People interested in tuning in online to Leelanau Township board meetings will have to watch via YouTube starting in January. The three month “trial” will give board trustees a chance to gauge how well streaming meetings via YouTube works versus Zoom, a video conferencing platform continuously used by the township since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
Leelanau Township Supervisor Mike McMillan cited the change because of multiple reasons, including being “Zoom bombed” earlier this year by random individuals who interrupted the meeting with obscene language, behavior, and images. In March, the board had to shut down and restart the meeting several times before managing to block all of the disruptive participants and resuming once more. McMillan also mentioned following how the county government streams their meetings via YouTube, and having a better dialogue with people that are physically in the audience.
“From my personal experiences serving here on the board, it feels like we can have more conversations as we are right here with this group…” McMillan said at the meeting. “Sometimes we feel like we’re performing for the TV versus having an open dialogue. Though the dialogue was good today and it’s getting better, sometimes we’re a little more conscientious of what’s on TV versus who’s in front of us.”
While the township board unanimously approved of the technology platform conversion at its regular board meeting on December 12, the decision was not met with the same equal approval from every member in both the Zoom and in-person audience.
Northport resident Amanda Kruk responded to McMillan’s comment of board members feeling like they’re “performing for the TV” during the second round of public comment at the meeting, reminding the supervisor and board members of what their duty to the public is.
“You mentioned that you felt like you had to perform for the TV, but it’s not a TV, it’s the public who you work for,” Kruk said. “So it’s not something you should feel like you’re performing for, you’re answering to.”
Leelanau Township resident Betsy Mallek, who frequently tunes in and watches the monthly regular board meetings via Zoom, noted how not only is there no cost savings to streaming on YouTube, but also the flexibility using Zoom brings for people that can’t make it to the meeting or for seasonal residents that want to speak up but can’t in-person.
“We have enough divisiveness in this community and I think it is a poor, poor route to go. It’s (YouTube) not a cost savings, so it’s just changing technology and everyone has gotten real familiar with Zoom, but if you can find an alternate way of allowing the public to communicate in real time, I don’t have an issue,” Mallek said during public comment. “I know we had a couple situations several months ago where there was some (Zoom) bombing, but that seems to have gone away and I’m going to guess people weren’t interested because they probably figured we were dull… you’ve got a lot of seasonal folks that cannot attend these meetings and want to be able to be vocal at them… if you go to somewhere where we cant open our mouths then that might be successful.”
Mallek further explained her concern of utilizing YouTube for the next three months, questioning how members of the public were going to get their comments to the board at least 48 hours in advance before seeing the agenda.
“Not everybody even has a computer, so maybe you’re going to have to publicize the agenda ahead of time in the newspaper so that you can grant people enough time to get their thoughts together to now write you so that you know how we’re thinking because now you’re not allowing us to talk and tell you how we’re thinking in real time,” Mallek said. “I think that’s a really lost form of communication… I think it is a terrible disservice to this entire community. I don’t know how else you can do it other than to post it in the Leelanau Enterprise a week in advance so that we’ll be able to be informed.”
After the three month trial ends in April 2024, the board will revisit the issue and decide on whether to permanently convert to streaming meetings on YouTube or Zoom.
12-1-22
