From Staff Reports
How can residents view Cochran City Council meetings?
In a text message response to questions from The Ledger Tuesday night, Mayor Carla Coley stated that the city is not livestreaming council meetings.
“No city live streaming. You have to follow Cochran Bleckley FYI on Facebook. It is live streamed from there,” Coley wrote.
When asked whether the public had been notified that meetings could be viewed through the Facebook group, Coley responded, “It’s been on that page for years – well before the City live-streamed, and it has more followers than the City. Yeah. Not every month is announced, but there are many views.”
Following the mayor’s response, The Ledger joined the Cochran Bleckley FYI Facebook group and confirmed that Chris Coley, husband of Mayor Carla Coley, is listed as an administrator of the group. The group also contains videos showing Chris Coley livestreaming Cochran City Council meetings through the private Facebook group.
The city’s current approach has prompted questions about public access to council meetings and whether meetings should be available through an official city-operated livestream and archive rather than through a privately managed social media group.
Additional questions were submitted to Mayor Coley Tuesday night regarding whether the city considers the private Facebook livestream to be an official means of public access to council meetings and whether there are plans to resume city-operated livestreams in the future.
The Ledger will provide updates if and when additional responses are received.
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