If the city of Umatilla is going to offer video tapings of the city council and other public meetings, then it should be of sufficient quality to be both clearly seen and understood. The video tapings of the public meetings are mostly of poor video/audio quality; often only the moderator (city recorder) and the city manager can be clearly understood.

Some of the videos are truncated, and not starting at the beginning of the meeting; the council meeting of May 20, 2025, is audio only and no video is present. One would think that with the advancement of current video/audio technology that the city could offer quality recordings that have been quality reviewed before posting to the city’s website. Public participation in council and other city meetings has always been a challenge. Not all who would like to participate in the city public meetings are able to participate in person.

The ability of Umatilla citizenry to participate and review meetings through web services is welcomed and provides a wonderful means for the city to allow for extended public participation. It is the opinion of the writer that the city should be able to provide much higher quality video and audio participation by the public through better quality live/recordings.

David Trott

Umatilla

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