Doña Ana County will soon begin broadcasting commission meetings live on its Web site and archiving the recordings for those who want to access them at a later date.
Commissioners voted unanimously today to adopt a system proposed by the county attorney’s office. Under the new system, audio and video recordings of meetings will be broadcast and archived on the county’s Web site.
Archives of the meetings will be organized based on the meeting’s agenda. Markers in the recordings will allow people to click on a specific agenda item and watch or listen to the discussion on that item. When the entire system is implemented, that interactive agenda will also include specifics about how each commissioner voted on an item, what amendments were adopted and other information.
The new system will be implemented instead of a proposal to hire a court reporter to create verbatim minutes of meetings. That would have cost at least $28,000 per year, county Attorney John Caldwell said at today’s meeting.
The county already broadcasts live audio of meetings at www.donaanacounty.org/listen, but does not archive those recordings on its Web site.
Getting the new system up and running should take 60-90 days,
The new system will save the clerk’s office an extensive amount of work. Though it will require some increased work by the county’s information technology department, it should still save the county $10,000 to $15,000 each year,
He estimated up-front costs at about $10,000, with no more than $1,000 each year to maintain the system.
The system is, in some ways, similar to one the City of Las Cruces already has in place. The city broadcasts meetings live on its public access channel and its Web site, and also archives meetings for later viewing on the Web site. The Las Cruces Public Schools broadcasts meetings on the city’s television station, but does not broadcast or archive them through its Web site.
That puts all three local governments ahead of the state Legislature, which has appropriated some funding for its own Webcasting system but has failed to implement it.
Archived video on the county’s Web site will be available in multiple formats so that those with faster Internet connections can get higher-quality video, but those with dial-up access can still watch the meetings. Video and audio of meetings will also be available on CDs for those who don’t have Internet access.
Commissioner Kent Evans called the plan a “very creative, very meaningful approach” to making the meetings more accessible.
Minutes kept by the clerk’s office will continue to meet legal requirements by including the date, time and place of meetings and how each commissioner voted on each item, but the new system will be designed to become the main point of access for those who can’t attend meetings or who need to review them later.
This is an excellent plan to help the public interact with its county commission. County staffers who helped develop the plan should be commended.