COUNTY NEWS: County implements new virtual meeting option

Residents will now stream all county government meetings on YouTube instead of Zoom.

County government meetings will be streamed using The Meeting Owl Pro, which is a 360-degree camera, mic and speaker device that automatically focuses the camera on the person speaking in the meeting room.

Previously, residents could attend county meetings virtually on Zoom where they could ask questions in the chat or by speaking through the app itself.

“Rather than someone monitoring Zoom during a meeting all meetings will be streamed via YouTube,” said IT Assistant Laura Minett at the Feb. 2 Brown County Commissioners meeting.

“You can join at any time without waiting to have to be admitted (to the Zoom meeting room).”

She added that the YouTube meeting information will be added to the county’s website.

“YouTube will streamline process to watch the meetings online,” Minett said.

County meetings will continue to be held on Zoom, but only those on the agenda will be allowed to join those virtual meeting rooms.

Residents were encouraged to email the county commissioners if they wanted to be on the agenda.

“Pretty much everyone in the state is going to this method,” Commissioner Diana Biddle said of the change.

Other counties also use Facebook Live to stream meetings online. Minett said YouTube was a “good platform” for the county to start using since not everyone has Facebook. There is no additional cost to stream meetings on YouTube.

The link for the YouTube stream will be posted on the department pages on the county’s website at www.browncounty-in.gov.

Commissioner President Jerry Pittman said if anyone wants to ask the commissioners questions during the meeting they can email those to [email protected] and that they would try to answer any questions at the end of their meetings.

Resident Tim Clark told the commissioners at the Feb. 2 meeting that moving to a YouTube platform was a “step back” in transparency. Clark attended the meeting via Zoom.

“That is a step back if people cannot engage online. That means they either have to show up to ask any kind of question,” he said.

Clark encouraged the commissioners to look at the process when asking questions be submitted by email. He said he had emailed the commissioners questions about American Rescue Plan Act funding, the finances of the Brown County Music Center and the Indian Hill railroad crossing closure, but had yet to get a response.

“The backup plan is to go through the state public access counselor, which I will do, no big deal. But you need to look at that process,” he said.