The Greenville City Council has decided against a proposal to record council meetings for replay on local cable television, the City of Greenville web site and/or for airing live.
Council members Brent Money, Cedric Dean ad Holly Gotcher had requested the city use State-Issued Certificate of Franchise Authority (SICFA) funding for the effort.
But when it was time for a vote Tuesday, Money fond himself alone in speaking in favor of the measure.
“I think this is a good investment in our community,” Money said.
“Me, personally, I think it would be a waste of money,” Dean said.
The idea of recording and airing council and other city government meetings has come up several times in the past, mostly recently in late October, when the council voted to table the matter after the company being considered for the job was unable to send a representative due to illness.
The funding, in the amount of $33,603, will be used to purchase equipment with the capability to record all meetings conducted in the City Council chamber. The equipment would include three cameras controlled remotely by a computer networked with the current government access channels shown on local cable television. The recordings can also be added to the city’s web site, with the potential for live airings as well.
Rushworks, the company being considered for the contract, presented a demonstration for the council during Tuesday’s work session. But the majority of the council was not impressed.
Dr. Jerry Ransom was concerned about the potential costs if using the system is expanded.
“We’ll be taping any board or commission in here and I think it will come to a significant cost to the city that we haven’t budgeted for,” he said.
Jeff Dailey said that the video system should be used for all meetings held in the council chambers, but said he still didn’t have a clear idea of the potential cost of the system.
Money argued the whole idea was to make the actions of the council more transparent, and more easily accessible to those residents who are unable to make it to the meetings in person.
“I think it is an important part of our community,” Money said. “What we do here profoundly impacts their life.”
Dean noted how the council’s meetings typically draw only a handful of interested people to attend.
“There’s no way they are going to do it at home,” he said.
Mayor David Dreiling said he wasn’t opposed to the idea, but also questioned the potential cost in the future.
“We have a lot of other issues to spend the money on,” Dreiling said. “I just don’t think it will be watched that much. I don’t think there is that much interest.”
Money made a motion to proceed with the measure, which died for lack of a second.
James Evans then made a motion to deny taking action on the ordinance, which passed on a 6-1 vote, with Money against.