In a statement released Friday, Councilman Mark
Wojcik, R-District 1, accused the City Council's Democratic majority of deliberately trying to avoid broadcasting the council's decisions to the public because they have not videotaped meetings for at least two months.
According to
Wojcik, the Democrats' failure to tape the meetings for broadcast on cable TV means that many city residents are being denied the opportunity to watch the council's actions and decisions.
Wojcik also believed that the Democrats were deliberately not taping the meetings to hide what he referred to as "a series of missteps and errors by council Democrats."
"It is disgraceful council Democrats are failing to keep the public informed about the actions of the council," said
Wojcik. "I am calling for the taping and broadcast of meetings to be started immediately."
Wojcik had made a point to address the issue to Council President Clement
Campana, D-At Large, during Thursday night's meeting.
Campana responded by saying that the council's video camera had been broken and that they needed to purchase a new, digital model which he estimated would cost around $1,000. Given the tight economic times,
Campana said the council would purchase the camera when they could find the funds to do so.
Campana had also alluded to having addressed the issue with
Wojcik and other council members at committee meetings beforehand - a statement that Councilman Mark
McGrath, R-District 2, said was not true.
"Democrats ran on a pledge of openness, but council Democrats have pulled the plug on keeping the residents of Troy informed," said
Wojcik. "Council Democrats have no problems spending over $400 to replace a lock on a building we will be vacating in just a matter of months, but cannot allocate the resources necessary to keep the public informed."
According to
Wojcik and
McGrath, the camera that was used to tape council meetings had been provided by Time Warner Cable, but
Campana said that was not the case.
"We would never intentionally try to prevent any arena for Mr.
Wojcik and Mr.
McGrath to make their stand publicly," said
Campana.
Labels: City Council, Mark Wojcik, video camera