March 6, 2017 City of Beachwood’s News Flash:  http://www.beachwoodohio.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=151

Tonight at 7 p.m., Beachwood’s regularly scheduled City Council meeting will be recorded and live streamed from the City’s web site and television station(s) for the very first time. Thanks to newly-installed technology, residents will now be able to view high definition video of City meetings in real-time and on-demand at their convenience.

Council Chambers is now equipped with cameras to stream “live” meetings in high definition. In addition to City Council meetings, Council Committee meetings and Planning & Zoning Commission meetings will take advantage of the system.

In recent years, the City has taken a number of steps to improve citizen outreach and communication in this digital era. Video streaming and archiving is one of the latest communication endeavors the City has taken on both this month and in recent years. The City has upgraded its Web platforms, grown and increased its social media efforts and worked to ensure its multiple communications tools were readable on mobile phones and equipment.

Just last week, the City also launched a residential e-newsletter, the Beachwood Insider. Residents and interested parties can subscribe here: http://beachwoodohio.com/list.aspx.

For the video initiative, the City’s internal communications team, together with City Council, went through a lengthy bid and review process which included a thorough analysis of proposals and meetings with potential vendors. Ultimately the team chose Swagit Productions, a company specializing in hands-free video streaming and broadcast solutions to local, state and federal government agencies

To access tonight’s live stream, simply visit beachwoodohio.com and follow the link or click here: http://beachwoodohio.com/528/Live-Stream-Recorded-Meetings. Meetings will also be archived for residents or interested parties to view at their convenience. 

“It’s important to understand how people interact with their government, and we want to be thoughtful of strategies to continue expanding and improving our outreach efforts,” said Merle S. Gorden, Mayor.