For the second time in the past month, no vote was taken on a remote attendance ordinance by the Manteno Board of Trustees.

A motion on an ordinance for allowing remote attendance via Zoom didn’t get its needed second at Monday’s board meeting, so no vote was taken. The ordinance was tabled at the March 16 meeting.

At Monday’s meeting, Mike Barry, Joel Gesky and Peggy Vaughn were the only trustees present. Annette Zimbelman is out with an illness, while CJ Boudreau let fellow trustees know he was out due to a family emergency. Trustee Todd Crockett was also absent.

There were questions by some trustees as to what would be considered a valid absence for a board member to be able to attend the meeting remotely. They want some parameters included in the ordinance.

Barry said it’s tough if other board members don’t know what another might be going through.

“If somebody’s going through something, whatever it is, that’s their business,” he said. “It’s not my business. That’s where I think with the remote, if there’s parameters put in place.”

Barry added that Boudreau had reached out to him about why he wouldn’t be at the meeting, and that is a case where a board member could attend remotely.

Gesky said he knows there are people who are against remote attendance, and Boudreau’s absence is a prime example of why the board should have it. He said Boudreau gave him permission to share why he was out.

“This would have been a perfect opportunity for him to be able to interject and participate as a trustee and carry out the duties that he was elected to do,” Gesky said. “He was brought away because of a family emergency and just to address the situation because people have gotten emails about it. … CJ said this would have helped him keep his mind off of what he’s going through. It would have been an opportunity for him to have some moments of normalcy during this time frame.”

Vaughn asked if there would be a policy on how many meetings a trustee would be allowed to miss.

The board agreed to send all their concerns on what could be included via email to Village Administrator Chris LaRocque so they can be discussed further at a committee meeting. LaRocque can work with village attorney Joe Cainkar to determine what can legally be included in the ordinance before it’s put back on the agenda for a vote.

“I would contend that if someone’s not here because they have a committed excuse, but they’re still participating,” Gesky said. “They’re still being active in decision making, and not just coming to a vote, but they’re educating themselves. What’s the problem? There really shouldn’t be, but again, I’m just tossing that out there as food for conversations.”

Mayor Annette LaMore said she could see personal illness or disability, a trustee being away for village business, or someone dealing with a family emergency as three reasons to be able to attend remotely. Such situations wouldn’t include birthday parties or vacations.

“You should have your priorities here,” she said. “And when you ran to be a trustee or a village official, your priority is to come to meetings. So we will get all those things sent into Chris [LaRocque], and we’ll get a better plan with guidelines and we’ll see what happens.”

Budget

The Board did unanimously approve a preliminary budget for the Fiscal Year of May 1 through April 30, 2027. A copy of the proposed budget is available for viewing on the village website. A vote on the final budget will be taken at the next meeting on April 20.