There’s a move from Cllr Susan Scoccia on the Ventnor Town Council (VTC) to try and stop the recordings of public VTC meetings being released online to the public.
The VTC originally voted to record and publish them way back in May 2008.
Cllr Scoccia previously attempted to have recordings stopped earlier this year, in February – giving no reason for her actions.
Originally for open access for the public
The idea behind doing the recordings and publishing them online was that people who couldn’t make it along to council meetings would be able to ‘attend’ without being there – be they busy, elderly, infirm, etc.
It’s been of note that since Ventnor Town council voted to carry out recordings and publish them online, other town councils around the Island have taken the idea and embraced it.
Re-writing history
Cllr Susan Scoccia appears to be trying to re-write history. She wants to change what has been already agreed, making the recordings only available to the town clerk – then to have them deleted after six months.
The public would be forced to go to the trouble of making an official Freedom of Information request to be able to listen to something that is, by its very nature, public. Not only that, but there’s a suggestion that the council might charge for copies of the recordings.
Shameful
To try and restrict this is shameful and frankly indefensible.
What possible reason could there be for not giving the general public access to the recordings that are made in public meetings?
Restrictive actions like this could lead people to conclude that Cllr Scoccia has, or thinking she has, something to hide from the public.
“Think before we speak”
As one of the councillors (now-ex) said in the debate before they agreed it – “we’ll have to think about what we say before we say it!” Yes – that’s what we lowly voting cattle feel might be the very bare minimum – that brain’s are engaged before speaking.
While other councils are making the move to go a stage further and video the meetings – some even broadcasting the meetings live – Cllr Susan Scoccia wants to close down the public access.
Hey, even the IWC council make the audio of their meetings available free to the public.
Have we got it wrong?
Have we got it completely the wrong way around? Should public meetings only be available to those who can make it along to the meetings?
