Dakota County is now providing Internet video feeds of Dakota County Board meetings. Apparently they have been offering CATV feeds of their meetings for years but now anyone is able to access the live videos as well as archived videos from their site here. I don’t have CATV and while SatTV is quite a bit better, I was missing out on viewing these meetings because of my choice.
What I want to know is why Apple Valley isn’t doing something similar? They have a CATV feed as well but don’t offer video archives or even up-to-date City Council Minutes with the most recent minutes update being over a month ago: 3/8/07 and their agendas not being offered in advance online.
What I want to see is meeting minutes posted to the Internet within 48 business hours following a meeting (more than enough time) and agendas posted at least 7 days prior to any meeting — updates to the posted agenda should be added as necessary.
Apple Valley, catch up with the times, seriously.
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April 9th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
I contacted Apple Valley about my questions above and here’s their first reply:
Thank you for your inquiry. While your communication has been forwarded to the City Council, I thought I might be able to provide some information from a staff perspective that may help answer your questions.
Draft minutes are not posted on the web site as they are subject to change until they are approved by the meeting body at the next meeting. Once minutes are approved at the next meeting, they are posted on the web site. It is not uncommon for members to request changes to the minutes before approval and we do not want one staff person’s interpretation of discussion to be posted in draft form if later, the meeting body disagrees with that interpretation and approves a different version as the official minutes. This could lead to significant confusion for the public. Thus, the minutes of the last City Council meeting (March 22, 2007) will not be approved until the meeting this Thursday. The most recent approved minutes of the City Council (March 8, 2007) are posted.
As for agendas, they are typically prepared four to five days prior to the start of a meeting. The agenda for April 12, 2007, for example, is being prepared at this time and will be finalized by the end of the day, at which time it will be posted on the web site.
Regarding the Council Focus session of March 23, 2007, there was no formal agenda prepared and distributed in advance as it was a workshop setting. The meeting was noted on the web site as it was a public meeting/ workshop of the City Council.
However, if you are interested in following the progress of a specific issue, there are several ways you can find information prior to approval of the official minutes.
1) For City Council meetings, there is an action update posted immediately following the meeting. This update provides information on any action taken by the City Council. It does not include discussion and debate that would be included in the official minutes.
2) City Council and Planning Commission meetings are cablecast on Channel 16 (please see the City’s web site for scheduled playbacks) and will soon be web cast as well. With the web cast version, users will be able to call up discussion on individual items over the web site. I expect this service to be able within the next two months.
3) City staff can provide a verbal update for action and discussion of the advisory committees. Please contact the City Clerk at 952-953-2506 and she can direct you to the appropriate staff liaison for each committee.