As promised, your author (Aaron Yates) came before Kerr County Commissioners Court this morning during the visitors’ forum to submit our petition asking the county to implement a video recording system for all public meetings. As part of this presentation, I volunteered my time and expertise to assist the county in any way I can, whether that’s through free consulting, installation help, or workflow training. I also offered to donate a remote-controlled video camera that can be installed immediately to provide unobtrusive coverage of the courtroom.
Because this was the last regular meeting of the year and it took place the day before Christmas Eve, the audience was sparse, and Commissioner 1 Harley Belew was not in attendance, but the Judge and Commissioners seemed very receptive to the idea of adding this component to increase the accessibility of the meetings for the general public.
Following up, I emailed all of the Commissioners and Judge an electronic copy of the petition and reiterated my offer to move forward with the donations of time and equipment. I urged the court to add this topic to a future agenda so that we can discuss the matter further. Since this morning’s presentation was not on the agenda, but was submitted during the visitors’ forum, the court did not have the opportunity to ask questions or discuss the matter, but I have been assured that it will be brought up in the near future.
Thanks to all of you that signed and shared this petition. We will continue to advocate for transparency and accessibility from our government representatives.
