Burnet County commissioners to livestream meetings
Burnet County Precinct 2 Commissioner Damon Beierle at a previous meeting of the Commissioners Court. Beierle said he will spearhead a project approved by commissioners at their Oct. 10 meeting to livestream future meetings. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
Burnet County commissioners could soon be livestreaming their twice-monthly meetings. They voted 4-0 to spend up to $5,000 out of the court technology fund to set up the equipment needed to broadcast the meetings on YouTube.com. Precinct 1 Commissioner Jim Luther was absent from the Oct. 10 meeting.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Damon Beierle, owner of Double Eagle Entertainment, took on the task of finding the right equipment.
“This is not a job for my company,” he said. “It’s just my knowledge being used. We are not looking to get a job out of this.”
Early in the meeting, during public comments, Burnet County resident Deedra Robertson berated commissioners for “resisting” livestreaming.
“Vote ‘yes’ on item 30 on the agenda,” said Robertson, referring to the item listed for discussion or possible action on the issue. “To say ‘no’ would be highly suspicious.”
“We did a version of this on Facebook during COVID,” Precinct 4 Commissioner Joe Don Dockery said during discussion of the agenda item later in the meeting. “I’m all for it. I’ve never been opposed to it. I would like to know what we’re doing first.”
Facebook allows for an unfiltered stream of public comments as a meeting progresses, which Dockery said started out well but turned extremely negative.
Beierle assured him that YouTube is easier to use, viewers do not need an account as they did for Facebook, and the host does not have to allow comments.
“It’s not super complicated,” Beierle said. “You need one camera, one remote control, and it gets us and the podium (where public comments are made).”
Streaming will not be available in time for the next court meeting at 9 a.m. Oct. 24 in the second-floor courtroom at the Burnet County Courthouse, 220 S. Pierce St. in Burnet, but it soon will be.
“I’m going to make this a priority,” Beierle said.