Acknowledging the hardships of mobility faced by some and the scheduling conflicts which arise for others, or just embracing the technological baseline of the present century, the Ulster County Legislature announced on December 5 that all standing-committee meetings will be live-streamed on You Tube beginning this month.
Curious to know what policies are being enacted to deal with crime and criminals in Ulster County? Tune into the Law Enforcement and Public Safety Committee meeting on the first Thursday of every month at 5:15 p.m. Alarmed about the number of county construction jobs being farmed out to private contractors? Public Works, Capital Projects and Transportation meetings have you covered on the first Monday of every month at 6 p.m.
From the laws and rules that organize the county to the ways and means in which things get done, if there’s a committee for it the county will now broadcast those meetings in real time.
The legislature has a YouTube channel @UlsterCountyLegislature. Users can subscribe to see livestreams directly on their home page or just randomly audit a meeting, No signup is necessary.
The legislative calendar is available for inspection under the ‘residents’ heading on the Ulster County Website.
Long-serving legislator, Rosendale’s Manna Jo Greene authored the budget amendment providing for the service. “The public deserves to be informed and aware of the business of their government, and our meeting times are not always conducive to working families,” says Greene, who is retiring from the legislature after five terms. “By livestreaming our meetings we will allow those who do not have the time or means to access or attend our Committees to better understand our processes and be more engaged in their government.”
Previous to this announcement, only full legislative meetings were broadcast live. Standing committees recorded audio which was posted days later.
Outgoing legislative chair Tracey Bartels sponsored legislation requiring audio recordings of meetings to be posted back in 2012.
“In addition to archiving all meetings, our livestreams are closed-captioned and can be translated to any of the languages offered through YouTube,” noted legislative clerk Victoria Fabella, “allowing those who cannot attend legislative meetings due to time commitment or language barriers to better access their government and elected representatives.”
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