City of Gainesville stops streaming and recording many meetings, reducing transparency

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In a move that was initially described as applying to advisory boards, the City of Gainesville has stopped streaming or recording many City meetings that were previously live-streamed, recorded, and archived on the City’s website. The recordings are often used by members of the public and the media to review what happened. Since it is not uncommon for City and County meetings to be scheduled at the same time and meetings are often held during the workday, the recordings have been used for many years by individuals who are unable for any reason to watch the meetings in real time.

At a June 14 Special Meeting, Communications Director Jennifer Smart proposed eliminating closed captions for advisory boards and other meetings to save $37,000 in FY24. Smart told the commission that because of ADA regulations, this would likely require the City to stop providing videos of those meetings to the public; only videos of City Commission and General Policy Committee meetings would be available to the public.

The budget presented to the City Commission on July 20 cut $327,372 from the previous year’s approved budget, but by the time the final budget was approved on September 21, $1,735,425 had been added to that, for a total increase of $2,062,797. The $37,000 was not restored as part of that $1.7 million increase.

June: “Advisory meetings would not be broadcast, recorded on video, nor streamed.”

In response to our request for clarification in June, Public Information Officer Rossana Passaniti said that if the $37,000 cut remains in the budget, “Advisory meetings would not be broadcast, recorded on video, nor streamed. Although we are still investigating all possibilities, our current understanding of ADA accessibility standards suggests we are expected to make reasonable accommodations to provide closed captioning for all meetings on video.”

Passaniti added, “To ensure government transparency, additional public access may include limited video recordings or audio recordings, as well as traditional meeting minutes in accordance with best practice.”

After our story was published, Passaniti suggested a different headline that reinforced the idea that the change would mainly apply to advisory boards: “Gainesville City Commission hears a proposal that could eliminate streaming and archived video of future advisory board meetings.”

Change will also apply to some meetings with City Commissioners

However, Alachua Chronicle received confirmation today that the change will not only apply to advisory board meetings but to City Commission meetings such as Sunshine Meetings, the Public Safety Committee, and the Finance Committee.

According to Smart, the meetings listed below are no longer being broadcast, streamed, or recorded in Fiscal Year 2024. This means that the only way for the media or public to know what happened would be to attend them in person:

• City Commission Agenda Review (will continue to be recorded by the Clerk’s office)
• Sunshine Meetings
• Development Review Board
• Finance Committee
• Gainesville Community Reinvestment Area Advisory Board
• Historic Preservation Board
• Police Advisory Council
• Public Safety Committee
• Human Rights Board
• Code Enforcement

The following meetings will continue to be broadcast:

• City Commission Meetings
• General Policy Committee
• City Commission Budget Workshops
• Audit Committee
• City Plan Board

Smart told Alachua Chronicle in an email, “As always, these public meetings are open for anyone to attend.”