Is the online portal to attend City Council Meetings sufficient ?

Frustrated Senior Citizens

Since about a week ago, when we published our article questioning the City's commitment to transparency after no City Council minutes had been posted for the April, May, and June 2026 meetings, something changed. The City quietly published the April and May meeting minutes. We found no announcement on the City's Facebook page informing residents that the minutes had been posted.

If the City truly wants to improve transparency, a simple announcement on the City's Facebook page informing residents that the minutes were finally available would have been an easy first step. Instead, we took it upon ourselves to notify the public. We posted notices in several local Facebook groups and included direct links to both sets of meeting minutes so citizens could read them for themselves.

After those notices were posted, several citizens contacted us with concerns about zoning changes approved during the April meeting. Those questions deserve answers, and we intend to investigate them thoroughly.

The City does use Facebook when it chooses to communicate with residents, but comments are routinely restricted. That practice has frustrated many citizens for years because it eliminates public discussion rather than encouraging it. The lack of communication between City officials and the people they serve has become one of the most common complaints we hear from residents. It doesn't have to be this way. Communication is a choice.

This situation reminds us of what occurred last summer after we reported that the Macon City Code was effectively inaccessible to the public. Shortly afterward, a printed copy quietly appeared at the library without any meaningful public announcement. While making the information available was certainly a positive step, quietly correcting a problem without acknowledging it does little to build public confidence.

From everything we have uncovered during the past several years of reporting, we have not found evidence of corruption or illegal conduct by the City of Macon. We believe that distinction is important.

Our reporting has instead pointed toward a different problem: inefficiency, poor communication, inconsistent follow-through, and an apparent lack of urgency regarding public access to government information. Whether intentional or not, those shortcomings have widened the gap between City Hall and the citizens of Macon. When information is difficult to obtain, rumors naturally fill the vacuum.

Tomorrow's City Council meeting, July 14, 2026, presents an opportunity to answer another important question.

Originally, we intended to attend in person with professional cameras and microphones. We have decided instead to record the meeting through the City's online portal exactly as an ordinary citizen would experience it. We will preserve the meeting exactly as it is presented online, including the video, audio, and captions, and publish the unedited recording shortly after the open session concludes.

Our goal is simple. We want to determine whether the City's online meeting experience provides citizens with a meaningful opportunity to follow the proceedings.

If the video is clear, the audio is understandable, and the captions accurately reflect what is being said, we will gladly report that.

If the recording suffers from the same problems we observed during the April meeting, we will report that as well.

During the April 2026 meeting, our recording produced captions that were largely nonsensical, and much of the discussion (particularly comments made by female speakers) was difficult or impossible to understand because of the audio quality. We documented those issues at the time.

We monitor these meetings using high-resolution computer equipment and large displays. Yet even with that equipment, portions of the meeting were impossible to follow. More than 90 percent of our readers access the internet primarily through smartphones. If the meeting is difficult to hear and see on professional equipment, the experience on a small phone screen is likely to be even more challenging.

Following the April meeting, we also presented several affordable solutions that could improve public access. One option, costing approximately $20 per month, combines artificial intelligence with meeting transcription to generate draft minutes almost immediately after each meeting. City staff would still review, edit, and approve the official minutes before publication, but the technology could significantly reduce delays while improving public access. Similar systems are already being used by municipalities across the country.

We fully expect tomorrow's online meeting to reveal one of two outcomes.

Either the City's current system provides citizens with a clear and understandable way to observe their elected officials in action, or it does not.

If it does, we will report that and we will record all future City Council meetings via the online portal & post them unedited on our website.

If it does not, we will attend future Macon City Council meetings with professional gear and record the meetings and post the videos promptly.

According to U.S. Census data, approximately one in four Macon residents is age 65 or older. Hundreds of additional residents live with disabilities or mobility limitations. Many cannot easily attend City Hall in person because of health, transportation, work schedules, or caregiving responsibilities. Posting clear, understandable videos of City Council meetings online would allow all Macon residents to take in the meetings at their convenience rather than only at 6:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month.

A permanent, unedited video record of City Council meetings provides citizens with a lasting record of every discussion, motion, amendment, and vote taken by their elected officials. It also allows residents to review what was actually said instead of relying on memory, secondhand accounts, or rumors.

The City's website includes a section for posting City Council video and audio recordings. To date, we have not found a single City Council meeting recording posted there.

Senior citizens, disabled citizens, and every other resident deserve a practical way to observe their local government. Transparency should not depend on whether someone is physically able to sit in the council chambers at 6:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month. It should be available to every citizen, on their own schedule, through a clear and understandable online recording of each City Council meeting.

Regards Fellow Maconites,

Ron Dominique ( AKA Trashton Porter )

Citizen of Ward 2, Macon, Mo

Editor : Macon Missouri Online ( maconmoonline.com )