People who watch the city of Oak Harbor’s channel 10 may someday be able to gain a greater insight in how city government operates from the comfort of their couches.

Last Tuesday, the Oak Harbor City Council instructed City Supervisor Paul Schmidt to further investigate the costs and logistics of videotaping city workshops and ad hoc committees. They asked him to report back at one of the meetings in October.

Council’s feelings in the issue seemed mixed, but at least one citizen is a strong advocate.

“What you stand to gain from the airing of meetings is priceless unless the city intends to keep the residents in the dark,” said Robyn Kolaitis, a Dillard’s Addition resident. City administration shut down a meeting earlier this year after Kolaitis announced her intention to videotape it.

Councilman Larry Eaton requested that the city finance director find the money for the service, which could range from $2,100 to $15,400 a year, depending on the how many meetings are videotaped. He suggested looking in the mayor’s budget — which some council members in the past have suggested is bloated — or the council budget.

Mayor Patty Cohen was on vacation and absent from the meeting.

The idea of videotaping workshops and committees has become an issue in the upcoming election. So far, most candidates said they were in favor of the idea, though they have some worries about the cost and the potential that video cameras would stymie free discussions.

Councilman Paul Brewer, a mayoral candidate acting as mayor pro tem at the meeting, has long advocated the videotaping and broadcast of council workshops, but the council never took any concrete steps until Eaton made a motion at the August meeting.

In response, Schmidt put together some cost estimates, which the council members discussed at the Sept. 4 meeting.

Schmidt estimated that videotaping the council’s two-and-a-half hour, monthly economic development workshops in council chambers at about $2,100 a year. The costs include $45 an hour for Rhiney Production, a contractor that operates and maintains the city’s audio and video equipment at council chambers in City Hall. Also, a city staff person costs $26 an hour.

For videotaping the workshop off-site, the costs would jump to nearly $6,500 a year because Rhiney Production would provide all the equipment.

The cost of videotaping all the workshops and committees meetings in the chambers — about 7.25 meetings each month on average — would amount to about $15,400 a year.

Several council members expressed concerns about the videotaping proposal, though they seemed generally supportive.

Councilman Jim Campbell said he was worried that the council may be creating “a monster we cannot control” by videotaping ad hoc committee meetings. He said new committees are formed all the time, suggesting that there could be as many as 40 next year.

“We have to have some boundaries on this,” he said.

Councilwoman Sue Karahalios countered that there’s currently only 12 such committees and that the numbers remain rather stable. She said she’s concerned about the budget, but she agrees that the city needs to be more open with residents.

“The city has been remiss at not publicizing and advertising things,” she said.

Councilman Eric Gerber was the most openly opposed to the videotaping proposal, citing long-term costs. He suggested that the current push is just a “knee-jerk reaction to some bad experiences we’ve had the last couple of months,” an apparent reference to disagreements over what took place in committee meetings regarding the Dillard’s Addition sewer system.

Campbell said residents who videotaped recent committee meetings should be asked to provide copies of the tapes to the city. The residents were originally denied the right to videotape or audio tape committee meetings, but later were allowed to videotape a council workshop with their personal equipment.

“It should go both ways,” Campbell said.

You can reach News-Times reporter Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.com or call 675-6611.