PORT TOWNSEND — Who says you can’t byte City Hall?
A new computer system being installed in the City Council chambers will help citizens get closer to local government.
In May, a new system from Granicus Inc. — a software provider specializing in applications for governments — will go online and allow anyone who wants to check up on the city to do so from the comfort of their own home.
“It will all be available online,” said City Manager David Timmons.
“People are going to be able to get online, watch the video, listen to the audio and read the text of anything that happens during City Council meetings.
“It will also be searchable. If you want to find out when someone spoke during public comment you can type in their name and the video will come up.”
The system will automatically videotape and record a speaker once they begin talking into the microphones and will automatically be uploaded to the city Web site.
“It’s all automatic,” Timmons said.
“We don’t need to have someone sitting there running it during the meeting.”
The City Council sat in front of newly installed computer terminals on Monday night.
“They are touch-screen terminals,” Timmons said.
“They will show documents and text from agenda items, show the results of voting and put the speaking order together.
“Everything is automatically indexed into the minutes so it saves time compared to typing it in.”
Timmons said time was a major reason for implementing the system.
OK’d in December
At a council meeting last December, the council agreed to purchase the new system by a vote of 6-1. The system’s setup and annual cost over 10 years would total to around $50,000.
But Timmons believes it will still save money in the long run.
“Over time, it saves staff time and the expense of photocopying documents,” he said.
“It will save time in records requests, and staff can focus their time and effort on other things.
“We equated it to the cost of one staff member.”
Timmons said it was also important to use the technology to bring the public in.
“If someone says they heard City Council say XYZ, now they can go back and check it online to see exactly what was said,” Timmons said.
“People can now follow specific items across meetings without sitting through the rest.”
Timmons said the audio quality on the Web site would be somewhat superior to what is broadcast on Port Townsend Public Access Television, however the videos would be much smaller.
“The point it to give the public access to the meetings, not to be like Spielberg,” he said.
“But you will be able to access it.”
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
