To the Editor:
Open government, transparency in government. These phrases are often tossed around when people complain about government in general. However, the city of Mitchell is to be commended for its efforts to make government open and transparent through the livestreaming of city council meetings. This allows people who-for mobility or out-of-town-on-business reasons-cannot attend the meetings in person to remain fully informed about the city's governmental processes.
However, when that livestreaming goes blank after 14 minutes and 54 seconds, as it did during the Tuesday, Feb. 19 meeting, how does a viewer alert the city to the problem? The city's regular business hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with City Council meetings beginning at 6 p.m. This begs the question, "Who's manning the store?"
The city's website appears to include a plethora of information. It offers details about the council, including the schedule of meetings, its members, current and past agendas and minutes, and a link to the online livestream of past City Council meetings. Yet there is absolutely not one word on how to alert the city in the event of an equipment failure.
Having no contact information or help available for the viewing public to alert the city of problems during an evening City Council meeting flies in the face of open, transparent government.
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Nancy Torgersen
Mitchell
