Although the Santa Clarita City Council has its regular meeting every other Tuesday, barring breaks, the members must attend several similar functions to keep up to speed on the prevailing issues.  

These include closed sessions (where legal issues are usually discussed), study sessions (where staff and outside presenters inform members on vital, yet often esoteric topics) and the numerous committees on which the members preside.  

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Currently, only the regular Tuesday meeting, held in Council Chambers with all the electronic fixings, is televised.  

At the January 11 Council meeting, the bulk of the public comment period dealt with the uproar regarding then-Mayor and current Councilwoman Laurene Weste’s letter to Congressman Brad Sherman regarding immigration reform. The letter was printed on City letterhead, which contains the name of each Council member. Last year, the Council held various meetings and discussions discussing the letter’s message and content.  

The momentary stir, caused in part by at least a perceived lack of complete transparency, brought several speakers forward questioning the method in which Council takes action following public meetings.  

Allan Cameron suggested televising Council study sessions, which are held approximately once a month. The sessions, held in the Century Room at City Hall, have always been open to the public.  

According to a staff report, the Century Room is equipped with four monitors, a projector and a projector screen, but no audio or visual equipment that would enable a live telecast. The cost to do so, the report says, would total $180,000.  

To take a standard recording (and broadcast at a later date), available equipment would need to be hauled in and could only provide a single-camera view with a continual wide-shot of the room.  

The other option was to move the study sessions to Council Chambers, which are equipped for live television. Yet, in order to preserve the “the Council’s policy of using study sessions for more informal discussions,” according to the report, staff recommended recording the study sessions in the Council Chambers only when dealing with serious topics.  

“I don’t think that was the intent of the discussion when it came up previously,” said City Manager Ken Pulskamp. “We are recommending that sessions not be moved to the Council Chambers on a regular basis.”  

On Tuesday, the Council voted to televise only those study sessions in the Council Chambers which either the City Manager of Mayor deem necessary. The vote was met with some protest from Mayor Marsha McLean, who pushed for televising, live or otherwise, all study sessions.  

“We should videotape study sessions in the Century Room,” she said. “The last one we did the budget and people need to hear that kind of thing.”