03/18/2020- Marinette County’s upcoming Board of Supervisors meeting will go on as planned, but there’s a backup plan in place to ensure essential matters are taken care of in the event the COVID-19 outbreak prevents a quorum from convening. The County’s Executive Committee discussed options to keep government operations running smoothly at the local level while adhering to social distancing guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus. While the prevailing solution was to plan on the regular county board meeting on the 31st, but also notice an Executive Committee meeting for the same day to act on behalf of the board if a majority of supervisors do not attend, County Board Chairman Mark Anderson is leery about encouraging gatherings of any more than ten people, saying it flies directly in the face of state and federal recommendations.
Corporation Counsel Gale Mattison says Supervisors and the public should at least be given the option to attend a full board meeting, as steps can be taken to limit physical contact.
If a quorum of the County Board does not gather, the Executive Committee, which is comprised of chairs and vice-chairs of the individual county committees, will act on behalf of the Board on any time sensitive matters on the full board’s agenda. If the Executive Committee also fails to have a quorum, those matters would default to a decision by the Board Chair and the County Administrator.