The hardware has now been installed and upgrades completed to the council chambers existing Crestron system and it's anticipated live streaming of town council meetings will begin in either July or August.

While it wasn't a true test, during the June 11 council meeting, camera angles were monitored to make sure they were corrected and it was found some tweaking is required.

"We are going to be working with that system to customize camera angles and do more than a few tests runs to ensure that when we do go live that we have a quality product to provide to residents," explains Jaylene Knight, manager of Legislative Services.

One of the cameras installed in the town council chambers in preparation for live streaming.

Three cameras have been installed for the live streaming and are programmed with pre-sets with the added ability of manually change the angle if necessary. Knight or Stacey Loe, senior manager of legislative services, will operate the camera and microphone system during the meetings in addition to their other duties. That, too, will be tested to make sure the streaming goes smoothly.

Tests will be completed in stages, including the capture and then a review of a full council meeting, prior to going live. The town will be announcing the live streaming launch in advance and at this point, it's anticipated to begin in either July or August.

The camera pre-sets include all members of council, individually as well as a wide shot of the council bench, the senior leadership team for when they are called on to provide information, the presenters at the podium and will have the ability to show the presentation that is being given on the screens.

Initially, the focus is to stream council meetings, but the town intends to live stream planning commission meetings and subdivision and development appeal board hearings in the future.

At the end of the council meeting, the agenda that is posted online will also have timestamps incorporated into it so that people can go back and watch items that are of specific interest to them. All videos will be streamed to the town’s YouTube channel.