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San Joaquin County, Calif., Board Plans Webcast

Posted on: Wednesday, 28 September 2005, 00:00 CDT

By Greg Kane, The Record, Stockton, Calif.

Sep. 27--STOCKTON -- The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors is bringing its show to the Web.

County officials plan to begin streaming live video of the supervisors' regular meetings on the board's Web site later this year. A pilot version of the broadcast system is expected to go online within a few weeks, said Vic Singh, the county's assistant administrator.

Currently, the only way for residents outside the San Joaquin County Courthouse to follow live meetings is through a telephone system, County Administrator Manuel Lopez said. The system's 100 available lines are frequently tied up by listeners, however.

"There are a lot of people who listen to the board on a regular basis," Lopez said.

Tape-delayed versions of the supervisors' meetings are readily available. Television's Channel 42 broadcasts a 2-day-old video of each meeting on Thursday nights, and audio is also posted after the hearing is adjourned.

Stockton and Lodi broadcast live city council meetings both on television and on the Internet. Tracy officials are also considering live televised council meetings.

The supervisors meet each Tuesday at 9 a.m., and many have complained that the morning meetings make it difficult for working people to attend. Supervisor Victor Mow said Monday the online broadcasts would be a way to open communication between residents and government.

"The more ways we can reach folks, the better," Mow said.

There are two options the county can use to get the system running, Lopez said. One is to pay a vendor to pick up the video and post it online, similar to what the Stockton City Council does. That would likely cost taxpayers around $70,000, he said.

A less expensive alternative is to use the county's existing Web site to stream the video, Lopez said. That would come at no significant cost, but it would also limit the number of people who could watch at one time.

County officials are leaning toward the less expensive option, Lopez said. Using the county Web site would still allow up to 5,000 people to watch online, far more than Lopez expects to use the system.

"I just don't anticipate having tens of thousands of people clamoring because they can't get on the Internet" to watch the meetings, Lopez said.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Record, Stockton, Calif.

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Source: The Record

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