By Gail Peckler-Dziki~Correspondent
The Silver Lake Village Board table was full by the end of the Oct. 2 regular board meeting and items were routed to committees.
The first item to hit the table regarded discussion and possible action to implement board meeting policy. This was put on the agenda by trustee Soti Wilber who saw a need to implement Robert’s Rules of Order, considered the leading manual of parliamentary procedure and intended to help those who run the board meetings run them more smoothly.
Wilber pointed out that in the recent past, people in the audience simply spoke out whenever they wished and there were often several conversations occurring at the same time. She suggested two things, that anyone who wished to speak sign up prior to the meeting and those who wished to speak but weren’t able to sign up, raise a hand and wait to be recognized by the president.
Another suggestion to aid orderly meetings was that residents who wished to have an item placed on the agenda do so five days prior to a meeting. “That way,” Wilber explained, “the chair of that committee has time to see what the item is, research the item and approve the placement.”
While Gerber admitted that she had already broken one gavel in an attempt to bring a meeting under control, she demanded to know why this wasn’t brought to a committee and why Wilber consulted the village attorney, Linda Gray, to the tune of $215 in a consult fee.
At that, Gray shook her head and said she didn’t think the charge was that much, but Gerber insisted that was the amount on the bill.
To Wilber, Gerber said, “I received one version of your proposal through email yesterday and got this other one in the packet today. Why didn’t this go through committee? It would have cost less. I haven’t had time to read through this. I haven’t had time to prepare.”
Resident Bill Erb complained that it was impossible to sign up to speak at citizen comments five days prior to the meeting, because, “The agenda isn’t even out yet.”
Karen Erb, his wife, commented that she felt this was an attempt to infringe on her free speech rights and the first amendment.
The item was tabled and sent to committee.
Engineer bids tables
Later that same meeting, Gerber presented five bids for engineer proposals for storm sewer repairs. She read off the names and the bid amounts.
When she was done, Trustee Pat Dunn asked Gerber when she had received the bids. “I only received them tonight. I haven’t seen them before. I haven’t had time to prepare.”
He then asked Gerber if this item had gone through committee. Gerber replied that she had presented the bids that night and the item had not gone through committee. This item was also tabled and sent to committee.