Fallbrook CPG to utilize YouTube

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Future meetings of the Fallbrook Community Planning Group will be posted on YouTube.

The Sept. 20 planning group meeting included a 13-0 vote to establish a YouTube channel account to store meeting recordings, to establish a [email protected] general email account for the YouTube account, and to designate the planning group chair, vice-chair and secretary as co-administrators of the account and to change the password when any of those officers change. The motion also included a request for the county to reimburse members for out-of-pocket expenses, so planning group secretary Ross Pike abstained since he would financially benefit from being reimbursed. Tom Harrington was absent Sept. 20.

"We decided to go with YouTube. The only issue that we left open is how long to leave it on that, and we decided to reassess it in the future," said Roy Moosa, who chairs the planning group's ad hoc committee for social media.

"We want to provide the public with recordings of our meetings," said planning group chair Eileen Delaney. "We just want to make sure that we do it right."

The debate whether recordings should be deleted after 90 days was deferred, and planning group member Victoria Stover noted that the recordings could be retained but not visible to the public. "We can leave them up there in a hidden format," she said.

That would ensure that planning group members could access the video. "It would not be visible to the public," Stover said.

A member of the public seeking to view the recording could also make that request, and the planning group chair would have the authority to grant access. (The chair will not deny a request, but the procedure ensures that the chair will be notified.)

Public access carries the risk of compromising the video. "The concern with YouTube is the ability of someone to download and edit and repost," Moosa said.

The ad hoc committee unanimously recommended to disable the viewer comment feature of YouTube for the planning group videos, so the recordings will not include public reaction.

When the planning group returns to in-person meetings the YouTube videos may be replaced by audio recordings. "The message is still there, but you don't have to see the person," Delaney said.

The county reimburses planning or sponsor group members for required expenses but planning or sponsor groups are not required to record meetings. The approved motion included a request for the county to reimburse up to $50 per month for social media expenses.