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Janesville study sessions to be televised

JANESVILLE — Tonight’s Janesville City Council study session will be the first to be televised after a vote at Monday’s meeting increased public access to the council’s discussion.

JATV, the city’s cable public access channel, will broadcast all future study sessions.

That will likely result in more formal study sessions than those of the past, which were often relaxed give-and-takes between council members, staff and even audience members. They were held in a room adjacent to the council chambers.

The council has six to eight study sessions each year on topics ranging from the budget to a proposed children’s museum. The council does not vote during study sessions but often gives direction to the administration.

All regular council meetings are televised.

Broadcasting study sessions will not cost JATV any money. Instead, it will redirect resources.

Council member Yuri Rashkin said he suggested televising study sessions because he believes the city should be as transparent as possible. Study sessions often deal with important topics, and the council receives valuable information.

“It’s just vital that that information gets out to the residents of the city to the fullest extent,” he said.

Council member Russ Steeber said the atmosphere will change when the cameras roll.

Council members become “somewhat more puffed up” and political when they are televised or the media arrives, he said. People have always been able to attend study sessions, and the current system has worked fine for years, he noted.

Several council members said they preferred that meetings be taped in the informal training room and then replayed on JATV at scheduled times.

But council member George Brunner said the council should use the dais and the equipment in the council chambers to make it easier for JATV and the media to cover proceedings.

Rashkin agreed that the conversation changes when cameras roll or the media walk into the room.

Sitting at a dais and being more formal, however, is a small price to pay to increase public access, he said.

Council member Frank Perrotto also favored televising the sessions.

“It’s incumbent upon us to provide transparency as much as we can,” Perrotto said. “I think we can do this, and I think we should,” Perrotto said.

The sessions might generate more interest than council meetings because they focus on single topics, he said.

Council member Bill Truman said he supported the motion, although he was concerned about a possible conflict of interest because Rashkin brought the issue to the council and is now interning at JATV.

The vote to televise study sessions was 5-0, with Tom McDonald passing.

Council member Kathy Voskuil was absent.