Updated on August 25, 2026.
In a rare moment of consensus, Burlington city councilors on Monday joined with Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak to call on Gov. Phil Scott to take immediate action to help the Queen City with its issues around homelessness and public safety.
The resolution passed unanimously by voice vote with councilors Carter Neubieser (P-Ward 1) and Gene Bergman (P-Ward-2) absent.
The measure asks Scott to help open more shelter space in Chittenden County, extend the state’s hotel housing program, reverse a planned reduction in mental health services and provide further support from state law enforcement.
But there’s no guarantee that the state will respond or offer any of the assistance requested.
“This is an opportunity for us to collectively seek support to deepen our partnership with the state to address some serious challenges that are truly larger than us and too large for us to tackle on our own,” Councilor Allie Schachter (D-East District) said.
In a reiteration of previous requests made by Mulvaney-Stanak, the resolution calls on the state to help the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity open a new 100-bed homeless shelter. It also asks for the Agency of Human Services’ help in expanding daytime shelter space throughout the county.
The legislature passed a bill earlier this year that overhauls Vermont’s emergency shelter programs and set aside $83 million for the effort. Monday’s resolution requests expedited access to that money, which is meant to “mitigate the challenges related to individuals sheltering on public land.”
Councilors also want the state to reverse course on a plan to limit people to just 70 days in the motel housing program each year, a change that is set to take effect in September.
The resolution requests that the state reopen mental health beds in central Vermont and work with the University of Vermont Medical Center “to improve acute and short-term care for those with immediate mental health care needs,” including reversing the decision to cut a care-access coordinator.
And the council wants Scott to restore the “accountability court,” which came with additional judicial resources. Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George has continued the effort in a more limited capacity as a weekly “support court.”
The resolution asks for more support from the Vermont State Police, who recently patrolled downtown Burlington for a few weeks. It also calls on the state to help organize a regional collaboration meant to combat youth violence.
At an unrelated press conference on Tuesday morning, Scott said he hadn’t had a chance to read the resolution in full and had only scanned it. But he said he was “disappointed” by the requests.
“We’ve done a lot for Burlington,” the governor said. “If I was sitting in Newport, I might wonder, What more can we do for them, one of the most affluent areas of the state, when they’re suffering in other areas as well?”
The new resolution is similar in tone and intent to a portion of the “Burlington Forward” resolution that council Dems passed earlier this month.
Despite recent incidents of violence in Burlington, Scott said at a press conference last week that he would not extend the state troopers’ presence in Burlington. Mulvaney-Stanak said in early August that she hoped to meet with the governor before Labor Day; Scott, meanwhile, said the two leaders would meet “in the next month or two.”
Scott and Mulvaney-Stanak did meet last fall and came up a 14-point plan to address public safety issues. The plan focused on state support for law-and-order initiatives but, as the Burlington mayor said in her remarks on Monday, proposed nothing to assist the city in supporting its homeless population.
“It is crucial for our city government to stand united to advocate for more immediate and stronger state action,” Mulvaney-Stanak said. “This is what is most urgently needed and will do the most to meaningfully advance our community health and safety goals.”
Correction, August 25, 2026: A previous version of this story misquoted Gov. Scott at Tuesday’s press conference.
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