Pandemic forced Idaho government agencies to livestream meetings. No reason to stop now

One good thing that came out of the pandemic was government agencies livestreaming their public meetings, giving taxpayers an opportunity to attend remotely.

The problem is that agencies seem to be dropping the practice now that we’re coming out of the pandemic.

These agencies, for the most part, have finally — finally — figured out how to livestream their meetings efficiently and even take testimony virtually.

They shouldn’t stop now. To be clear, they should continue in-person meetings, but they should still keep livestreaming their meetings for those who choose to stay at home or want to watch a meeting later.

In the early days of the pandemic, Gov. Brad Little issued a proclamation suspending a portion of the state’s open meetings law that required at least one member of a governing body to be present in person to allow the public to attend a public meeting. If a governing body didn’t have at least one person present, though, the agency still had to accommodate public attendance via some form of telecommunications device.

So in those early months of the pandemic, a lot of agencies did not have at least one person present, and even throughout the pandemic, agencies limited or eliminated in-person attendance in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus. That forced agencies to set up virtual meetings, via Zoom, YouTube, WebEx, Facebook Live or whatever else they could figure out.

It wasn’t always pretty.

I wrote about a particularly chaotic Zoom meeting of the Southwest District Health board that included screen views of all 200 or so people who called in, including a couple at their dining room table, apparently butchering an animal while they listened in on the call.

Since then, agencies have gotten much better at streaming meetings.

Now, it’s almost second nature.

Unfortunately, for some public agencies, it’s become a second thought. Some are getting rid of the practice altogether.

A regular reader of The Idaho Way let me know that he has enjoyed watching livestreams of the public meetings of the PERSI Retirement Board (to each his own, I guess) during the pandemic. He lives in Caldwell and isn’t going to drive into Boise to attend the board meetings.

The Idaho PERSI Retirement Board used to stream its meetings via Zoom, providing a link on its agenda. But the last Zoom meeting was March 24.

A staffer at PERSI told me it wasn’t a technical problem or a cost issue. The board just decided to go back to all in-person because they weren’t legally required to continue virtual meetings.

That’s a shame.

Just because a public agency doesn’t have to livestream its meetings, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t. If it’s good for citizens, increases transparency and promotes open government, why not keep doing it?

Low cost, easy to do

The city of Nampa has been livestreaming City Council, Planning and Zoning and special events since June 2018, well before the pandemic began.

“It really was just because that’s kind of the nature of where things are going, that citizens don’t always have time to be able to participate in person,” Amy Bowman, Nampa city spokesperson, said in a phone interview. “So if we are able to increase our transparency and build trust with the community by providing an opportunity for them to watch from wherever they are, I think that’s our goal is to remove the barriers for participation for our community.”

The city of Nampa spends about $2,400 per year for the livestream service and archive. The city spent about $2,000 on cameras and sound equipment to start livestreaming and later spent another $39,000, using COVID relief funds, to upgrade the council chambers to improve the livestream.

That’s a pretty nominal investment for something that has generated a total of 16,000 views since livestreaming started.

But agencies don’t even have to spend that much.

The Central District Health board streams its meetings on YouTube, and it doesn’t cost a thing, according to district director Russ Duke.

Duke conceded that Central District Health board meetings are usually not must-see TV, but interest definitely spiked during the pandemic. He noted that Central District Health covers four counties: Ada, Boise, Elmore and Valley, and driving from any one of those counties to Boise for a board meeting can be an obstacle. Having the livestream option benefits rural Idahoans.

“Quite frankly, if you live in Boise County or Garden Valley, Crouch or even McCall, you don’t really have an opportunity to attend meetings in Boise in person unless you make a concerted effort,” Duke said in a phone interview.

Duke said the district bought some equipment, such as higher-quality cameras and audio equipment, but they are also used for other purposes. Similarly, Central District Health purchased a license for WebEx, but the district uses the license for team meetings other than just public meetings.

There’s been no talk of discontinuing the livestream, Duke said. Why would there be?

“At least for right now, because there’s still public interest in our meetings — we almost always have people show up to provide comment — we’re just going to go ahead and do it, at least for the time being with no date certain that we’re going to we’re going to stop,” Duke said.

Idaho Public Television has been livestreaming the Idaho Legislature for years, but another beneficial byproduct of the pandemic was the Idaho Legislature taking remote testimony at committee hearings.

Now, anyone from Rathdrum, Ririe or Rexburg can testify before a committee from their living room without having to make the drive to Boise, hoping the hearing doesn’t get moved or rescheduled.

I hope they keep that up. It’s a tremendous public service — regardless of the pandemic.

State efforts

The Idaho State Controller’s Office lists every state agency’s public meeting on the state’s new Townhall Idaho portal. Townhall Idaho is a pretty cool idea launched in February by Controller Brandon Woolf, who’s been an advocate for government transparency. Townhall was created to allow the public to search and find information pertaining to public meetings for all state agencies and state-affiliated commissions.

Townhall Idaho provides a link to join live meetings virtually for those agencies that provide a livestream option — when there is a livestream.

Unfortunately, not enough state agencies are streaming their meetings, and some are moving away from livestreaming.

The Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole, for example, will stop livestreaming its meetings as of November.

There’s no excuse for not streaming meetings anymore.

The Legislature this year allocated $2 million toward providing agencies the ability to upgrade their in-house equipment to be able to accommodate virtual meetings.

Little recommended the appropriation to improve statewide information technology and get all agency board meetings available for online streaming, according to Madison Hardy, the governor’s press secretary.

State officials are still developing a plan on how to spend the money, prioritizing agency conference rooms but also looking at mobile technology for state boards to use on the road, according to Hardy.

If streaming public meetings was good for the public before the pandemic, it’s good for the public now. If there’s a state agency that isn’t livestreaming or recording its public meetings, contact the director or the board chairperson and let them know to use some of that $2 million allocated by the Legislature and start streaming its meetings.

“I really would like for agencies to continue to push to have the virtual meeting offerings,” Woolf said in an emailed statement to me. “We have the equipment, it doesn’t take much to add the information on the agenda, or to set up equipment, (and) it makes for a better, open government.”

This story was originally published September 20, 2022 at 4:00 AM.

Scott McIntosh

Opinion Contributor,

Idaho Statesman

208-377-6202

Scott McIntosh is the Idaho Statesman opinion editor. A graduate of Syracuse University, he joined the Statesman in August 2019. He previously was editor of the Idaho Press and the Argus Observer and was the owner and editor of the Kuna Melba News. He has been honored for his editorials and columns as well as his education, business and local government watchdog reporting by the Idaho Press Club and the National Newspaper Association. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, The Idaho Way. Support my work with a digital subscription