Arlington to Webcast City Council Meetings

The City of Arlington, Texas, has televised City Council meetings on local cable channels since the mid 1980s. Beginning Tuesday, May 6, the Arlington will begin Webcasting Council meetings over the Internet.

Arlington's new technology creates an integrated public record of City Council agendas, minutes, staff reports, presentations and audiovisual content, which are searchable by keyword. Users can search for a particular topic of interest or link to a specific agenda item using a drop-down tool. In addition to Council meetings, all Arlington 16 cable programming can be seen on the Web.

"Technology is making it easier to connect with more people," said Administrative Services Manager Jennifer Wichmann. "The Internet is helping us increase public awareness and participation in important policy issues and decisions."

Until now, Arlington residents could purchase a DVD or subscribe to Time Warner Cable if they could not attend a City Council meeting.

Webcast solutions are powered by software designed by Granicus, a San Francisco based company. Information Technology Director Louis Carr, whose department led the evaluation and software implementation, said the Granicus partnership with the city will create new opportunities for citizen engagement and communication.

Software, hardware and installation costs were $49,950 and included hardware for internal storage, staff training, software/hardware configuration, Web site integration and stream-replication software to reduce demands on the City's network. A $1,600 monthly maintenance fee includes city-designated bandwidth from Granicus data centers, hosted video storage, equipment maintenance and software/hardware support.

City Council meetings, which are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, can be seen live at www.ArlingtonTX.gov. Learn more about Arlington Webcast here.