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The City of Hayden provides a YouTube channel featuring a wide range of meetings for convenient viewing. The accessibility and comprehensive recording of our meetings are invaluable. I regularly use the channel to prepare for future meetings by watching Planning & Zoning sessions or to review past decisions and discussion points.
Offering video recorded meetings is significant. It clearly demonstrates that your Council members are committed to transparency and ensuring decisions are accessible to the public. This openness requires courage, as it exposes our vulnerabilities. Personally, it can be challenging for me when my appearance isn't perfect or I search for the right words. However, my priority is communicating effectively and making decisions that impact you, with complete transparency.
At the end of our November 12 Hayden City Council meeting, Mayor Davis spoke about a future agenda item regarding recording meetings. I'm looking forward to this discussion because I think that the City of Hayden is doing a great job of video recording our Council and Planning & Zoning commission meetings. We have other commission meetings that I would like to have video recorded as well, but those are only audio recorded at this time.
At the conclusion of our November 12 Hayden City Council meeting, Mayor Davis addressed an upcoming agenda item on recording meetings. I am eager for this discussion, as I believe the City of Hayden excels in video recording our Council and Planning & Zoning commission meetings. I am confident that we should extend video recording to our other commission meetings, which are currently only audio recorded.
This past year or so we have had an increase in workshops, so there have been more meetings to record. On an average month we have two regular City Council Meetings, two Planning & Zoning meetings, and then perhaps one or two special meetings on top of that, so that's 4-6 meetings a month being video recorded. The extra workshops do add to the cost of recording, but they also increase other costs if overtime needs to be paid to staff and/or the City Attorney needs to be present.
Over the past year, we've experienced an increase in workshops, leading to an increase in meetings to record. Typically, we have two regular City Council Meetings and two Planning & Zoning meetings each month, along with one or two special meetings, resulting in 4-6 meetings being video recorded monthly. While the additional workshops raise recording costs, they also impact expenses if overtime is required for staff or the presence of the City Attorney is necessary.
Personally, I'd like to have any meeting that the City Council, your elected officials, are at as well as the Planning & Zoning meetings be recorded, but this is going to be discussed and decided at our next meeting on November 26.
Our staff does a great job of recording and posting these recordings, and I'd like to see it continue. So now we need decide which meetings are a priority to have, to record, and a more cost-effective way to do it.
Video taping meetings is one of the best ways to show that a city values transparency.
Sandy White
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