Thanks To Our Advocacy, Supervisor Meetings
Are Being Live Streamed In West Deer!
Starting in August, Supervisor meetings will be live streamed via Zoom. Anyone who wants to join the view-only live stream must request the access link no later than 4:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting. To request the link, send an email with your name and physical address to [email protected].
|
Communities in Allegheny County that offer live streamed and / or recorded public meetings - in green
(Click on the map for a list of what each municipality offers) 
Thanks to Nicole Zelen for researching and compiling this data!
|
We Support Residents Being Informed
Concerned Residents of West Deer (CROWD) has been advocating for live streaming of public monthly township meetings. Providing a live stream would enable residents who are unable to attend meetings in person the same opportunity to stay informed on important topics impacting our community. In addition, live streaming and recording provides a more accurate record of discussions for later reference. The map on the left shows how neighboring communities handle their public meetings. Municipalities highlighted in green provide a live streamed and/or recorded alternative to in person attendance. As reported by these communities, resident feedback is positive and demonstrates transparency and open communication between the public and their elected officials. |
Latest Update
|
August, 2025 - The West Deer Township Newsletter has a section about live streaming. They failed to mention that the board voted to implement live streaming due to requests from many of our residents and data proving this is a popular option across the county. They also did not indicate that some supervisors and administrators were initially hesitant or even opposed to providing this more accessible option to residents. (We have detailed a timeline of events for how the request for live streaming unfolded below.) It is worth noting that Dan Mator, Bev Jordan, and Jeff Fleming did not want online participation during the meetings, however, there was no official vote on whether or not virtual participation should be allowed. Josh Weigand and John Hollibaugh had spoken in favor of residents registering to make virtual public comment, but it appears that all residents will have to register by 4pm the day of the meeting just to view the live streamed video. (There is no indication of how residents should register, nor rationale behind requiring residents to pre-register to simply view the live streamed video.) We believe that restricting public comment is unfair, and gatekeeping the view-only video goes against what we had hoped would encourage more open and collaborative township meetings. |
pg 5 - West Deer Township's July Newsletter
|
Chronological Timeline of Events:
February 19, 2025 - It was requested during Public Comment at the Supervisors meeting that West Deer Township live streams public meetings. Numerous residents offered comments supporting this. There was mixed feedback from the Supervisors - Mrs. Jordan believed the meeting transcripts were sufficient; Mr. Fleming & Mr. Frey did not have an opinion; Mr. Hollibaugh was willing to discuss it; Mr. Weigand requested that this topic be added for discussion to the March Supervisors meeting.
Note: A resident began independently recording and posting township meetings in February 2025.
Link to watch the February Supervisors meeting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khpiq-rNyMY&t=2494s
March 19, 2025 - At the Supervisors meeting, numerous residents commented in favor of live streaming. Township manager Dan Mator said their current AV setup would require additional components to stream. He mentioned other municipalities experiencing problems and legal issues with live streaming, but did not offer specific examples. He said streaming could lead to a decrease in participation for residents not wanting to speak in front of the board when the world is watching. When asked which municipalities have live streaming, he said it's all over the place, but that our surrounding municipalities don't have it, with the exception of a partial option in Richland. (Notably, this is not true - we verified that many surrounding municipalities offer live streaming and/or recording; reference the map.)
Mr. Weigand said live streaming would help with communication, transparency, accountability, and accessibility, emphasizing that residents currently have to wait a month for meeting transcripts. He mentioned positive experiences with two-way communication via Zoom, and that a Pro subscription is about $200. Mrs. Jordan insisted that transparency and accountability already exists in the township because of the transcripts. She mentioned privacy issues for residents who give public comment. Mr. Hollibaugh requested to table the discussion until Mr. Mator could get some more information. The discussion was tabled for the following month.
Link to watch the March Supervisors meeting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqG9zkz2PwY&t=2290s
March 23, 2025 - A resident posted a video called "Transparency in West Deer", highlighting points made during the live streaming discussion from the March Supervisor's meeting. This video gained hundreds of views and was shared across social media. A few days later, this resident's YouTube channel was suspended for multiple reports of videos violating the platform's policy. The channel was restored a few days later after YouTube's review, which determined no policy violations occurred.
Link to watch the video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXk6BXabnhs
April 15, 2025 - Nicole Zelen shared information she compiled on all Allegheny County municipalities offering live streamed and/or recorded public meetings. The data is overwhelmingly supportive of live streaming being a popular choice across the county. This map and list was shared across social media and though CROWD's mailing list, and was emailed to the Supervisors and township management. CROWD encouraged residents to email the township expressing support for live streaming, and to attend the April Supervisors meeting to speak in favor of implementing this in West Deer.
April 16, 2025 - At the beginning of the Supervisors meeting, Solicitor Gavin Robb made an announcement that the board is interested in pursuing live streaming. He shared that next steps would be for the administration to address the tech equipment compatibilities and create rules for format / storage / posting of meetings, and how public comment would work. He said that if everything went smoothly, they hoped to have live streaming up and running this summer. After a few public comments supporting live streaming, Mr. Hollibaugh said that nobody needed to sell them on streaming because the board was "all in" and they were going to make it happen.
During the board's discussion, Mrs. Jordan said she was "all for the live streaming" and condemned certain videos and Facebook pages' critiques of the board, with Mr. Hollibaugh saying "it's a campaign plug". Mrs. Jordan talked about criticism she's gotten over the years, asked people to please be neighborly, then said "you look like a fool" to the resident who posted the "Transparency in West Deer" video. Mr. Hollibaugh said the board should support live streaming because West Deer deserves an accurate, un-edited description of the meetings. Mr. Weigand expressed his preference for using Zoom and allowing people to register to make public comments ahead of time. Mr. Robb said the board would be provided with a few different options to consider, and would discuss the format for public comment.
Link to watch the April Supervisors meeting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdSkTnfcO60&t=344s
May 21, 2025 - At the Supervisors meeting, Mr. Mator shared the equipment estimate from AV company Horizon, as approximately $8,000. Mr. Mator said Zoom is preferable over other platforms so the township can maintain ownership of the meeting recordings. A Zoom Pro subscription is $160 annually. Zoom Webinar is another option, which would be an additional $690, making the total subscription fee for Webinar $850 annually.
Solicitor Gavin Robb clarified that having requirements to pre-register for the live stream limits the potential for disruptions. He also said that using the Webinar tier prevents any disruptions since it does not allow the public to participate, making the live stream view-only. Mr. Robb said the board would need to decide on whether they want virtual attendees to be able to participate, saying they may have to vote on a policy if there is no clear consensus. He clarified that the first step was authorizing the hardware, then the board could decide later on which subscription to use.
Mr. Hollibaugh and Mr. Weigand expressed support for requiring attendees to register in advance for Zoom meetings, and being allowed to make public comments online. Mr. Weigand pointed out that the meeting host has the ability to mute attendees' microphones. Mrs. Jordan did not want residents to be able to comment online, saying that they can email their questions or comments, which Mr. Mator could read during the meeting. Mr. Mator agreed, saying residents should e-mail or call the township anytime if they have questions. He said he was leaning towards Webinar because it is view-only. Mrs. Jordan agreed that Mr. Mator should not have to multitask during meetings. Mr. Fleming cautioned against virtual public participation, warning that if Mr. Mator was presenting something and then switched back to the meeting, it would unmute people's microphones. (Notably, this is not true - in Zoom Pro, participants' microphones will not un-mute without intervention by the host.)
Link to watch the May Supervisors meeting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_JfEeMdA_M&t=4111s
June 18, 2025 - The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to authorize the Township Manager to purchase live streaming equipment and subscribe to Zoom Webinar at a cost not to exceed $8,500. There was only one tech company consulted regarding equipment purchasing; no other competitive quotes were sought.
It is worth noting that Zoom Webinar ($849.90 annually), allows for up to 500 attendees and does not provide opportunities for virtual participants to interact. Zoom Pro ($159.90 annually), accommodates up to 100 attendees and allows for virtual participation. During the meeting, Mr. Mator said the Board had voted in May to go with Webinar, but there was no official vote on which subscription to use during the May meeting. (Mrs. Jordan and Mr. Fleming spoke in favor of Webinar; Mr. Hollibaugh and Mr. Weigand supported residents' opportunities for online interaction, which is only available with Pro.)
Link to watch the June Supervisors meeting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8zC4gT4mTk&t=1455s
July 16, 2025 - A resident asked about the status of live streaming implementation. Mr. Mator replied that the tech company Horizon was affected by a country-wide shutdown for 2 weeks and they "will be on this ASAP".
Link to watch the July Supervisors meeting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP-c0ZfVOAQ&t=2682s
Stay Informed! Join our email list and follow us on social media.