Sheboygan City Council member has been absent or late to over 40 meetings
Alderperson Barb Felde is paid $6,327 per year to do very little work
SHEBOYGAN — First District Alderperson Barb Felde has been absent or late to multiple Sheboygan Common Council meetings for the past two years despite receiving a paycheck from taxpayers.
The 69-year-old alderperson was appointed by Mayor Ryan Sorenson to serve on the Finance and Personnel Committee during her current two-year term on the Common Council. So far this year, Felde has attended just one of the 11 meetings held according to documents from the City Clerk’s Office. While she is listed as attending the April 8th meeting remotely, Trey Mitchell, the chairperson of committee, excused her as she was not physically at the Council Chambers or online at the start of the meeting.
While other alderpersons have multiple committee assignments, Felde has just one: the Finance and Personnel Committee. This committee usually meets twice a month at City Hall to take action on human resources and financial matters affecting city government. In April 2021, when Felde was running for her second term, she told The Sheboygan Sun that she would keep an eye on where and how the city is spending it's money.1 However, based on her attendance record, Felde is not keeping an eye on much of anything to do with how the City of Sheboygan is operating.
Six months into 2024, Felde has failed to attend five Common Council meetings, attended seven meetings remotely and attended just four meetings in-person. Of the seven meetings Felde attended remotely, she showed up late to four of those. She has failed to attend ten of 11 meetings of the Finance and Personnel Committee.2
Mayor Sorenson is the presiding officer of the Common Council and Alderperson Dean Dekker is the Council President. As leaders of the council, they have the authority to compel attendance and, if needed, expel members for neglect of duty. Both have the ability to address Felde’s absences3 but neither have take any action. Instead, Alderperson Dekker proposed to reduce the number of Common Council meetings by canceling the July 15th and August 21st meetings.
Section 2-33 of the Sheboygan Municipal Code states:
“Sec. 2-33. – Control of members. The common council shall be the judge of the election and qualifications of its members, may compel their attendance, and may fine or expel a member for neglect of duty. (Code 1975, § 2-23)
Felde resides at 2402 North 38th Street in the Deerfield Neighborhood. Her term expires in April 2025 and there is no word if she plans to seek a fourth term on the city council.
Getting paid to not attend meetings
The Common Council is made up of 10 elected alderpersons who serve two-year terms. As of this year, the annual salary for this position is $6,327.4 This means, Felde is collecting a paycheck from the taxpayers for being repeatedly absent or late to City Council and committee meetings. When asked if Felde is receiving a paycheck while missing meetings, City Clerk Meredith DeBruin responded, "All Alders receive a salary." When questioned on why the alderperson has not been attending meetings, DeBruin failed to answer.
MIA during pivotal meeting
The Common Council meeting on March 18th was pivotal in deciding who would fill the vacant seat created by Alderperson Amanda Salazar’s resignation, another city council member who had struggled attending meetings. However, the meeting could not start on time because there were not enough City Council members showing up to form a quorum. Felde, who was supposed to sign on virtually, was not present at the start. Is she known to be loyal to Mayor Sorenson except in her most basic duty — showing up to conduct the business of the City of Sheboygan.
City Attorney Charles Adams could be heard suggesting to Mayor Sorenson that the Sheboygan Police Department could physically locate the absent alderpersons and bring them to City Hall for the meeting. Although Felde eventually logged on remotely, she seemed annoyed and said she would be “listening.” This incident raises concerns about her attendance and capability to serve.
Below: watch video from WSCS of the meeting
Third-term attendance record
2024-2025 Session
The 2024-2025 Session began on April 14th, 2024. So far, the Common Council has held eight regular meetings with Felde attending three of those in-person and four remotely. She has been marked as absent for one meeting. Of the four meetings Felde attended remotely, she was late to three. She arrived 9 minutes late during the May 20th meeting and 10 minutes late during the June 3rd meeting. During the May 6th meeting, Felde joined remotely 32 minutes after the meeting had started only for that meeting to end 12 minutes later.
Because Felde’s attendance at city council and committee meetings became such an issue, Ryan Sorenson only appointed her to one committee: the Finance and Personnel Committee for the 2024-2025 Session. So far, Felde has missed three of the four Finance and Personnel Committee meetings held.
2023-2024 Session
Felde was reelected to the Common Council for a third-term in April 2023. During the first year of her term, there were 28 regular meetings and four special meetings of the Common Council. Less than one month after starting her third-term on the Common Council, Felde failed to show up for the fourth regular meeting of the council. Her second absence came during the 14th regular meeting on October 16th. Felde would then attend the next meeting remotely.
During the 17th regular meeting on December 4th, Felde connected remotely initially, but lost service and was unable to vote. She would end up not attending three more meetings until February 19th when she remotely attended the 22nd regular meeting of the Common Council. She also attended the 23rd meeting remotely.
Felde's attendance problems were on full display during the 24th regular meeting on March 18th. The meeting started eight minutes late due to a lack of quorum because Felde had failed to show up on time. When she did, eight minutes later, she did so remotely. Alderperson Angela Ramey had an excused absence while Aldperson Betty Ackley, another city council member who had extreme attendance issues, had an unexcused absence. After that fiasco, Felde was a no-show to the 25th regular meeting but would show up in-person for the 26th and final meeting of that council session.
Felde attended 18 of the 26 regular meetings with 12 of those being in-person and six being remotely. She did not attend eight regular meetings and skipped one special meeting during the first year of the two-year term.
Mayor appointed Felde to the Licensing, Hearings, and Public Safety Committee (LHPSC) where she served as Vice Chairperson as well as the Finance and Personnel Committee. She missed 11 of 24 LHPSC meetings. When it came to Finance and Personnel, she skipped 16 of the 24 meetings.
Sources
Meetings Directory
City of Sheboygan
Sheboygan Municipal Code Section 2-33
City of Sheboygan