Hello Everyone,
Now that I have been elected to the Whitefish Bay Village Board of Trustees, I will be blogging about issues facing the Village. Please follow my blog to learn more about what’s going on at Village Hall or to share your thoughts and concerns about issues facing the Village.
Soon I will be establishing regular office hours to make myself available to Village residents to hear their concerns. Check back soon for more information about dates, times and locations.
Happy Easter.
Sincerely,
Lauri Rollings
News from Trustee Lauri Rollings 
Congratulations Lauri on being elected as a Village Trustee.
I appreciate very much your interest in taking action to improve two-way communication between residents and Trustees. I think that is a good and welcomed intention.
I disagree though with your approach. I’ve written to Kevin Buckley at an earlier time about this as well. Because the Trustees do not have independent constituencies I believe strongly that it is not a good thing for an individual Trustee to be a source of news or information or the point of direct communication during office hours (this can be different for the President who is in a different role).
I think time and effort would be better spent on figuring out a way for the Trustees and Village staff to more effectively have a two-way communication with Village residents. I really don’t understand why this hasn’t already been done. I can’t imagine what the barrier to this might be.
This might include office hours staffed by one or more Trustees (hopefully not all on Saturday afternoons), but with a formal process that provides detailed feedback to all Trustees and staff and village residents. Also, I would be concerned if the office hours were more than a listening opportunity. If a Village Trustee moved from listening to problem solving I would be very concerned that this could be a violation of open meeting laws. Maybe there could be a village blog that is shared by all the Trustees, where there is a systematic internal review and comment mechanism so Trustees can be consistent in the message being sent.
I think that independent messages, even when well intended and even when they provide for greater information and clarity might be better posted on the Trustee’s personal website with the typical warning that the announcement has been paid for by the candidate, etc. When it is an independent message, the message must be considered to be “political.”
Bruce,
Thank you for your comments. I will take them to heart and discuss them with my colleagues on the board.
Take care,
Lauri
Hi Lauri,
There’s got to be a better way for an elected official to end her blog. As someone representing folks of all religions and I’m sure someone wanting to create an inclusive culture within the Village, there’s got to be a better way. Nothing wrong with wishing folks who celebrate Easter, a happy Easter, but there might be 15 – 20% of Village residents who don’t celebrate Easter. Do those 15 – 20% of Village residents wonder if you think everyone celebrates Easter or are you too insensitive to end your blog in a more inclusive way?
I’m sure you had no intention of offending. I just want you to understand that you have and that there can be a better way. It’s not about political correctness. It takes more thought, more effort. It’s worth it.
Bruce,
Thank you for your comment. You are correct that I had no intention to offend anyone but that I should have been more sensitive to those readers who do not celebrate Easter. I will try to do better in the future because my intention is to promote inclusiveness and discussion, not to offend people.
Take care,
Lauri