McHenry County Board may stream meetings

Sitting in on a McHenry County Board meeting next year could be simple mouse click away.

County leaders are considering plans to make board meetings available via live streaming video online, a move that would put board members and their decision-making processes into offices and living rooms across the county.

"Let's let people see what we're doing, how we do it and let them judge us on it," said board member Tina Hill, chairman of the Management Services Committee. "Customer service is big for me, and the taxpayers are our customers."

In the proposal under consideration, viewers could watch a meeting live online or visit the county Web site to watch archived video of meetings. The archives would feature search options allowing viewers to seek out specific portions of the meeting, such as the debate on a particular issue or a particular vote, without sitting through the entire meeting.

Officials see the online option as a better, more convenient alternative to putting the meetings on public-access cable television.

"Who wants to be up at 2 a.m. to watch a meeting that might have happened two weeks ago and have to sit through an hour of it to get to the part you care about?" County Administrator Peter Austin said. "This way, someone can watch it on their time and watch only the part they care about."

County leaders are still working to geta firm grasp on the startup costs of the proposal, but say once up and running its maintenance should not exceed $600 to $900 a month.

Hill's committee is reviewing proposals from two companies that would provide the technology for the county to put its meetings online and plans to bring a final proposal to the full board through the supplemental budget process in the fall.

If approved as part of the county budget, the system could be up and running by mid-January, Austin said.