Mayor Olivia Dawson was elected as mayor of Burgaw in 2021. She is a Tourism Assistant with Pender County Tourism and serves as the co-chair of the Pender County Long Term Recovery Group.

The Town of Burgaw is a town in, and the county seat of, Pender County, North Carolina, and has a population of over 4,100. In 2010, the town participated in a multijurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan developed by Pender County, which included the assessment of flooding and hurricane hazards. In 2016, Burgaw received over $900,000 in grants to remedy stormwater infrastructure problems. To aid in its ongoing efforts to mitigate the damage of flooding, the town has adopted a Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance and participates in the National Flood Insurance Program. Burgaw also benefits from the more than $6.5 million approved by FEMA to eliminate flood risks in Pender County.