La Palma council moves to livestream public meetings

La Palma's city council voted unanimously April 7 to direct staff to explore installing video livestreaming equipment in its council chambers, moving the city of roughly 15,000 one step closer to joining the 32 other Orange County cities that already broadcast their meetings online.

The decision puts La Palma on a path toward meeting a July 1 deadline under state law SB 707, which requires cities in counties with more than 600,000 residents to provide two-way remote participation at public meetings. La Palma and Rancho Santa Margarita are the only two Orange County cities that have not adopted video livestreaming of council meetings.

La Palma currently offers only audio streaming of its council meetings. Residents have sought video access for years, according to Voice of OC, which first reported the April 7 vote.

City staff cited the likelihood of future legislative pressure alongside the SB 707 deadline. "In addition, staff anticipates that, in the future, the Legislature will ultimately mandate that city councils provide video feeds of their meetings," reads the staff report included with the meeting agenda. The report also stated that "staff recommends the City install video conferencing equipment in the City Council Chambers and requests that the City Council direct the City Manager to return to a future Council Meeting with options for installing video conferencing equipment in the City Council Chambers."

Mayor Nitesh Patel backed the effort and urged a firm target date. "While we go through this process — I think it's a great thing to do it. I'd like to see video implemented by Aug. 1 or to be brought back by Aug. 1," Patel said.

SB 707, an amendment to California's Brown Act open-meetings law, also mandates two-way remote attendance platforms and language translation services for meeting agendas in jurisdictions that meet the county population threshold.

Councilmember Janet Keo Conklin had pushed for video livestreaming more than a year before the April vote but did not secure council support at the time, Voice of OC reported.

In neighboring Rancho Santa Margarita, residents have not waited for city action — a community group called RSM4All has been independently recording council meetings to fill the gap.

City staff will now seek bids from vendors and present equipment options to the council for review. Mayor Patel has set Aug. 1 as his target for either completing the video rollout or receiving a follow-up report from staff.