Council meetings go online

Webcasting of Kelowna council meetings and hearings officially launches Monday, April 6.

Cameras have been installed to webcast the meetings on kelowna.ca/council.

The work to install and test the system has been underway for a number of months and comes at an opportune time for enhanced public access, given the need for physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Offering webcasting means council decision making will continue to be more accessible to the public and fosters an open and transparent culture at the city,” said Deputy City Clerk, Laura Bentley. “We are still working with the software provider to perfect options such as closed captioning and accessibility from all devices. But given the current provincial state of emergency, we wanted to make this option available as soon as possible for residents to stay informed about council decisions.”

In addition to being able to watch council meetings live, the videos will be archived on kelowna.ca/council once meetings have finished. Archived videos will include time stamps of agenda items and minutes for easy navigation. Users can view the entire meeting or jump to specific agenda item sections with a single click. The March 23 regular Council meeting recording is now available to view.

It is recommended to watch the live webcast using WiFi to avoid using data on mobile devices.

Direct links to the live video feed will be tweeted from the city’s Twitter channel (@CityofKelowna) prior to the start of the meeting.