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Committee recommends Plan Commission ordinance change to seat a school-district representative as voting member, with residency amendment
Summary
The committee moved to amend the municipal code to make the Plan Commission include a school district representative as a voting member; members added an amendment requiring the school district representative to be a Village of Germantown resident. The committee voted 2–1 to forward the amended ordinance as a recommendation to the Village Board.
The General Government and Finance Committee voted to recommend an ordinance change to the Village Board that would make the Germantown School District’s representative a voting member of the Plan Commission. The committee amended that proposal to require the school district appointee to be a Village of Germantown resident, and the amended motion passed 2–1.
Nut graf: The ordinance replaces an ex officio (nonvoting) school board seat with a voting seat filled by the school district, but the committee’s amendment requires that the district designate someone who resides in Germantown.
Details and debate: Staff described the ordinance as changing the current Plan Commission composition by removing the ex officio school board seat and designating one regular position as a school-district-filled seat. “What the ordinance does is, gets rid of that ex officio position and just makes one of the regular positions a position that's filled by the school district,” staff said.
Several trustees questioned why other communities do not typically give school districts a voting seat and raised concerns about nonresident appointees making decisions affecting village land use. One trustee said, “I have one issue with it, and that is that they don't have to be a resident at Germantown,” and expressed discomfort with a nonresident voting on village matters. The committee then proposed and approved an amendment requiring the school district representative to be a Village of Germantown resident before forwarding the ordinance.
Discussion vs. decision: The action forwarded a recommendation to the Village Board; it does not itself change the municipal code. The committee’s vote (2–1) was a recommendation, per staff, and the Village Board would consider final adoption at its meeting later that night.
Ending: The ordinance, as amended to require residency for the school district representative, will be presented to the Village Board for final action.
