Tape the Trustees

It was disappointing, to put it mildly, at a recent East Hampton Town Trustees meeting, for the presiding officer, Diane McNally, to put off responding to a question from the audience about whether it would be okay to record a discussion about the terms of their Lazy Point leases on their smartphones. It should not even have had to be asked.

According to our reporter’s account, Ms. McNally demurred, saying the matter would be taken up when a majority of the members were present. Only five of the nine-person elected board were there that night, with attendance apparently an ongoing concern, while the audience spilled into the hall. As Ms. McNally waded into a quagmire, appearing to seek to block the legally permissible recording of a public meeting, the trustees’ lawyer, John Courtney, was silent.

On Tuesday night, the trustees were expected to decide whether official videos should be made of their meetings. They already make audio-only recordings for in-house use, and we hope they quickly find a way to make even the most rudimentary arrangements for videos. But in the meantime, they should not appear even in the slightest to oppose the public’s own recording efforts.

The town trustees simply need to get with the times. Arranging for video recording, showing up for meetings, and moving to a larger room where the public can be accommodated comfortably should not be considered optional. If members of the public want to record the proceedings themselves, asking the trustees for permission is really only being polite.