CC 10-10-23 Oral CommunicationsCC 10-10-2023
Written Communications
Oral
Communications
From:Jean Bedord
To:City Attorney"s Office; City Clerk; City Council; Cupertino City Manager"s Office
Subject:Oral Communications: Council 10/10/2023 Commission Meetings need to be video recorded
Date:Tuesday, October 10, 2023 3:17:59 PM
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Honorable Mayor Wei, Vice-Mayor Mohan and Councilmembers Chao, Fruen, and Moore,
and staff,
I am writing to support requests by previous speakers in Oral Communications to return to
video recording of commission/committee meetings. These recordings do not have to be the
quality of those produced in the council chamber. Setting up a "Zoom room" with equipment
that can be operated by the staff liaison should be fairly straight-forward, given widely
available technology. Commissions can meet in person, but the public should be able to
participate remotely as well. Why is this important for effective governance post -COVID?
* Accessibility for the public. Many seniors do not drive at night and may still not go out in
public. Residents may be travelling and unable to be at a commission meeting in person, but
still want to participate remotely. Others have childcare and senior care issues. Engaged
residents may have other meetings at the same time., but can break for an agenda
item. Requiring in-person restricts participation.
* Delay in posting formal minutes. These are not available to the public until the
following meeting, usually at least a month later, sometimes quarterly. Recordings should
be posted to the city website and YouTube within 48 hours of any commission meeting.
* Inadequate representation of the actual proceedings during the meeting, since the nuances of
discussions are not recorded. There may be significant interactions that are not captured in the
minutes.
* Improvement in accountability. Bad behavior by commissioners does occur and having a
visual record that can be reviewed ensures that bad behavior is fairly assessed, rather than
email accusations.
* Evaluation can be significantly improved with recordings. Council members should not be
attending commission meetings in person, but can review after the fact recordings. How well
is the commission functioning, considering both commissioners and staff? New
commissioners may not understand their role and parliamentary procedure. Agenda setting
may not be defined. Meeting materials may not be provided in advance. Chairs may not run
an effective meeting (I've observed that!) Inexperienced staff may not be able to assist poorly
run meetings. Recordings should be retained indefinitely, rather than the current
practice of deleting audio recordings after the minutes are approved. (I've run into this
barrier! )
As a former library commissioner, I feel the commissions should be more effective and that
video recordings can be part of that development. Now, as a member of the public, I feel shut
out of commission meetings which are not available online. Other jurisdictions, such as the
school boards, have figured out relatively low-tech ways of improving access to their
meetings. Surely the city of Cupertino can do the same.
Thank you for your consideration.
Jean Bedord
Cupertino Resident