New Annex Meeting Room Will Be Video Ready

 Council Defeats/Passes Staff Recommendation

New Annex Meeting Room Will Be Video Ready

In one of those Keystone Kops debates city council went all around the Mulberry Bush as they debated whether or not to put video equipment in the new meeting room in the new City Hall Annex.

City staff recommended that the room not be outfitted with video capability, primarily based on the cost of such equipment. They ball parked the cost between $60,000 - $100,000 depending on the equipment chosen.

An amendment was passed to 'rough-in'' the room now during the construction phase of the building. However, council then began debating whether or not to agree with the staff recommendation to not put in the equipment.

The ensuing discussion/debate was truly worthy of popcorn and a soda and since this meeting was recorded you can go online to the city website and watch the show for yourself.

This is only my opinion, but I feel that some of the councilors who said they opposed the expense purely from a fiscal responsibility stance actually are opposed to the recording of the COW meetings as they prefer the less formal venue of a smaller meeting room without cameras watching your every move, and recording your every word.

City Manager Al Kenning suggested that if council wanted to record the COW meetings, they should hold them in the Shaw Auditorium as it was purpose-built for recording and broadcast. I am not certain how cost effective that would be given the city has to pay rent for the Shaw auditorium and the space in the annex  or course is free (so to speak).

So, if you want some amusement, get a bag of popcorn and check out the video on the city website.