Burlington Select Board Adopts New Flag Policy

The Burlington Select Board approved a new flag policy yesterday evening, as many town Boards and Committees have done around the state in recent months.

Conversations around flags have ebbed and flowed around Burlington since at least 2021, when the Select Board voted against placing a community flagpole on the Town Common, which would have displayed flags related to community celebrations such as Pride, Black History Month, and others.

The Board's main argument for not allowing the flagpole back then was that allowing one non-government flag to be flown presented a potential problem if the Board denied another flag in the future. A May 2022 State Supreme Court decision made the Board even more hesitant, as it was decided that the City of Boston didn't have the right to allow some flags and deny others because they didn't have an explicit policy in place.

Several months ago, a student representative requested at the School Committee that the Pro Life flag be flown. The Committee and Superintendent Conti did not respond at that meeting, but at a future meeting they brought their own policy forward, which states that only government flags will be flown on school property.

The Select Board's policy is a little different. According to town counsel, Lisa Mead, the policy designates flags flown by the Select Board as "government speech" and gives the Board discretion to decide which ones to approve or deny. In other words, the Board could in the future choose to fly a flag for Black History Month, Pride Month, or any other number of holidays or events celebrated by Burlington's vibrant and diverse community without worrying about being exposed to litigation for denying flags that don't align with the Board's vision and values for the town.

Also at Select Board:

• Mary Cooney was appointed to the Council on Aging Board.
• The Select Board approved the acceptance of a donation to the Police Department from Viken Detection Equipment. Viken has been working with the Department to develop technology to detect drugs, and the company has donated equpment to the Department that allows them to see through walls, thereby potentially decreasing damage when serving a search warrant.
• The intersection of Birchcrest Street and McIntire Drive will be redesigned to narrow it and aid in water mangement.
• The Select Board was brought up to speed on the MBTA Communities Law and the Planning Board's plan for compliance.
• The Chair of the town's finance committee, John Iler, continued making his rounds to explain the Committee's recommendation regarding the upcoming capital projects:
  • Bring bonding for the police station and Fox Hill Elementary School to Town Meeting in May and September, respectively, and do not make it contingent on a debt exclusion.
  • Place both projects on a town-wide ballot for a debt exclusion next spring (which means the amount of the project will not be added to the town's regular operating budget).
  • This strategy would mean that the projects could go forward even if the debt exclusion was voted down; Town Administrator Paul Sagarino urged Select Board members (who have to vote to place the debt exclusion on the town-wide ballot) to present a unified front for Town Meeting and the town at large.
• Budgets were approved for Burlington Youth and Family Services and the Department of Public Works. Budgets for Accommodated Accounts and Town Meeting Reports were both approved as well.