Indianola’s board of aldermen meetings could use a sprucing up.
It’s bad enough that meetings often go off the rails, with arguments, sidebar conversations and even some heavy whispering from the elected officials, but meetings are even more excruciating for the public when participants have to call in when they are out of town.
Back during the COVID-19 pandemic, most boards and agencies got use to meeting remotely, often utilizing software like Zoom.
The Sunflower County Board of Supervisors fully embraced this option and went so far as to reconfigure the board room at the courthouse in order to accommodate remote participants.
The supervisors installed microphones for the regular attendees, which included themselves, the attorney and the chancery clerk.
They took it one step further and started streaming their meetings on Facebook so that the public may have full access to live meetings and archives.
This has worked out well for both the supervisors and the public.
Zoom participants often appear on a big screen television, and they are usually heard loud and clear.
As long as people are talking into their mics, the meeting’s in-person participants are heard as well.
This past Monday night’s board meeting was particularly painful, in the most figurative sense, when trying to follow the story threads.
Ward 1 Alderman Gary Fratesi, Mayor Ken Featherstone and contracted accountant Dr. Phyllis Rhodes were all present via cell phone.
Fratesi and Featherstone were both out of town for planned trips. Nothing wrong with that.
Rhodes works from afar and often joins via phone.
This setup, or lack thereof, means that three individuals present must dial remote participants individually.
Then, the public is often treated to muffled sounds and ill-timed interruptions, while those calling in almost inevitable get dropped at some point during the meeting.
Multiple times this past Monday night, a phone participant had to interrupt the flow of conversation to ask, “What are we talking about?”
If the person on the phone cannot understand the discourse happening at the table, it’s safe to say anyone more than two rows back in the audience is probably lost as well.
There is a better way to do this.
It costs money, but the board owes it to the taxpayers who attend meetings to provide a transparent discourse while conducting the city’s business.
We in no way believe this is intentional.
It’s just something everyone has gotten used to, and money is indeed tight.
We suggest the city consult with county officials to find out which third party vendor helped that board take transparency to the next level and see if it is a viable option for the city.
If the city wants to stream its meetings live on Facebook, even better. We believe that in the year 2024, that is best practices.
If not, that’s okay too.
But public officials should be clear and articulate when handling business for the taxpayers.
Those who appear on the agenda should try to be present for meetings, but in the case of illness, emergencies or vacation, department heads and guests of the city could still participate in meetings via Zoom in a similar setup as the county.
When it comes to technology, the cat is out of the bag. COVID took care of that for us.
Boards these days have little excuse to not be present and articulate.
