Online Viewing of Council Meetings

The survey, live on Council’s community engagement consultation website Have Your Say Mount Gambier, follows an initial report on cost and policy implications around live streaming and recording meetings which was presented to Council at its meeting on 19 March 2019.

“Council supports the concept of live streaming Council meetings in the interest of increasing community engagement, transparency and providing greater accessibility for the community,” Mayor Lynette Martin said.

However, the Mayor indicated that there are several considerations for Council to take into account before it can move forward and make a decision on the initiative, including the costs that could be associated with the initial set up in the Chamber and operating requirements.

“With all the various technology available at our fingertips these days, it’s easy to assume that it would be simple and cheap to live stream or record meetings. However, to deliver a service of sufficient quality there is an estimated cost of up to $30,000 for equipment and installation. In addition, operating costs associated with delivering the service to meet community expectations could be in the vicinity of $20,000.”

"Council wants to find out directly from the community if people are interested in watching meetings online or not, and if so, how this will be of value to them," Mayor Lynette Martin said.

The survey asks respondents to indicate if they would prefer to watch meetings in real time, watch a recorded meeting in their own time, or both.

“It goes on to ask what features would be expected of a recorded meeting, including captions, a transcript, sign language, audio description, bookmarking, translation into other languages and whether or not there is still interest in the initiative considering the costs.”

Take the online viewing survey. Respondents must register to participate.

The survey closes on Friday 12 April 2019.

A report outlining the results of the survey will be presented to the May Council meeting.

“I remind those people who may interested in monthly Council meetings that they are more than welcome to attend and sit in the public gallery within the Chamber,” Mayor Martin said.