Naples offers council meetings on Web

Die-hard City Council fanatics don’t have to use TiVo to watch replays of council meetings any more. As of this week, those council sessions are now being offered in cyberspace.

Archived council meetings and agendas, complete with reams of memos and resolutions, can now be accessed at: http://naples.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=4

“I am delighted that we can offer this service to our citizens,” Councilwoman Penny Taylor said Tuesday.

City watchdog Sue Smith, who attends council meetings and speaks out on various issues, along with another gadfly, Henry Kennedy, was pleased city officials are providing the service, but pointed out many residents, especially older people, aren’t Internet savvy.

“I believe very, very strongly that this is a transition period for the Internet,” Smith said. “They must not think they can go completely high-tech. If you have backup paper, you always have storage.”

Making agendas, resolutions, codes and city documents easily accessible to the public is something Smith has spoken out on several times, including Monday, when council agreed to make sure residents could view all council paperwork — the same as that offered to council members and the media — in the Sunshine Room in City Hall, where binders store all correspondence to the mayor and council.

The agendas and Channel 12 live and archived meetings, which also are available on podcasts, are the result of council voting on April 5 to pay Granicus Inc. of San Francisco $23,985 for the initial purchase, implementation and management of a streaming video system, in addition to a $12,000 yearly management fee. The service provides the same council meetings that are replayed on Channel 12.

Granicus was selected as the top responsible bidder out of four after the lowest bidder was disqualified. City officials were unable to contact Pictron of San Jose, Calif., after requesting documentation. In a March 17 memo, Steve Weeks, the city’s technology services director, told City Manager Bob Lee that a day-long wait for a reply concerned him and led him to believe Pictron, whose bid was $22,400, with a $750 monthly maintenance fee, wouldn’t be able to quickly respond to service requests if city employees experienced system problems and needed help.

Weeks, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, also recommended Granicus due to its experience, company profile, product and interface, the number of support staff, and because it already services 110 government agencies nationwide. Among them are Collier, Charlotte and Sarasota counties, and Tallahassee. Weeks noted that the service would enable residents to easily search for subjects by entering keywords.

“The availability of searchable archives allows a section of any meeting to be retrieved at any time using a simple keyword search,” Weeks’ memo says.

Granicus also will automate the process of indexing meetings and agendas, minimizing the involvement of Naples’ Technology Services staff or other city staff, according to a memo by Lee, the city manager. The cost is being paid through Naples’ Capital Improvement Plan.