By Heather Graves
Editor
GREEN BAY – It’s been about a year-and-a-half since the November 2020 election and even longer since the Green Bay City Council accepted grant funds from national nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) for election-related expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the controversy continues to fill City Council meetings discussions.
Two topics on the Tuesday, May 2 agenda referred from the April 27 Protection and Policy Committee meeting were up for discussion, and after nearly an hour of, at times, heated discussion, both items are headed back to committee for further review and information.
The first, a recommendation to receive and place on file a report on modems and City of Green Bay election tabulators.
City Council President Jesse Brunette made a motion to refer the item back to committee to direct the clerk’s office to submit written documentation that would be made public to confirm the information it presented to the committee – including details of storage location, maintenance records, serial numbers and other specifics pertaining to modems and election tabulators.
District 1 Alderperson Jennifer Grant supported the motion saying it was a step toward further transparency.
“We are getting a lot of questions,” Grant said. “One thing that was disheartening when I was campaigning was people lost faith in the voting. So, to have something just physical for people to look at, I don’t see any harm in that. And again, transparency is what a lot of people are asking for.”
City Council Vice President Brian Johnson supported the motion, but said he wants to make it clear “and I’ve said this multiple times, I do not believe there’s anything nefarious going on here in the City of Green Bay.
“As I’ve said all along the way, I think that the thing that we’re losing is the public relations battle,” Johnson said. “And I think referring this will provide that level of clarity that I think some folks are seeking that hopefully will help put this particular issue to rest. Holy cow, these (voting machines) are not even owned by the City of Green Bay. So I think this notion that modems are somehow contributing to an election conspiracy just doesn’t make any sense to me, but if getting the report in writing helps us control the PR message, I’m all for it.”
The motion to refer passed 11-1.
Outside grant money
The council also referred back to committee the report regarding parameters for accepting outside/grant money for elections.
Brunette made a motion to send the item back with the direction for staff to bring back an updated city grant policy that would include language stating: “It would be for City Council, as the policy-making body of city government, that we would like to direct the clerk’s office, the mayor’s office, the law department, finance department and the IT department, that for the remainder of the 2022 election, those offices and personnel within those offices shall not solicit or accept any donation in the form of money, property or personal services from an individual or a non-governmental entity for the purpose of funding related expenses of voter education, voter outreach or voter registration programs, with the exception of compensation for workers, securing leases for polling locations and PPE for voters and volunteers.”
Brunette said Green Bay needs to run its own elections.
“Bottom line,” he said. “This allows us to do that. It puts the guardrails in place and makes our voices as a body definitively say ‘We do this by ourselves.’”
District 7 Alderperson Randy Scannell said the motion was a moot point, because the City Council already has the power to accept or deny funds of any kind.
“I don’t understand what we are doing here,” Scannell said. “(Staff) doesn’t have the authority to take money. That is our job. They bring it to us. We decide.”
The motion to refer passed 10-2.