Hardwick residents cast their ballots at the Municipal Building on Tuesday afternoon as Vermonters head to the polls for the 2024 General Election. Photo by Josh Kuckens/VTDiggerUpdated at 10:37 p.m.Amid a presidential election and several statewide races, Vermont residents also had several ballot items to cast their votes for on Tuesday.The items include several multimillion-dollar projects — including what’s been dubbed the largest infrastructure project in Shelburne’s history — as well as a proposal to build the state’s largest ever solar array in western Vermont.READ MORE Read all of VTDigger’s 2024 General Election Day coverage by VTD Staff November 5, 2024, 6:16 pmNovember 5, 2024, 11:52 pm Critical policy decisions were on residents’ ballots as well, including an item to grant more civilian oversight powers to Burlington’s police commission, and a citizen-led petition in Springfield to overturn an ordinance prohibiting shooting guns in a town recreational area.This story will be updated as results from each of the towns are finalized.Burlington police oversightIn Burlington, voters on Tuesday night approved a proposal to change the city’s charter to give more disciplinary and oversight power to the city’s police commission and away from its police chief, Jon Murad.Residents voted to approve the measure 62.5 percent to 37.5 percent, or 11,398 to 6,847 votes, according to unofficial results out of Burlington City Hall.Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, in a statement, thanked voters and her colleagues on the city council “for their work to craft a compromise that moves us in the right direction.”“This work is critical as we continue to find ways to heed the calls for racial justice and fair and impartial policing practices and work on rebuilding a police department that reflects Burlington’s values,” she continued.Burlington’s City Council voted unanimously in July to place the charter change on the ballot, the first time since the issue first arose in 2019 that Progressives and Democrats on the council agreed, at the least, to bring a measure to the voters.Not all councilors were in favor of the measure, and several Democratic councilors said they’d be voting no. The ballot item was criticized by both Murad and the Burlington Police Officers Association, who said it would hurt efforts to attract officers to the department.The Burlington Police Officers Association, in a statement posted to social media, said the ballot item “was presented to voters in a fashion that did not afford appropriate analysis to make a truly informed assessment.”“While we value the opinions of all Burlington residents, we as a union, representing our members, and with what we believe the best intentions of our community in mind, will continue to express our disagreement with this charter change, next at the state level,” the union said.The Vermont Legislature will still need to sign off on the charter change. But if it is approved by state lawmakers, the city's police commission will be able to convene an independent panel to scrutinize officer misconduct and to decide on disciplinary measures — taking sole authority away from the police chief.“That’s critical because right now, only the police chief gets to decide that,” Mulvaney-Stanak said on Tuesday afternoon outside of the Robert Miller Community and Recreation Center in the city’s North End. “I think it’s really important that not one person gets to be the ultimate arbitrator of an issue that’s as important as police discipline. And this will be rarely used but I think it’s an important oversight piece that is gonna build further trust, transparency within the police department.”The measure was the latest in a years-long attempt by Burlington officials to enshrine more civilian oversight into the city's charter.The Progressive-led council approved a measure in December 2020 that would have granted full power to a community control board to hire and fire police officers, including the chief. But then-Mayor Miro Weinberger vetoed the proposal the following month.A similar proposal was shot down in 2023, this time by voters, after residents petitioned to put it on the Town Meeting Day ballot.Shelburne wastewater treatment plantShelburne residents on Tuesday voted in favor of a $38 million bond to fund a new consolidated wastewater treatment plant that has been dubbed the largest infrastructure project in the town's history.Residents voted 3,694 in favor of the bond, and 1,416 against, according to unofficial results from the Shelburne Town Clerk.Years in the making, the project is set to cost more than $45 million (the cost includes a 10 percent construction contingency for inflation, and assumes more than 30 percent funding in grants, according to reporting from the Shelburne News).Shelburne currently operates two treatment plants — one on Turtle Lane and one on Crown Road. The town spent several years studying whether to renovate both plants or combine the two into one facility.Construction on the plant is expected to be completed in 2028 with debt repayment starting in 2029. The new plant would have technology making the removal of chemicals like phosphorus more efficient.Panton solar arrayPanton residents voted against a controversial solar array that, if built, would have been the largest array ever built in the state.Voters in the western Vermont town cast 110 yes votes to 307 no votes. The ballot measure was advisory, but the selectboard said it plans to follow voters’ lead when deciding whether to recommend that the state’s Public Utility Commission approve the proposal.The proposal would have given Freepoint Commodities the OK to build a 50 megawatt solar array on roughly 300 acres of land in the town.But the project faced local opposition. Around 300 people signed paper petitions in the spring this year opposing the project, and the chair of the town's development review board said the scale of the project was too large for the area.“I think it would be a huge mistake, mostly because it doesn’t benefit Vermont," said Sharon Ashcraft, 70, a retired photographer and resident of Panton. Freepoint would not likely sell the energy to a Vermont utility, she said."It just doesn't seem like the right thing to me," she added. "A lot of us, we feel like it’s just not the right thing for our area. It’s just too big."Freepoint Commodities, a global trading company with headquarters in Connecticut, along with its development partner, SunEast Development LLC, a renewable energy company based in Pennsylvania, have also proposed similarly-scaled projects in Fair Haven and Shaftsbury.Lawmakers in Vermont have been wrestling to meet the state’s climate goals and reduce the state’s contribution to climate change, and during the 2024 session passed H.289, a bill that would require Vermont’s utilities to invest more in large, local projects like the ones Freepoint and SunEast are proposing.Springfield firearms banIn Springfield, residents were voting Tuesday on whether to rescind a new municipal ordinance that prohibits shooting guns — and, as a result, most hunting — in the town’s historic wooded Hartness Park.The local selectboard approved the firearms ban in August to help promote hiking and biking along the recreation area’s three miles of trails. But that sparked a group of residents to petition for Tuesday’s ballot question in hopes that people could continue to hunt in the heavily forested 90-year-old park.Results were not immediately available.Colchester school bondColchester residents narrowly approved a $115 million bond proposal to renovate the town school district's five school buildings.The bond, which school officials have said is critical to the future of the school district, passed by less than 100 votes — with 4,503 votes in favor and 4,408 votes against the bond."We are deeply grateful and with this support, we can now invest in safer, more efficient school buildings that will truly serve our students and community well into the future," said Meghan Baule, the district's director of communications. "This journey toward creating spaces where children can grow, learn, and thrive has only just begun—and we’re excited to share each step with you."The proposal was the first time the district had asked voters to support facility upgrades of this magnitude. Most of the district's buildings are in bad shape and are in dire need of upgrades to their HVAC and electrical systems."Our maintenance team has done a good job of trying to stretch the life of all of these major mechanical systems," Colchester Superintendent Amy Minor said in a previous interview. "But at some point you have to make the investment to fully upgrade windows, roofs, insulation — that’s kind of where our facilities are at."Residents won't feel the impact on their tax bill until 2027. That payment will increase over four years and peak in 2031 — when residents with a home assessed at $350,000 will pay $733 more in school taxes for the year, or $61 more a month — before decreasing.Minor said previously that construction would begin sometime in 2026, with the expectation renovations completed in 2030.Renovations will begin at the Porters Point School and Union Memorial School — both built in the 1950s — and, once completed, would then begin at Colchester Middle School, which has yet to be significantly renovated since the building was constructed in the 1960s.The last phase of construction would see renovations at Malletts Bay School and at Colchester High School.VTDigger reporters Emma Cotton and Klara Bauters contributed reporting.Read the story on VTDigger here: Burlington residents approve police oversight item as Vermonters cast their votes for town ballot items.