I think we need to be practical about these open meetings. Most people can not go to more than one a month anyway so what we need is the threat of open meetings. A simple recording of the meeting would be OK with me. The only problem is that I come from a part of the country where sound recordings often fail at the moment I get up to the podium. My friends told me that they saw me on the TV, local broadcast, but could not hear what I was saying. School board meetings are notorious for having controlled content by controlling who speaks. I don't think there should be any votes on anything outside of predictable dates.

The toughest nut to crack is secret meetings discussing taxpayer money in the area of economic development. The chambers of commerce are often recipients of government money for their operations and they resent being spied upon by the people who pay taxes. We are suppose to believe that they are acting on behalf of the public interest and be guilty about the slightest thought that they might do something wrong.