Many government boards and commissions began livestreaming their meetings to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, once a state law from 2023 goes into effect on July 1, livestreaming will be a requirement.
Under House Enrolled Act 1167 of 2023, certain local and state agencies must begin livestreaming meetings and archiving them for at least 90 days. The law applies to governing bodies including elected school boards, county boards of commissioners, county councils, common/city councils, town councils and township boards.
The meetings of boards that meet in the same place as these governing bodies are also required to be livestreamed and archived. This would include bodies such as city and town plan commissions, boards of works, boards of zoning appeals and others.
Though it includes K-12 school boards, the law exempts college and university boards of trustees.
Other exempted boards include fire district and library boards. By state law, these boards have their budgets and any tax increases approved by the county council, or in the case of Greenwood’s library board, the city council. Because of this, the public will still be able to see financial decisions play out live.
State and local governing bodies must provide public meeting livestreams and an archive of copies with links to any meeting agendas, minutes or memoranda. Governing bodies without Internet capability to livestream must record and retain the meeting, and all livestreams and recordings can be destroyed after 90 days. Live meeting links must be provided on the meeting notice, according to the law.
HEA 1167 author Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, previously told The Statehouse File the law is a “transparency bill,” aimed at fiscal bodies. He authored the bill because people want to be able to see how money is being spent and understand what is happening locally.
Getting ready
Several school boards, townships and small towns are getting into compliance just ahead of the July deadline.
As for the town of Prince’s Lakes, staff is preparing to install and test run the equipment for the town council’s June 16 meeting to make sure everything is ready by July. Town officials are still working out how residents will be able to access the livestreams, said Lindsey Henson, council president, via email.
Greenwood and Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson school boards are also preparing to practice livestreaming before July, both school district superintendents said.
Franklin-Union-Needham Township and White River Township trustees are confident their township boards will be ready to livestream by the July deadline.
White River Township Trustee Mark Messick anticipates that residents will go through the website to access the livestream, but those details are still being worked out. FUN Township will do its first livestream on YouTube for the June meeting, said Lydia Wales, FUN Township trustee.
Wales believes the new law was “a wonderful idea,” and trustees have received training on how to do it. Wales also said the consolidated township’s “door is always open” for people who want to attend meetings in person as well.
Pleasant Township won’t meet again until September, but when they do, the board will be ready to record the meeting using a laptop and recorder, said William Hart, Pleasant Township trustee.
Hart said the township will adhere to the law, but he doesn’t think people are very interested in government at the township level.
Already set, getting there
Government units, including Franklin, Greenwood, Bargersville and Johnson County, have been livestreaming for years now, along with school districts including Center Grove and Franklin.
Franklin has livestreamed since 2022 and recorded meetings since 2018, while Johnson County has livestreamed its council and commissioners meetings for the last couple of years, officials said.
When Franklin bought the equipment in 2021, it cost approximately $7,000, including the cameras, all-in-one video encoder, streamer, switcher and recorder, said Rick Littleton, Franklin’s Information Technology director, via email.
City officials started livestreaming the Franklin Board of Public Works & Safety meetings in 2023 and the remainder of the board and commission meetings in January
Like Franklin, Johnson County has already been livestreaming, so no new equipment is required to meet the July deadline, said Jeff West, Information Technology/GIS administrator, via email. The county is working on training other employees on the process so the IT department won’t need to be there for every meeting. Only the meetings in the auditorium are required to be livestreamed, he said.
The town of Edinburgh will continue livestreaming on YouTube. Although town officials had some video and audio quality issues when they initially started livestreaming, the problems have since been fixed, said John Myers, town manager.
New Whiteland started livestreaming in September 2024, and experienced some issues during the first few months. However, New Whiteland Clerk-Treasurer Angela DeVoss said she feels confident the town will be ready by the July deadline.
More transparency
As more local units in Johnson County prepare to livestream, several officials said they welcome the law.
Franklin Mayor Steve Barnett said he is a proponent of the new law and believes Franklin was already heading in that direction.
“I think it’s good for local governments to provide this to our residents to provide transparency and keep them informed about what’s happening,” he said in an email. “It gives people who can’t attend in person a chance to watch the meetings live. I think it also lets residents see how local government works and shows that it’s a non-intimidating atmosphere.”
Henson had similar thoughts, saying, “I think it gives residents an opportunity to see and be a part of meetings they can’t physically attend.”
With livestreaming came new expenses and new responsibilities for local officials, but DeVoss feels it is worth it.
“When you’re looking at what government is supposed to do, we’re there to serve the public, the taxpayers,” she said. “Anything that’s going to help with transparency, with the public being able to participate and know what’s going on, I think that’s a good thing.”
Residents have given DeVoss positive feedback since the livestream launch. She expects it to help more residents be informed, she said.
“A lot of times when you see people complain or they’re upset about this or that, a lot of times they just simply don’t know what’s going on,” she said. “And we have people that do want to know what’s going on but, like I said, maybe their work schedule, they can’t make it, or their kids have activities, and with the videos being on YouTube, somebody can watch the videos any time of day.”
One thing the law doesn’t require is where to post the meetings. Most government units have chosen YouTube or their website to post videos. Residents who have trouble finding livestreams or videos can contact people such as clerk-treasurers or town managers for help.
Daily Journal news editor Noah Crenshaw and reporter Jayden Kennett contributed to this report.