Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Participation Portal topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident raises digital-access concerns after signup links and agenda materials absent from new city portal
Summary
A resident told the council that the new city portal lacked working links for public comment sign-up and meeting information before the meeting, limiting participation and making past agendas inaccessible.
A Salem resident told the City Council on Feb. 27 that the city’s new online portal for council meetings contained broken or missing links that limited public participation.
Steve Kapantis described encountering no link to sign up for public comment and no Zoom link on the portal the day before the meeting, and said the Zoom link was fixed only after he alerted the clerk’s office. "This is limiting public participation," Kapantis said, adding that the portal would not confirm submissions and lacked a way for residents to change sign-ups.
Kapantis also said the portal lacked posted meeting times, land acknowledgement text, committee reports and that documents from prior meetings had disappeared. He urged the council and staff to check the portal for errors before posting and said some residents may have missed opportunities to speak because of the site’s problems.
City clerks present acknowledged the portal issues in earlier remarks and the meeting proceeded; the clerk’s office later received attendee signups and the meeting was held as scheduled. The council did not take an immediate vote related to the portal at this meeting.
