Board Activites So Far

I did attend the new County Board Supervisor Orientation on April 25.  This was a largely informational meeting that, while not closed session, was probably not of interest to the public.  I am also now listed on the county's website as the Supervisor for District 3.


1 potential upcoming issue


Night meetings.  While the board meeting was in recess, one supervisor mentioned to me that some of the Board meetings may be moved to the evenings, and stated that he "Would never show up for a night meeting."  My initial inclination includes some concern for this type of thinking.  While I respect this supervisor, I disagree with his opinion on this issue.  Is he representing his constituents properly if he skips meetings just because he doesn't like the time the meeting is scheduled for?  Is the entitlement with the supervisors to have meetings when it is convenient for them, or is it with the people who elected the supervisors to observe their elected officials at work (I believe it is the later).

If the issue comes up, I would support having more meetings at night, whether it is 4 meetings a year, 6 meetings a year, or all 12 meetings a year, for the following reasons:

• Night meetings are more accessible to a greater population within the community.  Many of us work during the day, and would need to take time off from work in order to attend a night meeting.  At the April 19th meeting, members of the community who owned lakefront property may have wanted to be there, but may not have had the ability to take off from work. 
• The meeting video is good, but not great.  The meeting video isn't available yet on the website, a full week after the April 19 board meeting.  Any constituents who missed the meeting still can't watch the video online.  I know the video will run on the local cable access channel, but I am not sure if that has been fully implemented yet.
• Countless other governmental boards meet during the evening.  I took a quick look, and see that the following groups all hold their meetings in the evenings:  West Bend Common Council, Town of Trenton's town board, City of Hartford Common Council, and the Germantown Village Board.  I did not see any governmental bodies that held daytime meetings in my quick review, other than our County Board.
• It makes me more accessible to you, my neighbors, so that you can tell me about the issues that are important to you.
• For a board that has traditionally only held 1 meeting each month during the evening hours, any increase in the number of meetings scheduled for evening hours is a positive improvement.