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Home My WebLink About2021-02-25; Board & Commission Meetings (Districts - All); Medina. FaviolaTo the members of the: CITY COUNCIL Date %ri:11 CA ✓ CC ✓ CM ~ ✓DCM{3) ✓ ~-~ Feb.25,2021 Council Memorandum To: From: Via: Re: Honorable Mayor Hall and Members ofthe City Council Faviola Medina, City Clerk Services Ma~a er Geoff Patnoe, Assistant City Manager ~ Board & Commission Meetings {Distri ? All) {city of Carlsbad Memo ID #2021051 This memorandum provides an update to the minute motion from Nov. 12, 2019, requesting staff develop a procedure to conduct board and commission meetings in the same manner as City Council meetings, as well as develop an archive of the meeting proceedings. Background On Nov. 12, 2019, City Council directed staff to establish a plan to create a permanent record of video or audio of board and commission meetings. The city has 15 boards and commissions that hold a combined total of approximately 150 meetings a year. Historically, only the City Council and Planning Commission meetings have been streamed live on the city's website. Only the City Council meetings have been broadcast live on the city's cable channel. Following the unanimous approval of the Nov. 12, 2019, minute motion, staff began exploring options for livestreaming all board and commission meetings. The COVID-19 public health emergency has since required temporary changes to how the city conducts all public meetings. Due to social distancing requirements, all meetings are now held online via Zoom . The discussion below presents the plan established for meeting the original goal of increasing transparency and public involvement at all board and commission meetings. Discussion The city's board, commission and various other public meetings are critical to maintaining an effective and responsive local government. New technologies enable the city to hold meetings in a manner that facilitates increased public access and participation. Restrictions on in person meetings due to COVID-19 have accelerated the adoption of these technologies to the point where they can be considered for a broader use. Some of the goals staff considered when developing options for on line streaming of board and commission meetings during the COVID-19 public health emergency included: • Provide a convenient and consistent user experience across all city meetings. • Present meetings in a professional manner that builds public confidence. Policy & Leadership City Clerk Department 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 760-434-5989 t Council Memo - B.oard & Commission Meetings (Districts -All) Feb. 25,2021 Page 2 • Create a process that can be easily replicated by more than a dozen staff who manage and administer city boards and commissions. • Make prudent use of public resources. • · Maintain proper cyber security/prevent meeting disruption from hackers. • Maintain a record of meeting videos that can be easily referenced later. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, staff has been utilizing the Zoom meeting platform along with a livestream device to livestrear:n board and commission meetings. However, the platform used does not have the functionality as that being used for City Council and Planning Commission meetings. For instance, the agenda is not linked to the video for ease of playback and the video archive is not in the same location as the City Council and Planning Commission meetings. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has continued longer than staff had originally anticipated, staff are now going to transition the board and commission meetings one by one to the same virtual format as the City Council meetings, which is the Zoom webinar format. This will allow for public participation to occur via telephone as it does with the City Council meetings. Staff estimates that it will cost approximately $42,000 to obtain all the necessary licenses to conduct the meetings utilizing the Zoom webinar format. Funding for managing public meetings with Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic was approved in the fiscal year 2020-21 Budget, within the Innovation Fund. As part of the fiscal year 2021-22 Budget, staff will be requesting ongoing funding for the use of Zoom for public meetings and training classes. As part of the fiscal year 2021-22 Budget, staff will be requesting funding in the amount of approximately $76,740 to accommodate moving all board and commission meetings to the same livestream provider (Swagit) as City Council and Planning Commission meetings. This will provide one location and consistent functionality across all city meetings. The following are some features of that platform: • A central location where people can watch the meeting live and after that fact. • The ability to retrieve specific video segments by clicking on the corresponding agenda item. • A feature that lets viewers of the archived video find clips based on a keyword search. • Closed captioning for the archived video. The Information Technology {IT) Department contracts with AVI to provide technical support for all public meetings. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, AVI provided support for only the City Council and Planning Commission meetings. When the other boards and commissions shifted to the Zoom platform, extended AVI support for those meetings was required in order to manage the tools that stream the meetings to the city's website. Funding for extended AVI support during the COVID-19 pandemic was approved in the fiscal year 2020-21 Budget, within the Innovation Fund. AVI support will continue to be required once all board and commission meetings are back in person and live streamed on the city's website and broadcast on the city's Council Memo -Board & Commission Meetings (Districts -All) Feb.25,2021 Page 3 cable channels. Staff estimates that the costs associated with expanding the AVI contract to include support for all board and commission meetings will be approximately $35,369 per year. As part of the fiscal year 2021-22 Budget, staff will be requesting ongoing funding for extended AVI support. When meetings are permitted to be conducted in-person once again, the Communications Department will contract with a videographer service for all board and commission meetings to ensure the same quality of livestream and broadcast as the City Council meetings. The estimated cost to provide th~t service for all board and commission meetings is $60,000. Fiscal Impact Funding for the costs associated with transitioning boards and commission meetings to a virtual format throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has been absorbed by the IT Department throughout fiscal year 2020-21. Funding to livestream, broadcast and archive all board and commission meetings in the same manner as City Council and Planning Commission meetings will be requested as part of the fiscal year 2021-22 Budget process. Next Steps Staff will continue livestreaming city board and commission meetings during the COVID-19 public health emergency using the Zoom webinar platform. Beginning in July, staff will transition all meetings to the Swagit platform that is utilized by the City Council and Planning Commission so that all meetings are in one location with the increased functionality of agenda accessibility, tagging and archiving. cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager Celia Brewer, City Attorney Sheila Cobian, Assistant to the City Manager Kristina Ray, Communication & Engagement Director Maria Callander, Information Technology Director