Two joint Otago and Southland committees, which alternate their monthly meetings between Dunedin and Invercargill, have been using video conferencing for more than a year.
Board chairman Errol Millar, who also chairs the community and public health advisory committee, questioned the effectiveness of video conferencing, when up to half of the committee members were beaming in from other locations.
However, board member Malcolm Macpherson said, at last week's board meeting, making use of video conferencing was about safety and economics.
"It costs a great deal to get me from Alexandra to Dunedin and back."
About $196,000 was paid to board members for travel and accommodation reimbursements last year.
When contacted after last Thursday's meeting, Dr Macpherson said he had walked the final 2km home when road conditions became too dangerous during his return trip from Dunedin.
In comparison to the cost of the "exactly 400km" round trip, plus "whatever I'm worth per hour" for the five hours he spent on the road, video conferencing cost nothing, he said.
The Central Otago District Council used video conferencing for all its community board meetings, which worked well and meant there were not "half a dozen staff members driving all over the district".
However, it had to be recognised it was "a different sort of meeting".
Ground rules needed to be established and the video conferencing not seen as "just a nuisance in the corner".
Board member Peter Barron, who is on both committees which use video conferencing, said it was fine if one or two people could not attend the meeting in person, but otherwise it did not work well.
"We probably need to arrive at those meetings the day before. There are advantages to members spending time together the previous night."
Board member Helen Algar, who lives in Oamaru and is a member of the disability support advisory committee, said she had mixed feelings about video conferencing.
There was a lot of value in meeting people face to face, but for her to travel from Oamaru to Invercargill was a minimum 1.5 days out of her working week, "which is significant".
