People interested in tuning in online to Leelanau Township board meetings will have to watch via YouTube starting in January. The three month “trial” will give board trustees a chance to gauge how well streaming meetings via YouTube works versus Zoom, a video conferencing platform continuously used by the township since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
Leelanau Township Supervisor Mike McMillan cited the change because of multiple reasons, including being “Zoom bombed” earlier this year by random individuals who interrupted the meeting with obscene language, behavior, and images. In March, the board had to shut down and restart the meeting several times before managing to block all of the disruptive participants and resuming once more. McMillan also mentioned following how the county government streams their meetings via YouTube, and having a better dialogue with people that are physically in the audience.
“From my personal experiences serving here on the board, it feels like we can have more conversations as we are right here with this group…” McMillan said at the meeting. “Sometimes we feel like we’re performing for the TV versus having an open dialogue. Though the dialogue was good today and it’s getting better, sometimes we’re a little more conscientious of what’s on TV versus who’s in front of us.”
