For the third time in a decade, Orange County’s transit leaders this week considered adding video live streaming options that would allow residents to watch them from home.
And for the third time, they took no action.
Yet there are increasing calls for video streaming by many of the city and county elected leaders who also serve on the board of the Orange County Transportation Authority.
The nearly $2 billion transit agency deals with just about every critical transportation amenity in OC from roads and buses to rail lines and freeways.
“The public benefits from the live meetings,” said County Supervisor Katrina Foley, who also serves on the transit board. “Whatever we can do to make them more accessible to the public, that’s always important. The main priority is that we get our meetings live as soon as possible.”
While some board members expressed concern over implementing video live streaming given the agency’s potential move to new headquarters, others are calling for a more immediate solution to provide video to the public.
“It is very important that our community sees what we are doing, how we are spending our money, in real time,” said Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua. “I would also like a breakdown of the estimated costs, because yes, even though we may be moving, I don’t know the timeline on that exactly, and I don’t think any of us do.”
“I don’t want to sit here and wait, I’d like something right now, soon,” she said.
The renewed discussion comes in the wake of a year-long investigation by Chapman University student journalists and the Voice of OC looking at how public agencies offer video streaming of their official deliberations.
[Read: Making it Easy to Watch Local Government From Home]
The investigation found that OCTA is one of few public entities in the county that doesn’t offer the public video access to their meetings. The transit agency is joined by the cities of La Palma, Rancho Santa Margarita and three of the county’s community college districts in keeping the public in the dark.
Early last week, the agency’s executive committee opened discussion on video live streaming, where three video options were presented.
[Read: Orange County’s Transit Agency Considers Allowing Residents to Watch Them From Home]
These options range from low-cost AI-controlled cameras to high-cost systems of cameras that could cost as little as $1,150 or as much as $601,000 for the first year of use.
Although no decisions were made by the board during a Monday morning meeting, county leaders expressed opinions regarding the options.
John Stephens, OCTA Board Director and Mayor of Costa Mesa, spoke in support of the most expensive video live streaming option and questioned how quickly video archives would be posted following the end of meetings under the different options.
“The public should see what is happening here,” Stephens said. “…I support option number three. I think we should move forward with that. I like the high quality. I don’t know why an organization that does everything ‘high quality’ would not have high quality for our videos.”
“It’s pretty low cost in proportion to what we do, and pretty important in terms of transparency,” he said. “I think the public needs to see what we are doing.”
Board members Fred Jung, Vicente Sarmiento, Jamey Federico, Katrina Foley, Stephanie Klopfenstein, Valerie Amezcua and one public commenter joined Stephens in support of moving forward with video live streaming.
“I give staff direction to move forward with these options so we can vote as a governing body on what’s best for this agency,” said Jung, the City of Fullerton’s Mayor Pro Tem.
“I think we are giving the bare minimum, and that’s not what this agency is known for, we have always gone above and beyond,” said 2nd District Supervisor Sarmiento.
Sarmiento also questioned the interactive elements of the live streaming options, and asked staff to provide insight into how other agencies in the county handle livestreaming in the report.
Klopfenstein echoed this, stating, “I also agree with Director Sarmiento talking about a breakdown of best practices from other cities or county agencies. I myself sit on other OC regional boards… I think it’s important to look to some of these other agencies to see what they are doing and how that might fit in here.”
The Voice of OC student investigation does look at the streaming options offered by every major public entity in the region.
[Read: Making it Easy to Watch Local Government From Home]
Klopfenstein also pointed out the differences in cost among the three options, and encouraged staff to explore other options.
Others felt that the third option was too expensive, in light of a potential relocation of OCTA headquarters.
“The up-front sunk cost of setting this up, in a building that we just talked about departing, I would certainly be willing to support option two, which is a lower cost for now, and maybe we worry about higher quality in a future boardroom, ” said Dana Point Mayor Federico.
“The functionality of having video livestream is something we are far behind on. I personally don’t think the high quality is as important than basic functionality,” he said.
“I do think that we need to move forward with having real-time live meetings,” said Foley. “The timeline is what we should be cognizant of. And maybe it is dependent upon whether or not we move forward more quickly with the timeline of moving out of this building.”
Foley would like to see some temporary options as well as some long-term options that could be incorporated into their new boardroom.
Some questioned the figures and requested that there be an itemization of costs.
“The cost that’s outlined here is pretty exorbitant. It seems extremely high, I don’t have any breakdown in itemization, we just have big fat numbers here,” said Foley. “I’d like to get a better understanding of the cost.”
Foley spoke in support of the least expensive video streaming option.
Amezcua also spoke to the need for itemization of costs and the eventual relocation of OCTA headquarters.
Vice Chairman Doug Chaffee, who also serves as the 4th District Supervisor on the OC Board of Supervisors, asked OCTA staff if video livestreaming could be incorporated incrementally, so that any options that could be incorporated in their current boardroom would carry into their next boardroom.
Yesterday’s discussion received one public commenter: David Martinez, Board Member of Costa Mesa Alliance for Better Streets.
“I just wanted to speak in favor of video streaming options for these board meetings… It’s important for me to be able to talk to you face to face in public comments, and be able to see you face to face as we make these decisions,” said Martinez, who traveled by bus from Costa Mesa to speak at the meeting.
“The only way I will be able to do that is through video streaming. I did not want to come an hour and a half each way to get here for every OCTA meeting,” he said. “I really hope that you approve one of these options, I know you might be moving headquarters soon, so hopefully you can choose one of the short term options.”
The video options will again be discussed at the next executive committee meeting on April 1 before returning to the full board for a vote.
Erika Taylor is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow and photojournalist. You can find her on Instagram @camerakeepsrolling.