Yass Valley Council is considering the feasibility of live streaming of its ordinary meetings after the majority of councillors voted in favour at the March 2017 meeting.
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At the meeting, a brief report was prepared to allow council to make a decision about the issue. It was resolved that a further report be brought back to the April council meeting to determine the specification.
Councillor Nathan Furry, who voted in favour and is a strong advocate, said the decision to push for live streaming was based on a community need.
“Essentially, I’ve had residents questioning decisions by council. It comes down to understanding how they’re made. The minutes don’t contain the nitty gritty and intricacies of debate,” he said.
Both an audio-only and audio-visual solution will be presented for council determination, with accessibility, value-for-money and economy as key considerations.
Mr Furry recently published a Facebook poll to obtain community feedback.
“Any decisions council makes, I as a ratepayer would certainly want council to know how I feel about their merits,” he said.
“I’m in favour of an audio solution. We don't want a Rolls Royce solution. It’s not difficult to obtain a low-cost solution to livestream and be available for playback.”
Garry Chapman commented on the poll, saying: “I would be concerned about the costs and the additional insurances that are required to insure against defamation should it occur. I believe the costs should have been ascertained before a survey was initiated so that the community was aware of all the facts before being asked whether they support streaming.”
Mr Furry said the responses so far shows more than 70 per cent support for live streaming of audio and visual and 10 per cent for audio only. “It’s been quite overwhelming as I wasn’t expecting 80 per cent in support,” he said.
The survey is set to finish on Monday April, 24 to allow time to process the numbers before council meeting on April 26.
To participate in the poll: https://goo.gl/IU1XIG.