04-07-14 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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WS – Item #6 WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT Work Session Item No. 6 Date: April 7, 2014 To: City Council From: Julie Bartell, City Clerk Re: Community Room Conference Call/Audio Streaming Background Earlier this year, the council directed staff to check into the possibility of doing conferencing during council work sessions. Conferencing in the community room would allow absent council members or staff to participate in work sessions. Conferencing - In February, the council heard about a conferencing station used by other cities, the Cisco IP Desktop Conference Station. The cost of purchasing that unit is $780. It was pointed out that the community room already has a phone that can be (and recently has been) used for conferencing. Another possibility for a communication service that would allow absent council members or staff to participate in a meeting is Skype, a downloadable software service that has been used successfully by other cities. Live Streaming – Since the council suggested that staff expand their research to improvements that would be most useful to staff as well as improve transparency for the public, staff looked at the possibility of doing live audio streaming of meetings on the Internet. Staff at North Metro Telecommunications reports that live audio streaming could be accomplished using a laptop, the Internet and a special microphone. Only the microphone would have to be purchased at a cost of about $150. This would be a very basic upgrade and would provide only an audio feed and no connection to visuals or packet information. As part of researching possible technology improvements, I spoke with city staff members who utilize the community room for various types of presentations. It’s common to hear that more technology would be helpful especially in the area of enhancing audio and visual presentations. Discussion about developing a plan and budget to improve how council meetings are brought to the public through updates to our video equipment is already underway and will include review of the community room. Requested Council Direction If the council is interested in a conferencing station or live streaming, staff will continue toward purchase of necessary equipment.