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By MASON COLE
Staff writer
WARREN -- City council is considering purchasing a new camera system to visually record its meetings.
Council President John Brown and Councilman Greg Greathouse, D-3rd Ward, recently made a trip to the city of Beachwood in Cuyahoga County to investigate the lavish camera system that its council has used for several years.
"It is pretty slick," Greathouse said.
The recording system that Beachwood council uses features a four-camera setup that records video and audio and can livestream the meetings on the city's website. The system also transcribes the meetings automatically. Beachwood also pays an added monthly fee to have the company, Swagit Productions LLC, of Dallas, Texas, control the cameras remotely. Whitney Crook, clerk of council for Beachwood, said the city signed the contract for the system in 2016 and began streaming its meetings in 2017.
Crook said Beachwood paid a one-time charge of $10,865 for the Swagit EASE hardware software; $53,098 for the Cosmos Broadcast System; $8,608 for its audio sound system; and the city continues to pay a $1,475 fee every month for on-demand livestreaming and remote camera switching.
Crook said the cost for the systems and hardware likely have changed since 2016.
The Beachwood council meetings, which Crook said are immediately available on the city's website and a local television channel, present a professional viewing experience. The camera immediately cuts to whoever is speaking and a heading shown across the screen details the time, date and which agenda item is being discussed.
Crook said the system has helped keep citizens better informed.
"The best thing I can say is that it has streamlined our public records process," Crook said. "Now, if they want to make a public records request, we refer them to the city website."
WARREN
Warren council does not provide video recordings of its meetings. Brenda Smith, Warren's clerk of council, said audio files of the meetings are available for residents.
The city has two devices that record audio that comes through the microphones in council chambers. Smith said audio then is put onto a USB drive, then onto a computer in the clerk's office. If requested by someone, the audio can be provided on a CD.
"Right now we're recording them and then typing (the minutes)," Smith said. "We were typing verbatim, but I was by myself for a long time until (deputy clerk) Melissa Hughes came, so I'm kind of backed up on the minutes. Right know we're doing a kind of 'action minutes,' just trying to get them caught up."
Smith said if council were to purchase the new system it would make recording the minutes much easier. The system Beachwood uses automatically transcribes the meetings.
"It would be worth it," she said.
AFFORD IT
Greathouse said he and Brown were impressed with the setup in Beachwood. He referred to it as the "Taj Mahal" of council chambers.
"Their caucus room, it's huge," Greathouse said. "It's almost as big as our council chambers. Their council chambers are like twice as big as what we've got."
Greathouse estimated a system similar to what Beachwood has would cost the city about $80,000. But, he noted that with the size of Beachwood council chambers and the different demands of that city, Warren likely would not need an identical setup.
"I don't know that we would have the exact same configuration," Greathouse said. "$80,000, that'll be a good talking number. I don't know that it'll be that much for us. I don't envision it being more, but it could be less."
If Warren council purchases a system similar to what Beachwood has, Greathouse suggested another way to save money would be to partner with Warren City Schools to have students learn to operate the camera system and manually pan to each speaker.
"What good experience it would be to have them come over and operate the cameras and help us prepare that for public use the next day," Greathouse said. "When we talk to our fellow council members about it that might be something we want to mention and perhaps explore."
Greathouse said there is no timeline as to when the camera system will be discussed by council. He said getting a new camera system and being able to provide the meetings for residents to watch online is something the city should consider.
"I think it'd be pretty important for council," he said.