Amarillo council approves pilot to stream high‑interest boards and asks staff for a public CIP dashboard

Council signaled support for a modest, staged expansion of public access to city board and commission meetings and increased transparency around capital projects during the April 14 session.

Streaming pilot and transcript options: Kristen Wach (staff) recommended a pilot expansion of live streaming for a short list of higher‑interest boards that meet in council chambers. Council endorsed piloting Planning & Zoning and Parks & Recreation in the chambers and asked staff to return with technical and operational plans. For lower‑interest advisory boards staff suggested low‑cost “meeting kits” or Teams‑based audio recordings with AI transcription so all meetings have an accessible record; Council asked staff to return with cost estimates and an implementation timeline.

CIP dashboard and closed‑project reconciliation: City staff outlined steps to move CIP records into e‑Builder and create a public‑facing dashboard; Council asked for quarterly reports and requested viewer access so elected members can monitor appropriations, actuals and remaining balances. In response to an internal audit and concerns about many long‑open CIP items, Council directed staff to reconcile closed projects and provide actuals for recently closed items so the council can identify re‑allocable balances and avoid ad‑hoc transfers.

What this means: Council’s direction should increase routine public access to meetings with searchable transcripts and give residents a public online summary of capital projects and unobligated funds. Staff said the pilot could be implemented quickly for chamber‑based meetings and that a fully operational, public CIP dashboard will require data loading into e‑Builder and may take additional weeks.

Next steps: Staff will pilot streaming for nominated boards, scope meeting‑kit and transcript options for other boards, and return with a quarterly CIP dashboard and a reconciliation of closed projects’ actuals against the auditor’s working papers for Council review.