To the editor:
The May 5 edition of the Brown County Democrat published an article updating the community about the recent commissioners’ Zoom meeting concerning the proposed septic ordinance. It was noted that the meeting was legally advertised.
It may have been legal, but is it ethical?
Is it ethical to conduct important county government business via a Zoom meeting when so few residents have adequate internet to attend?
Due to coronavirus 2019 and the recent school restrictions, it is very evident that a large part of our community has very limited internet access. I might have been able to connect via my cellphone data to one Zoom meeting per month, but by the end of the month (meetings were held April 21 and 26), my available cellphone data was spent.
The Democrat reported only 25 people attended the commissioners’ public hearing via Zoom on April 26. Previously, the on-site meetings concerning the proposed septic ordinance were packed with concerned residents. I question who was informed of the “public hearing” and how they obtained the Zoom codes which enabled them to attend. The article cited the country commissioners plus at least one recorder, the president of the health board Thomi Elmore, members of the rewrite committee and other “committee members” and their expert soil scientist, Kevin Allen (who is also a civil engineer that is contracted by BCHD to do repairs). It appears the vast majority of people attending had an inside connection to the issue.
Commissioners President Pittman stated concerns about future litigation concerning this ordinance.
It appears the commissioners placed a limited time of one week for “written comments” to be received by the commissioners (May 3). Only seven comments were received, five in favor and two against. Knowing how our postal system operates, if you wanted your opinion to be considered you had to hand-deliver it to their office to ensure it arrived within their imposed time limit.
The Democrat article appeared in the May 5 edition. It announced the commissioners’ final vote for approval was scheduled for May 5 during a Zoom meeting at 2 p.m. the same day. (Note: The Democrat did not include the Zoom connection instructions in print. I called their office.)
Because of the severe limitations of the internet in Brown County, I question if this is a legal procedure. The Brown County prosecutor may need to be involved to determine this unique situation in Brown County and if Zoom meetings should be an approved method to conduct official business.
This is not ethical. The commissioners were voted into office to serve our community. They know every time if they held an on-site meeting concerning this septic ordinance the residents appeared en masse. This needs to be handled correctly no matter how difficult it appears.
<p style="text-align: right"><strong>Julie Stelting, former employee of the Brown County Health Department and previous (part-time) septic inspector</strong></p>
P.S.Thank you to Jerry Pittman for his proposal to wait on a final vote and his stated concerns for the “unnecessary elements included in the code.”
<em>Editor’s note: The Zoom meeting listing and login information for the April 26 public hearing was printed in the legal notice section of the April 21 paper, but due to an oversight, it was not copied into the government calendar that appears in the A section. We posted a meeting link on our Facebook page before the hearing started to try to help people find it and log in. We did include the meeting and Zoom connection instructions in the government calendar for the May 5 meeting.</em>
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