Commissioners discontinue virtual meeting streaming due to “budget cuts“ despite spending $16k on Zoom subscription last month
I asked: “Is there a link to join/view the budget meetings today and tomorrow? If not can we please get that setup as not everyone can make it in person. Thank you, Chris Castleman“
Commissioner Rod Taylor:
“There simply are no human resources to contribute to this audio management during budget meetings. Next year promises to be worse, as we are about $1.8m short this year, so far.”
B.O.C. Business Manager Bobbi Brooks:
“We aren’t streaming the budget committee meetings, due to the difficulties we’ve had with the audio equipment.“
HOWEVER,
They county has subscriptions to THREE streaming services (Zoom, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams) that have used to stream meetings without issue. And all the other government bodies in the state provide streaming of their meetings without issue.
From the March 18, 2025 BOC Agenda: "Board to approve Zoom subscription renewal for $16,801.90"
They also pay for subscriptions to GoToMeeting and Microsoft Teams, but I am still tracking down those amounts. Additionally they pay PEG Broadcasting $6,250 per year to broadcast their twice monthly regular meetings.
7/26/2024 PEG BROADCAST SERVICES, INC $6,240.00 INV 2022.13 FY25 SERVICES
And they wasted $9,000 in taxpayer funds last year to have one of their budget committee members (Rick Osborn) "write a newsletter". That money could have gone towards fixing their "difficulties" they had with the audio equipment.
1/19/2024 BLUE RIDGE STRATEGIES, LLC $3,000.00 NEWLETTER/PIO CONTRACTINV 039
2/23/2024 BLUE RIDGE STRATEGIES, LLC $1,500.00 INV #043 - NEWLETTER
4/5/2024 BLUE RIDGE STRATEGIES, LLC $1,500.00 INV 046 FEB 24 NEWSLETTER
6/14/2024 BLUE RIDGE STRATEGIES, LLC $1,500.00 INV 059 MARCH 24NEWSLETTER/PIO CONTRACT
9/6/2024 BLUE RIDGE STRATEGIES, LLC $1,500.00 INV 065-NEWSLETTER MAY 24
This is what happens when you elect people who constantly make excuses, don’t care about transparency, and don’t care how they waste your tax dollars.