LETTER: County Board mutes citizens’ voices with morning meetings

To Ozaukee Press:

Our voices are being silenced.

The best way to have a voice in your community is to attend the open meetings of the county and local boards.

Unfortunately, our County Board meets mid-morning on Wednesdays. Being employed full-time makes it impossible to attend board meetings to make my voice heard.

The supervisor from my district does a great job of listening to his constituents and providing answers to the best of his ability, but is my point as accurately conveyed via a third party as it would be directly from me? No. Is my voice really being heard? Kind of.

In addition, how many people want to run for a county position, but cannot
because of the meeting times being during the middle of a workday?

If County Board members really want to have public participation, they would hold their meetings in the evening, rather than the morning. Give people a chance to finish their workday and get to County Board meetings to voice their concerns. Fifty-two of the state’s 72 county boards meet after 5 p.m., with the other 20 meeting between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

In our area, only the Ozaukee and Milwaukee County Boards meet during the day. Washington, Waukesha, Sheboygan and Dodge County Boards all meet during the evening. No Ozaukee County municipality’s governing board meets during the day.

So why would the Ozaukee County Board of Supervisors not want to move its meetings to the evening and let the community voice be heard? Short of not wanting to listen, I am not sure.

Richard Abegglen
Fredonia