Transparency takes center stage at council meeting

Transparency was a big theme at Monday night’s Hill City Common Council meeting.

The council discussed whether or not other bodies should be video recording their meetings and what to do to make the video process easier.

Before discussing that matter, though, the council heard public comment from Connie Wolters, who wanted information regarding four claims regarding payment to Gunderson, Palmer Nelson and Ashmore — the law firm who has been handling Hill City’s legal matters since previous city attorney Frank Bettmann stepped down at the beginning of the year.

“I’m curious,” Wolters said, “and I think the should know about these bills for the attorney.”

Hill City mayor Kathy Skorzewski said the format of the meeting has changed and neither she nor the council could respond to Wolter’s request at that time; however, Skorzewski said the matter would come up at the next common council meeting as a discussion item.

When it came time to discuss having other Hill City governing bodies record their meetings, alderman Jim Peterson said the meeting the council was having was being recorded (as has been standard practice for several months now).

“I think (the Hill City Planning and Zoning commission) should be recording theirs,” Peterson said. “Others should be, too. I heard that in the past planning and zoning didn’t want its meetings recorded, but the more transparency, the better.”

Skorzewski agreed that more recording is a good thing as it leads to more transparency and asked Brett McMacken, city administrator for Hill City, to explain his process for uploading videos.

McMacken said there is one camera and one microphone in the council chambers as well as one computer that runs the operation.

“The setup is not elaborate,” he said.

Once recorded, McMacken takes the video home to upload it from there because city hall does not have the bandwidth capabilities to upload. McMacken said he ensures the video is recorded from “gavel to gavel” — meaning from the beginning of the meeting until the end.

The whole process takes roughly three days, he said.

If the council wishes other meetings to be recorded, that would be more work for other city employees, McMacken said, because they need to be trained as to how the upload process works.

The system at city hall could handle overnight uploads, McMacken said; however, he was concerned that the upload would stop during the night. The other option, he said, would be to upgrade city hall’s internet capabilities.

Skorzewski echoed McMacken’s statement regarding more trainings would need to be held to ensure the staff at city hall could do the upload themselves.

“(McMacken) isn’t at every meeting,” Skorzewski said. “I agree transparency is wonderful, and I have gotten good feedback on the videos being posted to YouTube.”

Skorzewski said she wasn’t sure if a motion was needed to proceed. Peterson said he would make a motion to have the Planning and Zoning Commission record its meetings and to discuss the item again in three months regarding recording other meetings such as the Business Improvement District and the library board.

“We also need to look at upgrading our speed,” Peterson added. “We should do a step-by-step process. Start with planning and zoning next, and if this means getting more bandwidth…I think we’re due for an upgrade, anyways.”

The cost of upgrading the bandwidth is something that city hall could approve administratively so long as it comes in below $3,000, McMacken said.

The motion to have planning and zoning record its meetings and then reexamining other legislative bodies in the city was seconded by alderman Steve Jarvis and passed unanimously.