— from Joe Symons —

Two and a half years ago I wrote you to request that the previously established A/V system that allowed the public to participate in public meetings,  set up and paid for by an Orcas resident, be re-habbed and brought back to life. There was a flurry of emails from IT folks (I can send you reminder copies if you wish) which resulted in zero action. That was 2017. In 2018 I wrote several reminder letters regarding this topic. As I recall none of them were even acknowledged as received, and certainly no action was taken. I didn’t even bother writing in 2019.

Now it’s 2020. Cheap, available, easy video conferencing, such as Zoom and Skype, are available. There is no reason for delay. Topics such as the request for a moratorium on vacation rentals, on the comp plan LCA and HNA, on the CP vision statement compliance, are important and need far more public input. Few residents who do not reside on SJ Island can attend public meetings, but could and should be given a chance to participate in public access time and testimony on given topics without having to sacrifice virtually an entire day for the 3-5 minutes they are allotted to speak.
A test using Zoom was attempted today, but could not be successful due to what appear to be SJC Wi-Fi firewall settings.

I cannot understand why SJC, with its advanced technologies as illuminated by the Open GIS data and extensive web site, can’t make public access from Lopez, Shaw, Orcas, and outer islands an easy, inexpensive, solid, dependable, and robust feature. If you can stream and record public meetings, adding remote access capability should be simple. Even intermediate technologies, such as a laptop in the Council Room to deliver public comments originating off of SJI, should be embraced and tested ASAP.

Failure to implement this stretches ones credulity regarding your interest in open, transparent, and full disclosure governmental process.

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