Port Colborne streaming budget meetings
Council weighing benefits of livestream for all meetings
People interested in following Port Colborne’s budget talks will be able to do so from the comfort of their own homes.
While the public is still welcome to come out the budget meetings — which take place Monday and Tuesday and March 14 if necessary - in person, council has also decided to livestream the meetings.
Port Colborne CAO Scott Luey said council is going this route for a couple of reasons.
One of the reasons is because Cogeco’s filmographer will not be attending the sessions and the other is to test out the livestreaming system.
At present, the council does not livestream its sessions. Rather, the city obtains the video taken by Cogeco and uploads it to the city’s YouTube account at a later date for people to view. Doing this causes a delay between the actual meetings and when they can be viewed afterwards.
With livestreaming, the meeting can be viewed online as it’s happening and then the video is saved and archived right away. If someone wanted, it could be viewed the very next day.
Staff have decided to go with WeeStream, a livestream provider used by other Niagara organizations such as Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority and municipal councils including Welland, Niagara Falls and Thorold.
The cost is $450 per meeting. Asked if the livestreaming would continue for all of council’s future sessions, Luey said, “I think it’s a trial to see how it works for us.”
If council were to continue to use the service, it would have to factor in things such as ongoing costs. The city would go into a “competitive process and enter into a contract with the successful bidder,” he said.
He said the city is happy with Cogeco’s services, but having the livestream as a backup in case the filmographer can’t make it is an asset. Also, Cogeco’s airing would only reach Cogeco TV customers and a livestream can be viewed virtually anywhere by anyone.
As for the budget meetings, Luey said the link to and information about the stream will be shared to the city’s social media.
The meetings take place in council chambers at 5:30 p.m. on the aforementioned dates.
Council does accept delegations for the meeting if there are any specific issues that residents would like to address and ask to be included into the budget.
Delegations must be made through the city clerk’s office before the meetings. The clerk can be reached at cityclerk@portcolborne.ca or by calling 905-8352900 ext. 106.