By Cary Shuman
City Council meetings could soon be available on YouTube as the result of a well-received motion by Councilor-at-Large Katy Rogers.
The twice-monthly meetings are currently televised live by municipal station ECTV. Rogers asked her colleagues to consider expanding viewer accessibility to meetings to include the YouTube channel.
“I understand that we do a lot to try and make meetings transparent, but I do think that having [the meetings] on YouTube would increase that transparency, even for our own sake, to be able to look back at an archival record of our meetings,” said Rogers. “Having it just on cable and the website and Facebook is restrictive compared to YouTube which has a lot more features that increase accessibility.”
Rogers said she has requested the Mayor Carlo DeMaria Administration to add Council meetings to YouTube streaming services in addition to the existing streaming services. City Council President Robert Van Campen said he has had correspondences with the Administration about the addition of YouTube accessibility “and they’re equally committed to assisting the City Council in making that happen.”