In December, Airdrie resident Ken Thompson brought the issue to aldermen, asking them to consider webcasting or video streaming council meetings online so residents can watch at home.
“I believe the community needs to know what goes on during council meetings and there needs to be more transparency,” said Thompson.
“I speak to a lot of people and a number of residents have told me they would like to listen and watch. I am disappointed that they chose not to go forward with this. Council needs to be more transparent.”
Webcasting provides live footage of council meetings to residents via the website while video streaming creates archived meetings available online.
City Clerk Sharon Pollyck said during a recent website audit, 154 Airdrie residents were polled and only 23.7 per cent of respondents desired access to online City council meetings. In addition, in a 2010 web survey of 1,821 people, only one person requested both recorded and streaming video versions of council meetings on the website.
“Demand for this service is low at this time,” said Pollyck.
She said administration is undertaking an e-government strategy that will see the redevelopment of the City’s website and the addition of more e-services due to be reviewed in 2013.
“We will go to the community in 2013 and test to see if we are still on track,” said Pollyck.
Alderman Kelly Hegg asked if there was any way to include the question in the 2012 Citizen Satisfaction Survey.
“I think we have other options to get this question out to the residents before 2013,” he said.
Staff determined that the question could be added to the Citizen Satisfaction Survey that will be conducted in January.
Of the cities staff researched only Grande Prairie, Medicine Hat, Saskatoon and Thunder Bay provide webcasts or archived video streaming of council meetings. Costs for their services range from $5,000 to $22,000. In Grande Prairie, 213 people used the service in the past six months, in Medicine Hat 20 to 30 people use the service every month, and from January to August, 655 and 1,419 people used the service in and Saskatoon and Thunder Bay respectively.
City staff contacted a local television company, SAIT and Mount Royal University to see if they were interested in partnering with the City for the project. They all declined.
Pollyck said staff previewed a $10,000 option that would provide webcasting with one static camera. The video stream would then be archived for future viewing. However, this would only provide a shot of council members and would not allow a view of what was being presented in council or the presenter.
“If we want to do this, we think we should do it right,” said Pollyck.
“We also need to make sure the technology is managed on a timely basis and that would take the time of a staff member.”
Council voted to include webcasting and video streaming of council meetings in the e-government review that the City will be conducting in 2013.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Stacie Snow
Quelle/Source: Airdrie City View, 19.10.2011
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