County Reverses Course on Recordings

DECORAH - The Winneshiek County Board of Supervises returned to the issue of recording its weekly meetings with an about-face on the matter.

Legal proceedings were a key component in the reversal of the board’s previous reluctance.

“We’ve had three lawsuits,” said County Attorney Andrew Van Der Maaten.

Relating to that, recordings would be helpful, the board heard.

He recommended that the board move forward with recording meetings.

Having the board formally record meetings would also give the county a measure of control over the recordings, rather than private recording that would be less protected from tampering.

In the past, the board had declined to pursue formally recording its meetings, though recordings exist and are publicly accessible from a private individual.

The board gave approval unanimously to meeting with the county IT department to begin making recordings.

No firm date was set for when recording will start, pending on the discussion with IT and the technical details that might be forthcoming.