The Rundown: Trautsch Wants Announcements Trimmed from Village Board Meeting

On a Tuesday evening filled with awards and recognition of community members’ achievements, Trustee Cindy Trautsch (Dist. 1) proposed that  some of the excess public service announcements be trimmed from the regularmeetings.

“I had suggested that we move announcements to the 7 to 7:30 p.m. slot so that, we, as a board, can have our meetings and get out earlier within our time frame,” Trautsch said.

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Announcements of carnivals, 5K runs, parish smokers and fundraisers, for example, would be announced before the village board’s regular 7:30 p.m. starting time on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month.

“Move these so they don’t take away from the meeting or the meeting takes away from [community members],” Trautsch suggested. “We have business that we need to handle.”

Mayor Dave Heilmann suggested starting public service announcements 15 minutes before the village board meeting.

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“I think it would be beneficial for residents to come and use the mic and help get community announcements out,” the mayor said. “Nobody would have to wait and the board wouldn’t have to be there.”

There was no mention if the pre-board meeting announcements would be included in the taped village board meetings shown the next day on Ch. 4. Also not discussed was if the proposed reduction of public service announcements would apply to trustees’ parish announcements during their new business reports.

Implementing a change to the policy on public service announcements at village board meetings would require a vote by trustees.

The policy would not affect recognition by the village board of community members’ special achievements.

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