THUNDER BAY – As Thunder Bay’s new City Council and Mayor are sworn in tonight, our city starts on yet another new era. Part of that new era will include live-streaming on the Internet of Council meetings. This process started with testing in June 2009 when Council was meeting off-site while City Hall was under construction.
The process continued in June of 2010, and will now be a regular addition allowing for greater engagement in our city between our civic government and citizens.
- The City of Thunder Bay will be video streaming City Council and Council’s Committee of the Whole meetings, starting with the Inaugural Meeting of Council on Monday, Dec. 6.
“By video streaming meetings and public events, Council agreed we would dramatically widen access to information and improve accessibility for interested people who cannot attend in person,” said John Hannam, City Clerk.
City Council’s recent approval of video streaming followed a successful, one-month pilot project in June 2010, and the review and recommendations of City Council’s Community Communications Committee. The following statistics were recorded during the pilot:
165 unique visitors for 245 visits at live meetings
238 unique visitors for 300 visits at archived meetings
Average viewer returning for more than one viewing
Consistent number of viewers across the meetings indicating strong core of viewersHannam added that “Comments from viewers were all positive, indicating they like the service, and want it to continue so they can be engaged, better informed and have more choices for viewing meetings”.
Meetings are held in Council Chambers at City Hall, 500 Donald Street East, at 6:30 pm, are open to the public, and also air live on Shaw TV Cable 10. City Council and Administration welcome citizen input on the issues that concern residents and organizations in Thunder Bay. Residents and businesses can arrange to have a letter included in an agenda or to make a presentation to a committee by writing to the City Clerk, City Hall, P.O. Box 800, Thunder Bay, ON P7C 5K4.
To view the meetings and for more information visit: www.thunderbay.ca/councillive.