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Residents say prior meeting recordings weren’t available; staff blames a systems glitch and points to posted comments
Summary
Several residents told the commission they could not find the prior meeting’s recording or in-person public-comment notes. Staff acknowledged a Teams recording failure for part of the last meeting and explained that public and agency comments are compiled and posted on the Vision Whitefish website.
Multiple residents told the Planning Commission on Nov. 19 they could not find minutes or recordings of the previous transportation meeting and asked how verbal public comment had been documented and shared.
Rhonda (public commenter) said she had to leave the earlier meeting and could not find the recording or any in-person comment notes online. Other callers and online participants described difficulty accessing the prior meeting video and asked whether written and spoken comments had been combined in the materials posted to the project page.
Alan, the city project manager, responded that all public and agency comments are compiled into element-specific PDFs and uploaded to the Vision Whitefish site (he cited a 160-page transportation comment PDF), and that staff updates the posted files repeatedly as written comments arrive. He acknowledged there had been a recording problem at the prior meeting because Microsoft Teams performed an update and “it did not get recorded in the beginning,” and that the city’s videographer converts meeting recordings for posting to the city’s YouTube channel.
Why it matters: Public commenters said they rely on recordings and minutes to follow changes and to know whether in-person remarks were captured accurately. Commissioners and staff said they would clarify the posting process and ensure the redlined draft with tonight’s changes is distributed to the commission and published for public review. The commission also invited written submissions to ensure late verbal comments are captured in the record.
Staff follow-up: Alan and other staff said they will post the redlined draft dated Nov. 19 that incorporates new comments, and will make the consultant poster boards and sticky-note documentation available online. The commission encouraged those with outstanding concerns to submit written comments for inclusion in the record.
No formal action was taken on records policy at the meeting; staff said they are preparing both clean and redline versions of the draft for the commission and the public.
