The New Richmond Village Council voted on August 25 to no longer record audio of its meeting.

The New Richmond Village Council voted on August 25 to no longer record audio of its meeting.
By Megan Alley
Sun staff

The New Richmond Village Council voted on August 25 to stop recording the audio of its meetings.

“Are we required by the Ohio Revised Code to tape our meetings?” asked Councilman Paul Vanderbosch. “I would like to amend that we no longer do that then.”

Councilwoman Mary Allen voted against the motion to stop the recordings.

“I think the good thing about recording them is you get all the detail,” Allen said.

“The advantage is you have the record, so if the clerk is taking the minutes, and she doesn’t remember a particular detail, she could go back and listen to the recording.”

Vanderbosch responded that the clerk could go to the mayor, and any member of council, to get clarification.

“It’s a lot of things to keep track of, it’s a lot of storage problems and all these issues, so that’s another reason,” Vanderbosch said.

The audio recordings are saved as Windows Media Files, said Village Administrator Greg Roberts.

“The audio is recorded on a pocket recorder,” Roberts said. “It is a fairly simple process of keeping them on file and saved to a hard drive.”

Meeting minutes have to kept forever, but it is uncertain whether or not that same rule applies to audio recordings, according to Roberts.

“I’m not aware of an ordinance that states we have to record the meetings,” Roberts added.

Previously, any member of the community could access the audio recordings by submitting a request.

“They are a public record. If people ask, then they can have them,” Roberts said.

“We average about two requests a year.”

Councilman Gary Skeene also voted against the motion to stop the recordings.

Vanderbosch and Councilman Richard Feldkamp, Councilwoman Amanda Davidson and Mayor Ramona Carr all voted in favor of the motion to stop the recordings.