HomeMy WebLinkAbout11.B. Web-Streaming Government Meetings
City of Shakopee II. ~,
Memorandum
TO: Mayor and City Council
Mark McNeill, City Administrator
FROM: John Peterson, Telecommunications Coordinator
SUBJECT: Web-Streaming Government Meetings
DATE: April 12, 2007
Introduction
The City Council is asked to consider a recommendation from the Telecommunications Advisory
Commission (TAC) that the City enter into a contract with Granicus to provide web-streaming
services for government access programming.
Background
Instituting online streaming of the City meetings that currently air on our Government Access
Channel is a top priority ofthe Telecommunications Commission for 2007. Online streaming
will provide another means for residents to stay informed on City issues, particularly for those
that currently do not subscribe to cable television. The 2007 Telecommunications Fund budget
includes $30,000 to pay for this initiative.
On January 17, a Request for Proposals (RFP) was mailed to six organizations that offer some
form of web-streaming service. Two responses were received by the published deadline - one
from Granicus and one from Implex, both of which currently provide web-streaming service to
other metro-area cities. A group of staff members from several City departments reviewed the
proposals and came to the consensus that the service offered by Granicus best meets the City's
needs. The Telecommunications Advisory Commission concurred with staffs recommendation.
The service provided by Granicus provides all of the essential features we were seeking at a
lower cost, as well as the potential to add additional features in the future. Granicus will allow
us to stream Cable Channel 16 via the City's website 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week, as well as
stream live feeds of government meetings in progress and offer archived meetings for on-
demand viewing. For example, a resident could go on line to watch a live City Council meeting
in progress or they could access the previous night's Council meeting the next day or the next
week. Granicus also offers the ability for us to bookmark the video according to the meeting
agenda, so if a viewer wishes to jump to the point in an archived video where a particular item
was discussed, they just click on that item on the agenda and are taken directly to that point in
the video.
Another attractive feature of the Granicus solution is that as part of their set monthly service fee,
they provide server space to store the video files of all of our taped government meetings for a
period of 12 months. There is no limit on the number of meetings or their length.
Unfortunately, the lack of available capacity on the City's current T1 internet connection will
mean that City employees will not be allowed to view streamed videos on their City computers at
first. However, we anticipate having the opportunity to upgrade the City network to a fiber
internet connection in the first half of 2008 as part of Scott County's initiative to create a ring of
fiber in the county. Residents and other interested parties attempting to view the video stream
from computers outside of the City's network will not be impacted by the limitations of our T1
line.
Lastly, Granicus offers several add-on features that we may want to consider in the future. These
include the ability to provide closed captioning and/or language translation as part of our on-
demand videos, the ability to use an email subscription service to notify residents when a new
video becomes available and the ability to offer audio and or video podcasting. Each of these
add-ons carries an additional cost, some are still under development by Granicus and others
require partnering with a second vendor. At this time the T AC is recommending that we not
subscribe to any of these add-on features, but that we review them again at a later date once the
basic service is up and running.
Contract Terms
With Council approval, we expect to begin web streaming on or about the first of July.
Therefore, the T AC is recommending that the City enter in to an 18 month contract, which would
carry us through the end ofthe 2008 budget year. Opt-out language would be negotiated to
allow the City to terminate the contract with 30 or 60 days notice.
Budget Impact
The 2007 Telecommunications budget includes $30,000 to implement web-streaming. The
proposal put forth by Granicus would cost $11,670.85 for up front costs and $779.00 for each
month of service. This would total $16,344.85 for start-up costs and six months of service in
2007. A total of$9,348.00 would need to be allocated from the 2008 Telecommunications
budget to pay for the monthly service fees in the out year of the contract.
Requested Action
If Council concurs with the Telecommunications Advisory Commission's recommendation, it
should offer a motion to authorize appropriate staff to negotiate and, following the City
attorney's review, enter into a contract with Granicus to provide web-streaming services through
the end of2008, at a cost not to exceed $12,000 for start-up and $800 per month.
~' eterson
lecommunications Coordinator