The meeting was the first at which sound could be recorded by members of the public, including media, after councillors voted earlier this year to allow audio recordings of council meetings, and it was recorded in full by Dunedin Television, which had three cameras trained on council members for the whole of the 20-minute meeting.
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said councillors had voted for the recording so people had the opportunity to see, unedited, what went on and was said at meetings.
The council holds copies of its own recordings of meetings for reference, and is investigating the live webcasting of meetings.
During the meeting there was a notable absence of grandstanding by councillors but there was also a notable absence of items on the agenda to be discussed in public.
In fact all the items, bar one about a road stoppage, which was passed without discussion, were simply confirming minutes from work done in meetings held in the previous committee round - something Cr Paul Hudson was keen be explained to viewers, who he said might otherwise be disappointed.
Mr Cull also explained at the end of the public session, that the meeting was about to move on to public-excluded matters, which were being discussed in private because they were still commercially sensitive.
Council governance manager Sandy Graham later said it was usual for the agenda to be light at this stage of the year, while consultation was still being undertaken on the council's draft annual plan. Dunedin Television station chief executive Daryl Clarkson said the channel's recording of the meeting was a trial. The meeting would screen in full on Council Matters on Saturday at 1pm on Freeview Channel 39.
