NORTH CANAAN — Following a “Zoom bombing” incident during the March 23 special meeting of the Board of Selectmen, the town of North Canaan has launched a new official YouTube channel for posting meetings and other public content.
Town Clerk Krysti Segalla announced the change in a townwide message explaining that an unauthorized participant shared inappropriate content during the Zoom meeting, an incident she said had occurred in other towns but was a first for North Canaan.
“This led to our content being flagged and our account being terminated immediately,” Segalla said. “Because of ongoing difficulties with security and other login issues, it created challenges in accessing and resolving the issue quickly.”
To address the problem, the town has moved to a new YouTube account with multiple authorized administrators. Segalla said the new setup “will help protect the channel, prevent future access issues, and allow us to continue sharing important town information without interruption.”
She said the affected meeting video has been reviewed, edited to remove the disruption and republished. Segalla also said she plans to upload past meetings to the new channel to maintain continuity.
First Selectman Jesse Bunce described the video content as “gross,” calling the incident unfortunate. He noted that many local Boy Scouts listen to Board of Selectmen meetings as part of badge-related civic engagement.
Bunce said Ayrslea Odell, who works in the Town Clerk’s office, spotted the inappropriate content quickly and shut it down, though not before a brief snippet was recorded.
He said he then turned the video over to Resident State Trooper Spencer Bronson, who forwarded it to the Connecticut State Police cybercrime division.
“If people want to do this, they should be held responsible,” Bunce said.
