HUMBOLDT — Upgrades to Humboldt’s council chambers will make it easier for citizens to find out what decisions council is making on their behalf.
Ever since the pandemic, council meetings have been closed to physical viewing from the public, but proceedings have been livestreamed online using a low-end webcam.
Between the final council meeting of the previous term and the swearing-in of the current council on Nov. 23, the city installed new microphones and cameras to better record what’s happening.
“[The new system] allows the public to be able to sit in and get a quality feed, audio and visual feed and be able to better see what goes on during those meetings and why council makes the decisions they make,” said Penny Lee, the city’s communications director.
Lee said that while council meetings were always open to the public, livestreaming and recording the meeting makes it easier for the public to watch.
Around $17,000 worth of the equipment was paid by BHP as part of an effort to assist municipalities in the region with upgrading their conference equipment. Lee said the mining company approached the city to make the contribution.
“We're very thankful that they were able to provide this to us, because who knows how long COVID is going to last right before we can actually get back in chambers.”
At certain points of the pandemic, even most city staff were required to present to council using teleconferencing to limit the number of people in the room. Lee said those staff members had been coming back into council chambers, but with restrictions tightening up again, they’ll return to teleconferencing.
“The new installation of the equipment couldn't have come at a better time.”
The new equipment will also make it easier for delegations to present their case to council through teleconferencing services like Zoom.
Some items, like the microphones and a camera in the back of the room, were already bought by the city. The city worked with the installer, Evolution AV, to integrate those pieces of equipment with the new, BHP-funded equipment.
As well, every councillor’s desk has a 15-inch monitor that displays information about the item they are discussing, or video from delegations and others making presentations, making it so they don’t have to sit awkwardly to watch the projection screen at the front of the room.
“We just encourage people to take a moment and watch the actual recordings or the livestreams of these meetings and see how things are done,” Lee said.
