The Goleta Water District is a public water agency serving the City of Goleta, Isla Vista and surrounding areas. There are about 90,000 residents residing in the District who cast more than 75,000 votes in the last election. The District’s expected expenditures during the current 5-year financial plan period ending in 2025 is about $250 million. The District is going through a plan to change the process for election of Board members from at-large to districts. At the present time, Board and standing committee meetings are conducted by a deficient audio only teleconferencing system.
As a director since 2008, I believe there have not been problems with in-person meetings. When the pandemic limited in-person meetings, the Board approved audio only teleconferencing on the grounds that ZOOM, a leading platform had certain security issues. Problems with the platform were essentially been cured. Numerous area public agencies conduct meetings without problems using ZoomM or other platforms. Bill Rosen said that “without video technology, the context of the meeting is lost without the ability to see and interact with staff, other directors and the public. This lack of context detracts from my ability to perform my job for all residents of the District.” The absence of video conferencing limits access and reduces transparency and openness.
We all know why Zoom or other platforms are so popular for official communication. The Santa Barbara’s chief election official uses Zoom for telephone calls. Almost no book club operates without Zoom. I have participated in meetings with more than 150 participants. The Goleta Water District has conducted video meetings for closed sessions. Indeed, the Board moved from audio to video to audio in a silly exercise to keep information from the public.