Live streaming of Masterton council put on hold

Masterton District Council has put plans for cameras on hold.

Latent film stars lurking within Masterton District Council may have to wait a few more months before they find out whether they should spruce themselves up each month for the camera.

Faced with an opportunity to adopt "live streaming" of council meetings by recording proceedings online and possibly using cameras to zoom in on them as they speak, councillors decided this week to delay a decision.

They voted to refer "communication engagement options", including live streaming of meetings, to a task group. The group will report back to council in time for the draft annual plan process to get under way.

To go live on their website would involve set-up costs of $20,000 to $25,000 for audio only and more for cameras depending on whether council settles for a fixed camera or several that zoom in on speakers.

Community services manager Jan Gerritsen said Taupo used the fixed camera and Hamilton City Council had zoom.

Zoom cameras would involve using up to five cameras and staff to operate them during meetings, she said. Live streaming would mean installing a microphone in front of each councillor and speakers would have to remain seated as rising to address the chair could take them out of the range of the microphones.

She said Hamilton City, with a population of over 140,000, laid claim to only around 30 to 75 people watching proceedings at any one meeting. Mrs Gerritsen said Hamilton's big fluoride debate had attracted 70 hits "and two of those were mine".

She had gone online to gauge the success of live streaming in Hamilton.

Councillor Brent Goodwin said he liked the idea of live streaming which would make the business of council more available to the community, but some other councillors did not.

Councillor Jonathan Hooker said it would be a waste of money which would be better spent improving the council's Facebook page and website. Councillor Doug Bracewell said there were other opportunities for getting people more involved with the council.