Remote meeting ordinance OK’d

By MITCH MAERSCH

Ozaukee Press staff

The Belgium Village Board this month unanimously approved the creation of a remote meeting ordinance on the advice of an attorney.

Members who couldn’t attend in-person had been participating via Zoom, but Clerk Julie Lesar at the Feb. 20 Finance and Personnel Committee meeting cited an article from League of Wisconsin Municipalities’ “The Municipality” magazine in which attorney Brian Sajdak suggested that “specific rules should be established to guide participation in the meeting.”

“It is recommended that we have something in writing to do this,” Lesar said.

Lesar provided ordinances from three communities. The Town of Linn’s was the most detailed, requiring a reason to hold a remote meeting such as natural disasters or weather, and it required the chairman of the committee or the majority of the Town Board to determine if a remote meeting should be held.

Green Bay’s was the most basic, allowing for members to attend remotely without cause and without approval by a presiding officer of a committee or council.

The committee preferred keeping the ordinance simple.

“It makes it easier for all members to attend whether they’re in person or not,” committee member Dan Wolff said.

The committee recommended the Green Bay version of the ordinance, and the Village Board approved it.