Joel Davis sets the height of a camera that will stream Brookfield trustee meetings.
Update: tonight’s trustee meeting will be livestreamed beginning at 7 p.m. on YouTube. Search for “Brookfield Township Trustees,” the township said in a Facebook post.
Brookfield trustees broadcasted their public meetings on Facebook Live or Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic, but got away from it once they were again allowed to admit people to meetings.
Trustee Dan Suttles said there have been people who have approached officials about live streaming meetings, and that it gives people who cannot attend a meeting an opportunity to observe it.
“I have always been wanting to bring more people to what’s going on in the township,” he said.
The trustees on Jan. 8 hired JED Services LLC, Cortland, to install equipment so meetings held in the township meeting room can be live streamed on YouTube. The meeting would be preserved on YouTube so that it can be viewed after the fact. Trustee Shannon Devitz said she also wants to have the meetings accessible from the township’s website.
“I think it’s a good idea,” said Trustee Mark Ferrara.
JED, which has installed live-streaming capabilities for other public bodies in Trumbull County, gave a proposal to charge $481 to set up a projector, wiring and computer to be used for live streaming. The company also charges $60 a month to handle the activation of each meeting, but resident David DeJoy questioned whether the monthly service is needed.
“Once the equipment’s set up … it’s as easy as clicking one button on your computer,” DeJoy said.
Suttles said he would investigate what the township would be getting for the monthly fee.
Viewers should be able to hear others in the meeting room who are speaking without the speakers going to a dedicated microphone, Suttles said, but would not be able to participate in the meeting.
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