Council info

Some city staffers are joking that a full moon this week was responsible for back-to-back technical "glitches" that prevented the audio recording of one Boulder City Council meeting and interrupted the live television broadcast of another.

"It's just one of those things where everything this week is a little off," said Sandy North, a deputy city clerk and records manager.

The problems began Monday, when the City Council held a special six-month review to evaluate how the nine-member body has performed in the first quarter of its two-year term.

While the board typically makes an audio recording of its meetings in addition to taking written minutes -- so that staffers or the public can review the exact words of council members later on -- a technical problem prevented the archiving."The tape, unfortunately, did not record the meeting," said Mary Huron Hunter, spokeswoman for the city manager's office. "The clerks present at the meeting took copious notes."

North, the city records manager, said all of the council's regular recording equipment was in use that night and a backup device borrowed from another city department had to be set up at the East Boulder Recreation Center for the special meeting.

"It worked when we did a testing," North said, but the recorder apparently didn't pick up any sound during the session.

Written minutes from the meeting will be posted on the city's Web site sometime in the next three weeks, North said.

On Tuesday night, Mayor Shaun McGrath was cut off in mid-sentence when another glitch interrupted the live broadcast on Boulder Channel 8 of the City Council's regular session.

"That's the first time that's ever happened," Channel 8 director Don Chapman said. "A switch got made, and fortunately our staff was right on it to get it fixed."

Chapman said the glitch lasted fewer than 15 minutes, and the archived recording was not affected.

A re-broadcast of the council meeting Wednesday was played in its entirety, and a recorded version available online and at the Boulder Public Library will be uncut, he said.

Chris Beall, attorney for the Colorado Press Association, said while the city is not legally obligated to make audio or television recordings of its open meetings, it's considered a best practice.

Under state law, Beall said, a public body could face sanctions if technical problems twice prevented certain executive sessions from being audio recorded. That isn't an issue in Boulder, however, as the council does not hold closed-door meetings.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Heath Urie at 303-473-1328 or urieh@dailycamera.com.