The City of New Albany now offers a streaming service for constituents to either watch live or archived meetings for the City Council, city board and city commission. Even better, the technology being utilized now has functionality that allows those watching archived meetings to fast forward quickly and easily to whatever item interests them.
Transparency in governmental operations and the ability to easily obtain public information are fundamental hallmarks of good government. Particularly after COVID-19, when people couldn’t attend public meetings in person, it became even more important for governmental entities to provide alternative ways to access elected leaders’ decisions. The initial system the City of New Albany installed for viewing public meetings from home was functional, but neither the sound nor the video quality was optimal, and viewers were not able to fast forward to a specific item of interest when they watched recorded meetings.
A year ago, in April 2021, city staff began researching alternative software packages that would make remotely watching city meetings a better overall experience. Ultimately, the staff chose Swagit Productions to enhance the viewer experience of public meetings from the comfort and convenience of their own homes. Though we looked at several video and streaming options, including purchasing and fixing a wide-angle camera in place and shooting our own videos, we chose Swagit because:
It offers a remote camera operator.
It provides an agenda integration of specific items so viewers can skip forward to their desired item of interest.
Sister communities who already tried the services provided enthusiastic recommendations of the product.
Swagit’s webcasting feature is compatible with multiple platforms including Apple, Android and other popular devices. Residents and other members of the public can now watch the meetings, either live or archived, while on the go through four HD cameras installed in the New Albany’s Council chambers that are remotely operated to bring you a quality production of city meetings.
Live meetings and archived recordings can be easily accessed on the City of New Albany website at www.newalbanyohio.org/streaming-meetings. The screen the viewer will see when they watch meetings will intermittently display the agenda item being discussed and the City Council, board or staff member who is speaking; and as mentioned, viewers watching archived meetings can click on a hyperlinked agenda item to go straight to a specific item of interest. Swagit is also in the process of implementing an auto closed captioning of the live stream, and meetings will be indexed for easy navigation between different agenda points.
City Council and staff are excited to share this info with you, showing our commitment to government transparency while simultaneously improving the quality of our meeting productions.
