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A couple of Fredonia trustees are suggesting fewer public sessions for the board.
Trustees Tim Mulholland and LeeAnn Lazarony spoke up at the end of a two-hour-long workshop Monday.
The village board currently sits on virtually every Monday. Two Mondays a month are designated official meetings. Other Mondays are called workshops, where trustees are supposed to discuss village business and proposed legislation, and hear department heads' reports.
Mulholland wondered if the board would be better served with just one workshop a month.
"I don't want to be here every week ... not every municipality meets every week," Lazarony said. "Not that I'm not dedicated to the village and don't want to work for the village. I still want to have time to travel, and do the things I need to do with my family."
The trustees' workshop/meeting schedule has varied over the years. Mayor Michael Ferguson set the current workshop schedule, where they are held separately instead of prior to meetings as was done in the past.
"As a resident of this community for over 40 years, there was a long stretch where there was a workshop before the meeting," Ferguson said. "The excuse (on legislation) was, 'I just got this an hour ago, we're going to table it.' That's OK when you have something you really need for study. But it seemed to be an exercise in convenience... it happened often, very often, where many things were getting tabled."
Ferguson added, "I think there's an expectation of time that people expect their elected officials to put in when they are elected to represent the community."
The mayor said he was open to changes - but not as an excuse to put off business. "As long as the work gets done and we don't start missing deadlines and missing opportunities that lie before us."
Lazarony noted that the board can call workshops and meetings anytime it wants to, without necessarily meeting every Monday.
"I think we are trying and working diligently to move the business forward," she said. "I have no problem with coming to a meeting every week if that's what we have to do. What I'm saying is, everybody deserves their own time, I don't know if meeting every week constitutes me having time, or everybody else here having time."
Mulholland said, "It seems to me like a lot of the workshops, we aren't really accomplishing a whole lot. It's a lot of just discussion, and I feel like some of that can be consolidated into less (workshops)."
Lazarony wanted the input of department heads, her fellow trustees agreeing that is a good idea.
"My perspective is a little different," Trustee Paul Wandel said. "You can have too many meetings, I get that, but you can go the other way too. We have a village that has some serious problems... there is a lot of sensitive timing and coordination and alignment with engineering partners. Offline, I go to a lot of meetings. I don’t know that we need to meet every week, but we need to meet."
Lazarony questioned if the regularly scheduled workshops are a "productive atmosphere" for conducting village business.
"What strikes me is accountability," said Wandel, who mentioned the importance of public department and committee reports.
"We are the leadership, we put together policy and direction for the village... if we can do that in a different way that still allows us to be effective, I'm all for it," he said.
"I want to be more effective. I don't know if meeting more makes it more effective," Lazarony said.
"I'm still catching up, committee-wise. I'm immersing myself in all these things... I don't think anyone expects me to give 80 hours a week," she added. Lazarony opined that department head workshop reports are not as effective as sitting down and talking with them one-on-one with them.
Ferguson replied that "their time is valuable during the day as well" and trustees "can't be calling them five days a week, either." The mayor said workshop reports allow the public to hear from village department heads about issues.
"A happy medium is out there somewhere," Ferguson concluded, also backing the idea of polling department heads for their input.
Trustee Ben Brauchler concluded the discussion, asking department heads to send in their ideas and promising to restart the debate at their next workshop.
He suggested allowing department heads to give their reports at the start of workshops, so they can leave more quickly.