Village Board discusses recording meetings
By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
John Jacoby talked to the East Troy Village Board about recording meetings Monday night.
Jacoby has been using his iPhone to record Village Board and Plan Commission meetings recently, but had the discussion item put on the agenda so he could talk about using better equipment to record the meetings, possibly in an official or semi-official capacity. He said he had some concerns about reaching the point where “someone was uncomfortable” and wanted some guidance from the board to avoid that.
Village Board President Randy Timms assured Jacoby that it was his right to record any public meeting at the village and he was free to post the videos on social media. Timms said he was concerned about making it “official” because if the village did that, it would have to maintain possession of the recording to ensure its integrity.
“But you are free to post them on our own site; you’re welcome to do that,” Timms said.
Jacoby brought forth the idea of using kids from the middle and high schools to help set up cameras and record the meetings. He said he’d spoken to the middle school audio-visual teacher about it and they were thrilled at the idea.
The board members discussed some of the pitfalls of the way the village used to record meetings for its public access channel to give Jacoby some input on how to possibly solve some of the issues they ran into before. The board was supportive of Jacoby moving forward with having students help with the recording.
Timms told Jacoby to pursue the idea and just keep them updated on the progress.
Jacoby to run for trustee
Jacoby also announced he had taken papers out to run for village trustee in the spring election during the citizen participation of the meeting.
“So, I’m coming for you,” Jacoby told the board members, who responded with laughter.
Before the announcement, Jacoby had questioned some of the board members wanting to move the East Troy Cycling Classic off the village square at the last meeting, again expressed his dislike of the logo painted on the water tower and brought up the condition of Highway 20 and Main Street and how driving on them is much like riding a “bucking bronco” when the weather gets cold and the roads begin to heave.
For more news from the Village Board meeting, see this week’s edition of the East Troy Times/News.
