Letter: Elmhurst Should Record Committee Meetings

This is a letter to the editor from Elmhurst resident Katie Marsico:

Like so many other residents, I try to stay abreast of local issues and to understand the factors that influence policymakers' decisions. While I consider attending City Council meetings the ideal way to accomplish this goal, it isn't always possible. This is why I appreciate the recordings of the regularly scheduled meetings . . . as well as why I consider it essential that committee meetings (where we have been told much of the action occurs) are likewise either recorded or livestreamed.

My understanding is that the School District records committee meetings, and my very cursory research indicates that municipalities in several neighboring suburbs do as well.

Moreover, this issue has now been covered multiple times by local media. The articles I have read in The Patch have cited a hesitation to record because it might, to paraphrase, stifle an atmosphere that supports candid, comfortable discussion. My response would be that I have always naively assumed that the level of candor elected officials demonstrate isn't contingent on whether a camera is rolling.

In regards to the concern that snippets of recorded discussion might be misappropriated and posted to social media without any context--it's possible. However, couldn't someone do the same with sound bites from the regularly scheduled meetings (which ARE recorded). We live in an age of AI and video-editing technology that enables anyone to tinker with anything and alter the manner in which events play out. Yet that concern by no means outweighs the value of having a recorded or live-streamed record to help constituents better understand the issues that affect them.

Finally, while I can't quote the costs of professionally recording meetings, live-streaming from Facebook is free and can be accomplished with the click of a few buttons.

I have lived here all but four years of my life, and I love my community, as I believe our mayor and aldermen do. That said, between the raised water rates and prospective (and sometimes controversial) construction projects we so routinely hear about, I want to understand the investments I am being asked to support. In fact, every resident of this community has a right to understand them. If the mayor and Elmhurst City Council are sincerely interested in having our buy-in, which I believe they are, they have an obligation to provide us with every means possible to facilitate that. That includes recording or livestreaming committee meetings.