Videos of City Meetings Now Online

Video recordings of city Common Council and Plan Commission meetings are now available to watch on the city's web site, and the city clerk said further upgrades are planned.

City Clerk Kristine Schmidt posted the first video on the web site Tuesday afternoon and added four more today.

"We're going to get a little more fancy as we go along," Schmidt said.

She said she hopes to add software that would essentially mark the video when agenda items begin so residents could click on which part of the meeting they want to watch.

"We're slowly going to be adding to it," she said.

On Tuesday there were two plan commission meetings, a council meeting and two informational videos — one from Waukesha County on hazardous waste information and one from the tourism bureau on Brookfield attractions. 

Other communities that provide webcasts of their government meetings include the villages of Greendale and Menomonee Falls. 

Schmidt said the web video was strongly supported by Mayor Steve Ponto and part of a recent upgrade to the city's cable televising system made possible through cable fees. The city for years has broadcast its Common Council and Plan Commission meetings on the local cable channel 25.

Details of the cost of the cable upgrade and web video setup were not immediately available.

The cable television upgrade also included enhanced calendar and graphics, as well as the ability for public crews or police to remotely add emergency information such as road closings.

The city's home page, www.ci.brookfield.wi.us, has a link to the video offerings.