BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Town Meeting Day is one week away and Burlington voters are poised to possibly elect the first woman mayor in the city’s history. But while the two major party candidates — Democrat Joan Shannon and Progressive Emma Mulvaney-Stanak — have received much of the attention, there are also two independents — Will Emmons and Chris Haessly — making a long-shot bid for Burlington’s top job.
Will Emmons is no stranger to the Burlington mayor’s race. The car salesman and former Vermont Postal Union president also ran in 2021.
He agrees public safety is the defining focus of this year’s election and says he wants there to be more police on the street — even more than the authorized cap of 87 officers.
“I believe staffing two and a half officers per 1,000 citizens is imperative. That’s 112 officers. I am the only candidate in this race calling for a number. You know, so there’s no vague ambiguity when it comes to my campaign,” Emmons said
He is passionate about tackling the graffiti on downtown buildings, especially on Memorial Auditorium, which he says needs to once again be a civic center honoring veterans. “I think that it’s so important to keep something like this functional in this community. And again, the fabric of community that once was in the city — I grew up here — it’s going to come back if I get elected,” he said.
Chris Haessly has held several local positions including serving on the Board of School Commissioners. He says he joined the race after the candidates were not talking about the issues he wanted to spotlight, specifically concerns over Memorial Auditorium. He’s proposing a new civic center and maybe even hosting a minor-league hockey team.
“If you’re properly budgeting for maintenance, you don’t need to have a big bond issue to fix things. And the fact that we had to have a big bond issue in the years past says to me that there’s a lot of deferred maintenance. And if you’re budgeting correctly and making maintenance as things come up, you can avoid those issues,” Haessly said.
He says the city’s infrastructure problems need to be addressed and he wants greater fiscal responsibility and a different focus on public safety. “I think public safety — a lot of it — particularly here in the downtown core is related to the housing issue. Our approach to housing is simply not working and we need to completely reengineer our approach. And as it is now, we wait till people are out on the streets really to offer them help. But I think we need to move away from trying to solve homelessness and move toward a model where we are trying to prevent it,” Haessly said.
Related Stories:
Record fundraising in race for Burlington mayor
Burlington Mayoral Campaign Countdown: Leadership qualities
Burlington mayoral candidates debate at UVM
Burlington Mayoral Campaign Countdown: Climate policy
Burlington Mayoral Campaign Countdown: Affordability
Burlington election will include ranked-choice, redrawn districts and noncitizen voting
Burlington Mayoral Campaign Countdown: Public safety
Burlington Mayoral Campaign Countdown: Housing and the Homeless
Burlington mayoral candidates have raised $200K
Burlington City Council puts property tax hike on Town Meeting Day ballot