The Metropolitan King County, Wash., Council has been recognized for being among the top 10 governments in the nation in posting public meetings and other webcasts online via the Granicus system.

All King County Council and Committee meetings held in chambers are streamed live online through the Council's Web site and archived videos of past meetings are available on demand. The videos are posted through the Granicus system, which integrates with the Council's online Legisearch database so that citizens who call up an online agenda can click on automated bookmarks in archived video streams to see the discussion of specific items.

The Council posted 517 webcasts of its meetings and other public policy programming in 2008, the first year that the Council has been webcasting with Granicus. Since inception the number of videos viewed monthly has grown to more than 2,220 unique views, with the most popular program being the recent Video Voters Guide for the new King County Director of Elections.

"Making government more transparent and accessible is one of our highest priorities as a council," said Council Chair Dow Constantine. "The more meaningful information we can put online, the more we can encourage citizen involvement and participation."

"Use of this technology makes it easier for citizens to jump to particular agenda items in our meeting videos, so they can see just what they want without having to search through an entire meeting," said Councilmember Jane Hague, vice chair for Administration and Finance.

"It is amazing how many people tell me in the grocery store, at the bus stop and around the county that they watched the Council online or on KCTV and saw various issues being discussed," said Councilmember Kathy Lambert. "King County provides some of the most basic of all government functions, from buses to courts and jails, and it is wonderful to enable citizens to participate in our democracy by watching from the comfort of their homes at all hours of the day and night and seeing for themselves how we are working for them."

The project was developed and implemented by King County TV, the Clerk of the Council, and the Council's offices of Administration, Information Technology, and Communications.

King County Council meetings are also carried live and replayed regularly on King County TV, the County's government access channel on Cable Channel 22 throughout the county.