March 28, 2024

Live City Council / School Board Telecasts - Cancelled

Posted

Video Streaming of City Meetings Cancelled

By Bob Rodericks

City residents accustomed to watching live coverage of city council and school committee meetings via the internet can no longer do so. Residents will have to wait for tape delay replay on the city video portal or on public access cable television. Of course residents can always attend the meetings in person. Without much fanfare the state budget commission eliminated this feature to save money. It could not be readily learned what it cost to produce the live internet streaming.

Before the internet live coverage of meetings, city council and school committee sessions were videotaped by public volunteers and shown on a tape delay basis on cable television. This service was free to the public. The volunteers – led for years by George Donovan and Irwin Setzer – (and others) also covered zoning board and other ‘special’ school and city meetings.

According to a member of the budget commission the cost now to videotape the meetings (council and school committee) is “minimal, less than $3,000 per year for both the City and the Schools.” The City Clerk's office is working with IT to get the meetings on the website or on YouTube so that people can view them that way. The school department has reported that they will be putting the meetings on their website.

The filming is done by an individual, Steve Bukner at a cost of $15 per hour. The total cost per year varies depending on the number of meetings the council holds and their length. In addition, the Clerk's office purchases the DVDs which are borrowed by Cox to show on public access and returned the following week to keep with the filed paper documents.

The options for city residents to follow the city council and school committee meetings are to either attend the meetings in person or wait and watch the meetings on a delayed basis on the internet or cable television.

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