Some recent committee meetings of the Manteno Village Board didn’t have enough trustees for a quorum.

Different trustees have been absent from the Village Board meetings over the past two months that has concerned village officials. Trustee Annette Zimbelman has missed the several meetings due to personal issues.

“I just want to say that sometimes things come up in our lives, and we just have to miss a meeting,” said Mayor Annette LaMore at Monday’s board meeting. “But unfortunately, we’ve had several meetings lately where we didn’t even have a quorum, and two of those were committee meetings, and it’s kind of disappointing.”

LaMore added that three of the committee meetings meet at 7 a.m. which makes it difficult to attend if the trustee has to be at work by that hour. She encouraged board members to look into moving those meetings to the evening.

Trustee Joel Gesky said others have more conflicts in the evening than in the morning, and board member participation might be even less. He had an ordinance for remote attendance put on the agenda for Monday’s meeting that was eventually tabled in order to have further discussion.

The remote attendance ordinance would allow trustees to attend the meeting via a Zoom video link.

“It’s not the Annette Zimbelman ordinance, it’s the Village Board ordinance that we’re going to be talking about later,” Gesky said. “It’s to allow for everyone to participate, because I agree with you. We want everyone’s participation. We’re all here, and I think that if all of us can participate, we’re gonna have less arguments, right?”

Before a vote could be taken on Monday, it was tabled so it could be discussed during the Finance Committee meeting at 5 p.m. on March 16.

Village Attorney Joe Cainkar drew up the ordinance, and he based it on what other municipalities have done and what is allowed by state law.

“Everybody did [Zoom] during COVID,” Cainkar said. “The difference once COVID ended, they set up a new system for it, where the quorum actually has to be physically present. Then you can allow a person who has an illness, is away at work, or has a family emergency, to attend the meeting remotely. It has to be contemporaneous, you have to be able to hear, see and talk with them.”

If a quorum is present, those members can vote at the meeting to allow for the trustee on Zoom to fully participate.

In Kankakee County, only the County Board allows board members to attend meetings via Zoom. The Bradley Village Board has given the approval for trustees to utilize a remote phone connection to the meeting. Several local board meetings, including Manteno, are live streamed on the internet.

“I’m just trying to find a way to accommodate everyone’s schedule and to allow everyone to participate,” Gesky said.

After the meeting, LaMore said she doesn’t like the Zoom idea.

“I want people to be present,” she said. “We’re a small town. We need to look at each other and hear what’s going on and talk about it.”

LaMore knows the County Board allows it, but she’s not aware of any local municipalities that use Zoom.

“I don’t want to do that here,” she said. “I think people should come to the meetings. That’s what they signed up for. When you run to be a trustee, you run to be actively involved. And if you miss meetings, how can you even know what’s going on? How can you suddenly show up and start voting? That’s where all the information is in the committee meetings, being here, talking, sharing. So I’m not in favor of it.”

Turf for Square

The board also voted unanimously to approve the change order for $46,650 for LT Turf Pros of Peotone to install turf at the Square on Second. The turf was purchased last year for $35,000, and the amount approved was for the labor.

The measure was voted down in February. Trustee Mike Barry met with LT Turf Pros and negotiated a savings of $1,800 on the order. The village as mandated by the contract to pay for the labor.

The change order was made because the turf location was moved, a sidewalk has to be removed and protection padding will be added to the fall zone of the zip line.