The county’s transportation agency leaders may shelve debates around allowing the public to watch their meetings from home on video, with some arguing they should wait until decisions are made on the relocation of agency headquarters, a move that could be as far as five years away.
“It seems to me that it would be premature for us to act now prior to us having resolved the matter of where we are going to be and what facility we’re going to have,” said board member Michael Hennessey, appointed to represent the general public on the board, who proposed a secondary motion that would postpone decisions about video live streaming during Monday’s executive committee meeting. “I don’t think I can say it any more simply than that.”
Conversations about incorporating video live streaming at the agency resurfaced in March following a Voice of OC investigation with Chapman University student journalists that assigned the agency a “D” accessibility grade, as it’s one of few agencies in Orange County that doesn’t offer public video access to their meetings.
[Read: Orange County’s Transit Agency Considers Allowing Residents to Watch Them From Home]
OCTA notes that they do offer a live audio stream but it can be challenging to follow the debates because it can often be unclear who is speaking on the audio.
The agency decided against allowing the public to watch them from home on two previous occasions, in 2011 and 2015.
[Read: Orange County’s Transit Leaders Delay on Video Live Streaming]
OCTA Board member Fred Jung also felt the video streaming options were worthy of discussion alongside the relocation, but disagreed with Hennessey’s motion to postpone the decision.
“I think there are for us, even though the move of the agency is imminent, some cost effective ways to get this done. I’m not expecting this board or even myself to advocate for the highest quality thing at a location where we’re not really going to be here for that long,” Jung said.
“However, the first staff report that came with just some general cost estimates, there were quite a few in there that I thought were adequate for what we were looking for that I think is an enhancement to what we have now for the general public that are very cost effective.”
Supervisor Donald Wagner also emphasized that a cheaper option should be used in the event that the board decides to allow video live streaming at their current facilities, but that the board should try to be forward-looking.
“It’s important for us to make sure, especially as we end up in a new space, which I assume is the direction we are going to go as opposed to staying here, that we fold into that the cost of this system,” he said.
Wagner argued that the video livestream and archive that would be available with it would mostly be a tool for the board.
“It’s really us that pull these videos and use them out in the community, because the public has plenty of opportunity to know what we are saying, what we are doing and why we are saying and doing it through the means that are available right now,” said Wagner.
“We are coming up with a solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist.”
Supervisor Andrew Do agreed that both issues should be considered in tandem.
“So what I’m hearing is delay addressing this for a short time until the board decides on our new headquarters,” he said. “Once we have a firm idea on how long we will remain here, then the board, or at least starting with the executive committee, we can address what level of streaming service we would want here while we wait for the new location.”
Chief Financial Officer Andrew Oftelie, who presented the item, shared with Supervisor Do that the board may have a final decision on relocation within the next month or so.
The transit agency could stay at their current facility another 3-5 years or until their lease is up in January 2029, according to a staff report.
The agency has leased their current facilities since 1992, according to OCTA Senior Communications Specialist Eric Carpenter.
“OCTA’s current lease ends in January 2029, so the OCTA Board directed staff to explore the commercial real estate market for opportunities that could best serve the agency and public needs and save taxpayer money in the long term,” Carpenter said in an email following the meeting.
The board initially selected to pursue a “built-to-suit” headquarters on a property in Anaheim, but were recently approached by the owner of a nearby commercial property that could potentially be a “good fit for OCTA” and reduce the expenses of relocating, according to Carpenter.
The agency’s full board of directors will again debate video live streaming options at the upcoming board meeting on Monday, April 8.
Erika Taylor is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow and photojournalist. You can find her on Instagram @camerakeepsrolling or email at etaylor@voiceofoc.org