In the age of Zoom calls and virtual meetings, some government entities have struggled to embrace modern technology. But they're catching up in Albany County.
New changes in daily routines caused by the COVID-19pandemic forced people to find new ways to connect and do business.
But, in many cases the haste by local governments to adapt during COVID, led to less-than optimal systems.
Republican Albany County legislator Mark Grimm of the 28th district says people watching livestreamed meetings often deal with poor quality audio and video.
Grimm's proposal to improve technology services received legislative approval this week.
“You can watch the meetings live, and then you can watch them on tape, on YouTube, which I think is a great asset, but we have to improve the quality of thise technically, or else, both citizens and media, by the way, won't get the most value out of it,” said Grimm.
Sam Fein, a Democrat from the 6th county district who has just launched a campaign for Albany Chief City Auditor, says quality two-way electronic communication aids transparency and encourages public engagement.
“It's important that we improve our sound quality in the chamber," Fein said. "It allows the public to better follow along. And you know, I think right now, you know, people are feeling frustrated, you know, disconnected from government. They're feeling they're going through a lot of struggles, you know. It’s on us as legislators to do things like this, to better connect with the public.”
On Thursday, the New York State Senate and Assembly heard testimony on broadening current videoconferencing policy that allows for hybrid meetings and sets public access guidelines.
Reinvent Albany senior policy advisor Rachael Fauss testified there are broader changes that need to be made to the open meetings law for the public and for journalists, which expires in July 2026.
She supports a bill to mandate hybrid public meetings at the state and local level.
"The current open meetings law does not require meetings to be both in person and remote for the public or public officials. And we think that we've learned a lot post-COVID, and I think the time is right to update the law to have these meetings be hybrid, so the press has in-person accountability, and the public and public officials can have more flexibility to participate remotely,” said Fauss.
As Albany County looks to improve its technology, the county legislature will use $80,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to purchase new equipment.
Grimm says the next step is negotiating a deal. “They're going to get a vendor and they're going to use this money to improve the audio," Grimm said. "And it better work. They better be good. Because, we finally get the TV stations, they played a clip I had the other night on the hotel tax, but I had trouble understanding it, and I'm the one who was saying it. So that's just, that's high school production, that's a high school production, and we should be embarrassed that we are not farther along on our technology.”
Grimm believes upgrading the system will encourage more public participation.
“What's frustrating is we have the technology. We have AI, for God's sake, we've come so far with technology, but the government's not using because too many people don't want transparency," said Grimm. "They say they do, but they don't, because it's harder for them to get things done if people know what they're doing and they don't agree with what they're doing.”
Fein, Fauss and Grimm would like to see all government meetings livestreamed.
