MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - Video recordings of Mountain View County council meetings will be retained for four years going forward, council members decided during the during the Nov. 16 council meeting.
With the county set to start the video recording of council meetings in the coming weeks, council had considered whether to retain the recordings for one year, four years or permanently.
Previous 16/20 Record Management Bylaw included verbiage that electronic recordings are only transitory documents and then subsequently destroyed following the adoption of the respective council meeting minutes, which are treated as the official record.
In October, council and administration discussed the possibility of having the recordings retained for set periods of time.
“As Mountain View County continues its transition to video recording of council meetings, the county’s retention schedule for electronic recordings will also be required to be updated,” said Jeff Holmes, the county's chief administrative officer.
Council had instructed administration to conduct a review of what some other municipalities do vis-a-vis retaining recordings.
Administration reported back that the City of Airdrie, Clearwater County and Parkland County keep the records permanently, while the City of Edmonton retains the recordings for 12 years.
“Council has requested that we update our retention schedule to have video recordings saved for four years, with a review period in 2026 prior to any recordings being destroyed,” said Chris Atchison, director of legislative services.
“This won’t be effective until such time that the retention schedule is revised and approved, which will occur when the live streaming/recording software is ready to go in the next few weeks.”
On Nov. 16 council approved a motion calling for the recordings to be retained for four years and to be reviewed by council prior to deletion.
All council members attended the Nov. 16 council meeting, held in person and on Zoom.
