Editor's Welcome

by David Reed

June 26,2009

David Reed editor@businesstimescompany.com

Like most people, or maybe all people, I don’t like sitting through the boring parts of a City Council meeting while waiting for the agenda item I want to witness.

I used to watch the meetings on Columbia Access Television and read a book or channel surf until the item of interest approached, and sometimes I would then quickly drive to city hall to watch. That’s also a common tactic for people who plan to speak before the council on a particular agenda item, but that can be dangerous if a preceding agenda item is skipped or you get a speeding ticket. Then I switched to a TV service provider that doesn’t carry Columbia Access Television, and I had to start sitting through the meetings.

Now, the Virtual Council Meeting is available for anyone with a computer and high-speed access to the Internet.

Computer users can view the City Council meetings live or view archived meeting video within 24 hours after the meeting ends. CityStream is on the city’s Web site, www.gocolumbiamo.com. The service has been around for more than a month, but I only recently discovered that you don’t even have to use fast-forward to get to the item you’re looking for – the video is segmented to match agenda items.

I recently explained this to Larry Shuster when we were talking about his CBT column for this issue on the City Council’s decision to delay appointments to the Planning and Zoning Commission (see Pages 11-12). For an example of how this works, here’s what I told him: go to the left-side menu on the main city Web site and click on the City Council link. Then click on the City Council Meetings and Agenda link, and then the CityStream Video Archive. (or use this link: www.gocolumbiamo.com/Council/Meetings/meetings.php). Then click on whatever video you want to watch. (They go back to April 6).

For the video on the topic Schuster was interested in, for example, you would go to the June 15 meeting agenda, scroll down to the item and click on the headline, “Boards and Commissions Appointments.” The video skips straight to the clerk announcing the item, and Council Representative Karl Skala making a motion to delay the decision on P&Z appointments. Supporting documents will be available at the same location.

Public Communications Director Toni Messina said start-up costs were less than $15,000, plus a monthly management fee. The vendor chosen to stream meetings and store archives was Granicus, which has government clients across the country. The city is currently encouraging Web site visitors to fill out a survey on CityStream to gauge its impact.

The use is small but steadily increasing. The CityStream site had 162 viewers of the June 1 meeting and 184 of the June 15 meeting.

Presumably, more people will watch City Council meetings. Ideally, it will get more people involved, cause more people to contact council members about their concerns, and improve the process of government.