Trustees: Going Paperless is a Personal Choice

Village trustees decided that going paperless for meetings is a matter of personal choice Monday night.

The Village Board had been considering whether to go entirely electronic, and either receive agenda packets by email or read them online. Trustee Matt Brolley initially suggested the idea, as a way to be more environmentally friendly and save money.

Village staff has already made the move, which, according to Jamie Belongia, assistant to the village manager, will save about $863 a year. Starting with Monday’s meeting, the village will no longer provide printed agenda packets for staff members and press.

In the past, staff would print 22 of those packets for each meeting. Monday’s stretched to 85 pages.

But though some trustees were on board with going electronic, the five board members present Monday night (Andy Kaczmarek was absent) agreed that each trustee could decide for himself.

Trustee Stan Bond became the first to make the switch, having asked that a paper packet not be printed for him Monday. He brought his iPad to the meeting, and used it to read the packet and take notes. Others, however, were not as comfortable with the technology.

“I think it’s personal preference, and I prefer paper,” said Trustee Bill Keck. Trustee Pete Heinz agreed with him.

Trustee Denny Lee came down somewhere in the middle. He said he is “not big on email,” but admitted “you have to keep up sooner or later.” Village staff will continue to print out agenda packets for trustees who want them, Belongia confirmed.

Monday’s meeting was the board’s only one in June, and trustees tackled several other issues. They approved spending $386,500 to resurface roads throughout the village, with $100,000 of that coming from a state grant, and the rest from state-shared motor fuel tax funds.

They also approved spending $160,000 to buy 2,600 tons of salt for the winter, but trustees will reconsider the source of those funds next month. At present, the money is slated to be taken from motor fuel tax funds, but some trustees feel that MFT monies should only go to fix roads.

Public Works Director Mike Pubentz confirmed that road salt is an allowable use of MFT funds, and the village began using them for that purpose about four years ago. The village gets about $480,000 a year in MFT funds, according to Finance Director Jeff Zoephel.

But Bond said the board should find another way to pay for salt.

“It was a decision that was made to shift a spending priority, and I don’t agree with it,” Bond said. “I would rather spend all of that money on roads.”

Trustees also agreed to extend a contract with Synagro Central, LLC to remove lime sludge, a byproduct of the water treatment process. The new contract includes a rate increase, and will cost the village up to $60,000.