But...

I just saw a youtube clip of our current mayor, Ginny O'Halpin.  Someone-- not Ginny, and not the Village-- sent the link to me.  I'm apparently one of a group of people who are on the Village e-blast circulation, but who don't get Village e-mails, or at least not all of them.  This has never been explained.

Ginny soon enough reassures that she, the acting manager, and the police chief are all "trained in emergency management procedures."  She does not say what this training is, or for what kinds of emergencies these three people have been trained, or how this reported fact is supposed to help Village residents.  The one specific intervention Ginny says she imposed is that "all public gatherings were canceled."

Ginny also points out that there are currently two Village police officers and two Village residents who have tested positive for the coronavirus.  Ginny does not explain why these four people were tested, or how many other Village residents were tested.  And how many were not tested.  So we don't know whether four people who are active in the Village are positive for this virus, or if everyone in the Village is positive.

Ginny then goes on to say that one Village employee has been provided personal protective equipment (PPE), and that that one Village employee is a "certified code inspector."  In that Ginny had already announced that all non-essential Village employees have been asked not to come to work, it is hard to imagine that the one essential Village employee is someone whose essential capacity is that he is a certified code inspector, but he is not our code officer.  There may be many reasons this one Village employee is of special value to be present in the Village, but his code certification doesn't really appear to be a likely one of them.

But most of what Ginny wanted to address is the unsettled matter of a "virtual" meeting of the Commission.  It was important to listen carefully, and to read slightly between lines, but it appears that the main reason our Commission has not met "virtually" is that Ginny has blocked a meeting, and her apparent reason is that she will not agree to a Commission meeting without a guarantee that nothing except the coronavirus will be discussed.  Ginny does not specify what other possible topics anyone has said they might want to discuss, or why Ginny is so avoidant about them.  But her answer is no.  There is one other method by which a Commission meeting can be forced on Ginny, but it requires the agreement of all four of the other Commissioners.  In that Will Tudor doesn't seem to care about anything to do with the Village, it is most unlikely he would care about a Commission meeting, either (despite what Ginny initially described as requests from several Village residents), so there is not the requisite supermajority.  This means the decision is Ginny's, and she has decided that no Commissioners and no Village residents who are not Commissioners are going to get their wish.

Ginny did add that there are now statewide accepted procedures for virtual meetings, and she even said she had conferred by telephone with other mayors.  So there's plenty of communication going on, and there's even a clear and readily available mechanism to have a meeting.  But still, Ginny won't permit one.

Ginny then explains that virtual (Zoom) meetings may not provide the same level of audience participation as do in-person meetings.  But if they provide any at all, or even if all that happens is that the Village gets to hear from all of their Commissioners, it's far better than...nothing.  (And since Ginny is a stickler for the three-minute limit on public comment, she doesn't really allow that much public participation anyway.)  Ginny further explains that someone has decreed that virtual meetings must allow for "a meaningful opportunity" for public participation, and "virtual meetings may not meet those criteria."  So Ginny has formed her own conclusions as to what would be "meaningful" to her constituents, and if there is any chance that the standard "may" not be fully met, she is prepared to deprive her constituents of whatever it is they might want.

Curiously, Ginny says "this is the time for unity; not division." And she rejects the one unifying mechanism at her disposal.

Elected officials do a number of things.  Under usual conditions, they act on a variety of issues.  They make decisions.  But under all conditions, they are the visible representatives of their constituents.  They are present.  They communicate.  They answer questions.  They reassure, if they can, and commiserate, if they must.  But elected officials who hide from their constituents, especially at times of emergency, or of heightened anxiety, are of limited or no use to their constituents.  "Trust me, and mind your own business" is not what constituents need.  It's not what they deserve.  Frankly, it's not what they pay for.