Thurston County reopens board room to in-person meetings, stops some livestreams
Thurston County will reopen its board room to in-person meetings starting this week, but it also will stop livestreaming some meetings.
The Board of County Commissioners decided on the policy last week during an agenda-setting meeting.
All meetings have been livestreamed to the county’s YouTube channel over the past two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, after the board closed its board room to in-person meetings and transitioned to entirely remote meetings.
Over the past month, COVID-19 disease transmission rates have plummeted from record highs during the winter. Considering the progress and new guidance from the state Department of Health, the county has moved to reopen its board room.
Several of the most popular meetings will continue to be livestreamed, including:
- Agenda setting, held from 9-11 a.m. Tuesdays.
- Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) meeting at 2 p.m. Tuesdays.
- Board of Health (BoH) meeting at 3:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month.
- Transportation Benefit District (TBD) meeting, held at 3:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of the month.
- Board work sessions.
- Budget work sessions
Residents can still provide public comment virtually during BoCC, BoH and TBD meetings and public hearings. However, there will no longer be a conference call option, according to the county.
Residents can review a calendar of events with Zoom links by visiting the county’s website.
The following meetings will no longer be livestreamed and only be held in person:
- Commissioners check-in
- Commissioners planning session
- BoCC/Appointed Directors meeting
- BoCC/Elected Officials meeting
- Superior Court update
- Executive Sessions open and close
- Jail Resources Team meeting
- New employee orientation
It will be more difficult for the public to review discussions held during non-livestreamed meetings and those discussions often inform decisions made during the livestreamed meetings.
No recordings will be available to people who don’t attend those meetings in person, according to Meghan Porter, the county’s Public Information Supervisor. Instead, the public can request meeting notes from the Commissioner’s Office.
When asked whether livestreaming meetings cost the county money, Porter said she could not provide a dollar amount. However, she said staff must be present to run the livestream, which takes them away from their regular duties.
“It takes a least one staff person to run the livestream equipment and that staff person must be present for the duration of each meeting being livestreamed to manage the equipment,” Porter said. “There is not a staff person dedicated to this task as part of their regular duties.”
Despite limiting access, county commissioners presented the livestreaming policy as an improvement compared to before the pandemic.
Commissioner Tye Menser said livestreaming all meetings hamstrings the board’s ability to have frank discussions.
“When we live stream everything, what it does is it creates a political dynamic to our conversations,” Menser said. “There isn’t any context where the commissioners can have a more personal, a little more honest and you know, frank (conversations).”
He said meetings like the commissioner check-ins or planning sessions, where informal decisions are sometimes made, are not the same when livestreamed because it feels like they are “under a microscope.”
If the board were to expand to five commissioners, Menser said he would be willing to revisit this conversation. But for now, he said he feels this new policy strikes a good balance.
“I want my teammates to feel free to throw out half-baked ideas at those planning sessions and stuff,” Menser said. “That’s what it’s for.”
Commissioner and Board Chair Carolina Mejia said she feels OK about ending livestreams for some meetings since they had far less views on YouTube.
However, she said she might be willing to change the policy based on public feedback.
Commissioner Gary Edwards opposed the move to stop livestreaming all meetings, saying he preferred more access.
This story was originally published March 13, 2022 at 5:45 AM.
