Open Government Fans Decry 2nd Leander Council Meeting

LEANDER, TX — On June 6, Leander City Council members approved changing its meeting schedule in creating a twice-monthly meeting of the body, designed for granular discussion on upcoming agenda items with the city manager and department directors.

Problem is, to fans of open government, the second meeting won't be televised — which is to say will not be recorded or live streamed, as the Hill Country News reported. The venue is different than that of the customary meetings attended by the public, the second one staged at the San Gabriel Conference Room, 201 N. Brushy St.

"Leander council’s meetings should be in full view," the Hill Country News headline blared in the wake of the council's announcement detailing distinctions between the dual meetings. Mayor Troy Hill defends the new practice, telling the newspaper the more in-depth meetings with department heads take up an "astronomical" amount of the city manager's time — up to 20 hours a week, he said.

Questions? Email (link sends e-mail) info@leandertx.gov

Leander spokesperson Mike Neu echoed the mayor's sentiments, saying the non-televised meetings would enhance open discussion among city council members. He suggested the closed nature of the second meeting would accommodate greater use of municipal nomenclature replete with higly technical terms they might otherwise not be able to employ in a more employ in a more open forum.

"He said the briefing meeting could allow council members to ask questions, learn new information, and then reiterate the questions and facts in a more understandable format during the council meeting itself," Hill Country News reports.

It's worth noting Austin, Georgetown and Round Rock also schedule separate meetings with department heads, too. But unlike Leander, those gatherings all are made available via live stream before being archived, the newspaper found. The City of Austin even provides a written transcript of the entire audio feed from its meetings, according to the report.

For now, residents can avail themselves of real-time live streams of regular council meetings to be archived for later viewing. Regular council meetings take place on the first and third Thursday of each month at 6 p.m., officials write on the municipal website (times may vary for recorded work sessions). Alternately, residents can watch archived council meetings on-demand from the City Meetings tab on the municipal home page.

Archived videos of recorded meetings should be accessible within 24 hours after the meeting ends. Agendas and minutes from previous and upcoming meetings are available at leandertx.gov/meetings. Agendas of upcoming meetings will be posted at least 72 hours prior to the next meeting date.

>>> Read the full story at Hill Country Views