Council rejects agreement to archive school board videos on city YouTube channel, 4‑3

The Independence City Council voted 3‑4 on March 3 to deny a revised agreement that would have the city upload and maintain archived videos of the Independence School District’s board meetings on the City of Independence YouTube channel.

Laura Dominic, who said she typically watches the school district’s content online, objected to using city staff time to post district material; she said the agenda cover sheet did not note any fiscal impact and asked the city to “allow city employees to do city work instead of the district's work.”

Tom Scannell, community development director, and the city manager said the school district’s personnel would record and send files to city staff to upload; the city would not receive financial compensation. City staff described the work as a nominal amount of time but acknowledged potential confusion because the videos would appear on the city’s branded channel. Councilmember McCandless pressed about ownership and legal exposure, asking if there was room to renegotiate archiving and who would maintain records in the event of litigation.

Councilmembers split along those lines. Councilmembers Fears and Perkins voted yes; Councilmembers Stewart, McCandless, Wylie and Botte voted no. Mayor Roland voted yes. The item failed 3 in favor and 4 opposed.

The council previously approved a separate agreement to stream district meetings on City 7; this revised item would have added posting to the city's YouTube channel. The city manager said nothing was “cast in stone” and the council could return with different direction.

Council members asked staff to discuss terms with the school district about ownership, archiving responsibility and whether the district could post on its own channel instead.