Ruth Larson: Already seeing progress on accessibility of County Delegation meetings

To The Daily Sun,

A couple of updates are in order regarding a recent letter concerning accessibility of Belknap County Delegation meetings. First, with regard to minutes of Delegation meetings, it turns out that they are available in draft form within five business days of the meeting, by request to County Administrator Debra Shackett at dshackett@belknapcounty.org. The minutes are now generally being posted on the Belknap County website even in draft form. Thank you to Rep. Juliet Harvey-Bolia for clarifying this situation.

Secondly, with regard to microphones, there is good news for all who try to follow Delegation meetings. The county has ordered an additional piece of equipment consisting of a microphone bar, that will hang from the ceiling towards the top of the meeting room. Let’s hope that this new microphone will have good quality sound and pick up more of the speech of representatives. Thank you to the board of commissioners and the county administrator for arranging for this, and to Administrative Assistant Jamie Ellsworth for providing this information.

The remaining items from the open letter still need to be remedied, especially the need to take and record roll call votes. It is hoped that the Delegation will agree that the public has a right to know how their representatives are voting, and will make the process more transparent in the future.

Ruth Larson

Alton