Elgin council video on demand

Can't make it to an Elgin city council meeting?

You'll soon be able to tune in online.

The council on Wednesday moved ahead with a plan to post video recordings of its meetings, and planning and development commission meetings, on the city's Web site, www.cityofelgin.org.

Council members will likely take a final vote on the new technology at their Dec. 19 meeting. If approved, it could be up and running by the first of the year.

City officials have said the new system will help them better reach out to the community.

"Web streaming is a rapidly growing forum to relay audio and video messages and programming on the Internet," city officials wrote in an internal memo. "Through Web streaming, the city of Elgin can provide residents and Web visitors with an additional way to view city council meetings, planning and development meetings and city programming."

Under the terms of the agreement with San Francisco-based Granicus Inc., the city would pay nearly $17,000 in startup costs and an additional $760 a month for the new service.

The videos would be posted online one to three hours after the meetings conclude.

Residents will be able to watch the meetings in their entirety, or click on specific agenda items to watch portions of the meetings that they are interested in seeing.

Similar technology is already used by municipal boards in Addison, Glenview, Mundelein, Naperville and Wood Dale. Aurora-based Indian Prairie Unit School District 204's board also puts video of its meetings online.

In Elgin, the city council first discussed the idea of putting meetings online more than a year ago. But council members didn't solicit proposals until August.