Policy No. 98 — Live Streaming and Video Recording of Meetings Policy — full text

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1 Policy No. 98 Livestreaming and Video Recording of Meetings Policy POLICY NO. 98 LIVESTREAMING AND VIDEO RECORDING OF MEETINGS POLICY 1.0 POLICY 1.1 Open Meetings or Regular and Special Council and Committee of the Whole Council held in person or conducted by electronic means will be livestreamed, video recorded and published to the Municipality's website page in an effort to promote transparency, public participation and access to municipal decision making. Any meetings or portions of meetings closed to the public in accordance with section 22(2) of the Act will not be live streamed or recorded. 2.0 PURPOSE 2.1 This policy will provide guidelines for the live streaming and management of video recordings of Regular Council, Special Council and Committee of the Whole Council meetings. 3.0 SCOPE 3.1 This Policy applies to: 3.1.1 all elected Members of Council, all personnel employed by the Municipality, and any person or organization acting on behalf of Council and the Municipality. 3.1.2 All persons attending a meeting, including invited speakers, observers, presenters and members of the public, both as visitors in the public gallery and when invited to speak. 4.0 DEFINITIONS 4.1 "Act" means the Municipal Government Act, SNS 1998, c 18 and amendments thereto. 4.2 "Chair" means the Warden or person who chairs a meeting. 4.3 "Chief Administrative Officer" means a person appointed as Chief Administrative Officer by Council or the person designated by the Chief Administrative Officer to carry out a particular duty. 2 Policy No. 98 Livestreaming and Video Recording of Meetings Policy 4.4 "Council" means the Council of the Municipality of the District of Barrington. 4.5 "Defamatory Statement or Inappropriate Comment" means one which tends to injure another's reputation. A comment that is not appropriate or suitable for some purpose or situation. A statement/comment that could induce people to shun or avoid a person for any reason. A statement can be made by spoken words, signs or gestures, writing or images in person or by broadcast. 4.6 "Livestream" means a live, publicly streamed broadcast. 4.7 "Municipality" means the Municipality of the District of Barrington. 4.8 "Municipal Website" means the websites administered and controlled by the Municipality, which may include, but is not limited to www.barringtonmunicipality.com, web-based video management applications, and social media. 4.9 "Open Meeting" means any Regular Council, Special Council and Committee of the Whole Council meeting open to the public in accordance with section 22(1) of the Act. 5.0 POLICY & PROCEDURES 5.1 Open Meetings to be livestreamed, recorded and made available to the pubic via the municipal website include: 5.1.1 Open Meetings of Regular and Special Council held by electronic means or in-person; and 5.1.2 Open Meetings of Committee of the Whole Council held by electronic means or in-person. 5.2 Public comments, questions, or interactions will not be permitted through the livestreaming platform. 5.3 The official record of Open Meetings shall be the written minutes. The keeping of a video recording of an Open Meeting shall in no way detract or undermine the position of approved minutes as the official record of decisions. 5.4 Appropriate signage shall be posted at the entrance of the Council Chamber to ensure that presenters and members of the public are aware that Open Meetings are being live streamed, recorded and made available over the internet. 5.5 At the beginning of a meeting the Chair shall notify those present that the meeting is being livestreamed, recorded and will be published on the municipal website. 5.6 The announcement and signage are meant to remind those present of the recording and the expectation that they shall refrain from making potentially defamatory statements or inappropriate comments. 3 Policy No. 98 Livestreaming and Video Recording of Meetings Policy 5.7 It is intended that the standard camera position will only provide vision of the members of Council who are present at the meeting and those members of the administration and the public who are addressing Council. It is not intended that there be either live or recorded footage of the gallery or public, however, there may be incidental capture. 5.8 The Municipality will make every reasonable effort to ensure that live streaming and video recordings are available to the public. However, there may be situations where due to technical difficulties the live streaming and video recordings may be unavailable or delayed. Meetings will not be cancelled, postponed or delayed due to technical issues with live streaming or recording of meetings. 5.9 Recordings of Committee of the Whole Council meetings will be accessible to the public on the municipal website for a period of one (1) month from the date of the meeting. Recordings of Regular and Special Council meetings will be accessible to the public on the municipal website for a period of one (1) year from the date of the meeting. 5.10 The Chief Administrative Officer or their designee, shall be responsible for the operation of the live streaming and recording equipment. 6.0 RISK MITIGATION 6.1 Open Meetings are a public forum of statements, questions and answers. Opinions expressed and statements made during an Open Meeting are those of the individual making them, and not those of the Municipality. Unless set out in a resolution, the Municipality does not endorse or support the views, opinions, standards, or information that may be expressed by individuals at an Open Meeting, and which may be contained in a recording. 6.2 It is possible that statements could be made which may be regarded as offensive, defamatory, incorrect or contrary to law and may be the subject of potential liability. 6.3 No protection will be afforded to members of Council, the administration or the public by the Municipality for comments and statements made during the livestreaming of Open Meetings which may be or are subsequently challenged in a Court of Law and determined to be potentially defamatory or inappropriate. 6.4 Council, by way of unanimous consent, the Chair, or the Chief Administrative Officer have the discretion and authority at any time to direct the termination or interruption of the live streaming and recording of the meeting if they consider it prudent or advisable to do so. Such direction will only be given in exceptional 4 Policy No. 98 Livestreaming and Video Recording of Meetings Policy circumstances. To resume live streaming, direction shall be provided by Council, by way of majority vote, to the designated staff member. 6.5 Following a meeting, the Council, by way of majority vote, the Chair, or the Chief Administrative Officer have the discretion and authority to direct the exclusion of all or part of any meeting recording that are considered inappropriate to be published. Such direction will only be given in exceptional circumstances. 6.6 Material considered to be inappropriate may include, but is not limited to, material that may: 6.6.1 be false or misleading communication which damages the reputation of another individual or organization; 6.6.2 infringe copyright; 6.6.3 breach the privacy of an individual or unauthorized disclosure of the personal information of an individual; 6.6.4 be offensive; 6.6.5 constitute discrimination; 6.6.6 constitute hatred of a person or group of people and is likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate; and/or 6.6.7 disclose confidential or privileged information. 7.0 LICENSE AND USE 7.1 Livestreams and recordings of Open Meetings are the property of the Municipality and cannot be reused or reproduced without the approval from the Municiaplity. If requested, permission may be granted to produce or reproduce the recordings posted on the municipal website, provided that the copied material is not modified or altered, and ownership of the material is attributed to the Municipality. No person may use the recordings for commercial activity, political party advertising, election campaigns, or any other politically partisan activity. Unless expressly authorized herein, no part of the recorded materials posted on the municipal website may be reproduced except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, as such Act may be amended or replaced from time to time, or with the express written permission of the Municipality. 5 Policy No. 98 Livestreaming and Video Recording of Meetings Policy Public Notice to be displayed as signage at the entrance of the Council Meeting --- Today's meeting is being streamed live on the Municipality's website. This meeting is being streamed live in accordance with our Livestreaming and Video Recording of Meetings Policy. A copy of the Policy can be viewed on the municipal website. By attending an open meeting, you are consenting to your image, voice and comments being recorded. Whilst Council will make every effort to ensure that live streaming is available, it takes no responsibility for and cannot be held liable for technical issues beyond its control. Technical issues may include but are not limited to the availability of the internet connection, device failure or malfunction, unavailability of social media platforms or power outages. It should be noted that no protection is afforded to member of Council, the administration or the public for comments made during meetings which are subsequently challenged in a court of law and/or determined to be defamatory. 6 Policy No. 98 Livestreaming and Video Recording of Meetings Policy Clerk's Annotation for Official Policy Book Date of Notice to Council members of Intent to Consider May 13, 2025 Date of Passage of current Policy May 27, 2025 I certify that Policy No. 97 "Municipal Asset Naming or Renaming Policy" was adopted by Council as indicated above. _________________________ ___________________________ Debbie Mader Date Municipal Clerk VERSION LOG Version Number Amendment Description Approved By Approval Date 1 Approved Policy of Council Council May 27, 2025