BURKET - Burket Town Council will look into if there’s any possible exceptions to small towns in regards to a law requiring livestreaming of meetings starting this summer.
Beginning July 1, many local government bodies will be required to livestream their public meetings under a new state law. The change comes with the passage of House Enrolled Act 1167, signed into law on May 1, 2023.
HEA 1167 “requires governing bodies of state and local agencies (excluding a state-supported college or university) to provide, on a publicly accessible platform: (1) live transmissions of public meetings; and (2) an archive of copies of the live transmissions with links to any meeting agendas, minutes or memoranda. Provides that if a governing body does not have internet capability for live transmission of public meetings, the governing body shall record the meeting. Provides that transmissions and recordings of public meetings may be destroyed after 90 days.”
During Thursday’s meeting, Council President Bill Rayburn said he wanted to do research into the bill and see if there are any exceptions before the town buys equipment to livestream and possibly a website to stream the meetings to.
In other business, the council:
• Learned work on the railroad on Walnut Street should take place in the next week or two.
• Learned the town is still waiting on state approval of the town’s road inventory.
• Heard five stop signs were ordered. Rayburn said hopefully Street Superintendent Brad Bibler can get the signs up quickly.
• Will send out letters or talk to various residents about ordinance violations, like tall grass and junk in yards.