By Rich Palzewic
Staff Writer

ALLOUEZ – At its Aug. 4 virtual meeting, the Allouez village board discussed masks and COVID-19 numbers in the local community.

“As we know, the state has its own mask mandate,” said Village President Jim Rafter. “We’re not entirely sure what will happen at the state level, but we’ve heard from our health officials, and we’ve heard from our constituents. Some are in favor of masks, while others are not.”

Any action on a possible resolution for a face covering ordinance was tabled until the next meeting Aug. 18.

Rafter said he’s been tracking the numbers of COVID-19 cases in Allouez and the county using the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) website.

“I’ve heard lots of talk in the press about the big surge and spike in our area, so I checked the data,” he said. “Since May 1, in the Village of Allouez, we’ve averaged 1.1 new daily cases. In the last 30 days, it’s 1.25. Over the last three weeks, it’s 1.06, and in the last 7-14 days, it’s been about one. In terms of Allouez, I don’t see a surge, but knowing we are part of a larger community, I also took a look at the cases in the county.”

Rafter, who crunched the numbers himself, said Brown County is averaging 31 new cases per day since May 1.

“In the last month, it’s been 34 per day, in the last three weeks it’s been 36 and now is down to about 34 per day,” he said.

In other news

The board unanimously approved pay raises for election inspectors beginning with the August election.

Chief inspector’s pay increased from $12 an hour to $13, while election inspectors saw an increase from $9 an hour to $11.

Based on seven inspectors per polling location, staff said the pay increases would cost the village about $840 more per election.

From 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Aug. 22, there is a scheduled Fox-Wolf watershed cleanup.

Advanced registration is requested at secure.qgiv.com/event/fwap2p/register/ to ensure proper supplies are onsite.

Volunteers should report directly to the cleanup site they registered for.

“Each year, hundreds of volunteers throughout our watershed remove garbage and debris,” said Rafter. “Our annual cleanup aims to build a sense of community and increase understanding of the environmental stewardship necessary to improve water quality in our region.”

There are more than 60 cleanup sites along the Fox and Wolf rivers, Lake Butte des Morts and Lake Winnebago.

“We have two sites in Allouez,” Rafter said. “One is at Green Isle Park and the other at Wiese Park.”