Wauconda could make videos of meetings for village website
Wauconda officials are considering buying video equipment that would allow residents to watch board meetings on the village's website.
New microphones for the board's dais are on the shopping list, too.
About $10,000 was included in the village's annual budget for the purchases, Trustee Linda Starkey said during a communications committee meeting Monday at village hall.
Three vendors have submitted proposals for the project, administrative assistant Alise Homola told the committee. Homola didn't mention cost estimates.
A timetable wasn't discussed Monday, but Starkey wants the gear in place sooner than later.
"Let's get it done," Starkey said.
Unlike the meetings in several other Lake County towns, Wauconda's village board sessions aren't broadcast on local cable television.
Official records of the meetings can't be viewed online, either.
For months, however, several residents have recorded video of meetings from their seats in the audience using smartphones. One recently started webcasting meetings live using a computer she brings to meetings.
In a telephone interview, Village Administrator Doug Maxeiner said posting official video recordings of meetings at wauconda-il.gov would eliminate the need for people who want to follow village government from relying on the civilians.
Mayor Frank Bart supports the idea. He said he's asked the committee to develop two or three options.
"It allows for our residents to participate in government in another way," Bart said in a telephone interview.