One area community is considering a new way to find volunteers to serve on city committees.
“I’d like to develop a form for those interested in serving on boards and committees,” said Weyauwega Mayor Mike Kempf.
As mayor, one of Kempf’s duties is to recruit citizens for committee appointments.
Late last year, he recommended one person to fill vacancies on two separate committees.
The Common Council voted to approve one of the appointments, but not the other.
Ald. Donna Allenstein said she would rather not see citizens serving on more than one city committee.
She wants to see more people get involved in local government.
As a result, Kempf wants to create a form for interested citizens to fill out and then be considered for committee appointment.
He brought up the idea at last month’s Common Council meeting.
City Administrator Patrick Wetzel thinks it is a good idea.
“We are short on the Board of Appeals one member and two alternatives,” he said. “The mayor, in the end, is the person who nominates for council review. I like the idea.”
Allenstein said it is difficult to find people willing to serve on committees.
“I think it’d be acceptable for you and Pat to come up with a form,” she told the mayor.
Allenstein said the form could be included with the city’s water bill.
Then, the city would have a list of people interested in being on boards and committees.
Ald. Scott Rasmussen suggested including descriptions about what each committee does.
“That’s what everybody asks,” Kempf said.
In some cases, citizens have decided they do not want to serve on a committee after they were appointed and then learned more about what the committee does, according to the mayor.
“Thank you for that idea,” Wetzel said, regarding the form for volunteers. “We will work on that.”