VIDEO ON DEMAND AVAILABLE
FOR PUBLIC MEETINGS
Sarasota, FL – Anywhere you have an internet connection
you can now watch archived public meetings, including City
Commission meetings. Go to www.sarasotagov.com, click on “Watch
Live and Archived Meeting Video”, then click on the
meeting you wish to view. It’s that simple! “No
matter where you are in the world really, as long as you
have internet access, you can watch the meeting from last
night. Literally, from the night before,” said Miles
Larsen, the City’s Public Broadcasting Coordinator
who was instrumental in launching the new service.
Gone are the days of waiting for a meeting replay on Access
Sarasota 19, or calling City Hall to request a DVD or VHS
copy of a meeting and wading through hours of footage.
With video on demand, you can jump right to the portion
of the meeting you want to watch. “I would say probably
90% of the time, people don’t want to watch the meeting
in its entirety,” Larsen said. “What they want
to look at is one agenda item that is of particular interest
to them. And, that is one of the greatest things about
this. You can fire up your computer, scroll through the
agenda, find the item you’re interested in, click
it, and watch that portion of the meeting. It’s so
easy. People are going to love it.” An extensive
key word search is available as well as closed captioning.
The City of Sarasota recently contracted with a California-based
company, Granicus, Inc., to provide the service. Granicus
now serves 175 clients throughout the nation, including
metropolitan areas such as the City of San Francisco and
the City and County of Denver. The system was originally
designed to be a time saver, assisting city and county
clerks throughout the country record meeting minutes faster.
Now, it has blossomed into a tool to help make government
more transparent and more accessible to the community.
City of Sarasota meetings are archived and available
for viewing usually mid-morning the day after the meeting
was held. Currently, regular and special City Commission
meetings, City Commission workshops and Charter Review
Committee meetings dating back to May 1, 2006 can be
watched on-line. Planning Board meetings will soon be
available. “It’s very user-friendly and it’s
self-help. You can go and get the information yourself
whenever you want to,” said Wendy Pochop, Granicus
Inc. Customer Advocate. “You can watch it in your
pajamas. You can watch it at work. It’s available
24-7 so you can watch when you have the time.”
Watch
Live & Archived Meeting Video
For more information contact Miles Larsen
at 941-650-9127
