GUILDERLAND — No video recording of the May 16 meeting of the Guilderland Library Board of Trustees has been posted to the library’s website.

However, library leaders said this week that the board intends to livestream all of its meetings going forward.

The lack of a video came to The Enterprise’s attention because of a letter to the editor this week from Luanne Nicholson, formerly the library’s public information officer, who spoke at the May 16 meeting, raising managerial concerns.

When The Enterprise called Sean Silvernail, head of information, to ask about it on Monday, he said he’d look into it and get back but instead The Enterprise received an email from Assistant Director Natalie Hurteau, saying minutes of the meeting would be posted on Monday and that there had been “some technical issues with the sound recording.”

Hurteau responded further to emailed Enterprise questions on Tuesday, saying, “There is a recording of the meeting on May 16th, however, no sound was recorded due to technical difficulties … It is not currently posted and I am not sure we will be posting it.”

Asked when and why the library switched from livestreaming its trustee meetings to doing video recordings instead, Hurteau responded, “After consultation and clarity from our legal team, the library was informed that if no trustees were attending virtually there was no reason to stream. The last two board meetings had no virtual attendees from the board so therefore they decided not to stream.”

Kristin O’Neill, the assistant director of the state’s Committee on Open Government, told The Enterprise that the only obligation by statute to have recorded a board meeting is if a member of the board were attending remotely; that recording would then be available to the public, she said.

Asked what the reason was for the change from livestreaming, Hurteau said, “This was advice from the legal team. However … I believe the board members present at the May meeting agreed that they would stream going forward regardless of who was attending virtually or not.”

Hurteau copied the library’s interim director, Nathaniel Heyer, on her emailed responses to The Enterprise and Heyer then added, “I would like to clarify that the decision not to stream emerged not from a lack of desire on the part of the board to stream, but rather from a misunderstanding between myself and the board after discussion about changes in pandemic-era regulations and virtual participation with our legal counsel.

“Discussion at our most recent board meeting made it clear however that the board’s preference is to stream the meetings, regardless of whether there is virtual participation by board members or not (which legally necessitates a stream). I have discussed this issue with our IT team, to ensure that we have the staffing lined up to stream all future board meetings.”

Heyer has been filling in as director during a rocky period for the library since Timothy Wiles retired in early February. The new director, Peter Petruski, is slated to begin work on May 22.

Heyer concluded, “My apologies for any inconvenience or concern the lack of a live stream caused to you or other members of the community. It is very unfortunate that the recording does not contain audio, as it was our intention to post it the morning after the meeting to ensure our usual level of transparency. Written minutes are available for review from the meeting.”