Bringing council live to the World Wide Web

Cody Welch and his 1-year-old business, Live Real Media, will be livestreaming Havre City Council meetings so people can see proceedings on YouTube from the comfort of their homes.

Welch experimented at Monday night's City Council meeting, and except for a few glitches, things went well.

The meeting is up on YouTube now, he said.

The idea to broadcast or telecast council meetings first came from newly elected council member Caleb Hutchins. He said having meetings accessible to the public would spur interest in what the council is doing.

But city officials said that if the city took the initiative and recorded the meetings themselves, they would be burdened with state requirements. For instance, Hutchins said he was told the city would have to make transcripts of the meetings available if they were broadcast.

Before long, though, Hutchins met up with Welch, a fellow alum of Montana State University-Northern, who expressed an interest in livestreaming meetings.

Welch was involved in student government and has an interest in local affairs.

Hutchins said Montana's liberal open meetings laws allow anybody to photograph, tape or livestream meetings without city permission.

Mayor Tim Solomon said he was happy to see Welch undertake the project,

"It's great to get the public involved," he said. "We don't get them here," he said, pointing to the largely vacant spectators' section of the council meeting room.

Welch's business is expanding, he said, and he hopes to livesream weddings, and would like to livestream local sporting events, governmental meetings and community activities such as the annual Christmas tree lighting.

Hutchins said he was excited that the project was underway because people will be able see the council at work.

And, he said, he noticed another advantage. Council members were more willing to speak up on issues at the meeting knowing that people might be watching.