Effective today, July 1, 2022, Vermont has a tenth city: Essex Junction.
On April 20, Governor Phil Scott signed H.491, legislation that created the City of Essex Junction, repealed the charter of the Village of Essex Junction, and enacted the City charter. The city is entirely separate from the Town of Essex, though the two communities will continue to share some municipal services and a police department, at least for a while. Remarked the governor at the time of the signing, “I know this issue has been the subject of debate for decades, and I’m happy to see a resolution.”
Essex Junction voters overwhelmingly passed the charter change last winter, and the bill was introduced by State representatives and Essex Junction residents Lori Houghton and Karen Dolan on January 7. Previous plans to merge the two municipalities had failed.
A celebration of the event took place Friday, July 1st. Pictured below at the celebration is VLCT's Executive Director Ted Brady with the new Essex Junction City Council.
