BANFF – Banff council meetings will be recorded and live streamed in a bid to engage the community and increase access to public meetings.
On Monday (Dec. 17), council unanimously voted to add $20,000 to the 2019 draft operating budget, but it’s not a done deal until the operating budget is given a final stamp of approval in January.
Voicing strong support for the initiative, councillors noted residents could have access to council meetings because they could watch the video recording whenever convenient.
Councillor Grant Canning said recording and live streaming is becoming more of a common practice for municipalities, pointing to the Town of Canmore and City of Calgary as examples.
“If our community can’t come here and into this room, then we should do what we can to take these types of decisions to them,” said Canning, who was also in favour of recording meetings when it was initially discussed in 2015.
“We’ve spoken many times about engaging people and getting them involved in what we do. It can be intimidating for a lot of people to come through those doors and sit in this room, even just to listen sometimes.”
The current audio system in council chambers, which was installed in 2015, is able to record audio from the microphones located on desks. The intention was to later upgrade the system to include video.
“The proposed budget allows for installation of up to three cameras, associated software and installation,” said Kelly Gibson, the Town of Banff’s corporate services director.
Administration will bring back a policy related to operation of the camera system, including the length of time video recordings will be retained, privacy considerations and which public meetings will be recorded.
It’s undecided if the live streaming only applies to council meetings, or whether Municipal Planning Commission, Development Appeal Board and Governance and Finance Committee meetings will be included.
