A sidenote on public safety salaries during the presentation of Burlington’s proposed budget became the centerpiece a day later thanks to the intercession of one council member with some experience in this arena of government.
Councilman Jeff Smythe, who formerly served as the city’s chief of police, had originally shared some concerns about the competitiveness of police and firefighter pay when the city manager unveiled his spending plan for the city on Monday.
Smythe resurrected this issue when the council reassembled on Tuesday – although in this case, he came armed with a specific request that the rest of the council readily endorsed to the city’s administrators…