Fredonia village officials discussed reopening Board of Trustees meeting to the public Monday.

Mayor Doug Essek brought the issue up by reading some of the state COVID-19 guidance that was updated May 19. The well-known change there was that vaccinated people are no longer required to wear masks in public or socially distance.

Essek said it is up to the village trustees if they wanted to go along with it.

“The village can require proof of vaccination status … or the village can require the honor system” for attending village meetings, Essek said. He said the Board of Trustees could go with the state guidance or continue to make people mask up and social distance when visiting Village Hall. Similarly, the board has a decision to make on allowing the public to attend meetings, he said.

“I’m all for lifting (the previous COVID-19 restrictions) and I’m also all for the public attending these meetings in person again,” Trustee Scott Johnston said. “However, people who are not going to wear masks, I would like them to provide evidence of vaccination.”

“There are logistical issues to it so it’s definitely challenging,” said Trustee Heidi Powell, who is a Registered Nurse. “I would say something to be taken into consideration is, if someone’s coming in to pay their water bill, that’s not a long amount in time. When you look at contract tracing, if it’s less than 10 minutes, they are not considered an exposure even if the person is positive. If you’re going to look at it from that perspective, the meeting, being a lengthier period of time…then ( vaccination proof) would be maybe something we would want to consider.”

“As far as the meetings here, with the windows open, I feel fairly comfortable and safe because we’re getting fresh air, there a cross breeze,” said Essek, who was seriously ill from COVID-19 in December. “I almost died from it so I take things seriously.”

“I would like to see us open up to the public for meetings but I do think we do need to check for vaccinations,” said Trustee EvaDawn Bashaw. “I think we need to decide whether downstairs (in the village offices) you’re gonna require people to use masks to come on or you’re going to ask for vaccinations, but everyone downstairs needs to be on the same page. In other words, you can have the water department and the tax department be different than the clerk’s department.”

Trustee James Lynden wondered if the board could allow unvaccinated spectators if they wore masks. Bashaw said a capacity limit should be enacted.

Johnston said that unvaccinated people should not be allowed to enter meetings, while Essek opined that the easiest thing to do would be to require everyone to wear a mask, vaccinated or not. Powell suggested the village just follow federal Centers for Disease Control guidelines.

In the end, the only action taken by the board was to ask Village Attorney Charlie Roberts to research the most up-to-date guidance from both federal and state entities.