Supervisors OK Televised Meetings

Joining nearly three dozen California counties, Riverside County supervisors voted Tuesday to televise their meetings on cable stations in the county and to study broadcasting them over the Internet.

“Our county is so big ... we need to open up our meetings to folks that can’t get down here,” said Supervisor Marion Ashley, who was named board chairman at the meeting.

Many cities and 34 counties in California broadcast their meetings on television or over the Internet. Riverside County faces addition challenges because of its sprawling size -- it’s almost the size of New Jersey, and its 1.8 million residents are served by seven cable companies.

The board vote means that meetings will be recorded, copied onto videotapes or DVDs and distributed to those companies, which could show them several times.

Costs are estimated at $5,000 in start-up for equipment purchases, and up to $350 weekly to copy and distribute the videotapes or DVDs.

The move also allows visual recordings of board meetings to be archived -- currently, only sound recordings are available. The move was the least expensive of the options presented in a staff report.

A committee comprising Supervisors John F. Tavaglione and Jeff Stone will study other options, including live broadcasts on cable television, though that could be too costly if done countywide.

Another proposal is airing meetings over the Internet, which could include closed-captioning in English and Spanish and links to related staff reports.

Internet broadcasts would also allow the creation of a detailed online archive that would let users select the public hearing they want to view, instead of having to watch hours of unrelated matters.

The committee will also look at how many county residents have no access to the Internet, and how many have satellite television, and therefore no access to cable channels.

Supervisor Bob Buster said the goal was to reach as many residents as possible.

“I think we need to know -- are we covering our residents in an equal fashion?” he asked.

Counties elsewhere noted that broadcasting meetings initially made them longer. Tavaglione joked that a little preening may be in order for Riverside County’s leaders.

“One thing we’ll need to add is makeup for our receding hairlines