Council mulls video-recording meetings

MILTON — Currently, the only ways to review past Milton City Council meetings are to download audio files from the city’s website, www.ci.milton.fl.us, or request a copy by CD from city hall.

However, the council and staff are exploring what it will take to record meetings on video.  

The issue passed a unanimous vote to go onto the executive committee. Ashley Lay was absent from Thursday’s committee meeting.

Council members have shown support for the measure. Expense will be the issue for Lay — city staffers learned that setting up the system costs $8,000; $7,000 for the cameras and $1,000 a year to webcast the meeting — but she said she’s open to the idea.

The benefits of video?

Well, Councilwoman Mary Ellen Johnson supports the measure because meetings on video allow residents another chance to see what happened during meetings, she said.

In addition, those who can’t attend meetings but watch them online can form opinions apart from what media outlets report on them, Councilman Jeff Snow said.

City hall staffers will have less to do if people can access video of the meetings online, according to Councilwoman Pat Lunsford.

How would it work? That’s a challenge.

“The biggest issue is exactly how you want it done,” city manager Brian Watkins said. “We could do two cameras: one focused on the podium, one focused on city council, and run a split screen, looking at both all the time.

“If you wanted to get fancier, where you’re switching back and forth, we could do it; but the issue there is we have to have somebody at the meeting swapping back and forth.

“For $8,000 we could at least have a static, split-screen view,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Council mulls video-recording meetings