Friday, August 27th, Mayor Tim Verzal called to let me know that the next city council meeting would not be held in person. He also told me that the agenda for the next meeting would be a discussion about how the council would like to proceed with meetings in the future.
To join the meeting call 1-669-224-3412 and use access code 805-100-029. The next meeting will be on September 1st at 7pm.
Emergency Powers
Since April of 2020, the Mayor has had emergency powers to make purchase decisions without the city council’s pre-approval. The Mayor has not used his emergency powers to this point. A number of times a motion has been made to end the emergency powers, which the Mayor has argued against.
Acquiring the technology to conduct city council via video conferencing is, in my opinion, the one and the only necessary use of the emergency power, that I believe the Mayor should have exercised. This technology should have been purchased more than a year ago, however, the Mayor often did not allow discussion on this topic. In every case, I have made a motion, the vote has been 3-2 against the tools that would make meetings accessible and transparent. Other than the support from Caleb Stapp, I am embarrassed by the council as a whole voting to continue using outdated technology.
Though the phone conference meetings are open to the public the system is problematic. City staff can’t mute the calls of residents to prevent background noise and other interruptions. As a result, it is often hard to hear what is happening in a meeting. The Mayor has also used this as a reason to disallow citizen input. The phone conference system also does not allow for visual demonstrations with maps, graphs, and other important data.
Email City Councilmembers
I have been consistent in calling for our city government and elected officials to utilize technology to communicate and be transparent with residents. Prior to the pandemic, I called for a vote to establish email accounts for all council members. The cost for those email accounts to meet compliance with legal requirements can be as little as $18 per month. Legal compliance and security are tremendously important. The technology is commonplace and affordable.
More Than Email
I believe the city council agenda, meeting minutes, and a video of the meetings should be made publicly available on the city’s website and retained there for a minimum of 5 years. Residents should be able to easily access this information without requiring a document request.
The same service that would provide emails for just $18 per month would also allow the city to share entire libraries of historical records such as meeting minutes via links on the city’s website. Recently many of the meeting minutes and council agendas have been removed from the city’s website to reduce costs of third-party compliance tools. For just $18 we would not need that other service.
With city council meetings once again being distanced, we need to utilize the same kinds of tools nearly every other government and organization has adopted. We need to use video conferencing.
Budgeted Amounts
Email, Cloud Office Software, File Sharing, Video Conferencing, Legal Compliance, for 5 City Councilmembers – $1,080 per year.
Laptops or Tablets meeting legal requirements for 5 City Councilmembers – $1,500 per year.
The hardware budget is assuming a 5 year replacement schedule and replacing one device early within that cycle. These costs are a drop in the bucket when compared to other city projects under the council’s consideration. A small price to pay for transparency.
My Experience
Outside of the city government I created and own a company that provides IT services. I have been doing this for over 19 years. Projects varied from small low budgets for family-owned businesses to larger budgets in the millions of dollars. In each of these projects, I have worked to ensure cost-effectiveness, legal compliance, security, and ease of use. This is my area of expertise.
If these or other issues are important to you please call into the city council meeting on September 1st! You will not be allowed to speak, but it is important to hear what is going on. You can speak with the Mayor and City Council Members outside of the City Council Meetings.