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<br />Interim City Administrator Nelson-replied QCTV hired Decision Resources to conduct a survey <br />this past year to determine what the watching habits are of the residents. Council can be <br />provided with the information from this survey. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dehen indicated his concern is not whether to hold Council meetings or work <br />sessions on television, he wants to get the most information out to the community. If it costs too <br />much to get the work sessions on television he would rather see the money diverted into <br />something like expanding the Ramsey Resident to one time per month or something more <br />frequent than the current distribution. <br /> <br />Mayor Pro Tern Elvig stated his take on this is the historical perspective. Looking back <br />historically, the Council acted different in work sessions when they were televised. In his <br />opinion, there was a lot of posturing and grandstanding while on camera. That being said, there <br />is a concern about getting more information out to the community. He thinks this Council is <br />very interested in being more above board and proactive about communication, not only with the <br />Council but he believes it is an era with staff as well. That being said, he is not interested in <br />taking a pendulum and going 180 degrees in the other direction. There may be options such as <br />more thorough minutes or an audio of the minutes that could be accessed on the website. <br />Televising the work sessions may be counter-productive, but he agrees they could do more to get <br />information out and perhaps more thoroughly. <br /> <br />Councilmember Look requested information regarding the additional cost of televising work <br />sessions, or the hours the City is allotted by QCTV. <br /> <br />Interim City Administrator Nelson explained the City is allotted 30 hours per week of associate <br />producer time by QCTV that is divided up amongst all the things the City does with QCTV. <br />They could try to work out more time with QCTV, but it would be more of an allocation of the <br />existing resources. <br /> <br />Councilmember Look stated he would be willing to let go of the work session updates in order to <br />televise work sessions. He does not know that it is something that needs to be continued forever, <br />but there is a perception of what is going on in the work sessions. The benefit would be for the <br />residents to see the Council hammer out the details in the work sessions, which is often not done <br />in the Council Chambers. People that have an interest in a topic or subject matter coming up will <br />make an effort to watch it. <br /> <br />Mayor Pro Tern Elvig stated the historical perspective is that even when work sessions are <br />televised people still perceive that there are things being done behind the scenes. He thinks it <br />almost adds to it and does not necessarily take away from the innuendos. He would like to find a <br />way to cure rumors, but does not know that this is the vehicle to do it. He stated he believes <br />facilitation has a lot to do with this. He is frustrated from time to time when he sees an issue that <br />is a big debate and is complex, and the discussion is cut off. If it is a complex issue the Council <br />should share and show some debate, even if it has been debated, and that is up to all of them to <br />do in the Council Chambers. A lot of this is educating the people as to why the Council is <br /> <br />City Council Work Session / July 17, 2007 <br />Page 8 of 12 <br />