The Sawyer County Administrative Committee voted to continue live Zoom meetings with public access and to keep posting full meeting recordings to YouTube after a lengthy discussion about transparency, record retention and risks from manipulated media.

IT Director Mr. Colson summarized options for live access and recordings, including a range from invitation-only livestreams to audio-only broadcasts and turning cameras off. He also presented recording-retention choices — posting unrestricted to YouTube, making files staff-only, or storing recordings on a secure platform that would prevent easy downloads at additional cost. "We could put an expiration on the recordings — they expire at a certain time, and then they just delete," Colson said as he outlined retention and privacy tradeoffs.

Public commenter Linda Zilmer urged preserving recordings for both supervisors and the public, saying they "are valuable not just to the public, but for you as members of the county board" because committee discussions often contain the details and reasoning missing from written minutes. Several supervisors agreed recordings help reconstruct earlier discussion on ongoing issues; one gave the example of revisiting videos from May and June to compare statements on lake water levels.

Concerns about manipulation and artificial intelligence were raised. One supervisor said, "I don't like someone going in and alternating things," and another cautioned that audio dubbing could be used to alter the record. Colson noted technical steps such as using a special player or making recordings private can reduce easy downloads, but also pointed out that a determined actor could record a screen or audio from a device.

The committee debated retention windows ranging from 30 days to 122 days (about four months) and discussed a compromise that would delete public access after a set period while preserving recordings for staff or by-request access. After discussion, a supervisor moved that the committee "continue live streaming Zoom with public access and post recordings to YouTube unrestricted." The motion was seconded and passed by voice vote; the record does not show a roll-call tally.

Members asked IT to monitor the technology and report back if instances of manipulated media or other problems arise so the committee can revisit the policy. The committee also noted the statutory distinction between audio retained by clerks for minute-taking and publicly posted recordings.