McLean County to video stream meetings

Posted on May 16, 2017
McLean County Board
The McLean County Board will being streaming its meetings online starting in June. (Photo by Eric Stock/WJBC)

By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – McLean County will begin video streaming its monthly County Board meetings in June as part of a one-year pilot project.

The County Board on Tuesday approved a contract with Broadleaf Video Production of Bloomington to set up four iPads as cameras to stream the meetings so they can be viewed live or on demand via YouTube.

County Board Chairman John McIntyre said the county doesn’t have a set number of viewings it expects to see, but said it is a way for county government to be more accessible to the public.

“We are going to take a look at it and see how it works for us and see what kind of feedback we can get either from public reaction or quantitative, from numbers as well, see how many people are viewing it and see if it’s useful for us,” McIntyre said.

The streaming service will cost the county $5,100 for one year.

McIntyre said the county could explore streaming committee meetings in the future, but that could come with a considerably greater cost because there are seven committees that meet monthly.

Bloomington and Normal already video stream their twice-monthly meetings.

The County Board also approved a $40,000 grant agreement with the Illinois Housing Development Authority for abandoned resident properties in unincorporated McLean County to be maintained or demolished.

County Board member Catherine Metsker, R-Carlock, said the grant will help clean up several properties in the Weston area in northeastern McLean County.

“(There are) dilapidated properties, dangerous things, there are more not just in Weston but throughout the McLean County and rural areas.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].

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