What’s on TV? The Supervisors

As the 20th century nears an end, the Orange County Board of Supervisors has discovered television. Better late than never.

The supervisors have voted to hire a private production company to videotape their meetings and provide staff and broadcast equipment. The tapes will be provided to public television station KOCE and cable television outlets in the county.

Some supervisors raised questions about the cost, a legitimate issue. The estimated price tag will be $113,000 a year, the amount spent by the Los Angeles County supervisors. That’s a small price to pay to let residents see their county government in action, even on tape delay.

Orange County has been the only large county in the state not to televise its public board meetings. Supervisors had given preliminary approval for taping earlier this year, after several test tapings of meetings. The final vote came last month as part of the approval of a county budget.

Supervisor Todd Spitzer, an instigator of the tapings, said the public has the right to know how its tax dollars are spent and television is one way to show them. He’s right.

The only dissenter in the 4-1 vote was Supervisor Jim Silva. As a Huntington Beach council member, Silva was a veteran of televised meetings. He said they encouraged people to grandstand.

But the supervisors are not new to public meetings and are accustomed to limiting speakers’ time at the microphones. Having a videotape recorder operating shouldn’t make much difference.

Another concern is when the television stations will air the tapes. They may wind up being beamed into darkened living rooms in the post-midnight hours. Of course, since the meetings will be on tape anyway, rather than live, a potential viewer using a home video recorder to make a tape of the tape won’t lose much.

Most of the supervisors’ meetings are held on weekday mornings. Since they coincide with normal working hours, most county residents are unable to attend. Giving them the chance to view the proceedings later is a welcome change, even if only a few people take advantage of the opportunity.