Live Town Council Meetings Delivered To Your Laptop

The Town Hall Annex ducks below and behind Ledyard's but behind its plain, unassuming, red-brick exterior is the site of leading-edge telecommunications activity.  

From now on, on every 2nd and 4th Wednesday, the town council will convene for its regular meeting with the public, but will also now sit in front of a newly acquired HD video camera, to be broadcast live, and online and in real-time, for all the computer-watching world to see.  

"It's to communicate more and better with the public," said Roxanne Maher, the assistant to the town council. "It all about communication." 

Maher said the council received a state-funded technology grant for more than $10,000 in May to buy equipment for educational and governmental programs. The town split the money with the board of education and each bought a new video camera, tripod and a video encoder, which initiates the live streaming capability. 

"We were in dire need because our old one broke," she said of the 1980s-era VHS video camera. "If we keep (the new camera) for 22 years like we had the old camera, it will be well worth the investment." 

The new camera goes along with a subscription Internet service that broadcasts the video feed online and in real time while archiving the material for future viewing. The service costs about $250 a month and comes out of the council's operating budget.  

Meanwhile, Maher works behind the scenes and updates the meeting's agenda, which is also posted on the site, with names of councilors who move motions, the vote counts and outcomes.  

Each agenda item is linked to the corresponding segment of video where it was discussed by town councilors and residents. The links allow viewers to skip parts of the meeting and hear discussion only on certain items. 

Maher said the full transcript of the meeting will be available online upon transcription and, once the system and workflow are moving like a "finely oiled machine," Maher said the council is looking to include subcommittee meetings and adding more features, like a full agenda packet, to the site. 

Maher is applying for another grant to buy a sound system to support the whole program.

Click here to access the site, a link is also provided on the Town of Ledyard's homepage.