HUMBOLDT – For many residents of Humboldt, attending a council meeting may not be possible. Since 2020, the City of Humboldt started livestreaming all of their council meetings for the public to be able to watch the proceedings.
Mayor Rob Muench said, ”BHP contributed money to a number of municipalities in the region around the Jansen Lake project so residents could stay informed when the public wasn’t able to attend meetings.”
Livestreaming council meetings have now made it very simple and easy for community members to stay informed on what is upcoming for city projects and what the council is discussing for the City of Humboldt. Muench said the equipment cost approximately $20,000 when it was first purchased. Prior to 2020, the City was already streaming meetings more simply with just audio as they had installed a microphone previously.
Muench said, at times, technology doesn’t always work and there was a bit of a learning curve.
The benefits Muench said are, “Transparency for the public. Also, the media can cover meetings remotely and record quotes from meeting participants.” For city staff, it has made it easier to do minutes from the recording and provides the ability to refer to past meetings. Anoh benefit is having the archived footage of the meeting with audio. Media, city administration, other meeting participants, and the public can watch the recorded meeting anytime later to see and hear precisely what occurred at the meeting.
“I think this has been a positive move overall and has increased council’s transparency.” Since the start of livestreaming council meetings, the public has become more engaged and informed on the decision-making process for various projects.
The public can view council meetings by going to the City of Humboldt’s webpage.
