Riley County commissioners approved streaming meetings and where to stream them during their meeting Thursday.
IT/GIS Director Kevin Howser was tasked with researching options for streaming meetings. The requirements he was given include minimal cost, not a long-term contract, and not a long implementation time. He returned this meeting with three options for the commission; YouTube streaming and two media packages from Civics Plus.
The YouTube stream is the minimal cost option since they already have cameras they can install. In addition, there are no charges to stream the video on the site. However, Howser did not recommend using this option at no cost, citing the quality of video would be lacking. He suggests they spend around $500 for a new camera and microphone.
“If we are going to do something like this, I think it should be a professional presentation,” says Howser.
A link to the YouTube page would be posted to the county’s website, and then it would be the commission’s choice whether or not to archive to the county’s site. the streams will be saved on the YouTube channel after the stream.
The second recommendation is with Civics Plus, who also runs the county website. This is known as the media vase package. This would allow the meeting to be streamed on Civic Plus’ website. There would be additional hardware cost for camera, microphone, and an encoder device. The encoder alone cost $1,000 with additional costs for wiring. This would total around $1,500 for one time costs. The package also includes annual fees of $1,800 for the first year and then $3,000 for the following years.
The third option, the media premium package, would be the same as the second option, but more expensive and would allow old meetings to be archived on the site.
Commissioners decided to go with the Youtube option, with the option to upgrade later on. The commission will do a trial run for six weeks to get a feel for the stream. No date has yet been determined for implementation.
