At the recent Essex Junction Board of Civil Authority and City Council meeting, several changes were made regarding the 2023 Annual Meeting and elections. The first major change was moving the City voting location to the Champlain Valley Expo (CVE), beginning with the annual meeting voting day on April 11, 2023. The Board of Civil Authority was presented with and approved a proposal to move the voting location to the CVE Blue Ribbon Pavilion instead of the high school gymnasium through the 2024 election season. During the meeting, members discussed that CVE provided more parking, easier accessibility to the building, the building being air-conditioned and heated and that moving the location to somewhere besides the school offered additional school safety with the decreased number of visitors entering the school building during voting days.
The next major change was the date of the annual meeting. In accordance with the new City Charter, all voting will be done by Australian ballot, and no floor voting will take place. This means the annual meeting will not begin on April 5, 2023, and resume on April 11, 2023, voting day, as described in a ballot item last year. Instead, the annual meeting will now be on Tuesday, April 11, 2023, which is the voting day. The informational meeting will be held via Zoom on April 10, 2023. Community members wishing to voice their opinion on the ballot or any charter changes can participate in the City Council public hearings. The next public hearing on the proposed FY 24 budget and Capital Programs will be held on February 22, 2023, followed by two public hearings on the proposed charter amendments on March 6 and 13, 2023.
The Council’s final decision was to approve the mailing of ballots which will be mailed in March. City residents will not vote on the Town of Essex budget or articles and will not receive a Town of Essex ballot.
For additional information on the budget, charter amendments, the annual city election, and a schedule of meetings before the annual meeting, visit the Annual Meeting page or contact the City offices at 802-878-6944.