The Burlington City Council will be asked at its meeting next Monday to disband a Burlington Telecom citizens’ advisory group that it created eight years ago.
City Council President Joan Shannon (D-Ward 5, pictured) says she’s confident her colleagues will approve the resolution transferring the responsibilities of the BT Advisory Committee to another existing BT oversight panel known as the Blue Ribbon Committee. The aim, Shannon explains, is to eliminate redundancy and to clarify “who’s doing what in regard to BT.”
The proposal sponsored by Shannon and five other councilors would also rename the Blue Ribbon Committee, which the council established in 2009 to address the financial crisis that had enveloped the city-owned telecom utility. With its ribbon removed, the body would henceforth be called the Burlington Telecom Advisory Board.
Regardless of the rebranding, the body’s makeup would remain unchanged. Champlain College finance chief David Provost would continue to head the six-member entity, which would include SymQuest founder and civic activist Pat Robins; Dealer.com senior director of corporate development David Parker; and three city councilors: Shannon, Vince Brennan (P-Ward 3); and Karen Paul (I-Ward 6).
With this rejiggering of the BT monitoring function, Shannon assures, “we’ll have a single oversight body that gets the big picture.”
Others are not so sure this is a wise move.


BT is an alsoran. Who even cares anymore? Plus, their TV service uses a device that’s straight out of 1987.
Unbelievable…. after years of incompetence the council wants to disband the advisory group… DISBAND BTC!!!
The left hand still doesn’t know what the far left hand is doing in Burlington.