Murphy – A local business owner chose ethics over money last month after a majority of the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners voted to pay him for time spent at public meetings.
County commissioners voted 3-2 in favor of paying Tim Radford, owner of WKRK radio, up to $2,700 per year to livestream meetings on Facebook. Commissioner Cal Stiles presented the offer to pay Radford at a budget work session, and the commission voted on the matter May 26. Commissioners Gary “Hippie” Westmoreland and Randy Phillips opposed the expenditure.
Radford – who regularly livestreams Andrews, Murphy and county government meetings on his radio station’s Facebook page – told the Cherokee Scout he never requested the money. He declined the payment via email the day following the vote after learning that the person who provides video archives of commissioners’ meetings was never included in the conversation.
The county already pays Ralph Robinson, owner of Local TV 4, who provides a video recording of commissioners’ meetings on DVD that is then archived for taxpayers. Robinson also airs the meetings on Local TV 4, which can be viewed on Roku, Amazon Fire TV and the company’s website.
In contrast, Radford’s videos are livestreamed to Facebook, a private company that could delete them without the approval of taxpayers.
Robinson told the Scout no one ever asked him if he could record and livestream the meetings simultaneously on the county’s Facebook page. He said the county could also use the DVD he provides to post videos of meetings across all social media channels, as well as on the county’s website, which is what Stiles proposed in his pitch to pay Radford.
“Ethically, I feel it’s a bad idea to compensate me for my time, mileage, news coverage or advertising when it comes to public meetings ... or anything hosted on a social media platform or any platform not controlled by the county,” Radford wrote in a series of emails declining taxpayer dollars.
“The county already pays [Robinson] for DVD copies of these meetings, therefore my copy would only be a duplication of his existing service.”
Radford, who is running for mayor of Murphy, said he will continue to cover public meetings as a free community service.