JOSEPH J. DEEDY.
SOUTHWICK – Selectman Joseph Deedy has been videotaping the Board of Selectmen meetings since June, but they are not posted for public viewing – yet.
Deedy is using his own equipment to record them and said it’s “a work in progress.”
For now, the recordings are stored on Deedy’s personal computer, but he hopes they can be posted on the town website in the future.
Deedy said he is still working out some inconsistencies with the video and sound.
“The first one has no audio, and the second and third videos have sound but they’re not quite in sync,” he said.
Deedy said when fellow selectman Tracy Cesan was elected, she tried to coordinate the taping of the meeting but had no luck getting volunteers to help.
“It was a great idea,” said Deedy, “So I decided to try it this way.”
Deedy said he spoke with the town’s computer technician Jim Middleton about uploading the video to www.southwickma.org, but found out it could not happen right now.
“To do video on demand or streaming is another package from our web host provider,” said Middleton. “We do not have the capability to do it now.”
Middleton said if the Board of Selectmen chose to include that service as part of its web package, it would likely cost $3,000 and up. The service is renewed annually and could be added on easily. Middleton suggested it could be included in the town’s cable access schedule but a lack of staff to spend the time editing and uploading was probably a deterrent.
Deedy hopes to improve the quality of the recording and said he may post the videos to youtube.com.
For now, Deedy said the videos are on his own comupter and DVDs could be burned if necessary but it is a lengthy process.
The board does post audio recordings of its meetings on the town website under the minutes portion of the board page. Audo is kept online for approximately four weeks and after that time, a CD of the audio can be purchased through the office of Town Clerk Michelle Hill.
Video of Westfield municipal meetings are post on vimeo.com. Longmeadow town meetings are posted at http://longmeadowtv.org/index.php?page=lctv-programs. Hadley town meetings are available on demand at http://www.hadleyma.org/pages/HadleyMA_Community/index.
