The Manitowoc Common Council voted Monday night to extend the mask requirement in City Buildings through December 31st.
The resolution passed on an 8-2 vote and one of the supporters was District 5 Alderman John Brunner. “As I sit here with my positive test results…it’s not fun,” Brunner told the Council. “You should be wearing masks. I think the people that work in the City buildings and in City vehicles should be wearing masks, and I think it should be mandated.”
Several Council members cited lack of leadership at the Federal, State, and County level as the reason for extending the City’s mask mandate.
The Council also passed the 2021 budget with Finance Chair Jim Brey amending the resolution to add $390,000 back into the budget to repair Washington Street even though this portion of the road in the City is technically a State Highway.
There was push back by Council members pointing out this is the State’s responsibility, and this would be a bad investment on the part of the City. Alderman Scott McMeans told the Council, “It’s a State problem and we should be discussing this with the State and taking our time, not allocating dollars without understanding the problem.”
The debate continued with 9th District Alderman Steve Czekala offering an analogy. “I liken it to my neighbor’s sidewalk is bad,” he said. ”Am I’m gonna dip into my rainy-day fund to fix his sidewalk because my wife walks our dog down it every day? No. Nobody sitting here would. I don’t see why we should be doing this for the State either.”
The motion to add the money back into the City budget passed on a 6-4 vote, with the City levy set at $16,802,886.
