ATHABASCA - Physical distancing requirements over the last six months have forced many municipal councils to reconsider how meetings are conducted and how to include the public in the process using audio and video technology — Athabasca County is exploring how to provide that access, even when in-person meetings begin again in a post-pandemic world.
At the Oct. 13 Athabasca County council meeting, councillors voted to table a motion by Coun. Dwayne Rawson to record all public meetings, make them available on the county’s YouTube channel and to make the necessary amendments to the records retention bylaw, until the first meeting of December, after a lengthy discussion about the potential pros, cons, costs and questions of how long to keep the recordings on the site.
Since the declaration of the coronavirus pandemic in March, council has been conducting meetings via Zoom and transmitting them over YouTube in real time, however, the recordings were not made available afterwards.
Included in the council package were letters from residents of the county who were asking for recordings to be made available, including Tracy Holland, who has been closely following council’s discussion on the subject over the last two years.
“It removes the current barriers that make it difficult for the public to witness meetings and gives residents the ability to engage more in their community. In my opinion this is a huge win-win-win giving better service to taxpayers for zero dollars and it allows for the removal of barriers to improve community engagement and council transparency,” Holland’s Oct. 2 letter read.
“I hope council understands their electors need for this technological asset and approves this repeated request that would benefit everyone, especially since meeting minutes are vague and do not reflect the complete debate/discussion or name each councillors vote.
“As communication technology continues to advance, people are able to become more engaged with each other and their communities. Government entities are promoting the instantaneous connection with their constituents using video/audio and live stream technology.”
Coun. Rawson has been a proponent of recording and retaining the public meetings since the idea was first brought to council in 2018, and he was quick to put a motion forward, but other councillors had questions that had not been answered.
Coun. Warren Griffin referred to a recent public works committee meeting where the idea was discussed and said he still wanted to know the implications under the Freedom of Information and Privacy (FOIP) Act, how much extra work it would require of administration and how much it was going to cost.
“I’d like those answers before I make any decision on this,” he said.
County manager Ryan Maier responded that the costs would be “nominal” as making the recorded video available to the public required little more than changing a setting on the county’s YouTube channel.
Coun. Dennis Willcott said he wanted to know how it was going to work when meetings are once again held in person, and wasn’t prepared to vote that day.
“It’s no different than when the public comes in, and we have nothing to hide … I’d like some more information, but I’m not worried about it one way or another,” he said.
Maier clarified the county had purchased a 180-degree camera before the pandemic hit, which would be used to record the meetings.
Coun. Doris Splane said she has had no requests from residents in her area on the subject.
“Considering the population of our county, the four or five requests that we’ve had written here isn’t very weighty for me,” she said.
Coun. Christi Bilsky said she would prefer audio only recording and didn’t see a problem with keeping them for a certain amount of time for people to reference.
Coun. Willcott and Coun. Penny Stewart added they would like to know what other municipalities are doing in this regard.
Coun. Kevin Haines said he was OK with the Zoom meetings being recorded, but wasn’t sure how to approach it when councillors are once again meeting in the same room.
Coun. Splane added that she didn’t think it was necessary to keep the recordings permanently, and didn’t see any urgency in voting immediately on the motion either.
Rawson urged his fellow councillors “to get with the times,” and “to be a leader and not a follower.”
“There’s no cost, the only thing we’ve got to do is go back and open up the retention (bylaw). What is the issue here?” said Rawson. “We’ve got to get with the times here, people are asking for it.”
Coun. Griffin responded to that: “I’m not against it, but I’m not going to rush in just because someone says ‘Get on with it, be a leader’ … If we’re going to record these meetings we’re going to have to do it properly, and that means everyone’s camera is on, at all times, including administration’s.
“If we’re going to be open to the public, then we’re open to the public … We need to have a consistent method of delivering the service if we’re going to deliver the service. That’s my feeling on it.”
Rawson decided to table his motion to begin recording meetings and making them available to the public and council agreed in an 8-0 vote to revisit the topic Dec. 8, when further information about protocols that need to be in place are confirmed and to find out what other municipalities are doing.
