Rancho Santa Margarita council votes to add video livestreaming of meetings

The Rancho Santa Margarita City Council voted unanimously April 22 to install a camera and begin live video broadcasts of its meetings, making the city one of the last in Orange County to offer the service after years of resident pressure.

The vote brings the city toward compliance with California Senate Bill 707, which requires cities in counties with more than 600,000 residents to provide two-way remote participation in public meetings by July 1. It also ends a years-long standoff in which residents formed their own group to record and post council sessions.

City Manager Jennifer Cervantez told the council the new system would give residents live access and permanent archived footage. "There would be a live video stream through the city's website in real time and a recording of the meeting for post-meeting access that would also be posted on our website in perpetuity," Cervantez said, according to Voice of OC.

The one-time installation will cost $42,186, with $32,073 in added annual operating expenses — raising the city's yearly total for the service to $52,400, compared with $20,300 previously spent on audio-only broadcasts.

State Senate Bill 707, enacted late last year, requires cities in California counties with more than 600,000 residents to provide two-way remote public participation by July 1. The law also mandates agenda translation services and heightened public outreach. Councilmember Brad McGirr described the demands it placed on staff. "[SB 707] is a very involved statute that staff have been dealing with since October of last year. This is not an easy statute to read — in fact, it's been open to interpretation for the last seven months," McGirr said at the meeting.

Mayor Tony Beall credited city staff for navigating the rollout. "I know you and your staff have been working hard since this bill was enacted late last year to make sure we can meet these technological challenges that need to be overcome in order to comply with these changes," Beall said during the meeting, Voice of OC reported.

Before the city acted, a resident group called RSM4All had been recording meetings independently and uploading them to a YouTube channel titled "Rancho Santa Margarita Citizens 4 Transparency." A Chapman University student investigation also documented the video-access gap across all 34 incorporated Orange County cities, according to Voice of OC.

La Palma — the only other Orange County city without video livestreaming — directed its city manager April 7 to explore livestreaming options after a unanimous council vote, Voice of OC reported.

Both Rancho Santa Margarita and La Palma face the July 1, 2026, deadline to meet SB 707's requirements. The new camera system will extend access to council sessions for residents who cannot attend in person.