By Michael Howell
The County Commissioners decided to finally activate the web camera that has been installed in the commissioners’ meeting room for live broadcast of public hearings. The web camera was installed several months ago, but has remained unused while the commissioners worked on answering some policy questions related to its use.
Last Thursday, Commission Chair Matt Kanenwisher stated that no changes had been made to the initial policy. He said it had simply been “languishing” due to some issues that still remain unanswered, such as how long a video record of a meeting must be kept. He said that the questions which remain are unanswerable and that the time had come to simply decide to proceed with the use of the device or not.
Commissioner Greg Chilcott suggested that the commission move slowly and incrementally with implementation of the broadcasts so that they could deal with whatever technical problems might arise. He also noted that some employees had expressed concerns about live streaming every meeting. He said being on a live broadcast made them feel uncomfortable and would stifle frank communication with the commissioners.
All of the public comment at the meeting was in favor of live streaming as many meetings as possible and Commissioner Suzy Foss also expressed a desire to see as much made available on the web as possible.
Based on the concerns expressed by the majority of commissioners, however, it was determined to start by broadcasting only official public hearings and not any other meetings until they are sure that all the bugs are worked out of the system.
The fact that the public hearings will be accessible through live streaming on the internet will be noted on the agenda. Although the public may view the public hearings live on the internet, they will not be posted or archived on the county’s web site. A copy of the hearings will be retained, however, and copies can be procured for a fee from the commissioners’ office.