Marathon County Courthouse. MWC file photo.
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The Marathon County Executive Committee has approved a proposal to bring all County Supervisors back in person for the monthly voting meeting, but keep virtual attendance options open for other meetings.
County Board Chairman Kurt Gibbs says as the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down and vaccines have become more widely available it’s time to bring everyone back in person.
“Anybody that wishes to receive a vaccine has had plenty of opportunity to do that,” said Gibbs.
Gibbs notes that most healthcare providers, pharmacies, and the community vaccination site at NTC have not required appointments for several weeks. Meaning anyone who wants to get vaccinated has had ample time to walk into those facilities to being their vaccine series.
The committee held around 20 minutes of discussion on the matter with most Supervisors agreeing that virtual means should still be offered to allow better public access to meetings as well as for the participants themselves.
“[There’s a necessity] to eventually get back to the previous processes,” said Supervisor Alyson Leahy. “We can’t delay it forever, but I do think a compromise at the moment would be wise and let people get back into the swing of things.”
Supervisor Jacob Langenhahn added that the measure would also provide some clarity to the other Supervisors about which meetings should be attended in person. He admitted that he had some confusion on that subject until a few weeks ago.
“I didn’t know if there was or was not a limit on whether I could attend a meeting in person. So maybe it would just require a small announcement saying ‘meetings can be attended in person.'”
Under the proposal, the Tuesday voting meetings would remain open to the public via overflow rooms. Additional public access would be provided through community access tv in Wausau and the live YouTube stream for those living outside the city.
Meetings are also archived on YouTube as well for on-demand viewing.
Thursday’s vote does require approval from the full county board later this month. Since it involves a rule change, a 2/3rds majority would be required to pass the measure.
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