Residents of Sherburne County who can’t make it to county board meetings Tuesday mornings may soon get a chance to view the proceedings from home.

 

At a workshop meeting last week, the county commissioners met with Information Technology (IT) Director Brian Kamman to review a plan to begin videotaping county board meetings for broadcast.

 

Kamman said the plan is to install a complete video system that includes four cameras, new microphones and video screens and a central mixing station.

 

The estimated cost is between $100,00 and $125,000.

 

Two cameras would be located in the rear of the boardroom facing the commissioners. Two more would be located behind the commissioners facing the audience.

Kamman said multiple cameras are required in order to have television production quality.

 

“One would be a closeup view of the board member who would be talking at the time. The other would be a wide screen of the entire board,” he said. “Having a single camera zooming in and out isn’t a comfortable viewing method for the audience. Vendors recommended two so they can toggle between the two.”

 

The same procedure would work with the other two cameras, with one camera directed at anyone addressing the board from the podium, and the other a wide view of the audience.

 

The telephone system and computers would also be fed into the same video mixing station so they can be integrated. 

 

The viewing monitors and microphones the commissioners have now would also be changed.

 

“We’ll be getting newer wide screen monitors that are a little shorter to free up space on the desktop so cameras can see the commissioners during the video session,” said Kamman. “We’ll also change to pencil-thin microphones.”

 

The system will also include a touch-screen control panel if people need to show Powerpoint  presentations, videos or photos.

 

Commissioner Bruce Anderson asked about the existing cameras that feed into the sheriff’s office.

 

Kamman said they’re not designed for video production. 

 

“They’re for security purposes and are not seen as being ready to do video presentation quality,” he said. “It’s meant to be a record and store system, not for a broadcast presentation.”

 

Part of the video package includes video overlays where the names of the commissioners, their district and the topics would be visible on the viewing screen.

 

Kamman said the system is not set up to do live broadcasts, although it could be adapted at an additional cost.

 

“Once we’ve created a video stream and stored it electronically, we can do a number of things with it,” he said. “We can provide it to local cable networks, get it to social media like Youtube and have it on the county web page.”

 

Commissioner Rachel Leonard asked whether there would anyone taking meeting minutes once the system is up and running.

 

Kamman said, yes, it’s required by law. But the video would show more than minutes.

 

“If we look at board minutes now, it shows who made a motion, who seconded it and who voted for and against,” he said. “But it doesn’t have those discussions of what went on.”

 

Leonard asked if there would be a yearly maintenance cost.

 

Kamman said there isn’t much cost other than the person who works the video station.

 

“A lot of the stuff is hardware and the files are all digital. And county already has a digital storage network,” he said. “The highest cost would be an individual to run the system.

 

But he said the county won’t have to add a new employee. He said someone from IT, administration of maintenance can be trained to run the system. And since there are only two or three meetings a month, it wouldn’t take many staff hours. 

 

The system is also movable if the county ever remodeled and changed the location of the board room. Kamman said the only additional cost would be running new electric and communication cables to the new room.

 

Commissioner Felix Schmiesing said he was in favor of the plan.

 

“I think this whole effort is about transparency and allowing our constituents to see what we’re doing here and hold us accountable,” he said.

 

“I think it’s great,” said Commissioner Anderson. “I don’t know why we haven’t had it already.”

 

Administrator Steve Taylor said many area counties videotape their board meetings, including Anoka, Scott, Carver, Washington, Wright, Dakota, Stearns, Hennepin and Ramsey. Isanti County does audio only. Sherburne, Benton and Chisago counties currently do neither.

 

Since the meeting was a workshop, the board couldn’t vote on the proposal. Taylor said the issue will come before the board at one of the next few meetings.