as a tax override) or the Attorney General’s approval (bylaws).
"At X of Y meetings" counts the members the minutes list as present at the start of each meeting in this record. Members who step out are listed on each meeting page.
Meetings
About missing minutes
Loaded: Burlington Select Board minutes from January 13, 2020 through August 20, 2026: 140 meetings and 1,587 votes. The town posts the board’s minutes online from January 2020; older minutes are not online. Until 2021 the board was the Board of Selectmen; on January 20, 2021 it approved Town Meeting articles asking the Legislature to change the name to Select Board, and the minutes use “Select Board” from April 2021. The minutes are typed documents with searchable text. Not here: meetings of the board’s subcommittees (Alcohol, Water, Class 2 Automobile, DPW, Building Department, Town Clerk advisory and Design Advisory Group), which are filed in the same Agenda Center list; strategic planning sessions where the minutes say no votes were taken; executive-session minutes; cancelled or postponed meetings; votes of the Housing Authority, Planning Board and Library Trustees at joint meetings (only the Select Board members’ votes are shown); meetings with an agenda but no posted minutes (among them November 30 and December 14, 2020; August 15, November 14 and December 1, 2022; August 21, 2023; May 6, 2024; May 12 and June 18, 2025; September 30, 2025, whose minutes the board approved on November 3, 2025; June 22, 2026; and August 17, 2026); February 24, 2020, where the agenda is posted in the minutes slot; and meetings after August 20, 2026 (the minutes of September 14, September 28 and October 5, 2026 are not posted yet). Burlington’s minutes name the mover and seconder and give a count of yes, no and abstaining votes (“Motion: Member Tigges moved to approve. Seconded by Member Priest and approved. (5-0-0)”). A count equal to the members present with no no votes or abstentions is shown as every member present voting yes. In 2020 and 2021 the board met remotely and the minutes list each member’s roll-call vote, shown by name; some counts name the member who voted no or abstained (“(4-1-0 with Member Morandi voting against)”), shown by name when they add up. Since 2022 split votes give only the count (“failed (2-3-0)”, “approved. (3-1-0)”) without saying who voted which way, and some counts do not match the members listed as present (“(4-0-0)” with five present); those votes show the count only (144 votes). 16 votes show the result only (no count, a count that cannot be read, or a joint vote counted with another board). Where a member who moved or seconded motions is missing from the attendance line and the counts include that member, the member is counted present with a note. A motion with no recorded outcome is not counted as a vote. We will ask the town to confirm any noted vote.
Motion: Member Priest moved to approve. Seconded by Member Espejo and approved. (4-0-0)
The minutes record the vote as (4-0-0), but Joseph Morandi, Michael Espejo, Nicholas Priest, James Tigges and Sarah Cawley were present; the count and the members present do not match, so the count only is shown.
From the minutes
“Motion: Member Priest moved to approve. Seconded by Member Espejo and approved. (4-0-0).” (Motion: Priest, second: Espejo)
Motion: Member Tigges moved to approve. Seconded by Member Cawley and approved. (3-0-1)
The minutes record the vote as (3-0-1), but Joseph Morandi, Michael Espejo, Nicholas Priest, James Tigges and Sarah Cawley were present; the count and the members present do not match, so the count only is shown.
From the minutes
“Motion: Member Tigges moved to approve. Seconded by Member Cawley and approved. (3-0-1).” (Motion: Tigges, second: Cawley)
Feb 10Approve option 2 (Discussion/Approval: Sculpture Park Committee)Motion: Motion: Member Cawley to approve option 2. Seconded by Member Tigges…Failed 0–5 · see note
February 10, 2025: Approve option 2 (Discussion/Approval: Sculpture Park Committee)
ApproveFailed · 0–5
Motion: Member Cawley to approve option 2. Seconded by Member Tigges and failed (0-5-0)
The minutes record the vote as (0-5-0) but do not say who voted no, so the count only is shown.
From the minutes
“Motion: Member Cawley to approve option 2. Seconded by Member Tigges and failed (0-5-0).” (Motion: Cawley, second: Tigges)
Jan 27Approve (Approval: Non-Binding Referendum-Marijuana Establishments)Motion: Motion: Member Priest moved to approve. Seconded by Member Tigges and…Passed 3–2 · see note
January 27, 2025: Approve (Approval: Non-Binding Referendum-Marijuana Establishments)
ApprovePassed · 3–2
Motion: Member Priest moved to approve. Seconded by Member Tigges and approved. (3-2-0)
The minutes record the vote as (3-2-0) but do not say who voted no, so the count only is shown.
From the minutes
“Motion: Member Priest moved to approve. Seconded by Member Tigges and approved. (3-2-0).” (Motion: Priest, second: Tigges)
Jan 27Approve (Approval: January TM Warrant Articles 2025)Motion: Motion: Member Priest moved to approve. Seconded by Member Espejo and…Passed 3–1 · see note
January 27, 2025: Approve (Approval: January TM Warrant Articles 2025)
ApprovePassed · 3–1
Motion: Member Priest moved to approve. Seconded by Member Espejo and approved. (3-1-1)
The minutes record the vote as (3-1-1) but do not say who voted no or abstained, so the count only is shown.
From the minutes
“Motion: Member Priest moved to approve. Seconded by Member Espejo and approved. (3-1-1).” (Motion: Priest, second: Espejo)
From the Burlington Select Board’s official minutes, posted in the town’s Agenda Center (Select Board). We check every vote against the Select Board members present and quote the exact wording. MassVoter never grades or scores officials. Photos: Town of Burlington, Select Board page (captioned group photo). Cropped by MassVoter. Former members show initials.