photo by: Bremen Keasey

Lawrence City Commissioners listen during a presentation during Tuesday's meeting at City Hall, 6 E Sixth St.

Lawrence city commissioners voted Tuesday night to no longer live-stream their meetings on YouTube and instead upload recordings of meetings the next day, after hearing from several public commenters who said they thought the change would reduce transparency.

The commission voted 3-1 in favor of the change, with Commissioner Lisa Larsen as the lone no vote. Commissioner Amber Sellers was absent. The city will still allow people to watch and participate in City Commission meetings via the Zoom webinar.

The change is a response to a new state law signed in April by Gov. Laura Kelly that updated the Kansas Open Records Act and Kansas Open Meetings Act. The new law had a provision saying any governing body or agency that “elects to live stream their meeting on television, the internet or any other medium shall ensure that all aspects of the open meeting are available through the selected medium for the public to observe,” as the Journal-World reported.

Currently, the city broadcasts every part of the meeting on its YouTube channel except for the general public comment period at the end of the meeting. The city moved to stop broadcasting the public comment period in May 2024 after multiple disruptions at public meetings in Lawrence and Douglas County, including an incident that spring when multiple public commenters on Zoom engaged in racist and antisemitic speech, including using the N-word and displaying a flaming swastika, as the Journal-World reported.

At Tuesday’s meeting, just over a dozen commenters spoke to the commissioners to urge them not to end the live broadcasts on YouTube. Some said they felt choosing to no longer live-stream the meetings on YouTube would make the meetings less accessible to the public and decrease transparency. One commenter said that one of the city’s stated values is to be transparent, and that he felt ending the YouTube live-streams “moves away from that.”

Commissioner Lisa Larsen asked the city staff to clarify that there would still be the option to participate in the meetings virtually, including during the public comment periods. Sherri Riedemann, the city clerk, reiterated that the meetings would be viewable in their entirety in the Zoom format, and that this format would allow people to comment at the meeting as well, something they couldn’t do on YouTube.

Vice Mayor Brad Finkeldei noted that the change would put the city on the same model that the Douglas County Commission uses. The County Commission’s meetings are not streamed live on YouTube, but are accessible on Zoom, and the recording of the meeting is uploaded to YouTube the next day, Karrey Britt, Douglas County’s communications and media coordinator, previously told the Journal-World.

A few commenters said they found the Zoom meetings hard to follow, including that viewers can’t always see the live presentations that can be seen in person. One commenter expressed concern that getting rid of the live YouTube broadcasts would make meetings less accessible to people with disabilities.

Finkeldei acknowledged that it’s important to ensure that the Zoom meeting is a smooth experience and that residents can follow along, and the city will “work on that” to make sure it is a viable option. He also said it was still a priority to provide a platform for the public to engage with the commission — an option that not every municipality offers.

“Lots of cities … don’t have public comment or live-streaming at all,” Finkeldei said. “(We) would not support that.”

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In other business, commissioners approved extending an economic incentives program that aims to support bringing industrial projects to the city’s business parks.

The commission voted unanimously to renew its Catalyst Program for three more years. The program was created in 2017 and has been renewed by the City Commission twice, in 2019 and 2022. When the commissioners renewed it in 2022, commissioners indicated the program was valuable, noting the city had approved incentives for new construction or expansions with several companies in VenturePark or the adjacent East Hills Business Park since the program was introduced.

The program applies to vacant property or existing businesses in the two business parks, as well as other industrially zoned property in Lawrence. Approved projects can receive either a 50% or 70% property tax abatement for 10 years, sales tax exemption on construction materials, and waiver of all associated application fees. The program also provides free land for companies that choose to build in VenturePark or East Hills.

Bonnie Lowe, the CEO for the Lawrence chamber of commerce, in a written public comment stated the Chamber’s support for the program, saying it’s a “strong and effective tool” to attract industrial development.

Commissioner Bart Littlejohn said he supported this program, in part because it supports a wide array of businesses, both small and large. He wants to continue supporting those efforts and said this is a “useful tool in (the city’s) tool box.” Larsen, who was on the commission when it was first passed, said the program has been used by Lawrence-based companies to expand as well, creating a way to help existing companies “thrive and grow.”

The commissioners approval means the program will last until July 1, 2028.