SU FYI

Beginning on April 1, Community Television South Berkshire (CTSB) will stop covering all Stockbridge committee, board, and commission meetings. CTSB will limit coverage in all five Towns to the meetings they are contractually obligated to cover — that includes only Select Board meetings, Planning Board meetings, and the annual Town Meeting.

Recognizing the value of governmental transparency and public engagement, the Commonwealth extended remote meeting provisions. However, beginning last year, CTSB, facing staff and budget constraints could not do it all. Our Town, to its credit, stepped up and paid for all additional meetings to be covered.

CTSB is an asset to the community and Stockbridge Updates thanks them for their "government programming". In Stockbridge, over half of our population is second homeowners. They are away from Stockbridge part of the year but may still like to "attend a meeting" virtually, add a comment, keep up with events — hybrid recorded meetings allow that.

Folks may have business with the Town or be interested in a particular meeting and have the choice to attend or zoom-in.

Older folks who don't see well at night or are less sure-footed could "attend" via Zoom. We have young people in Stockbridge who wish to be politically engaged who, between kids and jobs, only have time to serve if they can zoom, not if they must drive in.

The recordings are an archive where facts can be checked, and folks can watch on their own schedule not the scheduled times. There are the official minutes posted after they are approved, however, that can be a slow process. For example, at the March meeting of the Board of Health, the minutes from a June 2022 meeting were approved. For a myriad of reasons, hybrid meetings and recordings benefit us all.

Some scoff and say — not nearly as many attend a Select Board meeting via Zoom as a James Taylor concert. True, however, look at it the other way around - the meaningful statistic is how many who want or need to attend now have a choice of ways to do it — making their lives easier — making government more open and accessible. How many watch the recording after the meeting to catch up on government activities when they can?

At last Town Meeting, folks voted to make clear, it would be a loss if coverage stops, so SU asked our Town Administrator if the Town has plans for coverage to continue this year.

Response from Michael Canales, Town Administrator

Hybrid Meetings: I want to assure the residents of Stockbridge that starting in April the Town will continue to provide hybrid meetings that will then be broadcast, displayed, and posted on the CTSB website and their YouTube channel. While the staff at CTSB will no longer be able to provide help with the recording of additional meetings outside of their contract with the Town we have figured out how (through the Zoom resources and technology) to keep the hybrid format for all meeting.

Going forward, CTSB will be handling the School Committee and the Select Board meetings while the remaining board and committee meetings will be automated. By simply joining the meeting from the Zoom room setups, located in the two meeting rooms at townhall, all the functions will be automatically enabled including the recording of the meeting to the Cloud which will then be sent to CTSB for broadcasting and display on their YouTube channel.

I would like to thank the staff at CTSB who have gone above and beyond their duties to provide coverage of many meetings not previously recorded prior to the pandemic. CTSB has always been a valued partner and through the pandemic they began to provide additional meeting coverage in the five towns they cover. CTSB went from approximately 50 meetings per year prior to the pandemic to over 250 meetings per year post pandemic for Stockbridge alone. Working together we will keep hybrid meetings happening for all Stockbridge boards and committees.

Editor's note: Michael, a Warm thank you for this and all you do!

Photo: Lionel Delevingne