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Waynesboro City Council meetings are becoming something along the lines of must-watch TV, according to a discussion at the start of its regular meeting on Monday night.
That, or Mayor Lana Williams quipped, there is nothing better to watch on TV.
The City of Waynesboro launched its YouTube channel in 2016 and offers livestreaming of City Council and Planning Commission meetings.
Councilman Terry Short said that August marked the 250th posting of a meeting by the city. Monday’s meeting was the 251st video available on the channel.
While people aren’t exactly binge-watching the meetings compared to Netflix, Short said, the 250 number is still significant.
In the beginning, Short said, Council members were practically begging people to subscribe to the channel because the platform required a minimum of 100 subscribers before the city could livestream its meetings.
Eight years later, Short said, the city is approaching 500 subscribers; 479 to be exact.
“I think this is just a really cool thing and a great way for people to access local government and bring it home to their mobile devices,” Short said.
The Waynesboro School Board also began offering livestream recordings of its public meetings this spring in an effort to make the discussions accessible to parents and citizens who are unable to attend. A digital archive page is also available to review past meetings.
“I do think this is going to be a game-changer, because there’s a lot of different types of meetings,” said Dr. Ryan Barber, Assistant Superintendent of Waynesboro Public Schools, in an interview with AFP just days before the trial run of the Owl recording devices in February. “I’m really excited about it.
“People might be interested in (the meetings), but they don’t have childcare in the evening, or they’re working or whatever,” he said. “They’d be able to watch the video later. I think the goal is to be as transparent as possible, so people are engaging in what we’re doing.”
Quick links
- City of Waynesboro YouTube channel
- Waynesboro School Board livestream recordings
- YouTube channel by Chris Graham
Augusta County Board of Supervisors’ meetings are livestreamed through YouTube and generally available live on the county’s official Facebook page.
In Staunton, most public meetings are livestreamed using the Zoom platform.
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Published date: February 11, 2024 | 12:38 pm
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Crystal Graham
