Warren City Council meetings may soon be recorded and posted to the city’s website.

In our opinion, the city should move ahead with the idea as proposed by council Marketing Committee members Jared Villella, Wendy McCain and Phil Gilbert. One of Mayor Eddie Sundquist’s most impactful moves early in his term as mayor of Jamestown was to record not just City Council meetings, but meetings of the city Planning Commission, Jamestown Local Development Corporation, Human Rights Commission and other government meetings.

We hope Warren considers the same.

As we said last year, video can’t replace meeting minutes, but it can be a helpful tool if done well. Of course that requires a bit of investment in equipment to make sure audio is clear and to some of our meeting rooms to make sure viewers can see who is speaking. Video is a good tool for cities that want to engage as many people as possible — particularly when meetings are held during the day when many people are at work or have family demands that mean they can’t attend local government meetings.

Even more important is the committee’s idea to start expanding the information provided to the community prior to a council meeting. Sundquist has begun providing the public nearly the entire packet provided to the City Council via the city’s website roughly three days before a meeting. Those interested in the happenings of city government have a treasure trove of information available to them — and an opportunity to attend to speak in favor of or against a proposal. It’s an example Warren should follow.

Both Marketing Committee proposals make more information available to the public about the workings of their government. Both should become reality as soon as realistically possible — and kudos to Villella, McCain and Gilbert for their suggestion.