I have been talking about the need for local governments to provide videos of meetings for years. Now a Federal law and lawsuits are requlting in FEWER videos and removal of most public documents from government websites for cities, etc.
Here is my earlier March 11th story on how stupid ADA Federal laws are damaging the transparency of documents and videos of local government agencies.
For instance, if you visit the website of Fruitland Park, FL, you no longer can see and download City Council Meeting agendas, staff packets, annual financial reports (CAFR's) or budgets. In this screen shot of a meeting agenda page, they no longer show "Meeting Information" documents like agendas at all and no clear reason why. And, this city eliminates meeting transparency by not providing meeting videos at all. Visitors have to guess that they can submit an email request to get them. This DESTROYS transparency over local government activities.
The Federal Government and overbearing lawyers have destroyed motivations to provide videos of local government meetings because attorneys are suing all local governments for website and video non-compliance with rigid ADA requirements.
That means the software used by visual or sound limited people to read websites isn't good enough to read many existing documents, thus pansy attorneys are suing the agencies and getting monetary settlements.
Recently, I tried to get the current Fruitland Park meeting agenda and documentation packet, PLUS the current budget and annual financial report, and NONE of them were on the website due to ADA lawsuit threats. Local governments are removing many documents due to the failure of the vision and audio limited interest groups in developing software to read documents that 98% of the population can read.
And, the ADA laws are interpreted to mean that the agencies must modify their website rather than just tell sight and sound limited users to email or call them for emailed copies that should be usable on their personalized computer systems.
Why should 98% of the public and government transparency be limited by 2% of the population unless resolved with costly new systems?
Anyway, now the Orlando Sentinel's columnist Lauren Ritchie agreed with me in today's June 2, 2019 Sunday paper, when she wrote a column describing what I have seen over the last year. Until that time, I was preaching the need for City Councils to provide meeting videos, but this ADA problem where videos must be captioned (i.e. text added that can be used by the software used by the sight and audio limited population) had decimated any incentives.
And, the Orlando Sentinel no longer lets you post comments about their articles, so you can't chime in.
Just last year, the Tavares City Manager told the City Council they could do meeting videos for about $10,000. The stingy Council rejected that idea, which was before this ADA problem became known.
Now, in Ritchie's commentary, she provides some city estimates of $75,000. Meanwhile, Eustis and the School Board are using older systems where their online software was updated to handle ADA videos, but there is still a cost for modifying all older documentation to be readable in the hearing and sight impaired lousy software.
Some cities DO try to explain why now the public has to submit emails public document requests for what used to be on the website. The aforementioned City of Fruitland Park now has a large banner on the top of each page saying "Website Accessibility" (code for ADA issues) and they do try to explain why documents are no longer available HERE.
But others, like the Lake County Government, don't say anything, except that if you want documents, you have to submit a formal public records request which then takes 1-2 days for a response. Their Attorney sent me a letter saying they are not required to provide agendas online, and no explanation about the ADA issue (since they just lost an ADA lawsuit which cost $10k to settle.)
This is a Federal or State issue. If you are fed up with these constant demands for expensive fixes for small interest groups, tell your Congressman or Florida Legislator. Why can't the affected people just email for a copy of documents that can be read on their own computers, rather than demand taxpayers pay to modify ALL older documents on websites? Why should the 98% of the public who CAN view and hear videos be denied that ability for 2% that complain?
We need leaders like the County Board of Commissioners to have County wide summit with local Florida legislators AND Congressman, plus representatives from ALL local cities and government agencies with websites to inform them of this damage to transparency. They could also then organize a group rate for all the agencies to get non-ADA documents modified for inclusion on websites.
Vance Jochim
[email protected] Published June 2, 2019
Note: Here is the ADA lawsuit against the County by a roving band of attorneys from Miami, and the settlement agreement.
Download ADA Price v. Lake County Florida - Complaint
Download ADA Settlement Agreement w. Lake County and Price_fully executed_1.29.19
