Eye on Fountain Valley? City Might Televise Council Meetings

Smile, Fountain Valley, you’re on TV.­­

Or you might be soon.

Fountain Valley staff gave a presentation on the options for live video-streaming City Council meeting's online and on television at a 5:15 p.m. study session Tuesday in City Hall.

Some councilmembers said that they had to be wary of the budget, but most said they thought streaming the council meetings video would be a good idea.

Mayor Mark McCurdy, who brought the item forward, said broadcasting the meetings live would bring more openness to local government.

"Who can argue with more transparency?” McCurdy said.  After the study session McCurdy shared a quote from Thomas Jefferson, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”

Councilwoman Cheryl Brothers said webstreaming would be good for anyone who couldn't make it to a council meeting. She said she sometimes has a hard time getting to the council meeting at 6 p.m., and she can imagine that other residents have trouble, too.

Brothers added she had watched live footage of surrounding cities and thought Huntington Beach's system was excellent and Westminster's system needed updating.

“Huntington Beach has a Cadillac, Westminster has a Ford," Brothers said. "I’d like to think Fountain Valley could get an economy car."

Councilman John Collins said he was concerned that television cameras might make people attend meetings for the wrong reason: publicity.

Collins said he had recently watched a Huntington Beach City Council meeting and said he saw examples of that in some of the public speakers.

“Basically, they just wanted to go down there to get on TV,” Collins said.

Collins said he was also concerned a system could be costly and the city should save every dollar.  

Nothing has been officially decided, and city staff will bring back further information on the subject in the future.