Hamblen County

24 Jun, 2019

Can a county commission require people recording meetings to stay in the back of the room?

By |2019-06-25T08:57:57-05:00June 24, 2019|Categories: Open Meetings|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

A recent policy adopted by the Hamblen County Commission stretches and may exceed the boundaries of a governing body’s authority in Tennessee to limit the ability of citizens to make video recordings of their meetings. In May, the Hamblen County Commission voted to adopt a policy requiring that anyone using “cameras, video equipment, and other recording devices” be restricted to the rear of the meeting room. “This will ensure that any recording devices and their operators will not interfere with the conduct of the meeting or hamper the ability of the audience to observe and participate in the meeting,” the change read. The policy was aimed at Linda Noe, a [...]

22 Feb, 2016

Hamblen County decides to exclude public comments from videotape

By |2023-02-20T10:21:09-06:00February 22, 2016|Categories: Open Meetings, public comment|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

The Hamblen County Commission has decided to exclude the public comments from the videotape of its meetings, which is shown on a public education channel. Linda Noe, an attorney in Morristown, posted on her blog her own video of the meeting in which she questioned commissioners about the decision. In the video, County Mayor Bill Brittain responds to a question from a commissioner about telling the videographer to turn off the equipment when the public comments portion of the meeting started, saying it was "in the best interest of the meeting." Later, the commission chairman says that not taping the public comments was a "compromise" to ending the videotaping of [...]

Go to Top