Cedar Park City Council members could join meetings by videoconference, but at the July 24 City Council meeting Assistant City Manager Josh Selleck said the option might bring technical and legal challenges.

A council member or resident could question the meeting's validity if City Council does not comply with new state laws that govern videoconferencing in meetings. The challenge could ify any actions that City Council took during the meeting, Selleck said.

"It would be best to use the meetings [for videoconferencing] where no substantial action would be taken to minimize the risks," he said.

City Council first discussed videoconferencing on May 8. Selleck reminded council members that the Texas Attorney General's office merged two bills passed by the Texas Legislature last year, House Bill 2414 and Senate Bill 984, both of which regulate videoconferencing in municipal meetings that are subject to open-records laws.

The two bills are inconsistent, and the merged version is difficult to understand, Selleck said. For example, one bill says the video quality must clearly show a person's demeanor, he said.

"We believe [that means] you have to be able to see the expressions on their face," he said.

City Council may follow guidelines from the Texas Department of Information Resources, which manages communications technologies in state and local governments, Selleck said.

If videoconferencing is utilized, the meeting's presiding officer at the council chambers would need to work directly with the off-site council member. At the member's place on the dais would be a screen that shows the member's video feed.

City staffers estimate equipment for one video link would cost about $10,000, and additional links could cost about $5,000 each, Selleck said. City Council could instead use a program such as Skype or try to build its own service for a cost of about $50,000–$85,000, he said.

City Council would also need to determine whether a council member's off-site location has an adequate Internet connection. For example, Internet infrastructure in the Bahamas is usually unreliable, Selleck said. If a member's video connection failed, the council meeting would be postponed, and unless the link was restored within six hours, the meeting must be canceled, he said.