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Residents say meeting may be invalid after livestream and audio failures; ADA and state-stream rules cited
Summary
Public commenters and some council participants raised concerns that livestream and audio failures on the city YouTube channel and external stream violated open-meetings rules; a speaker urged adjournment and called the meeting null and void while the city attorney said the statute is in effect though no copy was presented.
Several residents and meeting participants told the Bogalusa City Council that livestream and audio problems during the meeting may have violated state open-meetings requirements and federal accessibility obligations.
Public speakers and attendees reported that the meeting’s audio and livestream were intermittently unavailable on both the city’s YouTube channel and an external stream. One speaker said, on the record, that because the public could not reliably hear the broadcast and because the agenda did not clearly show where the public could access live streams, the meeting should be discontinued and actions taken at the meeting could be void. The speaker cited HB 1023 and expressed concern about compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, noting an absence of captions or reliable audio.
The city attorney responded that a council member does not need to present a physical copy of the statute at the meeting for the law to be in effect. Council staff said they would follow up with the senator’s office and the vendor to resolve technical issues and would review the statute and accessibility requirements before returning affected items to the agenda.
No official legal determination was made during the meeting and the council did not hold a vote to adjourn on those grounds during the session reported in the transcript. The council indicated it would investigate the streaming and posting procedures and consult legal counsel before taking further action on any items whose legitimacy might be affected by streaming failures.
