Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Records Retention Streaming topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Select Board debates meeting video retention and streaming options as IT group is re-scoped
Summary
Board members discussed whether to keep meeting videos online for 90 days, one year, or longer and considered switching from Town Hall Streams/Zoom to YouTube to reduce costs; staff will consult vendors and HR/IT advisors before proposing a final retention policy.
The Select Board spent substantial time reviewing a meeting-video retention policy and the scope of the town's Digital Transformation Working Group (DITWIG).
Board members said the town's written minutes are the official record but that meeting videos are a transparency tool for residents. The current written policy states videos should be retained 90 days, but the board learned Town Hall Streams currently retains videos for up to five years. Residents raised examples where video and written minutes appeared inconsistent and asked for longer retention to allow comparison. "If they were deleted once a year or something... the budget also falls calendar year. So calendar year plus 90 days is certainly reasonable," one resident suggested.
Board members discussed moving streaming to YouTube (as some nearby districts have done) to cut costs, and asked staff to check whether Teams could replace Zoom as an office suite solution. They asked staff to contact Town Hall Streams about any per-gigabyte costs and to consult PrimeX on retention and HR/process implications. The board signaled support for a time-limited retention policy that balances transparency and storage cost and asked for a recommendation at a future meeting.
Separately, the board debated whether to recharter DITWIG into a narrower IT advisory body or to hire an IT staff member; the board asked the DITWIG liaison and department heads to meet with the IT provider and report recommendations on scope and responsibilities.
