Village Board Will Revisit Mask Discussion Monday

SHOREWOOD, WI — The Shorewood Village Board of Trustees will revisit the discussion of masks in Shorewood at a special meeting Monday.

Another mask ordinance or resolution is a possible outcome. Suggested motions include a mask resolution, a mask ordinance or an official statement from the board recommending CDC guidance.

At present, the CDC recommends all people, vaccinated or not, to wear masks when indoors in public in areas of high community transmission— Milwaukee County is currently at a high risk.

Village Trustee Tammy Bockhorst told Patch she feels the discussion will be largely for education and information purposes, and a chance for the Board to acknowledge and discuss the continuing pandemic.

The Village let its own mask mandate "sunset" in May. The ordinance expired without any debate or backlash from the public. In the few months since, cases have begun to rise again. As of Friday, the North Shore Health Department has recorded 42 new COVID-19 cases for a total of 153 active cases.

In a letter to the Village Board of Trustees and President, Mask Up Shorewood, a local advocacy group, urged the board to reconsider its decision on masks.

"The Village has mandated masks on all Village property — the same should be done for all indoor spaces in Shorewood," Mask Up Shorewood wrote in its letter.

"It would be wonderful for Shorewood to once again take the lead in this, like last year, and reinstate an indoor mask mandate. The need is indisputable and the faster we act, the better chance we have of mitigating spread and keeping our community and beyond safe and healthy," the letter also said.

In discussions with the Shorewood Business Improvement District, no specific recommendations were found from local businesses or the BID board, according to an agenda packet item to be presented by Village Manager Rebecca Ewald.

"For the BID the most helpful solution is cohesive messaging so if the Village Board believes a mandate takes care of that, they will follow along," Ewald's agenda report said. "Business staff cannot enforce a mandate and are quite fatigued."

The suggested motions in the agenda packet:

1. Consider Ordinance 3027, creating an ordinance that follows CDC guidance. This reference allows the ordinance to reflect current and changing advisement from the CDC moving forward.
2. Consider Resolution 2021-22, similar language as reflected in the proposed ordinance above. This option eliminates the $750 expense of modifying the code with our codification vendor.
3. Strongly encourage the community to follow CDC guidance.

"We're keeping an eye on this but not overreacting," Bockhorst said. "It will be good for us to be as educated as possible as a board."

When it comes to masks, "people in Shorewood have made good decisions," she added.

The Details

The meeting will be held on Monday, Aug. 16 at 6:30 p.m. It will be held over Zoom. Click here to see the related agenda packet items or to dial in to the discussion.

During the meeting, the Village Board of Trustees will also discuss how to continue lifeguard staffing at Atwater Beach, the contracting of an attorney to guide the Police Commission through the process of finding a new chief of police, and a proposal to start recording Police Commission meetings.