Dear Editor,

First I gratefully thank everyone who came to participate and attend the meeting on Thursday. When dilemmas about citizen action occur, we need to get as much public input as possible. A conservative estimate would be about 50 people attending and at least a dozen but probably not more than 20 voicing their opinion, some of whom were not Village citizens. This brings up a very important point.

Our latest, most up-to-date statistics show that we had 779 registered voters in Monticello. And, that we had a turnout of less than 50% at the polls. This means that approximately 390 people would have been a much better representation of our voting public.

For me, as a Village Trustee, I need to know what the rest of you think so that I can base my recommendations to the full village board about the issues we talked about, namely masking to prevent spreading of a pestilence called COVID-19.

If there were even a hundred people that showed up, it would still be less than one-third of our voting population. This tells me we need more Village participation. All of you can help me out on this one.

Again, I am truly grateful for those that showed up and voiced their opinion. You have shown real Community spirit and I will expect to see more of you out helping our village officials do our jobs better, and attending Village meetings.

Thanks again,

Robert (Bob) LaBarre,

Monticello