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Costa Mesa and Newport Beach residents could soon watch the agency responsible for establishing water rates and policies from home.
Tonight Mesa Water District officials will discuss video live streaming their meetings for the second time after tabling a discussion about implementing video live streaming for over a year.
Currently, the board collects audio recordings of their discussions, but does not regularly make them publicly available.
Chapman University students have investigated online access to public meetings across cities, school districts and other public agencies in partnership with Voice of OC for years.
[Read: Making it Easy to Watch Local Government From Home]
[Read: How Easy is it to Tune Into Your School Board Meeting?]
[Read: OC’s Transportation Agency Begins Video Streaming Public Meetings]
[Read:Why Won’t Officials in Two OC Cities Video Livestream Their Public Meetings?]
Most water districts across the county do livestream their meetings on video.
The Mesa Water District is one of five water districts – including the East Orange County Water District, Emerald Bay Service District, Laguna Beach County Water District and Moulton Niguel Water District – that does not provide a video or audio livestream of their meetings.
Several cities also supply water directly to their residents as members of the Municipal Water District of Orange County, including San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, Tustin, Fountain Valley, Westminster, La Habra, Brea, Buena Park, La Palma, Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Garden Grove and Newport Beach. The district provides a video livestream through Zoom.
Three cities manage water through their public works departments – Anaheim, Fullerton and Santa Ana.
Only one district in Orange County – Golden State Water Company – is privately controlled.
Mesa Water District board members first discussed allowing the public to view them from home about a year ago at the Feb. 14, 2024 board meeting, with a motion passing 4-1 to delay the conversation.
“As elected representatives of Mesa Water District (Mesa Water®), we value deep discussion and input from our customers,” said Shawn Dewane, Mesa Water Board Vice President in an email responding to questions about live streaming.
Dewane voted to delay the discussion on video live streaming last February when he was President of the board.
In his email response to Voice of OC questions, he noted that the district has ‘robust’ community outreach programs, including their Water Issues Study Group and Neighborhood Chats.
“Though there are varied ways to communicate with constituents, we feel discussions that take place in person are most impactful and bring the greatest benefit to our community. This allows for continuity and transparency, which is often lacking in a virtual setting,” Dewane said in his email.
“I look forward to discussing this with my colleagues on Wednesday.”
Director James Fisler – who represents Division 2 in Costa Mesa – was the sole board member to support a debate about live streaming water district meetings in February.
Fisler did not respond to requests for comment.
The district serves 110,000 residents in an 18-square-mile service area including parts of Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and the John Wayne Airport.
Board meetings for the Mesa Water District are held at 4:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month.
Erika Taylor is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow and photojournalist. You can find her on Instagram @camerakeepsrolling or email at etaylor@voiceofoc.org
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