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Barrington Hills weighing plan to livestream meetings

Barrington Hills village board members say they want more information before deciding whether to livestream audio of government meetings online.

A similar suggestion to livestream video of meetings did not gain traction at a recent village board session after concern was raised about the potential cost.

A memo from acting Director of Administration Anna Paul and Clerk Nikki Panos states first-year costs for streaming audio or video would be $10,000 to $25,000, as proposed by Minnesota-based technology firm Granicus.

Panos told the village board livestreaming video ultimately would cost more than audio because of a need to buy cameras and other equipment. More information is expected to be provided to the village board before they are expected to addresses the audio issue again July 23.

Larger towns have an advantage over smaller municipalities with few employees, such as Barrington Hills, when it comes to offering live online video, Panos said.

"They have dedicated control rooms, dedicated staff (for) livestreaming, dedicated staff making sure that this (video) works for every meeting," she said at last week's village board session.

Barrington Hills posts audio of meetings, such as the village board's and plan commission's, on its website after the meetings are held. Officials said the streaming system offered by Granicus would eliminate the need for a Barrington Hills employee to handle that.

Schaumburg started posting village board meeting videos to YouTube in January. Schaumburg officials, who decided to borrow a camera from the Al Larson Prairie Center for the Arts for the test program, have said a permanent camera could cost $7,000.

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