Today’s Athens-Clarke County Commission work session will be moved to City Hall so that it can be recorded and video posted online for the first time.
ACC has broadcast the commission’s agenda-setting and voting meetings since 2002, but for years local activists have complained that work sessions—more informal meetings where important decisions are often made—have not been recorded or broadcast, meaning citizens have to physically attend what can often be three- or four-hour meetings to learn about the issues discussed.
Unlike the commission chamber at City Hall, the Dougherty Street auditorium where work sessions are held does not have cameras, which had been county officials’ justification for not recording or broadcasting them in the past.
The Mayor and Commission decided at a recent retreat to try moving the work sessions to City Hall—a move some had resisted in the past because they thought the formal setting would stifle what is often a freewheeling discussion.
The 5:30 p.m. work session will not be broadcast on ACTV, the government-access cable channel, but it will be posted tomorrow at youtube.com/accgov. The agenda and background materials are available here.
Another work session on Feb. 27 will also be recorded before officials decide whether to keep holding work sessions at City Hall and recording them.
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