ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—A first-ever City Council livestream broadcast occurred at the Oct. 29 meeting—almost eight months after members discussed broadcasting live meetings earlier this year.
The livestream broadcast on YouTube came as a surprise to meeting attendees and even to Peter Jansen, a resident regularly seen at meetings who broadcasts sessions live for Englewood Today on Facebook.
The local group has been broadcasting meetings “live” for a couple years for residents, in part due to a lack of any City Council broadcast.
Previously, only minutes and audio recordings were available as an archive of council meetings. Except for City Clerk Yancy Wazirmas mentioning that the meeting was being broadcast “live” and a pink notice attached to the printed council agenda, the council’s first internet-broadcast meeting went largely unnoticed.
Back in March, members had urged Wazirmas to involve local students in the broadcast. Wazirmas also had concerns about broadcasting and archiving council meetings that could then be subject to public records requests as well as how to handle such requests efficiently.
The first official City Council transmission was broadcast from a lone camera placed on the ceiling near the back of the court room. Council meetings are held in the Municipal Court Room at 73 South Van Brunt Street.
“City Council meetings are broadcast live via streaming to YouTube. As a visitor attending the meeting, your presence and attendance may be recorded. By remaining in the Council Chambers during the meeting, it is assumed your consent is given if your image is broadcasted,” states the notice, stapled on the agenda.
“There may be situations where, due to technical difficulties, livestreaming or the recording of the meeting may not be available. The city shall not be responsible for and accepts no liability in the event that the recording or live video streaming of the meeting is unavailable,” states the notice.