Continuing to prove its dedication and commitment to open government, the City of Bell, California, has retained the services of Swagit Productions, LLC to facilitate streaming of city council meetings and other media content.
The City of Bell has now ensured that their City Council meetings are accessible to anyone and anywhere with an Internet connection – be it from the comfort of their living room, or away from the computer and on their mobile phone or tablet.
Bell is committed to offering its residents cutting edge solutions to ensure transparency and to better help engage the public. With the purchase of Swagit’s hands-free COSMOS system – a complete package of cameras and pro video-switching equipment, Bell is able to fully outsource the production and operation of a multiple camera broadcast system to Swagit.
By enabling public meetings to be viewed anywhere and on any device, Bell wants to encourage citizen participation with city functions, as well as reassuring their residents that the city is open and transparent with all official matters.
All recorded meetings will be saved and archived for a minimum of three years on the City site. Published meeting agendas and other associated documents will accompany archived videos for residents to follow along while watching the video. Specific “jump-to” points are embedded in the timeline making it easy to click directly to the specific part of the media the user is looking to access.
“The current Mayor, City Council and staff of the City of Bell have made transparency and fiscal responsibility top priorities in the City.” explains Michael Osuna, Swagit’s North American Sales Director. “As part of those priorities City leaders went through a thorough RFP process to find the right vendor to provide a new camera system and webcasting services. City staff liked the advantages of Swagit’s camera system that could be controlled remotely by Swagit staff and the “hands free” streaming service which allowed for Council meetings to videoed, indexed by each agenda item and streamed over the internet both live and on demand without adding any more staff thereby providing meetings online in a very cost effective manner.”
The City of Bell’s proactive acquisition of the leading streaming media platform provides their citizens with both a new tool to stay connected to their city government, as well as a cutting edge and highly versatile streaming video service.
About Swagit
Swagit Productions, LLC is a leading video production company specializing in providing streaming media solutions to television stations, newspapers and local government agencies. Swagit pioneered the Hands-Free Video Streaming® service plan. This eliminates 100% of the labor required in producing professional and easily accessible streaming videos for meetings and newscasts.