Local Dems OK livestreaming meetings

Kootenai County Democratic Central Committee meetings could soon be broadcast online after the organization accepted an offer to use county livestream amenities. 

Initially proposed by Commissioner Bill Brooks on May 3, the board of commissioners extended the opportunity to the KCDCC and the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee. Brooks said the suggestion was in the interest of "transparency and public involvement." 

"Since we [commissioners] started doing livestream in January, a lot of people have been able to attend and be part of the transparency that is there for anyone in the county," Brooks said. "If they meet here, we're not going to chase them around with cameras."

Neither party had responded to the offer when the Press followed up on May 21. 

Two months later, Kootenai County Democrats Chairman Evan Koch said that the committee accepted the offer pending a demonstration of the new technology implemented by the county in mid-June. 

"Democrats value a government that is open and accountable above all," he said. 

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the KCDCC has hosted virtual meetings, but Koch said the executive committee would likely determine a date to resume in-person assembly soon. Koch noted that the KCDCC could better translate its values and actions to the public through the opportunity. 

"Democrats hold popular positions on the issues that matter the most to Idahoans," he said. "Our views should reach as wide an audience as possible directly from us, not from some source that is likely to mischaracterize our words."

Commissioner Chris Fillios said that as of Friday, the KCRCC had not accepted the offer but was informed by Chairman Brent Regan that the committee voted to draft questions about county facility use. 

"To be honest with you, I have no idea what the new questions are," Fillios said. 

Regan had previously emailed the commissioners a series of questions about the proposal, asking about the potential cost to taxpayers, scheduling, facility use for other private organizations, and concerns about a possible "hot mic" situation.

Fillios said the county answered those questions and that the county was willing to accommodate committee needs. 

"They had more to do with formatting, like what would happen if they needed to go into executive session. That is not a problem. Whoever was monitoring the meeting from the county would bow out after disabling the recording," Fillios said. 

The KCRCC frequently holds meetings in the Kootenai County Administration Building on Government Way. Fillios said he thinks the facility use goes back from commissioners' previous offer about a decade ago. 

"They are a private, not a public organization, and they have the right to privacy if they want it. This is just an offer to see if they want a means to provide people to listen to their meetings online," Fillios said. "It's purely and simply an offer to livestream on a real-time basis. If they don't want it, they can say they don't want it."

At the time of publication, Regan had not responded to a request for comment.