The webcast video recording of a January council meeting that included the controversial decision to approve rezoning of land in the Peaks of Grassi has been accidentally deleted.
Council began recording and live broadcasting its meetings online four years ago. A new system for the webcast was introduced at the beginning of January and, according to supervisor of information technology Allen Wingenbach, there were issues with it buffering and live streaming.
Wingenbach said staff were working to fix the issue last Friday (Jan. 29) and created several test videos as part of that process.
“The testing was completed and once the work was done those live test videos were deleted; unfortunately, that batch of deletions included the video from Jan. 19,” he said.
Wingenbach explained to council that as the owner of the YouTube channel that hosts the live stream and video files, once the Town deleted the video, it cannot be retrieved.
“Video deletion by the owner of the YouTube channel is permanent, there is no backup,” he said.
According to the website, the municipality does not yet have a system in place to backup the videos so a secondary copy exists. It is, however, something administration is working to address.
The video that was permanently deleted by mistake was from the meeting during which council considered and approved second and third reading of the Land Use Bylaw rezoning application for three lots in the Peaks of Grassi subdivision.
A contentious decision, there is still uncertainty around whether or not those who opposed the zoning change from urban reserve to residential will seek some form of legal challenge to the approval.
As a council decision on rezoning, however, the approval cannot be appealed to the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board. An appeal may be submitted to the Court of Queen’s Bench based on a procedural challenge if the municipality did not follow the proper procedures for the process as set out in the Municipal Government Act.
As for the MGA’s requirements for recording council meetings, the only method set out as required under the legislation are the minutes of the meeting, which are then approved by council making them official records.
