An upshot of the COVID-19 pandemic: Residents could tune into City
Council meetings from the comfort and convenience of home, as the City
held most public meetings online via video conferencing.
“Not surprisingly, this increased resident engagement with those meetings,” says
Frank Miozzi, the City’s director of information technology.
City leaders were determined to continue that momentum. So, starting later this
year, all City Council meetings will be live streamed over the Internet, even as these
meetings return to in-person sessions.
This hybrid format will make it easier for
residents to participate from wherever they
prefer, either live in Council Chambers or
by watching from home.
“We’ll stream the live meeting and
then offer an on-demand option for
residents to watch at their convenience,”
explains Miozzi.
The City has contracted with Swagit
Productions, which will “serve as the City’s
audio-visual staff, so we don’t need to hire
and manage our own staff,” adds Miozzi.
Swagit will manage the meeting live stream – adding production details, like who’s
speaking – as well as the delivery of on-demand video. Notably, for Monday Council
work sessions and regular Council meetings, on-demand videos will be indexed to the
corresponding meeting agenda, so that viewers can skip directly to those portions of a
meeting they are most interested in.
18 WINTER 2022 | WWW.SHAKER.LIFE
“We’ll also be able to index
keywords,” says Miozzi. “So viewers can
jump directly to relevant discussions
as well.”
Both the live stream and on-demand
meeting videos will be accessible from
the Agenda Center on the City’s website
(shakeronline.com/agendas).
Miozzi stresses that the live stream
is different than a video conference (i.e.
a Zoom meeting). “This is like a TV show
over the Internet,” says Miozzi. City
committee meetings will continue to be
offered via Zoom until February 2022, at
which point the City will reevaluate.
Also part of this modernizing
project: Upgrading the audio technology
in City Hall’s Council Chambers. This will
be handled by iVideo.
“We will upgrade the sound system
to improve the acoustics for on-site
meetings,” says Miozzi. “This will include
digitally steerable speakers to improve
the acoustics in the room as well as
microphone upgrades.” SL
Modernizing
A Historic
City
Coming to
a Living Room
Near You:
Streamed
City Council
Meetings
Starting later this year,
all City Council meetings
will be live streamed over
the internet, even as these
meetings return to in-person
sessions. This hybrid
format will make it easier
for residents to participate
from wherever they prefer.
/WWW.SHAKER.LIFE
/agendas)