Port of Bellingham Commission Approves Video Recording of Meetings

Pat Britain has lived in Bellingham for the past 19 years, and work as a telecommunications broker and consultant.

The public can now expect a little more transparency regarding port commission meetings, at least for the rest of the year. The port will soon livestream its meeting and post these on its website for public review. This would not have happened without the efforts a number of dedicated citizens who continually raised this issue, as well as the League of Woman Voters.

During their 4/15/2014, meeting, the Port of Bellingham Commissioners approved the execution of a contract for live stream video recording of commission meetings throughout the rest of 2014. Four companies responded in March to a request for proposals, and Spinner Audio, a Bellingham-based recording studio, was chosen for the contract. The staff recommendation says that “the project scope will include live streaming video of commission meetings, [and] archival of those meetings on the website for future viewing…” When the port’s meeting room is upgraded later this year, power point slides and other presentations will be included in the live stream feed. The cost will be $425 per commission meeting and include up to four and a hald hours of recording time per meeting and $6,375 through the end of 2014.

It appears that the Port Commissioners responded, at least in part, to letters from the local League of Women Voters, as well as citizen comments made during commission meetings in January and February. In a letter to the commissioners, the League urged the Port to provide greater transparency by scheduling commission meetings in the evening to allow for more citizen involvement. However, on January 21, the commissioners voted 2-1 to approve a 2014 schedule of 3:00 pm meetings (McAuley voted against).

After that commission meeting, the League sent a letter to The Bellingham Herald expressing disappointment with the decision to retain afternoon meetings, and urging the port to live stream commission meetings:

“We believe that the public is entitled to at least the same measure of access and courtesy as port tenants and other business interests. At a minimum, we urge the port to consider other means for informing the community about their actions including the airing of their meetings on live broadcasts on their website.”

Both the live stream and archived commission meeting videos can be accessed at the port’s website, www.portofbellingham.com beginning with the May 6, 2014 commission meeting.