Pros

Cons

Residents are eager to learn about what their city government is doing. All too often they see something they don't like and ask "When did THAT get decided?" Televising meetings is a way to allow the residents to become informed and involved in governing their city while it is happening.

The Council Chamber already has 75 chairs that sit empty in most meetings. Agendas are posted on bulletin boards in City Hall and the library. Agendas and meeting minutes are posted on the city web site.

No one wants to watch a boring Council meeting, in person or on TV.

Residents call alderman to complain about taxes and pot-holes, not to ask for meetings to be televised.

Televising can be paid for without raising property taxes or cutting services. Every cable bill will have a new charge of 15 cents/month, or $1.80/year. Since the televising is only available on cable, cable subscribers are paying more, but are also getting a new service. People who don't have cable pay nothing and can still visit a friend's house to watch (maybe they can bring popcorn).

The initial estimate for television equipment is $35,000.

A tax by any other name is still a tax.

The city can use the televised bulletin board system 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to broadcast timely information without relying on the generosity of the newspapers to print it. Examples include meeting times, lawn watering restrictions, starting times for parades and concerts, etc.

To quote task force member Alderman Karl Schulz, "We should have done this 5 years ago."

We publish a quarterly newsletter.

If people want to know if they can water their lawns, or what time the 4th of July parade starts, they can call City Hall at 782-9650 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, holidays excepted.

Newspapers have an extremely limited amount of space to print the facts on a topic. Often they use some of it to print an opinion from an interested party. Official minutes generally record only motions and votes, not the details of the debate.

Televising will allow residents to hear the entire presentation and debate or even special programming like informational meetings without editing out important details.

The city holds informational meetings already, e.g. leaf burning, RV restrictions, Calhoun Road expansion, etc. We have plenty of chairs and it's free.

Residents will be able to see for themselves which alderman do their homework, stay awake during the meeting, make sensible statements and how they cast their votes.

We have nothing to hide. People can visit the meetings for free. They can read the minutes in the back of the Brookfield News three weeks after the meeting or download the minutes from the city web site.

Many residents, especially the elderly, are interested in what the city government is up to, but don't want to go out in snow or cold or rain. Televising meetings will keep them informed from the safety and comfort of their own home.

If a resident is too lazy to come to the council meeting or is scared off by a little cold or snow, then he isn't interested enough to watch on TV either.

Don't underestimate the intelligence of Brookfield residents! If some alderman is blathering on just to hear his own voice or doesn't know what he's talking about, he won't survive the exposure.

Loose cannon alderman will just showboat, play to the camera and waste everybody's time. Televising will just get in the way of a productive meeting.

Government meetings are broadcast in Elm Grove, New Berlin, Menomonee Falls, Waukesha, Wauwatosa, Muskego and Oconomowoc, to name a few. Why not Brookfield?

What's right for other communities isn't right for Brookfield. We settled this over 20 years ago when cable was first brought in and there's no reason to change our minds now.

At the task force meeting of August 5, Joe Greco and Dave DeAngelis highly encouraged the city to go forward with televising.

Mr. Greco was Menomonee Falls Trustee for 20 years and Village President for 10. He was a member of the team that introduced televising Council meetings to Menomonee Falls.

Mr. DeAngeles was Mayor of Muskego for 10 years and is now Village Administrator for Elm Grove.

Also, see the unsolicited email shown below from New Berlin Council President Tom Bullerman.

These guys just don't know Brookfield.

They had no independently audited, scientifically conducted opinion polls proving how many people watched the televised meetings or found them useful.

The initial proposal is to telecast only meetings held in the Common Council Chambers, which would include the Common Council and possibly Plan Commission meetings. It is possible that other meetings such as a public information meeting on development would be added in the future.

Committees and task forces gather facts and make recommendations that are almost always accepted by the Common Council. If they are helping to make policy, the public should be given every chance to see them in action and to hear what they here before they make their recommendations to the Council.

Citizen task force members will be scared off by having their meetings televised. We won't find any citizens to serve on commissions and task forces.

What Brookfield's residents want is more secrecy in government.

In cities that telecast meetings, incumbents still get replaced by challengers at election time. One factor is that the voters can conveniently watch the incumbent over an extended period and decide if they want to re-elect him.

This is just a four year campaign speech at public expense.