Livestreaming of LVCVA board meetings not a high priority to Hill

The livestreaming of Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board meetings isn’t a high priority to LVCVA President and CEO Steve Hill, even as other government entities routinely provide them for their constituents.

During a public comment period at Tuesday’s board meeting, two people suggested the board implement livestreaming to enable better public access to board business and to provide a video archive of past meetings. It was the third time a public request for livestreaming LVCVA board meetings was brought up during public comment.

On Tuesday, E.T. Snell, a self-described “clown community activist” from San Bernardino, and Clark County Commission candidate Jon Maxham admonished the board about not providing livestreaming of meetings.

Snell, a frequent LVCVA meeting attendee who has asked the LVCVA Board of Directors to do what it could to convince the California Department of Transportation to reopen closed rest areas on Interstate 15 between Southern California and Las Vegas as a safety concern, wears a clown costume when addressing public meetings.

Maxham, a Republican running against Democratic incumbent Jim Gibson in the commission’s District G race, will appear on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.

After the meeting, Hill said he didn’t know whether the LVCVA boardroom was adequately equipped to produce a livestream.

“We just haven’t brought the subject up yet,” Hill said. “I mean, there’s lots and lots of public meetings that are not streamed.”

The Las Vegas City Council, the Clark County Commission, the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the Nevada Gaming Commission are among the public bodies that routinely livestream and archive their meetings.

The LVCVA board of directors usually meets at 9 a.m. on the second Tuesday of each month, and LVCVA committee meetings are conducted there at various times throughout the year. Located on the second floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s South Hall on the east end of the building, the 4,400-square-foot board room has a 32-by-9-foot, 10.6 million pixel ultrawide LED video screen behind the board dais offering dramatic presentation capabilities.

The room features robust wireless connectivity and energy-efficient LED lighting and three news camera staging areas with direct meeting room audio connections installed, according to the LVCVA.

The LVCVA board moved into the space, added as part of a $600 million convention center renovation, in January 2024.

“I don’t know that we have the internal expertise to actually pull that off. I’m not sure,” Hill said. “You know, if the public brings it up, we’ll probably have that conversation.”