Lynn council consents to tapings

LYNN – As a video camera operated by Lynn resident Seth Albaum rolled Tuesday, members of the City Council were finally captured in agreement as they unanimously approved the broadcasting of council meetings to be seen by the public.After years of bickering back and forth about the issue and questioning funding sources for the project, councilors agreed to disagree and voted in favor of granting residents the opportunity to watch a City Council meeting from the comfort of their own home if they choose to do so.A previous vote to deny the council tapings by Ward 3 City Councilor Darren Cyr at a Cable Access Committee meeting last month was reconsidered Tuesday after he filed a motion, and this time, voted in favor of the proposal.However, before he voted, he insisted on a total of 39 stipulations be built-in to the vote, including the banning of commentary or opinion of the meetings; a one-time replay of the meeting between the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at a set time each week; the total cost of the broadcast, equipment, maintenance, repairs, and electrical bills to be paid in full by Lynn CAM (Lynn Community Access and Media) and not taxpayers; that Lynn CAM provide 15 copies of the broadcast in DVD format to the City Clerk; and the installation of cameras and equipment be complete within six months of final approval by the City Council.”I only had one person contact me to say that they were disappointed with my previous vote,” he said. “But I decided to reconsider after I spoke with the other city councilors. They all wanted to make sure the tapings are done in an ethical way and so do I.”Cyr admitted to butting heads with City Councilor At-large Judith Flanagan Kennedy over the course of the discussions, and said certain things were said that shouldn’t have been said.”This has really gotten out of hand,” he said.One particular item that sent Cyr and Kennedy into a tizzy was stipulation no. 34, which calls for Lynn CAM to not reproduce, sell, distribute, copy, email, provide in any manner and or forward to any media outlet or individual any recorded City Council meeting in electronic form or otherwise without prior written consent of the council.Cyr argued that he wanted to protect the council from a person using the material in a negative manner, for a political campaign or anyone’s personal advantage.Visibly irritated by Cyr’s request, Kennedy said the idea was ludicrous and unnecessary, but ultimately voted in favor of the idea to not impede the meetings from being broadcast.”I think a lot of the stipulations are outright unenforceable and that they were put in to impede rather than enhance,” she said.In the end, a compromise was reached with the stipulation, in which any person wishing to obtain a copy of the taped meeting under Massachusetts general laws that govern public meetings would have to fill out a request form to do so.City Council president Tim Phelan said he was pleased cooler heads prevailed in the end.”It will still take a period of time before the meetings are televised because of the installation process,” he said. “Whether everyone agrees, this will allow for the first time in the city of Lynn’s history to have meetings broadcast on cable. We’re entering uncharted territory in the city.”