Over the past few years, it's become increasingly common for governments to make public meetings available via livestream or video posted online for citizens to view at home.
Some residents of local municipalities, such as Signal Mountain, have come to expect video of public meetings, once made available, to stay available.
Opinions vary on whether making public meetings available to view at home is the right thing to do, or just a convenience that few people utilize that can cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in equipment and other costs.
Signal Mountain's YouTube channel, Signal Watch, has council meeting videos dating back to January 2017, but the council decided to stop streaming and posting video to the channel in February.
Some citizens are not happy with the decision.
Signal Mountain resident Louise Mann said the meeting minutes posted on the town's website "scarcely cover discussions," and she paid videographer Philip Luckey $300 per meeting to film the June, July and August council meetings.
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Mayor Charles Poss said the council was told the system used to film and stream the meetings was complicated and required training to operate.
The employee who had previously operated the equipment used to film the meetings changed to a new job with the town, going from a salaried position to one earning hourly wages. Operating the equipment is outside the scope of the employee's new position, and officials decided to stop filming the meetings until they could purchase new equipment that would be simple for anyone to operate, Poss said.
The town included $15,000 for the equipment in its budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, and the town is awaiting price quotes for the equipment, Poss said.
"Livestreaming wasn't really that popular when you looked at the numbers," Poss said. "Even so, I think it's something that we want to do, so we're working to put it back into place."
The cities of Red Bank and Collegedale both started filming and streaming their commission meetings during the pandemic.
Red Bank Mayor Hollie Berry said in-person attendance at commission meetings varies widely depending on the topics being discussed, ranging from three people to a full room of around 40-50.
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When governments were allowed to hold meetings on Zoom rather than meeting in person to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Berry said the city would often have about 40-70 citizens in attendance because they were able to participate from home.
"That's really important for people who have children at home, for people who may be caregivers, people who may actually not be home from work yet who can watch from another location other than home," Berry said, adding that people who are sick or can't attend for medical reasons or who lack transportation also benefit from the option to participate remotely.
Since Tennessee revoked a pandemic-era allowance for local governments to hold meetings on Zoom and still qualify for public meeting requirements, which allowed for online citizen participation, governments can only provide video that can be livestreamed or viewed later without the ability to interact with officials through comments or questions as the meeting occurs.
Collegedale Mayor Katie Lamb said the city has received positive feedback from citizens who like having the flexibility to watch meetings online, and the city will probably continue to livestream commission meetings after the pandemic.
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"We like to be as open as we can," Lamb said, adding that before the city started livestreaming, audio recordings of meetings were posted on the city's website. "It's amazing to me how many people will listen to them a few days later and contact us on the commission."
But not all area municipalities have citizens who are interested in watching government meetings online.
Soddy-Daisy Mayor Rick Nunley said the topic of filming or streaming City Commission meetings has never been raised by citizens or officials in the 12 years he has been on the commission, but audio recordings are available.
Before the pandemic, around 30 people would attend commission meetings, but now it's closer to 15, he said.
"It just depends on what's on the agenda," he said.
Contact Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6508.