The Last Week of 2020 in the City of Waxahachie

 Hello Friends!

There are no city meetings scheduled for this week; however, you can check back on the city's calendar for any that may be posted after this newsletter is published.  The link to do so is here: http://www.waxahachie.com/calendar.php

I wanted to take a moment to let you know the status of the discussion regarding live-streaming.  I had it placed on the agenda for our last meeting to stream all public meetings (including briefings) that take place at City Hall.  We currently stream the Council and Planning & Zoning meetings.  At the briefing session before our meeting, during the discussion, the city manager, director of communications and other councilmembers stated that they have not had any requests for live-streaming.  Therefore, there is a concern that people don't really want it.  I've been a proponent of live-streaming since I became a councilmember, but thought that with COVID, now is an especially good time to stream our meetings for the citizens.  The Mayor responded that COVID is almost over so he didn't see the need for it due to COVID.  The city manager then offered that he could add a question about live-streaming on an upcoming citizen survey they are creating.  I felt that this was a reasonable option so that we (council) can see if the want for this service is there to justify the cost of both the initial equipment/setup and to cover the streaming of the additional meetings.

 

I still feel that we should stream all public meetings in City Hall as a good faith measure of transparency and as a service to offer our residents, but it would be good to have resident feedback on this issue as well.  For those who have been wanting streaming services, please fill out the survey when it comes out (even if it is a little lengthy).  Your feedback is important because the direction that council will take on many matters, will come from you - the residents.  

 

If you'd like to take another approach, you can contact city council so that we know residents do want meetings streamed.  City councilmember contact information can be found here: http://www.waxahachie.com/government/city_council/index.php  The city manager's email can be found here: http://www.waxahachie.com/government/contact_us_city_staff.php

I hope that everyone has a happy, healthy and safe new year and may God bless you all in 2021.

Your Friendly Councilmember,

Melissa Olson

molson@waxahachie.com

(text) 817-507-5162