A sign on a wall at Green Bay City Hall seen Feb. 17, 2023, alerts visitors that they are being recorded. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — An attorney representing Wisconsin’s State Senate has sent a new letter to Green Bay’s city attorney to preserve documents, materials and other tangible evidence possibly relevant to an impending lawsuit over the city’s use of audio surveillance at city hall.
Signs notifying visitors that they are being recorded are now posted at Green Bay City Hall.
The signs come amid controversy over microphones installed in the building’s hallway. Officials within Mayor Eric Genrich’s administration have said the city installed microphones in the hallways outside the clerk’s office, city council chambers and the mayor’s office within the last year and a half as a result of safety concerns involving city staff and members of the public.
The microphones went unnoticed by many city council members until earlier this month, when Ald. Chris Wery raised the issue at a city council meeting.
Ryan Walsh, an attorney for the Wisconsin state Senate wrote the city a letter demanding that all recordings be destroyed by 3 p.m. Friday. However, city attorney Joanne Bungert replied that the city believes the microphones are legal.
The latest letter from Walsh sent to Bungert on Friday states, “we are perplexed at the City’s willingness to use taxpayer money to defend spying on its taxpayers.”
Most of Walsh’s five-page letter is a notice of legal hold, explaining the types of potential evidence he would like the city to save for potential litigation.
In Wisconsin, one party must consent to a private conversation being recorded.
Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union, says this is the first time in his more than 20-year career with the ACLU that he has heard of a city hall-type building using audio surveillance.
Comments