St. Joseph Commissioners want to post meeting videos online

St. Joseph City Commission meetings will soon be posted online near you.

Speaking to colleagues this week, Commissioner Michael Fernandez said that the City Commission's meeting rooms are equipped with the latest and greatest audio and video equipment, so there is no reason not to make recordings of the meetings available to the public. He questioned why someone would need to be there in person to get to know their city government.

““We really don't have that many people in the room right now,” Fernandez said. “Six o'clock may be a reasonable time for some, but people have their lives and other things to do. While it may be difficult to be in a meeting live, I can tell you it's very easy to pull something up on YouTube and watch it at any time, and I think that's a value we can offer our citizens and we're already prepared for.”

His fellow commissioners agreed, and Mayor Brook Thomas said it might be beneficial for citizens to be able to watch City Commission meetings on YouTube if they need to.

The city commission already broadcasts its meetings via Zoom. City Manager John Hodgson said they can easily make them available to the public by uploading the Zoom video to YouTube, or they can stream the meetings live.

Fernandez also suggested that city bodies such as the Planning Commission, the Zoning Appeals Board and the Downtown Development Authority should also hold their meetings online.

The commissioners instructed city staff to develop a plan for implementation.