SUNDRE – Several years after installing a suite of high-resolution web cameras in council chambers, the municipality has officially launched a livestream of proceedings.
The regularly scheduled meeting of June 9 was the first ever to be broadcast live.
“This is our first time doing a livestreaming of our council meetings in Sundre,” mayor Richard Warnock said prior to calling the meeting to order.
The mayor added the feed is focused exclusively on council and that delegates and members of the public sitting in the gallery could only be seen from behind while administrative staff were not included in the frame.
The Albertan, which has historically attended the meetings in-person and will ultimately continue to do so, made an exception in this case and tuned in remotely to experience first-hand what people can expect to see if they decide to virtually watch council proceedings.
The stream, which the municipality delivered using a service EventLive, was watched using a high-speed fibre optic broadband Wi-Fi connection rated at 500 mbps up-and-down through Xplore.
Provided a given speaker’s microphone was active as they talked – with administration occasionally reminding members to activate their mic – the sound was clear and crisp; arguably even easier to hear than in person.
As well, a splitscreen allowed the viewer to watch both council on the left and a display of agenda items including presentations and reports on the right.
There were only a couple of times when the video feed paused to buffer for just a brief moment and the livestream was by and large otherwise uninterrupted. The image’s resolution initially started off sharp but occasionally became pixelated.
Meetings can only be watched live as video of the proceedings is not being recorded and posted online afterward.
Approximately five viewers – including the Albertan as well as a member of the administrative staff who was monitoring the feed – tuned in.
Council most recently met on June 23, which was slated to be the last meeting before council went on summer hiatus unless an emergent matter arises and a special meeting is called.
Otherwise, regular meetings are scheduled to resume Sept. 8.
Visit the town’s website, www.sundre.com, where a new unique link will be posted at approximately noon on the day of a scheduled meeting.
