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closeAtascadero residents will be able to watch City Council and Planning Commission meetings online after all.
The City Council voted 5-0 last week against dropping online video services, despite concerns over broadcasting costs.
Since January 2007, AGP Video of Morro Bay has provided live broadcasts of Atascadero City Council and Planning Commission meetings on television and online, as well as "on-demand" Internet audio and video archives.
In April, City Manager Wade McKinney recommended eliminating all online video coverage of council meetings and ending broadcasts of Planning Commission meetings altogether. The cuts would have saved the city about $21,650 annually.
But city residents and council members expressed concern over the potential loss of government transparency.
Instead, city staff is looking into relinquishing the city’s local franchise agreement with Charter Communications and charging local cable subscribers a Public, Educational and Government, or, PEG, fee.
Atascadero’s approximately 5,500 cable customers would see an increase of 25 cents to $1.30 per month. A PEG fee could generate $35,000 to $45,000 per year.
The council also gave McKinney discretion over when Planning Commission meetings should be broadcast.
Although training sessions and other basic functions would probably not be recorded, assistant city manager Jim Lewis said, building projects, tree removals and other issues will be.
“As staff, if anything is of remote significance we will broadcast it,” he said.
According to Lewis, the new AGP Video contract will cost about $48,000 a year.
-- Sarah Linn
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