This is an update on the City of Galveston's progress on providing streaming video of its city council meetings on the city's website. Guidry News Service has been providing this service on GuidryNews.com - The Online News Station at no cost to the city since December 2008 when the city council backed down from its pre-Ike decision to provide streaming video because of the expense of the storm.
Lynda and I decided to pick up the service because so many residents were, and still are, displaced from the island; and many others do not subscribe to cable. For the past five months Kempner Capital Management, Greer Hearz & Adams LLP, the Galveston Housing Authority, Mitchell Historic Properties and Kelly Kelley, Prudential Real Estate Broker/Associate have sponsored the service.
On Thursday, October 8, 2009 the city council voted unanimously to submit a request for proposals for a vendor to provide streaming video of its city council sessions. The RFP was the same as issued before Ike. Swagit, a company that specializes in live and archived streaming of city council meetings was selected. At the last meeting of the city council a budget amendment was approved to account for the contract.
We asked Public Information Officer Alicia Cahill when the process will be finished, specifically if the system will be in place for the next meeting.
"No, the implementation will take longer than that," Cahill said. "We are going over the contract, then there is training, equipment installation. I do not have a firm date for implementation, but I will definitely send it to you when I do."
Our intention is to continue to provide the service for the duration, until Swagit is in place.