StreetsBlogDenver: There’s one thing that RTD Board of Directors meetings never do without: A buffet.

Week after week, without fail, a table cluttered with food awaits board members and staffers at the Tuesday evening board meeting. Hot barbecue sandwiches, dinner rolls, salad — it’s chow time. A stern sign reminds members of the public to keep their hands off. Dinner is for elected board members and RTD staffers only!

Is this a big expense in the grand scheme of things? Of course not. But it says something that RTD’s weekly buffet always goes off without a hitch, while another small expense that’s far more relevant to the agency’s mission languishes: online broadcasts of board meetings.

RTD is one of the few American transit agencies run by elected officials, not appointees. The agency is supposed to rely on an informed public. And yet there is no way for the public to see or hear the discussion taking place, even in an age when it’s easy to broadcast video live from a mobile device.

Streetsblog first broached the subject in 2015. Allan Wallis, a professor of public affairs at University of Colorado Denver who specializes in local government, told Streetsblog that meeting minutes are the bare minimum of government transparency. And a 2015 memo estimated the cost of full visual and audio transparency at just $35,000 a year, but the board still voted down the transparency measure 8-4.

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