At the beginning of the April 20, 2022 public meeting on Project Pascalis, the City of Aiken’s Zoom moderator wrote:
“TRANSCRIPTS WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE AT A LATER TIME.”
Three months after these meetings, the city has still not issued transcripts, nor has it fully answered the questions posed during those meetings. A Freedom of Information Act request for transcripts, Zoom call notes, and a compilation of questions and answers yielded a fragmented YouTube transcript of the first meeting, a transcript of the second meeting devoid of public comment, and no question and answer compilation.(1)
Today, Aiken resident and concerned citizen Tori McQuinn downloaded and posted the complete You Tube transcripts from both meetings in less than ten minutes.
Ms. McQuinn’s posting of the first meeting is posted here:
https://pastebin.com/HQyC8Zw9?fbclid=IwAR1AEG3y8J15wiGtErQ_HI3YRVxVXXo36oQfvIqHm3RDkz6I13izFffkq-M
The city’s version, never posted, but provided via FOIA, is posted here, and the difference in quality is readily ascertained:
https://pastebin.com/HQyC8Zw9?fbclid=IwAR3ukSMKiW_rH25PF-UN-pedjX5e4me3NxOX4Wu2YkMlz02DHvMRUKPYItE
The City’s version of the second session, minus the public comment period, and obtained only via FOIA is posted here:
https://pastebin.com/X7R9dkHb?fbclid=IwAR0PO4sICvolkCrEfVQdVkFCjl6Tv4sU2ArE5_VdR3qcPgOxazrmTHF18sg
The full YouTube transcript of the second meeting, with public comment, was downloaded and posted by Ms. McQuinn here:
https://pastebin.com/v2ciEFng?fbclid=IwAR3CmDsWN1MRCWuCbdUh2Qx49GBFrmPvOpXZG-bRAIPW9sk_iGg5qpsC2s8
She also posted the transcript for the recent July 11 Aiken City Council meeting:
https://pastebin.com/QwSRw94R?fbclid=IwAR2xd_nRfuNDY4JJK3sQG_8dWGbOzhxR26uoY-gWxWjrROjqP0V3jD2T0HM
The YouTube translations are of low quality and could never be used as a deposition. They illustrate how difficult it is for real court reporters to capture the essence of testimony. But in this case they are better than the promised alternative of nothing, while still serving as a repository of oral history for present and future interpretations of events.
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(1) See “When No Info is Good Info: A City Not Listening, the Aiken Antique Mall, and Newberry Hall”
Thank you for sharing. It’s encouraging to see technology leveraged for greater transparency!