Shelby County Board Meeting

Shelby Co. (ECWd) –

The Shelby County Board held their regularly scheduled meeting Thursday evening which included a lengthy agenda. The meeting began at 7 pm and adjourned at 10:35. The full video is located below. We were made aware of some false claims regarding the last meeting video and its posting. The video was available in the original article on the special meeting just below the first video on Monday the 6th, at this link. A screen capture of the day it was uploaded can be found at this link. We wish we had faster internet for uploading videos but contrary to some people’s claims, it does take time and there was no attempt to keep it from the public.

There was a packed courthouse with standing room only and several public comments. We urge everyone to watch all of them. We also urge everyone to note the call for civility rather than division. Some of those calling for that appeared to push a message further dividing with clearly false narratives, and while they were not interrupted during their time, a large crowd had no problem interrupting others when they spoke. So much for their call for civility.

Ironically, those who expressed so much concern about their elected officials and how things operate did not stick around long to see the actual board in action during lengthy discussions and debates on numerous agenda items. By the end of the meeting, there were only a few people present. One agenda item, in particular, was to expand public comment opportunities through the ability of one person being able to yield their time to another. This is significant in light of the false narratives being pushed about this board’s alleged effort to limit public comment. We note that some of the past board members had attempted to further restrict public comment to 3 minutes from the standard 5-minute policy. The yielding of time is a welcomed addition to further transparency and shows a clear desire to hear from the public.

Two items of major significance were the approval of the activation of a county website and approval to purchase the equipment and subscription necessary to videotape and livestream their meetings. The representative that did the presentation on the website indicated this has been a desire for at least the last 10 years.  This is the first county board that actually took action to make it happen.  While this is a great first step, it is up to each department head to manage their portion of the site.  We hope they take full advantage of uploading key documents in an effort to provide further transparency for their residents.

It was nice to see the discussions on numerous matters including not paying certain invoices which had no public purpose. The committee pulled those bills and took it upon themselves to reimburse the source of the invoice from their own pocket to the person who submitted them.  They did so because that person had been told by past committee members that such bills were ok to be paid by the county. One board member appeared to imply it should be paid since it’s not that much money, approximately $180.00. Any invoices submitted for payment not having a public purpose should never be paid, regardless of the amount. We commend those who did the right thing in this case and chose to follow the law rather than ignore it and make excuses to justify paying it. Making the person whole from their own pocket is above and beyond.