The issue arose yesterday (June 23) when public testimony preceding a closed Council session on the LB Museum of Art Foundation wasn't shown...although recent public testimony preceding a closed session on a proposed exchange of city property for open space wetlands was shown.

Curtis Tani, Director of Technology Services, says that from now on, video of public proceedings before the full Council enters a closed session will be handled in the same way as Council Committee meetings are handled: it will be recorded using a cost-saving fixed-position camera in the back of the Council Chamber.

The video shows a wide-shot of the entire Council Chamber facing Councilmembers with public speakers seen from behind but with perfect clarity audio. This arrangement doesn't entail the added cost of staffing multiple cameras used for other full Council sessions. For Committee meetings, the fixed-camera video and room audio are recorded and (from our experience) are usually available online within a few hours.

The recent live multi-cam video of public testimony preceding the closed session on a proposed exchange of city property for SE LB open space was an exception made due to its large public interest, Mr. Tani said. He said most public testimony prior to closed sessions isn't routinely made available outside City Hall...and noted that it's often short or non-existent and (if full multi-cam video were used) would require costly staffing on items of little visible interest.

The output of the Council Chamber's fixed-camera plus room audio, which doesn't require the added staffing, is routinely sent to City Hall's internal "intra-net" where city officials are able to see it. The fixed cam video/audio output will now be made available to the public on-demand on a recorded basis (as it is for Council Committee meetings) showing public testimony before the full Council enters into closed sessions, Mr. Tani said.