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LEWISBORO, N.Y. Lewisboro residents are now able to view Town Board meetings from the comfort of their own homes by logging onto the towns website.
Previously, the meetings only were available on Lewisboro Community Television on cable access channel 20. Now, residents wont have to wait for specific broadcast times; they can view them at their leisure with a click of a mouse.
Cable Advisory Committee Chairman Dean Travalino said his committee decided to make viewing the meetings online a priority.
We had a meeting, and one of our newer members, Glen Ostrander, wanted to pursue it. He met with Janet Donahue, the town clerk, and got the ball rolling.
The key, Travalino said, was the utilization of You Tube.
We had been looking at some of the fancier services, but they were just too costly, he said. You Tube costs nothing and there is a way to code it so that the viewer doesn't even realize he is looking at You Tube.
Travalino cites LCTV cameraman Tom Anckner for coming up with the idea to use You Tube as the backbone of the Lewisboro broadcasts.
The difference, Travalino said, between the more costly services and using You Tube is that You Tube doesn't include indexing. Indexing allows viewers to click on the video, which will then call up documents that are being discussed at the meeting. Instead, the document packages are e-mailed to residents or are available along with the agenda at the town website.
Its all the functionality without the bells and whistles, he said.
Joel Smith, the towns facilities maintenance manager, already is charged with preparing the meetings for broadcast on LCTV, so he uploads them on You Tube at the same time, saving the town money.
Travalino also would like to see the more interesting portions of planning board and zoning board of appeals meetings, such as public hearings, filmed for broadcast as well.
Eventually, he would like to see the town stream meetings on its website in real time once officials can find a way to do it cost efficiently.
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