City Council and board meetings online.

[~j]

Has anyone ever considered getting the City meetings online.  Currently for our City meetings all I can find are agendas.  I do not see an online post of minutes, is that available somewhere?  And when I say getting them online I don't just mean the agenda and minutes.  Since these meetings are public record I would like to see City council and board meeting agendas, minutes, and a video of the meeting for those who cannot attend.

I understand it's always best to attend if your interested but for those of us who have to stay at home and watch the kids, work late, etc..   It would be nice to be able to watch the meetings in person rather than relying on minutes that can be vague and lack the context to understand exactly what happened and why.  There are always a lot of discussions about these meetings and a lot of people get misguided about what takes place at times.  Having this data online could definitely boost interest in the City, especially for those who do not have the right schedule to attend directly.  Not to mention you could collect statistics on the Video's and see who is paying attention.

Take a look at this link, just an example of what other Cities are doing. 

http://www.ci.kirkland.wa.us/depart/council/Watch_Council_Meetings.htm

What is everyone else's thoughts here?

[Glodowg]

I believe Wingnut and Drax are working on getting something of this nature in place.

[Angi]

Either video / audio or at least audio only would be nice. I know my classes seem to always fall on Tuesdays for some reason.

I think one concern would be the bandwidth, cost of the equipment and software, etc. But it's something to consider.

[~j]

Either video / audio or at least audio only would be nice. I know my classes seem to always fall on Tuesdays for some reason.

I think one concern would be the bandwidth, cost of the equipment and software, etc. But it's something to consider.

Audio would be the easiest, I don't care to see the ugly mugs as much as I would like to hear it so either is fine with me.  A digital voice recorder isn't much these days, it's the hosting of the data that has to be researched. 

[ehowton]

The Technology Advisory Commission has been in talks concerning this issue and may use an upcoming upgrade to the audio/visual of the room as a springboard for just that.

Thank you for your interest.

[RedHighHeels]

At last night's Park Board meeting we arrived to find that someone had, yet again, borrowed the tape recorder.  This is the second time in the last few months.  As the secretary I keep the best notes possible but life sure would be nice if someone would glue that thing to the desk.   I guess as the alternative I am just going to go buy one for my own use.

So much is gained by attending the meetings.  Right now we have one in Softball with games on Tuesdays and we had one practicing Soccer on Tuesdays at the exact same time.  So, even if the stars aligned and my other half made it home we were still running around like Chickens!  I would love to have been able to see what has been going on at CC meetings besides what makes the minutes.

BTW, I want to say Thank You to those that took the time out to attend the PB meeting last night.  I know we don't have the most exciting meetings in town, but we do appreciate your support.   

[Lynkira]

You know I have one!  Should have called me lastnight.   
If you run into that problem again...  Just call me and I will run mine up there for you to use.  Hell, just come by before the next meeting...  Just in case you might need it.  I also have the Grants class recorded.  Let me know if ya need it. 

[Angi]

I also have a very nice compact digital recorder that you can plug directly into your PC and download the sound file. Works great. Ask anytime if you need to borrow.