by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
WHITEWATER REGION — The last two live-feed Whitewater Region council meetings have been frustrating for those watching because they’ve stopped before the meeting ended.
Last night, the internet quit 57 minutes into the meeting, which went on for almost 90 more minutes, while on Jan. 16, it happened less than a minute into the meeting. And, while the internet was re-established each time, the recording equipment did not come back on.
Since Mayor Mike Moore and this council was sworn in Dec. 3, these are the only times the internet has gone down, stopping the live feed.
When the internet goes out, it kicks out the camera and the encoder, which puts the image on Youtube, explained Robert Tremblay, Chief Administrative Officer.
“While we encourage people to watch at home, they can come out and we would be glad to see their smiling faces in council chambers,” he said.
CAO Tremblay noted that the provider, NRTC from Beachburg, will have to be contacted to “find out what’s going on.
“We’ll have to follow-up on the technical side of things.”
While CAO Tremblay has been accused of disconnecting the camera, that’s not the case, it’s always because of technical problems.
Once it’s discovered why the internet goes down, the problem should be resolved, he said.
“What everybody needs to know is we don’t have information technology staff (IT staff), so we are reliant on third parties to provide us that expertise,” CAO Tremblay said.
When something from the IT perspective goes down in the middle of a meeting, staff try to resolve it, but that’s not always possible as staff at the meeting are usually involved in the meeting, he said.
CAO Tremblay noted the minutes and agenda are available to the public, so all decisions are reflected there.
The township does not want to hire a staff member to babysit the camera, he said.
“When it goes out in the middle of a meeting, staff at the meeting, are involved in the running of the meeting, speaking to reports or taking minutes, so we don’t have someone coming to the meeting to make sure camera is working.”
While this is one of the rare municipalities in Renfrew County to have a live feed, there are many municipalities throughout the province that do it, so there has to be a way to ensure this doesn’t happen, CAO Tremblay said.
“We apologize for any inconvenience,” he said, adding, “We are more than willing to have smiling people in our gallery.”
