Live Streaming of City Meetings Pushed Off Until May

Live streaming and digital archives of city and education board meetings expected to be available to the public last Thanksgiving have run into a delay — pushing the launch date into mid- to late May.

Last February, Middletown's common council approved $118,000 in upgrades to allow the switch to a digital system that has improved the video and audio quality of meetings now viewable only on Comcast local access television channels. An $83,000 grant from the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority last August paid for a good portion of the technology.

Bill Oliver IV, director of information systems, told Patch in late January he was waiting on additional hardware to make the connections. He had expected meeting information to be published on the city website two to three weeks later and videos three to five weeks later, as soon as the equipment was up and tested.
Now, Oliver says, the information technology department is facing yet another roadblock.

"We have run into a delay getting the proper equipment interface between our broadcast equipment and the new recorder. My best guess is that we need four to six weeks, but I am not sure about the programming that will be required to install and test the interface," Oliver said.

Once the equipment is up and running, the public will no longer need cable access to watch common council, board of education and other recorded city meetings. They'll need only a computer, smart phone, tablet or other device and access to the internet. 

"The public should be able to see meetings online as they are happening (up to 50 or 75 users)," Oliver said. "Then after the meeting is over, within hours, people will be able to stream it."

What's even more useful is, Oliver says, is as soon as the meeting minutes are loaded to that portion of the city's website, "the public can click on an agenda item, and it will jump to that portion of the video, and the supporting documents will be available. 

"That time frame will vary depending on the complexity of the meeting, but should be no more that a couple of days under normal conditions."