By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
SUAMICO – Except for voting absentee or registering to vote, the village hall was closed to the public Wednesday, March 18, as precautions are being taken in Suamico to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Though the spring general election is still on for April 7, Village Administrator Alex Kaker said voters are encouraged to cast absentee ballots before then to lower the number of people at the polls on Election Day.
Kaker said Suamico’s recreation programs and events have been canceled or postponed through April.
For the time being, he said water meter changeovers won’t be taking place in the village.
With Suamico now looking at the possibility of village staff being able to work from home, Kaker said there is an evolving situation related to prevention measures for dealing with the COVID-19 virus as the village receives information from Brown County and the state and federal government on how to respond to the pandemic.
Instead of village staff members typically sitting next to each other at board meetings, at the Monday, March 16, meeting they were spread out in the mostly empty audience seats.
Other municipalities, such as the Village of Howard, have closed their buildings to the public.
Kaker said village board meetings will continue as scheduled, but all committee and commission meetings have been suspended until at least Monday, April 6.
The Suamico Area Joint Municipal Court postponed initial appearances, juvenile hearings and court trials through the week of March 30, while in-person pre-trials set for April 8 have been postponed to April 9 and will be conducted via telephone with anyone affected by these changes being notified by mail.
Suamico Village President Laura Nelson said staff will be presenting a plan at a special board meeting March 23 to deal with COVID-19.
“As things rapidly develop, we’re planning for all contingencies,” she said. “Alex (Kaker) already has something in the pipeline for that.”
With the situation related to COVID-19 evolving, Kaker said “tomorrow may be a totally different story – we have no idea.”
“We’ve been talking in-house daily for a week, two weeks about this, making sure we’re prepared for everything,” he said.
In addition to the COVID-19 plan, Kaker said the special meeting agenda March 23 will include staff requesting board authorization to proceed with advertising bids for the new Fire Station No. 1.
Emergency closures
The board approved a revision in the village’s personnel handbook related to emergency closures, giving the village administrator, with approval of the village president, discretion as to when to close or delay the opening of various operations.
The revision replaces a previous weather policy provision to include inclement weather or other emergency situations to provide a plan for employees in the event of an emergency closure of village hall.
“If any staff are told not to report to work, they will still be paid like it was a holiday,” Kaker said. “When applicable, staff will be instructed to work from home. So, we’ll try to make sure, if we ever do close, that they can work from home, if at all possible.”
For staff who come into work when others are told not to, Kaker said those employees will receive their normal rate of pay for work during regular business hours, but will accrue compensatory time in lieu of being paid overtime.
“This will help us manage our budget,” he said. “For example, if a public works employee comes into work during a snowstorm and works the normal shift of 7 (a.m.) to 3 (p.m.), they would still be paid their normal rate, but for those eight hours that they work, they will earn four hours of comp time that they can use at a future date.”
Kaker said the revised policy could be used for the current COVID-19 issue as well as any emergency situation where closing village hall would be warranted.