GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Tensions were high at Tuesday’s Green Bay City Council meeting, after council members started to notice something…
Alderperson Chris Wery raised a concern for privacy at the meeting after a recent discovery of microphones that were installed at city hall without the council knowing.
State Senator André Jacque says this is a violation of civil rights.
“I was stunned to hear that city officials are secretly installing listening devices in city hall and eavesdropping on citizens without their knowledge.” said Jacque. “This is the kind of big brother surveillance tactic you’d expect in the old Soviet Union, not in the United States of America.”
Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich said the microphones are part of standard surveillance systems that keep the public safe while they’re at city hall. Senator Jaque argued that if the microphones are there for safety, then there should be a notice posted to inform citizens of the microphone’s presence.
The microphones were added at city hall between spring 2021 and summer 2022.
Alderperson Wery submitted a request to have the issue taken up at a committee level, which would eventually be taken up by the full city council.
