Clarkston City Council members frowned at the idea of taping meeting for public access, when City Manager Dennis Ritter it would cost over $5,700 to update equipment.
‘I was pretty surprised by the dollar amount,? he said..
Mayor Steve Arkwright suggested some of the equipment might not be needed, which could save approximately $2,000
‘What I counted up we go from $3,805 to $1,805,? he said. ‘We don’t have $1,800 but is there someway we can find $1,800 because I think this would be beneficial to the community.?
Audience member Dave Drap suggested using a webcast and putting it on the City’s website.
Arkwright asked councilman Cory Johnston if they could get somebody from the high school. Johnston said that might be possible. Arkwright was also curious as to what other board members felt about it.
‘I think it’s great if we can do it,? Johnston said. ‘But we don’t have the funding obviously.?
Councilman Chuck Inabnit said he could ‘go either way.?
‘I don’t think they show up here,? he said. ‘I don’t think they’ll watch it on TV.?
Councilman Jim Brueck, agreed.
‘If I felt there was a burning desire for them to watch it I would feel differently,? Brueck said. ‘But they don’t come.?
Johnston noted a lot of people do watch the Independence Township meetings
‘I think if people were calling in and asking for it maybe I would be more inclined and interested in it? Councilwoman Peg Roth said.’Since you two (Ritter and Arkwright) came up with it and no one has ever mentioned it, seems a tad overkill.?
Brueck said he doesn’t want to spend any money on it. Councilman Thomas Hunter feels the same way.
‘I’m not opposed to it, but we don’t have a lot of extra money,? he said. ‘If it cost money there better be some interest in it by the public.?
Arkwright said he’ll take that as his marching orders.
‘We’ll run it by the school and see if they have any interest in it and if we get a website maybe we can look at doing a webcast or some other method,? he said. ‘Certainly dollars are an issue.?