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CCRPC board sends draft bylaws to municipalities after debate on weighted voting and representation
Summary
The board discussed draft bylaws and whether to change the MPO voting structure; the bylaws committee recommended no change and, by consensus, the draft will be circulated to municipal legislative bodies for roughly a 30‑day review period.
The CCRPC board held a 20‑minute discussion of draft bylaws and agreed by consensus to send the draft to municipal legislative bodies for review and comment rather than vote on adoption at the meeting.
Charlie, a CCRPC staff member, summarized edits to Article I and to the process language in Article X and said the draft had been reviewed by the commission attorney. He noted the updated official name for Burlington’s airport, now listed as Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport, which the draft reflects. The chair said the draft would be circulated to municipal select boards and city councils in preliminary form for at least 30 days.
Board member Garrett pressed for a rethink of the MPO’s weighted voting structure, saying the current allotment gives small municipalities a disproportionate share compared with large cities and arguing for more granular weighting that would expand representation to unincorporated places. Members of the bylaws committee reported they had considered alternate formulas but concluded the numerical changes under discussion created such large jumps that they were not workable at this time. The committee instead recommended retaining the existing voting structure; committee members said that recommendation was unanimous.
Several board members and staff said the commission could revisit voting allocations after the next census. Garrett and another member from an unincorporated gore reiterated concerns that small unincorporated places receive little attention from state agencies and that representation through VTrans is not a reliable substitute.
Because the item was listed as discussion, not action, the board did not vote to adopt the bylaws; members agreed by consensus to forward the draft to municipal legislative bodies for comment, with staff planning to send materials via the CCRPC Slack channels and to request comments back in roughly 30 days. Staff cautioned municipal calendars and town meeting timing may push the adoption timeline into April or May 2025.
