The council took its meeting videos offline
Hoover removed council meeting videos from YouTube in 2022, stopped recording public comment, and thinned its written minutes. It took two years, a resident-run archive, and an election to reverse.
Where it stands
Settled
Hits residents
5/10
Years covered
2022–2025
Sources
3 linked
- 60 days
- Video retention period under the 2022 policy
- 8 years
- Minimum retention required under the 2024 resolution
As of 2022
As of 2024-08
What happened
Before August 2022, Hoover removed prior council meeting videos from its YouTube account and stopped recording the public-comment portion of meetings, retaining only 60 days of video thereafter. No elected official took public responsibility for the decision: Mayor Brocato deferred to Council President John Lyda, who said he did not know who had made the initial call. City Attorney Phillip Corley advised that Alabama law did not require video recording and that temporary recordings should be deleted once minutes are approved. Resident Robin Schultz created a separate archive, The Hoover Channel, restoring missing videos and recording sessions the city no longer streamed; Schultz was elected to the council in August 2025. In August 2024 the council voted unanimously to require all meetings, work sessions, and public comment to be livestreamed and archived for at least eight years. Under the new council, public comment time rose from three to four minutes in November 2025.
Timeline
Council meeting videos are removed from YouTube; recording of public comment stops.
Hoover Sun (hooversun.com) ↗Council votes unanimously to require livestreaming and eight-year archiving of all meetings and public comment.
WBRC (wbrc.com) ↗New council adds a public-comment period for non-agenda items and assigns a councilman to draft a new minutes policy.
1819 News (1819news.com) ↗
Who's involved
Robin Schultz
Founded The Hoover Channel archive; later elected councilman
Former Council President John Lyda
Said he did not know who made the initial decision
Former City Attorney Phillip Corley Jr.
Advised that video recording was not legally required
The other side
Corley and the Alabama League of Municipalities took the position that meeting recordings are temporary records under state law and that video recording is not legally required. Lyda said the 2024 resolution strengthens existing transparency efforts.
Open questions
- Whether the pre-2022 videos were deleted or merely unlisted was unresolved in the reporting reviewed.
- Whether the new minutes policy assigned in November 2025 was ever adopted is not documented.
Sources (3)
- 1Hoover City Council at odds over changes in YouTube recordingHoover Sun · Oct 25, 2022 · hooversun.com
- 2Hoover City Council passes resolution to keep meetings, minutes publicWBRC · Aug 6, 2024 · wbrc.com
- 3The Hoover Channel, AboutThe Hoover Channel · Jul 29, 2026 · thehooverchannel.org
Last checked July 29, 2026