To the editor:
There is a reason why many legislative and municipal bodies — including the Missouri Legislature, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, St. Louis city, to name just a few — do not allow remote participation by videoconferencing or otherwise at their meetings.
It is a poor substitute to having the individual present in person. If you were ever present at the meetings that former Sunset Hills Ward 3 Alderman Keith Kostial participated remotely by videoconferencing, you would know how ineffective, disruptive and annoying the use of videoconferencing is.
Call Executive Editor Mike Anthony should be thanked, all right, but not for moving on from some alleged “vendetta” against Kostial, but for holding our elected officials to the standards expected of them by the public that includes our elected officials being present in person to bring forth a 100-percent representative effort and for all to fully and completely see and hear, not just during the meeting, but before and after the meeting.
Thank you, Mr. Anthony, for pointing out that the residents of Sunset Hills were being shortchanged by videoconferencing, and for rejecting nonsensical slogans of “thinking out of the box” as no justification for subpar representation.
Philip C. Denton
Sunset Hills
Editor’s note: Philip C. Denton is married to Sunset Hills Mayor Pat Fribis.
