It won’t be long until residents can view all municipal meetings live over the Internet. The town of Boothbay is about “halfway through” outfitting its municipal meeting room with an audio and video system capable of broadcasting events both live and on-demand. Town Manager James Chaousis expects the system to be fully operational by the next selectmen’s meeting on July 23.

The  town contracted with Connectivity Point Design of Cumberland Center who began installing the system earlier this month. The meeting room has two cameras already installed. A third one will be added to provide for optimal coverage. 

Town officials plan on broadcasting in a split-screen format. This allows the viewer to follow the conversation between speakers sitting at the front table and in the audience. The challenge in broadcasting the back-and-forth banter between speakers presented a major challenge for the town broadcast. Chaousis said the split-screen format along with the multiple camera concept was designed to provide the best possible coverage.

“The cameras can pan around the room. There is also equipment in the back room able to switch which camera is broadcasting,” said Town Manager James Chaousis. “We figured broadcasting all the meetings would be a good way to get more people engaged in what’s happening in town.”

The broadcast equipment installation is part of the town’s two year effort in becoming more transparent. During a 2013 strategic planning session, one of the top issues was for more municipal transparency and a better community-oriented government. This resulted in the town pursuing more ways to provide residents with greater access to municipal information. Besides broadcasting all municipal meetings, the town has also improved its website offerings.

The new website now has more functionality. Residents can view the minutes from past meetings, review the packets sent to various committee members, and will soon be able to view concluded selectmen, planning, water district and comprehensive board committees. Code Enforcement Officer Dan Bryer Jr. said the town’s website will continue to make more information readily available. In the near future, the town plans on placing municipal applications online. According to Bryer, this is another way of keeping the public as informed as possible.

“It’s still a work in progress, but what we envision is one stop shopping for anyone who visits the website,” Bryer said. “In the past, the onus has been on an abutter to contact us about concerns they have with an application. But now they can see the information online and contact us before the issue is heard.”

Planning Board member Fran McBrearty likes the recent website improvements. He liked checking the minutes of a past meeting and getting his information packets in a more timely manner.

“The information is right there and we don’t have to wait two weeks to get our packets. It gives the board more time to review the information prior to the meeting,” McBrearty said.

Currently, only the town’s board of selectmen meetings are broadcast regularly on the Boothbay Region Community Television channel. Chaousis expects the local cable channel will continue televising selectmen’s meetings on a delayed basis. There is also a possibility that the local cable channel will broadcast meetings not being shown at this time.

“This is going to be good for both the town and Channel 7. Jonne Trees (Boothbay Region Public Access Cable station manager) won’t need to drag his equipment in, ” Chaousis said. “This may also lead to more coverage because we’re making all of our broadcasts available to them.”

During broadcasts, town officials expect a volunteer will operate the equipment. If no one is available, the system has an auto-program feature.

“If no one is available, I can go in set up the controls then go into the next room and attend the planning board meeting,” Bryer said.

The town is close to reaching an agreement with its vendor to provide both live streaming and archived records of municipal meetings, according to Chaousis. The town manager expects to finalize an agreement with  Town Hall Streaming in York once the broadcast equipment is installed.

Chaousis said the project came in under budget. The town budgeted $20,000 for its broadcast initiative. He expects the agreement with Town Hall Streaming to broadcast live and archive past meetings to cost about $1,200 per year. Residents interesting in watching a live broadcast or recorded one can go to the town’s website. The viewer needs to click on a link which directs them to the Town Hall Streaming site.

The town has also purchased a specially designed meeting table created by Knickerbocker Group. The new table will be able to sit seven board members and one municipal department head. Each municipal speaker will have their own microphone. A hand held microphone will be provided for the audience.

If the town isn’t able to broadcast the July 23 selectmen’s meeting, Chaousis indicated the system would be ready for the August meeting.