{"id":447,"date":"2013-05-16T13:47:26","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T17:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=447"},"modified":"2013-05-16T13:47:26","modified_gmt":"2013-05-16T17:47:26","slug":"no-to-video-streaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=447","title":{"rendered":"County Commission Votes Down Video Streaming"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In Berkeley Springs, West Virginia this morning, the Morgan County Commission voted down a proposal to video stream the Commission\u2019s meetings live on the internet.<\/p>\n<p>Commissioner Stacy Dugan proposed spending $1350 on an camera and other equipment to stream the Commission meetings live so that citizens could watch the proceedings \u201cin the convenience of their own homes on the computer.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lKBSUW9tm0Q\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>But Commissioner Bob Ford, who seconded Dugan\u2019s motion to vote on the proposal, surprised Dugan and voted against the measure.\t<\/p>\n<p>Commission chairman Brad Close voted against the proposal because, he said \u201cI don\u2019t believe that we have the capacity from an IT perspective \u2013 we are already having plenty of trouble with the minimal IT that we have now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That seemed like a stretch since citizens around the world are living streaming for free or for a few dollars a month off their cell phones.<\/p>\n<p>Dugan said that the proposal from Kevin Boles would allow for the purchase of a camera to video the proceedings and live stream them.<\/p>\n<p>After Dugan made the motion to vote on the proposal, Ford seconded it.\t<\/p>\n<p>Then when it came time to vote, Ford sided with Close and voted against it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you change your \u2013 you changed it?\u201d Dugan said to Ford.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe changed his vote,\u201d Dugan said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just want to clarify this,\u201d Dugan said to Ford and Close. \u201cYou all do not want to give the public for $1350 the opportunity to see their Commission at work from their house?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not what I\u2019m saying\u201d Close said.\t<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat not what we are suggesting,\u201d Ford said. \u201cThey got their own video cameras here if they want to videotape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not talking about them,\u201d Dugan said. \u201cI\u2019m talking about the opportunity for the public to see this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the public wants to see it, we have pews here and they are more than welcome to come,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m just really shocked at both of you all,\u201d Dugan said.<\/p>\n<p>After the vote, Dugan, apparently still surprised, said to Close about Ford \u2013 \u201che seconded my motion. . .I know what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t think because I seconded your motion I was an affirmative?\u201d Ford asked Dugan.<\/p>\n<p>Dugan then stood up to leave and said \u2013 \u201cYou know what?\u201d and waved her finger at Ford and Close.<\/p>\n<p>Then, walking out the door she said \u2013 \u201cOkay guys, keep the public out of the meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ford then addressed the public and said \u2013\u00a0\t\u201cYou are welcome to have your cameras \u2013 that\u2019s why I put on a nice tie to make sure you got my picture on YouTube.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Commission has come under public criticism recently for tightening control of citizen input at the Commission meetings.<\/p>\n<p>Close told citizens recently \u2013 \u201clet me explain something to you \u2013 this is our meeting\u201d and \u201cI can have you removed from this meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Commissioner Ford told citizens \u201cthe county commission meeting is not your meeting \u2013 this is our meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The local newspaper, the Morgan Messenger, in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.morganmessenger.com\/news\/content\/story-11199\">a lead editorial last week,<\/a> reminded the Commissioners that \u201cour elected officials need to temper their desire for efficient and business-like meetings with a big dose of civic responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Berkeley Springs, West Virginia this morning, the Morgan County Commission voted down a proposal to video stream the Commission\u2019s meetings live on the internet. Commissioner Stacy Dugan proposed spending $1350 on an camera and other equipment to stream the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=447\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}