Some local committee and board meetings will be livestreamed moving forward.
An update was provided during Wednesday’s Essex County Council meeting on an ask to have different committees and boards livestream their meetings to increase public accessibility.
During Wednesday’s meeting, it was stated that administration has reached out to all of the boards and committees that Essex County Council members sit on to request information on their current meeting practices and their capacity or willingness to livestream.
Several boards or committees were identified to be inactive or disbanded, while other committees no longer included Council Council members, such as the Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation.
The Library Board has indicated they will start recording their meetings, as well as the Essex County Accessibility Advisory Committee.
The county is waiting to hear back from the Essex Windsor Solid Waste Authority (EWSWA) Board and the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit Board (WECHU), who are both exploring the feasibility to livestream their meetings.
Bondy says she’s hopeful that meetings like the EWSWA Board can be livestreamed eventually.
“They’re talking about the regional landfill; that’s all of Windsor, all of Essex County. We have one landfill, and if we want residents to start to pay attention to what they’re putting into the landfill and how those dollars and everything we do matter, then we need to make the information easy and convenient and accessible for them to get.”
She says it’s important to be transparent during these meetings.
“If you look at the Essex County Accessibility Advisory Committee, they’ve been livestreamed for a while; it’s great. Essex County Library, they’re taping them; they want to post them too,” she says. “So, it’s about letting people know about the services we provide and if we don’t provide, them accessible information, how are they going to really know what’s actually happening and what their government is doing for them?”
Bondy says the green bin discussions were really a tipping point for the community speaking out over the meetings not being accessible.
“We had numerous reports, and the Essex Windsor Solid Waste Authority did discuss it many times, but people aren’t paying attention. People are busy; they work, they have families, they’re travelling, they have limited free time, but people can put on a video and listen to it while they’re doing chores around the house.”
Other committees such as the 911 Technical Advisory Committee, the Invest WindsorEssex Board, and the Tourism Windsor-Essex Pelee Island (TWEPI) Board indicated that livestreaming their meetings is not recommended as most of the business is done in-camera.
A report is expected to come back to council at a later date for whether the WECHU and EWSWA Board meetings can be livestreamed.