Woodlands County chooses transparency, votes in favour of asking for tenders to upgrade audio/visual equipment in Council chambers to allow for continued streaming of meetings

On Tuesday, July 21, Woodlands County Council discussed a plan to continue live-streaming their regular meetings. CAO Gordon Frank said that administration reached out to an audiovisual company to get a quote on upgrading equipment so that council can provide live-streaming even once they are back to doing regular in-person meetings at the office. Councillor Rennie said that it was a great idea to offer. “I hope we proceed with it.” He added that he had been notified by several other local companies that they would like the opportunity to bid on the contract.

“I am wondering if we can advertise this and go through the process, and perhaps we can find a better deal, and local, with is win-win,” he questioned. Mayor Burrows agreed. Councillor Kusch jumped in next and said that he also agreed. “This is an amazing idea and something we should pursue. I agree that there are lots of local people that would probably like the opportunity and keep the money more at home.” Councillor Kluin joined the chorus and said that allowing local companies to have a chance to bid is a must.

Councillor Rennie then made a motion to advertise for tenders with the project cost not to exceed $75,000, and to proceed as soon as possible. Moments later, Councillor Govenlock shared his distaste for the idea, saying that the cost of $75,000 would only include the Whitecourt office and not the Fort Assiniboine office. County regular meetings bounce between both offices to provide a closer meeting opportunity for residents further from Whitecourt.

He said that he did not understand why the change needed to take place either. “I don’t know how we have existed on virtual meetings in the past four months, but now all of a sudden, we have to change the system. I have not particularly noticed issues with the process that is being used. This is not a priority for me whether the cost is $5,000 or $100,000.” He also stated that he didn’t like that administration was moving money around to cover the costs. Councillor Kluin then asked why the County had not transitioned to in-person meetings yet when other municipalities already had. “Why are they doing it when we’re not? It baffles me why there are different rules for different organizations.”

Frank responded that the reason the County had not transitioned yet was that the spaces they usually use for meetings would not allow for guests and physical distancing to happen as is required by mandates. “When stage two opened, the indoor meetings maximum was 50 individuals. Yes, I understand that council may not get 50 people, but your council chambers also must have physical distancing of two metres.”

He said that administration had held a meeting at the beginning of the month, where they had 20 people in the room for a presentation. Frank said that it was a tight squeeze. He noted that other municipalities that are holding in-person meetings are basically taking their chances that no one else will show up. “What happens if you do that (and more people show up), then you are contravening the health guidelines and regulations, or you’re not meeting your mandate under the municipal act (public meetings). That is where I would take a more cautious approach so that when you come back into council chambers, whenever that might be, you’re ready to be streaming to the public.”

Mayor Burrows said that the feedback they have received from video streaming has been positive. “I know that transparency is a big issue when it comes to organizations that are municipal governments. I understand the funding is an issue. Transparency is one of those things that is absolutely vital in an organization like ours, and I think we need to make these meetings as transparent as possible and as open and available as possible.”

Mayor Burrows also said that he has spoken to people that have wanted to come out to meetings but that they only want to attend for one part. “There’s only a fifteen or twenty-minute segment in that meeting that they want to see, and they have to sit through a three-hour meeting to see that one segment and drive an hour to do it. This could save us a little bit of money in staff time as well.”

Councillor Prestidge said that he was not against the idea but that he wanted to see them wait until next year so that the cost could be included in next year’s budget. The vote followed and was tight, but it ultimately passed with Councillors Rennie, Kusch and Kluin, and Mayor Burrows, voting in favour and Councillors Prestidge, McQueen and Govenlock voting against it. Once tenders are received, council will debate doing the project at an upcoming meeting. Both meeting spaces will be included in the tenders.

On the same topic, during the Whitecourt town council meeting on Monday, July 20, two members of the press core, including this reporter, questioned council if they would consider continuing to live-stream meetings now that they were back to meeting in-person. After some discussion, council voted to have administration investigate ways to offer live-streaming. Two councillors, Pickard and Chauvet, voted against the motion, but the majority agreed to look into it further.

One of the reasons given for not providing streaming was the lack of bandwidth at the Forest Interpretive Centre. Still, this reporter said that recording the meetings and posting them to YouTube the next day would be just as good and certainly better than nothing. The space available in Monday’s first in-person town council meeting was very tight. Each councillor was spaced out, and members of administration were in the audience. With two reporters and three members of the public, there wasn’t more than a seat or two available for attendees that might’ve shown up. Recording it would have provided an option to keep physical distancing protocols from being potentially stretched.

In comparison, several other municipalities are planning to continue live-streaming their meetings even once in-person meetings begin. One such community is Jasper. They also provide their recorded meetings on YouTube. The towns of Edson, Hinton and Cochrane, to name a few, have been live-streaming since before COVID-19. Barrhead recently voted against offering continued live-streaming of in-person meetings, but only 12 people can safely fit in their council chambers. With much of that filled up with councillors, administration, and media, it only leaves a couple of seats for the public, which could prove troublesome in the future. It will be interesting to see whether Woodlands County or Whitecourt join the chorus of regular live-streamers as a service to provide their residents.