I've been wondering why the Willmar city commissions aren't using the facilities of the meeting room at the municipal utilities building. Especially the Planning Commission, which plays a very important part in the growth and planning of the city of Willmar. This should have been done long ago when the city made the facility able to tape or televise the proceedings. Not that all meetings are important, but some of the more important ones could be carried live on WRAC. However, no matter the importance, they should be taped for video availability on the city Web site.
I'm saying this because the various committees, commissions and boards all take minutes, which are published and provided, in the next City Council meeting packet. Having attended many of these meetings, I find that not everything is or honestly could be put into the minutes and sometimes many important statements or opinions are left out. I don't fault the taker of the minutes, but we have the technology available; why not use it? The meeting room is much more comfortable, especially for the committees, boards and commissions than the fire hall or meeting room 2 in the city office building.
Why not take advantage of what we have? Then there would be no mistake or misunderstanding of what someone said at these meetings. I do not think it would be a hardship to do this and I think the members of the various committees, boards, and commissions would appreciate the more comfortable setting.
The meetings that could be held at the MU are Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals, Municipal Utilities Commission (which are now but I don't think videoed or taped), Charter Commission (which for some reason they won't appoint even though state statute mandates it) and any other meetings deemed important enough to be done this way. I would also suggest that the committee meetings held in city office meeting room 1 at least be taped. We need to have an open city government and this would be one more step towards achieving it.
